Luxury beliefs are not like luxury goods

A critical examination of the luxury beliefs hypothesis.

Written by Bo Winegard.

As enlightened and scientifically educated moderns, we applaud ourselves for having swept away the debris of antiquated superstitions—the witches, demons, spirits, ghosts, and omens that haunted our ancestors. Yet, we still seem to fill the world with strange ideas and convictions. During what some have called The Great Awokening, for example, bizarre beliefs such as that we should defund (even abolish) the police or that men can become women and women men solely through the power of psychological identification became so popular that they were propounded by mainstream outlets. Many intellectuals were perplexed by the rapid spread of these apparently implausible or unwise beliefs and attempted to account for their popularity.

Building from other less persuasive and less intriguing efforts, Rob Henderson forwarded perhaps the most interesting explanation: They are luxury beliefs. Like Ferraris, Rolexes, or refined and elevated tastes in art and literature, they are signals of wealth and status. Or, as Henderson wrote, they are “honest indicators of one’s social position, one’s level of wealth, where one was educated, and how much leisure time they have to adopt these fashionable beliefs.”

Having forwarded a similar though less compelling signaling account of some of these beliefs, I initially found the luxury beliefs thesis provocative and plausible (a reaction shared by many people). However, I have come to believe that the thesis is wrong and distorts our understanding of such beliefs.