from "The Future of Luxury" by Hans Magnus Enzensberger

So one must ask if private luxury has any future at all. I hope and fear: yes. For if it is true that the struggle for difference is a part of the mechanism of evolution, and that the desire to squander has its roots in our natural drives, then luxury can never completely disappear, and the question is only which form it will take in its flight from its own shadow.

All we can offer is conjecture. And so I would guess that there will be completely different priorities in our future battles over distribution. Fast cars and gold watches, cases of champagne and perfume are available on every street corner; they are not scarce, rare, expensive or desirable in this age of raging consumerism. Instead, it is the elementary necessities of life that come at a great price: quiet, good water, and enough space.

It is a peculiar reversal of the logic of desire: the luxury of the future will turn away from excess and strive for the necessary; which, it is to be feared, will be available to only a select few. The things that matter will not be sold in any Duty Free Shop:

  1. Time. This is the most important of all luxury items. Strangely enough it is precisely the elite who have the least say over their own time. This is not primarily a question of quantity, though many members of this class work upward of eighty hours a week; it is much more a matter of the multifarious dependencies that enslave them. They are expected to be on call at all times. Besides that, they are bound to a day-planner that extends years into the future.

But other professions, too, are bound to regulations that limit their temporal sovereignty to a minimum. Workers are tied to the pace of their machines, housewives (in Europe) to absurd shopping hours, parents to school functions, and almost all commuters have to travel at peak times. Under the circumstances, it is the person who always has time who lives in luxury; time for what he wants to do, and the power to decide what he does with his time, how much he does, when, and where he does it.

  1. Attention. This, too, is a scarce commodity, with all the media competing bitterly for a piece. Watching the melee of money and politics, sports and art, technology, and advertising, leaves little attention leftover. Only the person who turns his back on these overbearing claims on his attention and turns off the roar of the channels can decide for himself what is worth his attention and what is not. In the barrage of arbitrary information our perceptive and cognitive capabilities decline, they grow when we limit our attention to those things and only those things that we ourselves want to see, hear, feel and know. In this we can see an occasion for luxury.
  2. Space. As the day-planner is to the economy of time, congestion is to space. In a sense, everywhere and everything is crowded. We have rising rents, housing shortages, and sardine-packed public transport. We feel the press of flesh on sidewalks, public swimming pools, discotheques, and tourist spots. All of this creates a density in living conditions that verges on a robbery of freedom. Anyone who can remove himself from this cage like existence lives in luxury. But he must be prepared to shovel himself out form under a mountain of consumer items, as well. Usually our already-too-small living space is jammed with furniture, appliances, knick-knacks, and clothes. What is missing is the excess of space that is required for free movement. Today a room seems luxurious when it is empty.
  3. Quiet. This, too, is a basic requirement that has become harder and harder to satisfy. Anyone who wants to escape the everyday din must be very extravagant. In general, apartments cost more the quieter they are; restaurants that do not pour musical pollution into the ears of their guests demand higher prices of their discerning clientele. The raging traffic, the howling sirens, the clatter of helicopters, the neighbor's droning stereo, the month-long roar of the street fair--the person who can elude all of that enjoys luxury.
  4. The Environment. That one can breathe the air and drink the water, that it does not smoke and does not stink, is, as everyone knows, not a given but a privilege enjoyed by fewer and fewer. Anyone who does not produce his own food must pay a premium for nontoxic edibles. It is a problem for most to avoid the risk to life and limb in the workplace, in traffic, and in the dangerous bustle of leisure. In this arena, too, the possibility of withdrawal proves ever-more since.
  5. Security. This is perhaps the most precarious of all luxury items. As the state has become less able to guarantee safety, the private demand for it has grown and driven the prices sky high. Bodyguards, security services, alarm systems--anything that promises security now belongs to the realm of privilege, and these businesses can count on further growth in the future. If one takes a look around the wealthier neighborhoods, one can already that luxury does not promise unmitigated pleasure. As in the past, it will bring with it not only freedom but obligations. For the person of privilege who wants to remain safe does not just lock others out, he locks himself in.

All in all, these speculations revolve on an about-face that is rich in ironies. If there is anything to them, the luxury of the future will depend not on increase, as it did in the past, but on decrease, not on accumulation but on avoidance. Excess will enter a new stage in which it negates itself. The answer to the paradox of mass exclusivity would then be a further paradox: minimalism and abstinence could prove to be just as rare, expensive, and desirable as ostentatious spending once was.

With that, in any case, luxury would relinquish its role as representation. Its privatization would be complete. It would no longer require viewers, but would exclude them. Its reason for being would be, precisely, to be invisible. But even with that kind of withdrawal from reality, luxury would still be true to its origins; it has always been at odds with the reality principle. Perhaps it has never been more than an attempt to flee life's monotony and misery.

New and bewildering, however, is another question that must be posed in light of future prospects: who will count among the beneficiaries of luxury in the future? The original parameters of social position, income, and fortune will no longer be the deciding factors. A top executive, star athlete, banker, or leading politician will quite simply not be able to afford the items discussed here. Such individuals can buy sufficient space and a certain degree of security. But they have no time and no peace.

On the other hand, the unemployed, the elderly, and refugees, who in the future will make up the majority of the world's population, usually dispose of their time as they like. But it would be sheer mockery to call that a privilege. Crammed into crowded living space, with no money or security, many of them can make little use of their empty time. It is difficult to say how the scarce commodities of the future will be distributed, but one thing is clear: anyone who has only one of them enjoys none of them. There can be as little hope of justice in the future as there was in the past. At least in this respect, luxury will remain what it always was--a stubborn opponent of equality.

This text was chosen due to its complexity. Its length, vocabulary, and theme place it in a category similar to informational texts found on the English II EOC/MSL. The following questions are also similar to what is found on the test with like texts.

Selected Response:

  1. How does the author structure the text?
  2. General overview, introduction of the idea of luxury, examples of true luxury, ironies of true luxury, participants in true luxury, conclusion
  3. History of luxury, examples of true luxury, participants in true luxury, ironies of true luxury, counter-argument, rebuttal, conclusion
  4. General overview, history of luxury, examples of true luxury, ironies of true luxury, participants in true luxury, future of luxury
  5. History of luxury, introduction of the idea of luxury, examples of true luxury, ironies of true luxury, future of luxury

Answer: C

  1. What word could replace arbitraryin example 2?
  2. Important
  3. Unsupported
  4. Necessary
  5. Incorrect

Answer: B

  1. How does the structure of the text communicate the author’s purpose?
  2. Because it begins with what we think we know about luxury, and then moves into the reality of luxury, it emphasizes the irony of the future of luxury.
  3. Since it follows a typical introduction-examples-conclusion format, it explains the idea and the future of luxury clearly.
  4. Because it begins with what we think we know about luxury, and then moves into the reality of luxury, it highlights the complexity of the future of luxury.
  5. Since it follows a typical introduction-examples-conclusion format, it successfully argues that luxury should be avoided.

Answer: A

  1. Constructed response: According to this passage, why does the author call luxury “a stubborn opponent of equality”?