The Pleasures of Window Shopping

Deanna at CQ interviewed Marina Bianchi, a professor of economics, regarding collecting and consumerism. It's a fascinating look at consumer choice theory and the role of novelty in consumption & satisfaction, motivations usually left to psychologists & sociologists, I encourage you to read it.

Of course, my personal motivation has always been an interest in history -- or, perhaps more accurately, an interest in anthropology. This is often dismissed by others who view my quest to be purely carnal, so I delighted in the following:

Fundamentally, is there much difference between ‘research’ and ‘collecting’?

I think that between intellectual or scientific research and collecting there are many things in common. In research, as in collecting, we have a frame of reference that provides the organizing guide and that gives shape to problems or challenges and tells us where to look for possible solutions. And also in research the aim is to conquer something new that reshapes one’s organizing framework and opens new paths. But collecting is more playful, light, and pleasurable in every phase. Enjoying your collection is as pleasurable as when you are searching for a new addition to it, and the difficulties you meet only increase the final enjoyment. Buying an already made collection would destroy half the pleasure. Research is more costly in terms of intellectual efforts and discipline, but, yes, the principles are the same!

This is all "reflected" in an antique postcard I purchased in this past weekend's hunting.


In this postcard, a man and woman stand before a large millinery shop window. While she gazes at lovely hats, his gaze is upon a lovely lady on the street (who decadently shows ankle!). The caption reads, "I love my wife, but oh you kid".

While both the man and the woman we presume to be his wife are window shopping, full of wistful longing, we see the inherent joys & motivations of collecting displayed. Each views and desires the novelty of something new, but there is no indication that either finds what they have, be it an old hat or a spouse some might call "old hat", as inferior either. For as Professor Bianchi has said, "each additional item is new and exciting, whether it adds something different within an order or provokes a re-thinking of that order."

A collector "adds to" rather than replaces -- even without the physical action of adding a new item.

As this card shows no action other than thought or desire, it at least suggests (if not proves) that even when one does not increase the size of one's collection through ownership, simply viewing possibilities also adds to one's collection; it adds something to the framework and has us re-thinking the order of things.

And in many cases such "window shopping" increases our satisfaction & pleasure in what we have.