Buying a sense of identity

I was recently talking to a teacher for a writing project I am doing in my paid work. One of the many interesting things he said was that a huge part of a teacher's job is helping kids establish an identity for themselves. I take it that he knows what he is talking about as he has a really impressive track record helping kids turn their lives around.

And it is one of those things that we spend an amazing amount of time and money on in liberal society. A sense of identity is something we have a burning need for.

Consider buying wine. The law of diminishing returns tells us that while a fourteen-dollar bottle of wine may be twice as good as seven-dollar bottle, it is less likely that a twenty-eight dollar bottle will be twice as good as a fourteen-dollar bottle and so on up the scale.

Of course the "law" of diminishing returns isn't a law in any meaningful sense. It means a generally observable phenomenon here with no more scientific basis than a stitch in time saves nine. That said, there is something to it. As you spend more and more money the increment of improvement shrinks. At some point the variations become so subtle that it isn't worth spending more. For me that kicks in at about twenty dollars a bottle.

This raises an interesting question: why continue to insist on the extra expense when you know you can't tell the difference? The answer, I think, is that after a certain point what we are really buying is a sense of identity. We are buying the right to tell ourselves and others that we are the sort of persons who can appreciate subtle differences that others might miss. And the odd thing about that is that we usually know we are faking it somewhat. Very few of us would willingly submit to an honest blind taste test with a real chance of public shame should we  fail.