Luxury as an Industry

The nature of luxury as an industrial sector and the boundaries of this industry are unlike most other industries. Luxury is not defined by a specific good, service, or production process but rather by a market position (high-end). It is a transversal industry that can include goods and services from other industries. Hence the problem is to define the border between luxury and nonluxury. Scholars in management and social sciences have demonstrated the existence of several levels between common goods and luxury goods—or several degrees of ‘luxury’, from exclusive luxury to intermediate luxury and accessible luxury. As for economic and social historians, they have discussed the development of a luxury industry through various stages, from the birth of consumption society in 18th-century England to the formation of large conglomerates in the 1980s.