The Materiality of Affluence and Taste in Trump Tower
Author(s): Paul R. Mullins; Timo Ylimaunu
Year: 2018
Summary
This paper examines Donald Trump’s New York City apartment as a populist performance of affluence that simultaneously justifies ostentatious shows of wealth and defends idiosyncratic individual taste. Rather than reduce the grandiose penthouse simply to a transgression of "good taste," this paper examines a distinctive notion of material wealth that embraces pretentious and idiosyncratic expressions of style and affluence. In a conservative world that has often been characterized by stylistic homogeneity, Trump’s unabashed show of extravagant personal style seems appealing to many Americans who imagine themselves outside the stylistic, social and political mainstream.
Cite this Record
The Materiality of Affluence and Taste in Trump Tower. Paul R. Mullins, Timo Ylimaunu. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, New Orleans, Louisiana. 2018 ( tDAR id: 441288)
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Keywords
General
class
•
Contemporary Archaeology
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Style
Geographic Keywords
North America
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United States of America
Temporal Keywords
Contemporary
Spatial Coverage
min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 750