Continuing our look at Postrel's book THE SUBSTANCE OF STYLE. There is a theory known to undergraduate psychology students as the "hierarchy of needs." It is the notion, associated with the psychologist Abraham Maslow, who formulated it in the middle of the last century, that the lower level needs must be satisfied before one's attention turns to the level of needs next up. One secures a place to defecate before one even goes looking for food. One has to have a certain level of material comfort, including at least a diminution of hunger pangs, before one moves on to looking for a mate, developing friendships, joining clubs, etc. And so forth upwards to such lofty goals as self-actualization and "transcendence." At first glance, one might take some of what Postrel says as in accord with this notion. After all, the "aesthetic age" upon which we have entered seems to be a matter of concern chiefly with the wealthier nations, nations where rela...