Pecuniary emulation is the tendency of the lower class to intentionally imitate the social and financial habits of the upper class, in order to appear as a member of the strictly regulated ruling class.
These include emulating spending, social, and fashion habits, even when the middle class is unable to afford these luxuries. The ultimate goal of pecuniary emulation is eventual assimilation with the leisure class.
In Wharton’s age of Innocence, pecuniary emulation is experienced by the leisure class, both upwards towards European aristocracy, and downwards towards the American middle class. The leisure class has an intense need to reconcile the problems that arise from their aristocratic ideals in an American meritocratic society.
The leisure
