Precious Objects: How the Diamond Industry Manufactures Value
Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world.
Using Precious Objects by Alicia Oltuski as an entry point, this episode explores how institutions create value through trust, scarcity, branding, and cultural reinforcement. What appears to be a story about diamonds becomes a broader examination of reputation economies, consumer psychology, luxury markets, and the hidden systems that shape what societies come to regard as precious.
Rather than treating value as an inherent property of objects, this Deep Dive examines the structural incentives and feedback loops…
The skinny
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