True Story: What Reality TV Says about Us

by Danielle J. Lindemann

The Housewives are an imperfect example of this mismatch between socioeconomic status and upper-class habitus because, frankly, some of them are not all that rich. Some of them do appear to have legitimate wealth and/or fame—for example, Beverly Hills’ restaurateur Lisa Vanderpump, New York City’s heiress Tinsley Mortimer, Miami’s cosmetics queen Lea Black, and Atlanta’s Grammy winner Kandi Burruss. But Orange County’s Gina Kirschenheiter’s small, sparsely furnished house littered with inspirational signage (“GATHER”) is a far cry from Lisa Vanderpump’s sprawling mansion with miniature horses and a swan moat. Other Houseswives are shown living in rented houses, filing for bankruptcy, and tucking the tags into their designer dresses so that they can return them later (I’m looking at you, Sonja!). These women have a lot in common with Karl Marx’s category of “petite bourgeoisie,” the middle managers who are not of the bourgeoisie but affect their airs. But even among the Housewives who have amassed considerable fortunes, their constant emphasis on that wealth is not always consistent with an upper-class habitus. The juxtaposition between these women’s current (purported) economic level and their internalized class condition is mined for entertainment. Indeed, these shows present the women’s ignorance of their own crass materialism as a kind of dramatic irony.