(Reuters)Rob K. Henderson | |
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 Henderson in 2021 | |
| Born | Robert Kim Henderson 1990 (age 35–36)[1] Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | Political commentator |
| Writing career | |
| Subjects |
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| Notable work | Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class |
| Military career | |
Branch | United States Air Force |
Service years | 2007–2015[2] |
| Website | www |
Robert Kim Henderson[3] (born 1990) is an American writer and political commentator known for coining the term luxury beliefs. His memoir, Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class, was published in 2024 by Simon & Schuster's Gallery Books.[4]
Henderson's mother was born in Seoul, South Korea. His father, who he did not grow up with, was of Mexican and Spanish descent. His mother, who suffered from substance abuse, was unable to care for him, leading to him being sent to foster care at the age of three.[5] Henderson was raised in various foster homes around the state of California. He was adopted by a working class family at the age of 7 in the town of Red Bluff, California, and his parents later divorced.[5] He served in the United States Air Force after high school. Following his enlistment, Henderson attended Yale University with the support of the G.I. Bill, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in psychology. Henderson then earned a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Cambridge with the support of a Gates Cambridge Scholarship.[6][7]
Henderson has published a variety of essays about his education and political views in major outlets including The New York Times,[8] The Wall Street Journal,[9] and The Times.[10] In his editorials, he develops the idea of "luxury beliefs", defined as ideas that "confer status on members of the upper class at little cost while inflicting costs on persons in lower classes." This term has gained considerable popularity, including coverage in The Atlantic[11] and The Economist,[12] as well as features on podcasts including Honestly with Bari Weiss and The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast.[13]
In his memoir, Henderson details his experience of being abandoned by his mother and growing up in the foster care system. He explains
The latter section of the book details his educational journey and
A 2024 investigation by The Economist on the question of whether the New York Times Bestseller List had a political bias reported that Henderson's book had been omitted from the list despite selling enough copies to rank at least in fourth place. Henderson's exclusion had earlier been denounced as a sign of political bias by Elon Musk.[15]
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"Luxury belief" is a term coined by the American writer Rob K. Henderson to describe beliefs which "confer status on the upper class at very little cost, while often inflicting costs on the lower classes".[1] Individuals holding luxury beliefs are described as privileged and disconnected from the experiences of working class, impoverished, or marginalized people. Such individuals are considered to hold political and social beliefs that signal their elite status; these beliefs are putatively for the benefit of the marginalized but have negative impacts on them.[2][3]
What constitutes a luxury belief is contested, and the term in general is considered to be controversial.[4][5] It is used predominantly by conservative political commentators to describe various left-wing and liberal views, portraying them as being predominantly held by the privileged, and out of touch with the working class that they claim to support.[4][3]
The term is a neologism coined by Rob K. Henderson in 2019.[2][6] Henderson alleges that, due to wider availability of material signifiers of wealth, power, fame and affluent Americans and British use their beliefs as a way to display their social status.[7][8][9] Other commentators have previously drawn equivalences between opinions and material possessions.[10]
Henderson has cited the view of defunding police as a "classic luxury belief" along with his other examples of decriminalizing drugs, getting rid of the SAT, and rejecting marriage.[11]
Doug Lemov and co-authors in 2023 described Henderson's concept of the luxury belief as "an idea that confers social status on people who hold it but injures others in its practical consequences".[6] Matthew Goodwin, professor of political science at the University of Kent, further argued in 2023 that such beliefs are held by people "who no longer measure somebody's status or moral worth through money, estates, titles or education but through the new lens of ideas and beliefs."[7]
Some have argued that the belief that marriage and the nuclear family are no better than alternative family arrangements is a luxury belief,[12][2] since there is evidence that family instability (which is equated to non-nuclear families, according to at least some who argue in favor of the term) is associated with poorer outcomes for children.[3][13] Holding such beliefs, according to proponents of the concept, is deemed fashionable for elites but the actual effects on those involved, such as children experiencing family instability, are harmful. Henderson notes that outcomes such as rates of incarceration, college degree attainment, and substance abuse are more strongly correlated with children not living with both biological parents than with poverty: poor outcomes are more likely for children without both parents, and especially for foster children, than for children in poverty but with both parents.[1]
In October 2023, former British Home Secretary Suella Braverman claimed in a speech that support for illegal immigration, net zero, and habitual criminals are luxury beliefs.[14]
The editorial board of The Times has criticised transgender activists as holding luxury beliefs.[15]
A 2026 study using a signaling game found "no evidence that individuals signal using luxury beliefs", and found belief in supposed luxury beliefs were positively correlated with education level, but negatively correlated with income.[16]
In January 2024, The New York Times published a piece by opinion writer Jessica Grose in which she expressed skepticism about the concept of luxury beliefs and their impact, despite them being commonly associated with elites. Her critique focused on an example where Henderson mentions a Yale classmate who denigrated monogamy and marriage despite coming from a stable two-parent family and intending to maintain those practices. Grose pointed out that although some argue that beliefs held by elite college students could have a significant influence because they disproportionately lead the country, she has yet to hear of any prominent political figure or corporate leader saying that marriage is irrelevant. Throughout the article, Grose highlights different confounding factors that could explain declining views of marriage.[17] She concludes by stating:
It's easy to point the finger at elites, cherry-pick their statements and stir a moral panic about the decline in the marriage rate over time. It's harder to meaningfully expand the safety net so that fewer children live in poverty—which really should be the focus of all this—even if their parents don't get hitched".[17]
Veronique de Rugy, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, has criticised the application of the concept predominantly to the left, arguing that several ideas espoused by the modern right have negative impacts on working class communities as well, citing tariffs on imported goods in the Trump administration as an example.[4]
In a critical review of Henderson's memoir, author Pippa Bailey has criticized the concept as unevidenced and unsubstantiated.[5]
College protesters have finally gone home for the summer. And they’ve left a lasting mark on history. Their legacy? [RECORD SCRATCH] A destructive trend in social justice activism. It goes far beyond college campuses. It’s self-centered, it’s manipulative, and it’s terrible for America. I call them luxury beliefs.
I’m the rare Ph.D. who grew up carrying everything I owned in a trash bag, starting when I was 3. I lived in 10 foster homes before I joined the Air Force. Then I went to Yale on the G.I. Bill and on to Cambridge. Along the way, I came up with the term “luxury beliefs.” They’re ideas held by privileged people that make them look good but actually harm the marginalized. It’s like virtue signaling with consequences. “Defund the police.” “Why should we defund the police?”
