To Velthius, the "phenomenon" of the waiting list epitomizes and perpetuates the polarizing trend propelled by a boom in the art market. Because the possession of money no longer holds much sway (since there is already so much money flooding the market), other measures of prominence, measures bound up in status and reputation and embodied in [Bourdieu|http://www.pierrebourdieu.com/]'s notion of [symbolic capital|http://changingminds.org/disciplines/sociology/theorists/bourdieu.htm#pow], assume greater value; "money no longer suffices to gain access to goods." Those involved in the art market, then, turn to devices like the waiting list to distinguish who is "worthy" of possessing [coveted works of art|http://www.interpol.int/public/workofart/poster/default.asp] -- and those with mere money, who are lacking in status and renown, are disregarded. The waiting list "enables art dealers to accumulate symbolic capital," Velthius explains. "By claiming they are not interested in selling to the highest bidder, dealers are \[...\] denegrating the economy. In showing that they are working for art and not for money," and will therefore only sell to the worthy who are higher up on (or have bypassed altogether) the waiting list, "they establish and reaffirm their reputation in the art world. This, in turn, enables them to consecrate \[...\], or bestow legitimacy and value on, the artists they represent." And the more "legitimacy and value" the dealers' artists accumulate, the more successfully the dealers can profit from selling these artists' work. A crash in the art market, then, which would spell the end for devices like the waiting list, and for the broader dynamics that undergird, necessitate, and facilitate the use of such devices, and the result would be a much-needed process of [democratizing the art market|http://www.forbes.com/2008/05/08/artadia-moma-competition-ent-sales-competition08-cx_mf_0508artadia.html] and the art world at large. | 
