Theorising middle class consumption from the global South: A study of everyday ethics in South Africa’s Western Cape

McEwan, Cheryl; Hughes, Alex; Bek, David

doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.02.011

Cited by 42 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…), where prevailing standards of appropriate conduct in social practices are not necessarily conducive to the pursuit of sustainable consumption (Cherrier and Belk ; McEwan et al . ). Turunen and Leipämaa‐Leskinen () note that consumers’ need for uniqueness in luxury purchasing is particularly characteristic of individualistic Global North cultures and lends itself to a thriving second‐hand luxury market; whether similar results would be found for more collectivist Global South cultures is undetermined.…”

Section: Research Streamsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Sustainable Luxury Marketing: A Synthesis and Research Agenda

Athwal

Wells

Carrigan

et al. 2019

Int J Management Reviews

194

141

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Sustainability has become a pervasive issue for the luxury sector, gaining traction with brand managers, scholars, policy‐makers, the media, and academia. The purpose of this paper is to examine the state of sustainable luxury research in marketing and consumer behaviour by critically reviewing and synthesizing the growing but fragmented body of scholarly work on sustainable‐luxury marketing. The paper critically assesses where, how and by whom research on sustainable luxury is being conducted, and it identifies gaps for future investigation. The paper reviews research published between 2007 and 2018 within major peer‐reviewed English‐language scholarly publications in business, marketing, ethics, fashion, food and tourism journals. The research is identified using the keywords sustainable luxury, green luxury, eco‐luxury and organic luxury. Three core themes emerge from this review: (1) consumer concerns and practices; (2) organizational concerns and practices; and (3) international and cross‐cultural issues. The review confirms that research on sustainable luxury is significantly underdeveloped. This paper provides the first critical and comprehensive assessment and categorization of the emergent literature streams on sustainable luxury. The authors argue for a broader, deeper and more critical research agenda on the relationship between sustainability and luxury. Potential avenues for future research on sustainable luxury are proposed, with calls for theoretical and cross‐cultural reflections that tackle broader systemic and institutional issues within the field.

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Section: Research Streamsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Sustainable Luxury Marketing: A Synthesis and Research Agenda

Athwal

Wells

Carrigan

et al. 2019

Int J Management Reviews

194

141

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Consumption is not only aspirational but also, in part ethical. While a study in South Africa found a neglect of ethical consumption with an emphasis on thrift and aspirations (McEwan et al, ), a study of new consumers in Vietnam reached a different conclusion While these new consumers showed little awareness of sustainable consumption there was a motivation to live healthy lifestyles and protect the planet for future generations (De Koning et al, ; Ilbine et al, ).…”

Section: New Consumption Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The urban effects of the emerging middle class in the global south

Short

Martínez

2020

Geography Compass

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This article explores the implications of a growing middle‐income population on the cities of the global South. The emergence of this group, situated between the poor and the very rich, long the standard binary categorization of understanding the global urban South, has important implications for physical reconfigurations and changing social structures. We discuss the reasons behind the rise of this middle‐income category, note some of its characteristics and review its urban impacts. We focus on just three themes: new consumption patterns, housing markets and, urban politics. We contribute to broader theories of global urbanism by highlighting how an expanding middle‐income‐class are shaping and configuring a new urban realm in the global South.

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“…These definitions of ethical consumption focused on individual market choices have been subject to various forms of critiques (cf. Shove , ; Szasz ; Ariztia, Kleine, Bartholo, Brightwell, Agloni and Afonso 2016; McEwan, Hughes and Bek ; for an overview see Pellandini‐Simányi ). Here we focus on those that are particularly relevant for understanding why, in certain contexts, ‘ethical consumption’ does not necessarily relate to ethical living.…”

Section: How Ordinary Ethics Got Excluded From ‘Ethical Consumption’mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethical living: relinking ethics and consumption through care in Chile and Brazil

Ariztía

Agloni

Pellandini-Simányi

2017

British Journal of Sociology

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Mainstream conceptualizations of 'ethical consumption' equate the notion with conscious, individual, market-mediated choices motivated by ethical or political aims that transcend ordinary concerns. Drawing on recent sociology and anthropology of consumption literature on the links between ordinary ethics and ethical consumption, this article discusses some of the limitations of this conceptualization. Using data from 32 focus groups conducted in Chile and Brazil, we propose a conceptualization of ethical consumption that does not centre on individual, market-mediated choices but understands it at the level of practical outcomes, which we refer to as different forms of 'ethical living'. To do that, we argue, we need to depart from the deontological understanding of ethics that underpins mainstream approaches to ethical consumption and adopt a more consequentialist view focusing on ethical outcomes. We develop these points through describing one particular ordinary moral regime that seemed to be predominant in participants' accounts of ethics and consumption in both Chile and Brazil: one that links consumption and ethics through care. We show that the moral regime of care leads to 'ethical outcomes', such as energy saving or limiting overconsumption, yet contrary to the mainstream view of ethical consumption emphasizing politicized choice expressed through markets, these result from following ordinary ethics, often through routines of practices.

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Theorising middle class consumption from the global South: A study of everyday ethics in South Africa’s Western Cape

Cited by 42 publications

References 45 publications

Sustainable Luxury Marketing: A Synthesis and Research Agenda

Sustainable Luxury Marketing: A Synthesis and Research Agenda

The urban effects of the emerging middle class in the global south

Ethical living: relinking ethics and consumption through care in Chile and Brazil

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