The New Middle Classes: Globalizing Lifestyles, Consumerism and Environmental Concern - Hardcover

9781402099373: The New Middle Classes: Globalizing Lifestyles, Consumerism and Environmental Concern

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1402099371 ISBN 13: 9781402099373

Publisher: Springer, 2009

With respect to the developing and threshold economies, it is no longer the poor who are the only focus of media attention. Today, the new middle classes are about to take centre stage, too. With their lifestyles and attitudes, the new middle classes are considered to be both the products as well as the promoters of globalization. They are a highly heterogeneousgroup in socio-economicterms as well as in habits 1 and preferences, including their societal role as consumers and citizens. The ?rst wave of scholarly and political attention can be traced back to the mid-nineties. The focal point was surprise and unease about indubitable symptoms of consumerism which, until then had been seen as a characteristic of the richest western societies. However, since the nineties, consumerism has run rampant in - velopingcountriestoo.Thishasparticularlybeennotedwithrespecttotheemerging middle classes in South East Asia. The "will to consume seemed inexhaustible, and appetites insatiable. This rage to consume [...] was both celebrated and feared by political leadersand other social/moralgatekeepers,who beganto condemnthe p- cess as 'Westernization' and even 'westoxi?cation"' (Chua 2000: xii). Ever since, the debate about the lifestyles of the new middle classes and their role in society has gained momentum.

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Product Description:

The New Middle Classes This book analyzes the middle class in terms of attitudes and preferences as well as socio-economic features and governmental policies. It provides original contributions from internationally renowned researchers that bring fresh multidisciplinary insights. Full description

Review:

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..". Der Band bietet damit eine umfangreiche �bersicht �ber die Vielfalt dieser neuen Lebensstilisierungen, ihre Auswirkungen und die Entstehung von Umweltbewusstsein und stellt damit einen wichtigen Schritt zur Beantwortung weiterer Fragen zur Entwicklung nachhaltiger Lebensstile dar ..." (Esther Baumg�rtner, in: Geographica Helvetica, 2010, Issue 4, S. 303)

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