Theorising middle class consumption from the global South: A study of everyday ethics in South Africa's Western Cape
Theorising middle class consumption from the global South: A study of everyday ethics in South Africa's Western Cape
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南方国家中产阶级消费理论：对南非西开普省日常道德的研究
DOI：
10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.02.011
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发表时间：
2015
期刊：
影响因子：
3.5
通讯作者：
McEwan C
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
McEwan C
关于消费在全球南方日益增长的重要性的新研究关注的是消费与全球化中产阶级的联系。在乐观主义投资于新兴的全球中产阶级以推动消费拉动型增长的背景下，这篇论文有助于就全球南方道德消费的表述和意义展开新的辩论。在当前的许多主流政策、媒体和学术辩论中，缺少对全球中产阶级多样性的承认，以及对世界各地不同消费市场的道德解释和行为差异的理解。作为回应，本文利用南非西开普省的定性研究，探讨日常伦理现实在塑造全球南方消费方面的文化意义。除了解决在全球南方背景下对道德消费的研究相对缺乏的问题，该论文还基于我们的发现做出了两个关键贡献。首先，它挑战了这样一种倾向，即通过强调地方和背景在塑造西开普省消费习惯方面的重要性，对‘新的’全球中产阶级消费者一概而论的倾向；具体地说，它发现，对于不同的中产阶级消费者来说，节俭是决定消费模式的重要道德选择和实践。其次，它强调了日常道德实践在塑造西开普省消费方面的重要性，特别关注节俭是如何在不仅涉及经济限制，而且涉及关怀、习惯和愿望的问题上受到影响的。论文最后对这些发现的更广泛影响进行了反思，并建议它们表明，有必要从全球南方的背景出发，以自己的方式对道德消费进行理论化。
Emerging research on the increasing significance of consumption in the global South is concerned with its links to the globalizing middle classes. Against the backdrop of optimism invested in the new global middle classes to fuel consumption-led growth, this paper contributes to new debate about the articulations and significance of ethical consumption in the global South. Missing from much current mainstream policy, media and academic debate is acknowledgement of the diversity of the global middle classes and an understanding of how ethical interpretations and behaviour differ in various consumer markets around the world. In response, this paper draws on qualitative research in South Africa’s Western Cape to explore the cultural significance of everyday ethical realities in shaping consumption in the global South. In addition to addressing the relative absence of research into ethical consumption in global South contexts, the paper makes two key contributions based our findings. First, it challenges the tendency, particularly in economic discourses, to generalise about the ‘new’ global middle class consumers by highlighting the significance of locality and context in shaping consumption practices in the Western Cape; specifically it finds that, for diverse middle class consumers, thrift is an important ethical choice and practice determining consumption patterns. Second, it highlights the significance of everyday ethical practices in shaping consumption in the Western Cape, focusing specifically on how thrift is imbricated in concerns with not just economic constraint, but also care, habit and aspiration. The paper concludes with reflections on the wider implications of these findings and suggests that they illustrate a need to theorise ethical consumption from contexts in the global South, on their own terms.