Elite and ethical: The defensive distinctions of middle-class bicycling in Bangalore, India

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 864-886 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manisha Anantharaman
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Sustainable Consumption ◽  
High Status ◽  
Collective Identities ◽  
Social Practice Theory ◽  
Environmental Behaviors ◽  
Middle Classes ◽  
Learning Skill ◽  
Consumption Practices

This article applies social practice theory to study the emergence of sustainable consumption practices like bicycling among the new middle classes of Bangalore, India. I argue that expansions of bicycling practices are dependent on the construction of defensive distinctions, which I define as distinctions that draw equally on lifestyle-based and ethics-based discourses to normalize bicycling among Bangalore’s middle classes. With their environmental discourses and signage, middle-class cyclists make claims to being ethical actors and ecological citizens concerned about global environments. Their high-end bicycles and special gear enable them to maintain their social status in personal and professional circles, despite adopting what is an essentialized and stigmatized mobility practice in a social context where personal automobiles are a dominant symbol of respectability and propertied citizenship. These defensive distinctions are anchored in communities that facilitate social learning, skill-building, and the creation of collective identities. I highlight the importance of considering the role of ethical discourses in consolidating “low-status” social practices among “high-status” class fractions and discuss the implications of promoting sustainable consumption through the othering of the poor. By applying a social practice analytic to study middle-class bicycling practices, this article makes a significant contribution to the growing literature that investigates the applicability of practice-based approaches to environmental behaviors and sustainable consumption in a novel context.

scholarly journals Negotiating Unsustainable Food Transformations: Development, Middle Classes and Everyday Food Practices in Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arve Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Middle Classes ◽  
Food Practices ◽  
Widespread Agreement ◽  
New Thinking ◽  
Practice Approach

AbstractAmidst calls for making food systems more sustainable, new unsustainable food transformations unfold alongside economic development. Explanations for unsustainable food transformations in emerging economies vary greatly, but there is widespread agreement that demand from new middle classes play a crucial role. Yet this demand is to a large extent co-created by systems of provision, and middle-class consumers are constantly navigating food transformations in a search for healthy and safe food. Focusing on Vietnam’s dramatic food transformations, and combining attention to the political economy of food with a social practice approach to consumption, the paper zooms in on the how middle-class households in Hanoi negotiate the rapid transformations of food systems and food environments. The paper concludes that new thinking on sustainable food systems is urgently needed and argues that vital insights can be gained by studying food practices and their interaction with everyday geographies of consumption.

Unraveling The Mechanisms Behind Chinese Outbound Tourist Shopping: A Social Practice Perspective

2020 ◽  
pp. 109634802095669
Author(s):  
Haipeng Jin ◽  
Gianna Moscardo ◽  
Laurie Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Social Practice ◽  
Practice Theory ◽  
Social Practice Theory ◽  
Holistic Understanding ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
Practice Perspective ◽  
Tourist Experience ◽  
Consumption Practices ◽  
Chinese Tourists ◽  
Chinese Travelers

Chinese outbound tourist shopping is a prominent phenomenon in many destinations, but the mechanisms behind it have rarely been addressed. This study draws upon social practice theory to examine why shopping dominates the tourist experience of Chinese travelers in Australia. Thirty-two semistructured interviews were conducted to identify key social and consumption practices that lead to the dominance of Chinese outbound tourist shopping. The study argues that the shopping practices of Chinese tourists result from a combination of Chinese consumerism and guanxi maintenance under the condition of outbound travel. This study contributes to a holistic understanding of Chinese outbound tourist shopping by revealing how it is embedded in broader consumption practices in China.

scholarly journals Green consumption practices for sustainability: an exploration through social practice theory

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Beatson ◽  
Udo Gottlieb ◽  
Katrina Pleming
Keyword(s):  
Social Marketing ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Practice Theory ◽  
Marketing Research ◽  
Perceived Barriers ◽  
Social Practice Theory ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Green Consumption ◽  
Household Products ◽  
Consumption Practices

Purpose By applying social practice theory to green consumption, this paper extends our understanding of consumer insight on green consumption processes beyond linear decision-making. The purpose of this paper is to provide knowledge about how best to mitigate perceived barriers to green consumption processes including the purchase and disposal of household products and to contribute to current discourse about widening social marketing research beyond a predominant focus on individuals’ behaviours. Design/methodology/approach Thematic content analysis exploring the lived experiences of participants’ green consumption was undertaken by conducting 20 in-depth interviews of Australian consumers. These interviews were analysed through a social practice lens. Findings The research identified six emergent social practice themes of green consumption. By using social practice theory, a different paradigm of social research than the linear models of behaviour is used. This unconventional investigation into the green consumption process, including the purchase and disposal of household products, extends literature past the attitude–behaviour gap and highlights the importance of aligning green consumption processes with social practice. Originality/value By integrating social practice theory into the marketing discipline, this paper explores consumption as part of sustainable marketing and provides suggestions about how best to mitigate perceived barriers to green consumption processes. These insights have relevance to micro-, meso- and macro-levels of social marketing, and can help alter consumption practices making them more sustainable.

scholarly journals The Advent of Practice Theories in Research on Sustainable Consumption: Past, Current and Future Directions of the Field

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filippo Corsini ◽  
Rafael Laurenti ◽  
Franziska Meinherz ◽  
Francesco Appio ◽  
Luca Mora
Keyword(s):  
Social Practice ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Sustainable Consumption ◽  
Social Practice Theory ◽  
Household Energy ◽  
Consumer Identity ◽  
Consumer Studies ◽  
Sustainability Research ◽  
Temporal Succession ◽  
Sustainable Consumption And Production

The application of practice theories in the domain of sustainability research in consumer studies is increasingly advocated based on the premise that this allows to analyse consumption as a social phenomenon. Consequently, the applications of social practice theories to this field are expanding geometrically and to date, little retrospective work on this evolution has been made. We conduct a bibliometric analysis of applications of practice theories in the domain of sustainability research in consumer studies. Our results show a temporal succession of research trends: ‘consumer identity’ dominated the field between 2009 and 2012, ‘business and governance’ between 2012 and 2014, ‘sustainable consumption and production’ between 2013 and 2014, ‘urban living and policy’ between 2014 and 2015 and ‘household energy’ from 2015 until the present. We see a high potential of future applications of practice theories in the fields of the sharing and circular economy, as well as in research on smart cities. We provide new insights into the evolution and future trends of applications of social practice theory to domains that are relevant for research on sustainability and consumer studies.

Do connoisseur consumers care about sustainability? Exploring coffee consumption practices through netnography

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Bartoloni ◽  
Beatrice Ietto ◽  
Federica Pascucci
Keyword(s):  
Social Practice ◽  
Sustainable Consumption ◽  
Coffee Consumption ◽  
Cultural Analysis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Symbolic Meanings ◽  
Consumption Practices ◽  
Sustainable Marketing ◽  
Specialty Coffee

PurposeThe coffee industry has experienced two major trends: the development of connoisseur consumption of specialty coffee and the importance of sustainability. Despite the increasing concomitant relevance of both trends, literature on how sustainability has been interlacing with connoisseur consumption is rather limited. Therefore, this paper aims to analyse how connoisseur consumers (CC) integrate sustainability into their coffee consumption practices.Design/methodology/approachThe paper adopts a qualitative netnographic approach through an interpretive cultural analysis of specialty coffee bloggers narratives, conceived as a specific sub-group of CC that tend to be particularly active on social media.FindingsThrough the lens of social practice theories, the study reveals that CC are likely to implement and perceive sustainability very differently from the dominant mass market as subject to the influence of their shared rituals, values, norms and symbolic meanings. Such findings are relevant under a managerial perspective as they also generate insights on how to foster environmentally friendly practices in coffee consumers as well as on how to create more sustainable marketing strategies.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the literature on coffee consumption behaviour and sustainability. First, by analysing actual behaviours rather than intended, the study offers an alternative approach to the dominant paradigm of linear decisions models in the study of sustainable consumption. Second, because CC possess a unique consumption style, different from the mainstream market, the analysis has led towards the identification of alternative sustainable consumption patterns and enablers.

Reevaluating the Middle-Class Protest Paradigm: A Case-Control Study of Democratic Protest Coalitions in Russia

2017 ◽  
Vol 111 (4) ◽  
pp. 637-652 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRYN ROSENFELD
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Population Data ◽  
Case Control ◽  
Democratic Transitions ◽  
Electoral Fraud ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Middle Classes ◽  
State Sector ◽  
State Dependent ◽  
Selective Incentives

A large literature expects rising middle classes to promote democracy. However, few studies provide direct evidence on this group in nondemocratic settings. This article focuses on politically important differentiation within the middle classes, arguing that middle-class growth in state-dependent sectors weakens potential coalitions in support of democratization. I test this argument using surveys conducted at mass demonstrations in Russia and detailed population data. I also present a new approach to studying protest based on case-control methods from epidemiology. The results reveal that state-sector professionals were significantly less likely to mobilize against electoral fraud, even after controlling for ideology. If this group had participated at the same rate as middle-class professionals from the private sector, I estimate that another 90,000 protesters would have taken to the streets. I trace these patterns of participation to the interaction of individual resources and selective incentives. These findings have implications for authoritarian stability and democratic transitions.

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