Synopses & Reviews
Consumption Intensified examines how self-identified middle class Brazilians in Sandatilde;o Paulo redefined their class during Brazilandrsquo;s economic crisis of 1981andndash;1994. With inflation soaring to an astounding 2700 percent, their consumption practices intensified, not only in relation to the national crisis but also to the expanding global consumer culture. Drawing on her observations of everyday practices and on representations of the middle class in popular culture, anthropologist Maureen Oandrsquo;Dougherty explores both the logic and incoherence of middle- to upper-middle-class Brazilian life.
With the supports of middle-class living threatenedandmdash;job security, quality education, home ownership, savings, ease of consumptionandmdash;the means and meaning of andldquo;middle classandrdquo; were thrown into question. The sector thus redefined itself through both class- and race-based claims of moral and cultural superiority and through privileged consumption, a definition the media underscored by continually addressing middle-class Brazilians as consumersandmdash;or rather, as consumers denied. In these times, adults became more flexible in employment, and put stakes in their childrenandrsquo;s expensive private education. They engaged in elaborate comparison shopping, stockpiling of goods, and financial strategizing. Ongoing desire for distinction and andldquo;first- worldandrdquo; modernity prompted these Brazilians to buy foreign goods through contraband, thereby defying state protectionist policy. Discontented with the constraints of the national economy, they welcomed neoliberalism.
By uncovering connections between culture and politics, Oandrsquo;Dougherty complicates understandings of the middle class as a social group and category. Illuminating the intricate relation between identity and local and global consumption, her work will be welcomed by students and scholars in anthropology and Latin American studies, and those interested in consumption, popular culture, politics, and globalization.
Review
andldquo;This fascinating and important book is based on a solid foundation of fieldwork and research. Oandrsquo;Dougherty introduces new paradigms and new approaches, and not just for Brazilianists.andrdquo;andmdash;Timothy Burke, Swarthmore College
Review
andldquo;An outstanding book. . . . The first extensive treatment in English of the problems of Brazilian modernity and consumerism.andrdquo;andmdash;Richard Wilk, Indiana University
Synopsis
This work traces ways in which consumer culture defined the Brazilian middle class during the 1980s-1990s.
About the Author
Maureen Oandrsquo;Dougherty is a Research Fellow at the Institute on Race and Poverty, University of Minnesota.