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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
"Lifestyle Leapfrogging" In Emerging Economies: Enabling Systemic Shifts To Sustainable Consumption, Patrick Schroeder, Manisha Anantharaman
"Lifestyle Leapfrogging" In Emerging Economies: Enabling Systemic Shifts To Sustainable Consumption, Patrick Schroeder, Manisha Anantharaman
School of Liberal Arts Faculty Works
This paper combines the concept of leapfrogging with systems-thinking approaches to outline the potentials for and barriers to enabling systemic shifts to strong sustainable consumption in the emerging economies of China and India. New urban consumers in China and India have the potential to “lifestyle leapfrog” the high impact lifestyle models of the industrialized countries while simultaneously improving their quality of life. This paper argues that by implementing systemic approaches in the consumption domains of mobility and housing, the historical trajectory of high environmental footprints of mobility and housing can be avoided. The analysis based on systems-thinking principles identifies existing …
Elite And Ethical: The Defensive Distinctions Of Middle-Class Bicycling In Bangalore, India, Manisha Anantharaman
Elite And Ethical: The Defensive Distinctions Of Middle-Class Bicycling In Bangalore, India, Manisha Anantharaman
School of Liberal Arts Faculty Works
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 …
Networked Ecological Citizenship, The New Middle Classes And The Provisioning Of Sustainable Waste Management In Bangalore, India, Manisha Anantharaman
Networked Ecological Citizenship, The New Middle Classes And The Provisioning Of Sustainable Waste Management In Bangalore, India, Manisha Anantharaman
School of Liberal Arts Faculty Works
Globalization and economic liberalization are enabling individuals in emerging economies like India to access lifestyles similar to the resource-intense West. This spread of consumerism poses substantial ecological challenges, and calls for studies that investigate the environmental values, ethics, and politics of India's new consumers. In this paper, I explore emerging pro-environmental behaviors in the city of Bangalore, India, among the new middle classes- its most significant consumer class. Using the case of home waste management, I show how household behavior change is made possible by neighborhood-based coordination, involving multiple actors such as environmentally-conscious residents, domestic help, and hired waste workers. …