New Consumer Cultures in the Global South

The research aims to understand how globalised economic growth is transforming lives among low-income urban communities of the Global South. In emerging economies, the former poor have become mass consumers. This economic shift has consequences not only for material wellbeing, but also for social status, identity formation and belonging. This project will document the emergence of new consumer practices using four urban case studies in Mexico, the Philippines, China and Brazil. The project will offer new data on the changed global experience of urban life, with the potential to reshape social theories of poverty and improve development policies across the Trans-Pacific region. It will provide benefits for understandings of business, culture and transformation of urban environments worldwide.