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Middle-Class Consumers and Consumerism as a Lifestyle

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Responsible Consumption and Production

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ((ENUNSDG))

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Definition

Social class is a fundamental concept in the study of how societies organize themselves and how social stratification happens among different societies during the time. In a very simple and objective way, a social class is a distinction and a social division that results from the unequal distribution of the access to advantages and resources, from the most basic ones like food and shelter to more complex ones such as hierarchy, prestige, influence, and power. Sociology defines social class primarily on the basis of how these distinctions and divisions are identified. Middle class normally is defined as the one socioeconomically located between the working class and upper class is the society.

Middle-Class Consumers Through History

Marxist theorists argue that class divisions are based on the different relations between individuals and the production process, especially regarding the ownership and control of the means of production (such as land, machinery, and factories)....

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Engineering, Modelling and Applied Social Sciences, Territorial Planning Department, Federal University of ABC, São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil

    Leonardo Freire de Mello

  2. Centre for Engineering, Modelling and Applied Social Sciences, Post Graduate Programme in World Political Economy, Federal University of ABC, São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil

    Sara Aparecida de Paula

Authors
  1. Leonardo Freire de Mello
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  2. Sara Aparecida de Paula
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Leonardo Freire de Mello or Sara Aparecida de Paula .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Life Science, HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Ctr Neurosci & Cell Biology, 1 Floor, Univ Coimbra, Edf Fac Medicina, Coimbra, Portugal

    Anabela Marisa Azul

  3. Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo University Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo, Brazil

    Luciana Brandli

  4. Istinye University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Pinar Gökcin Özuyar

  5. International Centre for Thriving, University of Chester, Chester, UK

    Tony Wall

Section Editor information

  1. Senior Economic Consultant (Independent); and EmergingFrontierMarkets.com (Publisher), Manila, Philippines

    Leonardo Sta. Romana

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Freire de Mello, L., de Paula, S.A. (2019). Middle-Class Consumers and Consumerism as a Lifestyle. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Özuyar, P., Wall, T. (eds) Responsible Consumption and Production. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71062-4_50-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71062-4_50-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71062-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71062-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

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