This dissertation examines how concerns about food system transformations affect how middle class consumers in Islamabad, Pakistan, perceive and approach food consumption in their everyday lives. The dissertation is situated in the context of risky food environments and food fears resulting from intensified, industrialised, and increasingly lengthened global food systems. Working within food geography and food environments paradigms, this dissertation explores how the transformation of food systems is associated with increasing anxiety about food security and safety for middle class urban consumers in Islamabad. Qualitative data gathered from semi-structured interviews and participant observation is used to illustrate the effects external influences, such as energy scarcity and violent events, have on everyday food environments. The dissertation examines the ways in which conceptualisations of 'good food', and trust relationships are negotiated in these dynamic food environments. The intensely geographical nature of these food environments and food systems, and the role of place-specific contexts on perceptions and adaptations related to food anxieties are emphasised. Situated in literatures on food anxiety and food consumption emerging from geography, food studies, and anthropology, this dissertation challenges dominant discourses on alternative and ethical consumption in a globalising food system. The results of this research not only contribute to literature on South Asia, but also contribute to consumption practices of a burgeoning middle class in developing countries.

Submitted by André Luis Silva (andre.fgvsp@gmail.com) on 2015-05-05T20:24:40Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_VersaoFinal.pdf: 1120465 bytes, checksum: 05db487e8a07db7c5e7ba86f90d6ae4c (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Pamela Beltran Tonsa (pamela.tonsa@fgv.br) on 2015-05-06T11:14:12Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_VersaoFinal.pdf: 1120465 bytes, checksum: 05db487e8a07db7c5e7ba86f90d6ae4c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-06T16:23:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_VersaoFinal.pdf: 1120465 bytes, checksum: 05db487e8a07db7c5e7ba86f90d6ae4c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-04-10 / This thesis aims to discuss the phenomenon of the ‘new Brazilian middle class’, through an empirical qualitative study within the area of the organizational studies. The starting point of the study is the following problematic question: how the Brazilian economic growth, occurred over the past decade, impacted the trajectories and living conditions of low-income workers? The main research objective is to investigate what changes occurred in the trajectories of lowincome youth workers who migrated, over the past decade, to the so-called ‘new Brazilian middle class’. The methodological approach is empirical-qualitative and constitutes a primary search strategy: reconstruction of narrative biographies through interviews. We have the participation of 42 young workers within the intended cut. The data were interpreted with the help of the content analysis technique. The theoretical lens used to interpret the data was interdisciplinary constituted by the contributions of critical, economic and labor sociology, as well as the organizational studies contributions. The results indicated that the trajectories of young workers enshrine changes and continuities. As much as their lives are better now than in the past, the young workers have not reached a proper lifestyle of conventional middle class, considering that they: still reside in outlying areas; depend on public transportation and health services; and perform cultural/leisure activities like those waged in the past. This requires understanding the trajectories of young workers are given within an objective experience of collective life whose identification of those who follow insert in it, comes from of the daily experiences and common aspirations that they have for them. Therefore, we conclude that the idea of a NCM symbolizes the desire of its founders to point out the achievement of a desired social reality in Brazil, and not exactly the consolidation of this reality in the lives of the poorest workers. In this sense, the NCM is, much more, the realizing of the illusion of its creators than the empirical finding that the improvements in terms of income and purchasing power, were able, by itself, of transform the Brazil in a middle class country. / Esta tese se propõe a discutir o fenômeno da “nova classe média” brasileira, por meio de um estudo empírico-qualitativo, dentro da área de estudos organizacionais. O ponto de partida do estudo se constitui na seguinte problematização: como o crescimento econômico brasileiro, ocorrido ao longo da última década, impactou as trajetórias e condições de vida de trabalhadores de baixa renda? O objetivo central é investigar quais mudanças ocorreram nas trajetórias de jovens de baixa renda que migraram, ao longo da última década, para a dita “nova classe média” brasileira. A abordagem metodológica é empírico-qualitativa e se constitui de uma estratégia de pesquisa principal: reconstrução de biografias narrativas por meio de entrevistas. Contamos com a participação de 42 jovens trabalhadores dentro do recorte pretendido. Os dados empíricos foram interpretados com o auxílio da técnica de análise de conteúdo. A lente teórica da pesquisa é interdisciplinar e privilegiou as contribuições das áreas da Sociologia crítica, econômica e do trabalho, bem como as dos Estudos organizacionais. Os resultados indicaram que as trajetórias dos jovens trabalhadores resguardam mudanças e permanências. Por mais que suas vidas estejam melhores que no passado, os jovens trabalhadores não ascenderam a um estilo de vida típico da classe média convencional, seja pelo fato deles: ainda residirem em zonas periféricas; dependerem dos serviços públicos de transporte e saúde; e realizarem atividades culturais/de lazer similares as que empreendiam no passado. Isto requer entender que as trajetórias dos jovens trabalhadores se passam dentro de uma experiência objetiva de vida coletiva cuja identificação, entre os que nela estão inseridos, emerge das vivências cotidianas e anseios comuns que esses indivíduos possuem para si. Por essa razão, concluímos que a ideia de uma NCM simboliza apenas o desejo de seus idealizadores em apontar a conquista de uma realidade social almejada para o Brasil, e não propriamente a consolidação dessa realidade na vida dos trabalhadores mais pobres. É nesse sentido, que a NCM representa, muito mais, o realizar da ilusão de seus idealizadores, do que a constatação empírica de que as melhoras, em termos de renda e poder de consumo, foram capazes, por si só, de transformar o Brasil em um país de classe média.

No description available.

This thesis provides an ethnography of the final year at an emerging middle-class private high school in the Northeast of Brazil. It draws on 15 months of fieldwork, including participant observation in the classroom wherein I followed students whilst they prepared for vestibular (the university entrance exam). Students' movements through Fortaleza, one of the world's most unequal cities, produced knowledge about the kind of person that one could and should be in the future. Private schooling appeared to provide a route for students to realise that metaphorical (and perhaps physical) movement. Vestibular served as a sort of rite of passage that could transform (emerging middle-class) youth into (middle-class) adults. Students and teachers characterised vestibular as a luta (fight) that could be won with enough training, flexibility and commitment. Good or high self-esteem was needed to overcome laziness and endure this luta and, thus, teachers and students worked on producing better self-esteem through affective work. Dreams (aspirations for the future) also played a critical role: the school encouraged students to engage in time work, to imagine appropriate future(s) into which students could channel their energies in the present. This version of individual power differed from the political and economic power structures portrayed in the classroom. Students grew indignant as, through curriculum and pedagogy, they came to understand that they were oppressed and that Brazil was underdeveloped and not quite modern. The university entrance exam served as a national meritocratic ritual that portrayed Brazil as becoming modern with governable and governing citizens. Students resisted these assertions and/but their cynicisms belied hope for better imagined futures. Using the classroom as container, this thesis presents a portrait of people and ideas in formation during a post-Lula era.

[pt] O presente estudo investiga o fenômeno do compartilhamento como prática de consumo em famílias brasileiras urbanas de classe média baixa. Para tal, utiliza-se da perspectiva da Consumer Consumption Theory (CCT), de caráter interpretativo e adotando-se a família estendida residente em um mesmo domicílio como unidade de análise.O compartilhamento é uma prática cotidiana, presente na vida dos indivíduos tanto na esfera pública, quanto privada. Nos lares, compartilha-se desde a geladeira e seu conteúdo até os móveis, os utensílios e os espaços da casa. Compartilham-se a refeição, o entretenimento e as atividades domésticas. Fora dos lares, compartilham-se os espaços públicos, espaços comerciais como restaurantes e cinemas, os transportes, as paisagens, o mundo. O compartilhamento realizado pelas famílias é um fenômeno social que, apesar de sempre ter existido como prática de consumo cotidiana, esteve praticamente ausente dos estudos em Comportamento do Consumidor e de áreas correlatas. O arcabouço teórico está baseado na Consumer Culture Theory, especificamente sobre o processo de significação do consumo e no compartilhamento como prática de consumo. Foi utilizada abordagem interpretativa, com base em entrevistas em profundidade com diferentes membros das famílias estendidas. Seguiu-se o método abdutivo de combinação sistemática, em um processo de idas e vindas entre teoria e campo. Este estudo contribui para a ampliação do conhecimento sobre práticas de consumo de três formas principais: i) expandindo o entendimento da temática do compartilhamento, delineando melhor fronteiras conceituais e temáticas; ii) estudando o fenômeno no contexto da família estendida brasileira, em contraposição à família nuclear norte-americana; e iii) identificando as especificidades do fenômeno entre famílias urbanas de classe média baixa. Do estudo emergiram novas categorias para descrever o compartilhamento, assim como foram obtidas evidências de o emprestar ser um modo de consumo distinto de compartilhamento. / [en] This research investigates sharing as a consumption practice in Brazilian low-middle class urban families. Given this purpose, the study adopts the Consumption Culture Theory (CCT) interpretative perspective, using the extended family residing in the same household as the unit of analysis. Sharing is an everyday practice in the individuals lives in both public and private spheres. Within the households, artifacts such as the refrigerator and its contents are shared, as well as furniture, utensils, and physical spaces. Individuals share meals, entertainment, and domestic chores. Outside the home, public spaces, commercial spaces such as restaurants and cinemas, transportation, landscapes, and other aspects of the physical world are all shared. Sharing within families is a social phenomenon that, although it has always been a daily consumption practice, it has practically been absent from studies on Consumer Behavior and related areas. The theoretical framework is based on the Consumer Culture Theory, specifically on the process of extracting meaning from consumption. The study used an interpretative approach, based on in-depth interviews with different members of the extended families. It followed the abductive method of systematic combining, which is characterized by continuous comings and goings between the theory and the field. This study contributes to increase the knowledge on consumption practices in three main ways: i) by expanding the understanding of the phenomenon of sharing, better outlining its conceptual and thematic borders; ii) by studying the phenomenon in the context of the Brazilian extended family, as opposed to the American nuclear family; and iii) by identifying specificities of how the phenomenon manifests among low middle class urban families. New categories emerged from the study to describe sharing, as well as comparative elements between sharing and lending as consumption practices. The study proposes a conceptual framework for the different types of sharing.

Depuis l’antiquité, les avocats entretiennent avec l’argent une relation particulière.Jouant à la fois un rôle sur le plan social et professionnel, il constitue un élémentdéterminant de la profession.Le XIXe et le XXe « siècles de l’argent », symboles de la révolution industrielle,des mutations sociales et de l’avènement de la bourgeoisie ne peuvent qu’influencer lesrapports entre l’avocat et l’argent. Toutefois, si elles demeurent toujours très proches, laprofession à travers sa déontologie tente d’éloigner ces deux notions en instaurant leconcept du désintéressement et l’idée de mission sociale.Mais c’est sans compter sur la force et la puissance des transformations sociétales.Refuser de vivre avec son temps expose aux critiques et attise la suspicion. Plus quejamais il est l’heure pour les avocats de considérer leur profession comme un métier etde lever le voile sur des siècles de mystère dans ce lien les unissant à l’argent. / Since antiquity, lawyers have a special relationship with money. As a key elementof the profession, it plays both a social and a professional role in it.The 19th and 20th « money centuries », symbols of the industrial revolution, ofdeep social changes and of the advent of the middle class, obviously influenced thelinks between lawyers and money. However, as close as these two notions may remain,the profession tries, through its deontology, to keep a distance between them, institutingthe concept of disinterest and the idea of social mission.But it has to take into account the strength and power of societal changes.Refusing to move with the times can only raise criticisms and stir suspicion. More thanever, it is time for lawyers to consider their profession as a metier and to lift the veilfrom centuries of mystery about their links with money.

俗稱「大巨蛋」的臺北文化體育園區，自1990年代起出現於媒體報導中，市府於2000年定案落址松山菸廠，並在2006年與遠雄簽約以BOT興建大巨蛋。2014年11月市長選舉，柯文哲以無黨籍的身份踏入政壇，打破國民黨十六年的臺北市政府執政，上任後開始清查包括大巨蛋等「五大案」。不同政權對於大巨蛋的論述有不同策略，本研究透過都市政治的概念，剖析國民黨市府時代與柯文哲市府時代兩個政權，如何透過傳統媒體以及社群媒體形塑各自的大巨蛋形象。根據Stone（1993）以美國都市政權分析所提出的四種類型為基礎，本研究者聚焦在兩個政權的主要治理任務、選擇性誘因、所需資源等之論述。透過對於新聞報導、社群媒體貼文、官方新聞稿與官方網站的質化論述分析與量化內容分析，探討國民黨市府與柯文哲市府之都市治理聯盟的論述特徵與差異。 　　研究結果發現，國民黨市府治理聯盟偏向發展型政權，其論述特徵圍繞著體育發展為核心，包括將大巨蛋與國際大型運動賽事與國力象徵等概念連結，政治與商業合作開發，以及多功能用途場館來召喚市民支持。柯文哲市府治理聯盟的論述則偏向中產階級進步型、也具備臺灣在地特色的「程序主義型政權」，其論述圍繞著程序的重要性，強調都市計劃中法律程序及透明的重要性。兩者相較，國民黨市府論述著力於國家與體育發展，與資本關係較為緊密，柯文哲市府論述則連結中產階級價值以及市政的公民參與。但兩者皆忽略社會中環境保護的聲音，以及大型運動場館帶給城市的潛在負擔。本研究試圖在兩股政治勢力消長的動態演變中，分析此一期間都市政權對大巨蛋開發案的媒體論述轉變，藉由大型運動場館的再現建構，來反映出臺北的都市政治的意識形態爭霸過程，並重新反思大型運動場館建設之於城市與公民的意義。 / The project of Taipei Dome Complex (known as ‘’Taipei Dome’’) has been revealed in the media since 1990s. It settled in Song Shan Tobacco Factory in 2000 and later signed with a BOT (Build–operate–transfer) contract between Taipei City Government and Farglory Group. In November 2014, the mayor-elect Wen-je Ko, a non-party politician, ended 16 years of KMT rule in Taipei and committed to investigate so-called "Five Scandals”—the Taipei Dome, the Taipei Twin Tower, the Song Shan Cultural and Creative Park, the Syntrend Digital Park, and MeHas City. As the discursive strategies in the issue of Taipei Dome were different among regimes, this study is aimed to understand the use of mass media and social media in construting particular images of this large-scale sport stadium in the constructing process by Taipei City Government under different mayors. This study focues on the main governance tasks—the selective incentives, the resources needed as the analysis structure of the two regimes—which based on the analysis about four types of America urban politics in Stone (1993). Through qualitative discourse analysis and quantitative content analysis on various sources—including news reports, posts in social media, documents on official websites—this study study explores the differences of discursive strategies and struggles between the KMT and the Ko municipal governments. 　　The research results show the differences between the two regimes. The KMT government favored the ideology of “development regimes” to mobilize the supports from citizens, which usually linked the Taipei Dome with the concepts about the development of sports, such as the importance of large-scale international sporting events, the symbolic national power, the close cooporation between government and business, and the multifunctions of the Dome. Compared with the precedent regime, the Ko government has been inclined to the ideology of “middle class progressive regimes,” while also demonstrated a certain degree of “procedualism” under the particular political and economic contexts in Taiwan. The discursive strategy of Ko government emphasizes the importance of legal procedure and transparacy in the urban plan and policy. In sum, the KMT government had a strong connection with corporations and highlighted the significance of national and sporting development, while the Ko government has shown a connection with the middle class and attempted to involve civic participation in the process of policy making. However, both city governments ignored the voice of environmental movement and the potential harm of large-scale sport stadium to the society. This study attempts to analyze the changes of discursive struggle of Taipei Dome in the media represeantions between the two regimes and therefore contribute to understand the influences of large-scale sport stadium on the urban development and citizens.

The institutional quality concept, advanced by academic literature as a mean to enhance output growth, suffer from the absence of a clear implementation strategy. Considering that developing countries usually lack resources to be able to afford large-scale universal institutional reforms, the lack of roadmap puts substantial obstacles to practical application of the given concept. This thesis therefore goes beyond the simple statement of institutional primacy and sets an objective to differentiate the institutional effects relative to the level of development. To test it empirically, fixed effects model is chosen and interaction terms between the measures of institutional quality and the share of middle class are employed. Obtained coefficients indicate that institutions promote economic growth only when middle class share exceeds 25%. At the same time, different aspects of institutional quality exhibit contradictory dynamics. The control of corruption becomes growth enhancing only when middle class constitutes over one third of the population, while the relevance of government effectiveness for economic growth on the contrary decreases with the enlargement of middle class. These findings confirm the presence of conditionality and deny the existence of universal recipe for institutional reforms. Implementation of better institutions based on context-specific approach would therefore bring greater results in terms of economic growth than the direct adoption of best-practice institutions, so intensively advanced by the World Bank and the IMF.

Les migrations internationales modifient les rôles attribués à chacun.e dans une famille et nécessitent des réaménagements en conséquence de l’absence d'un.e ou plusieurs membres. Cette recherche examine les implications d'une pratique familiale qui consiste à faire grandir au Sénégal des enfants nés dans les pays de destination. La reproduction des statuts sociaux au croisement de deux espaces nationaux se négocient – entre autres – par le choix du lieu où grandissent les enfants et des personnes en charge de les élever. Le focus est mis sur les stratégies des mères car ce sont elles qui ont la charge du soin quotidien des enfants en migration, et parce que les enfants sont, pour la plupart, accueillis par des membres de leur parenté utérine à Dakar. Les parents migrants de cette enquête, issus de différentes fractions des classes moyennes dakaroises, évaluent les quartiers ségrégués, populaires et immigrés où ils résident dans les pays de migration comme risqués pour la socialisation de leurs enfants. L’incertitude qui pèse sur le devenir des enfants nés en migration (carrières déviantes, échec scolaire) met en danger la reproduction sociale des maisonnées transnationales et les projets de mobilité sociale des parents. Ainsi ces derniers luttent-ils pour transmettre à leurs enfants à la fois les ressources de l’autochtonie (normes, relations, écoles privées, environnement protégé) et les ressources internationales (travail, études supérieures, langues, droit de circulation) au travers de stratégies de socialisation et de relocalisation de leurs enfants à Dakar. Appuyée sur une enquête ethnographique multi-sites (douze mois de terrain, neuf mois au Sénégal, trois mois dans les pays de migration), cette recherche analyse comment ces pratiques transnationales reflètent des modes de lutte contre le déclassement social, ethno-racial et statutaire subi en migration, selon des (dis)-positions sociales et des ressources de départ différentes. Entre projets de retour (au Sénégal), investissements scolaires privés, logiques économiques et normes sociales, ce mode de prise en charge des enfants est intimement lié et contraint par le cadre politique et le contexte économique du pays de naissance des enfants (États-Unis, France, Italie). La décision de laisser partir un enfant au Sénégal est ainsi attachée à des politiques migratoires, familiales et scolaires. Cet arrangement apparemment singulier est toutefois exemplaire d »une façon d’émigrer perçue comme provisoire ou du moins sans rupture, ainsi que de liens affectifs et économiques qui dépassent largement ceux d’un modèle conjugal et nucléaire de la famille. / International migration results in the reconfiguration of the roles taken up by each family member, requiring readjustments in the absence of one or more relatives. This study examines the implications of the kinship practice of sending children who were born abroad to grow up in Senegal, their parent’s country of origin. The reproduction of social status at the intersection of two national spaces is negotiated, in part, by the choice of where children will live and who will take charge of bringing them up. Here, I focus on mother’s strategies, given that they are most often in charge of the daily care of children in the context of migration, and because in most cases, the children studied were welcomed by members of their maternal kin in Dakar.The migrant parents in this study, who come from various segments of Dakar’s middle class, esteem that the segregated, lower-class, and immigrant neighborhoods where they live abroad represent a risk for their children’s socialization. This uncertainty, which weighs heavily on the futures of children born in migration (the risk of deviance and scholarly failure) endangers the social reproduction of transnational households and their parents’ ambitions of social mobility. As such, these caregivers strive to transmit to their children, both the resources of their country of origin (social norms and relations, private schools, a protected environment) and international resources (work, higher education, language skills, rights to travel) through socialization strategies and by moving their children to Dakar. Drawing on multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork (twelve months total, nine in Senegal and three in countries of migration), this study analyzes how these transnational practices reflect various means through which families fight against the treat of downward social mobility, relative to their ethnicity/race and assigned status in migration and associated with their social positions and resources pre-migration. Between ambitions to return to Senegal, investments in private schooling, economic logics, and social norms, the means of caring for one’s children is intimately linked and constrained by the political economic context in the children’s country of birth (United States, France, or Italy). The decision to send one’s child to grow up in Senegal is thus bound up with the politics of migration, in families, and of schools. This arrangement, apparently exceptional, is nonetheless exemplary of a form of emigration perceived to be temporary or at least without rupture, and affective and economic connections which far exceed the nuclear family.

This dissertation explores the ways in which black single mothers in the Washington, DC metropolitan area use material goods and consumption practices to inform their identities as members of the middle class. Black middle class women are challenging stereotypes surrounding single mother households, the idea of family, and class status in the United States, as more women overall are having children while single, delaying or deciding against marriage, and are entering the middle and upper-middle classes as a result of advanced education and career opportunities. Because of these demographic and sociocultural shifts, the romanticized “nuclear family” which consists of a married heterosexual couple and their children is becoming less authoritative as a symbol of middle class status. Instead, the middle class is represented through lifestyle options such as home ownership, neighborhood selection, fashion choices, education, and leisure activities. In the Washington, DC metro area, black women are asserting their single status while employing strategies to raise their children and excel professionally in order to maintain a middle class lifestyle. In this dissertation I examine black women, who are both single mothers and nonpoor, as an understudied, but constructive group in the DC metro area. Through ethnographic field research, I explored their experiences in the home, workplace, and greater community by employing a mixed methods approach including participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups. I demonstrate the ways material goods and experiences shape their complex identifies against and in support of various stereotypes. This research is unique in its focus on the black middle class from a new perspective and contributes to scholarly literatures on class and identity formation, black womanhood and motherhood, and material culture.