Market Inequalities and Ecological Distinction: The Moral Ruses of Sustainable Consumption across the North-South Divide
Abstract
This paper critically explores how social inequalities shape the practice and politics of sustainable consumption. Drawing on a cultural and economic sociology approach and comparing contexts in the Global North (France) and Global South (India), we argue that sustainable consumption is an insufficient motor for eco-social transformation because it relies on and reproduces market inequalities via everyday practices. Dominant middleclass, performative environmentalisms exclude and stigmatize the poor and aspirational working classes, who often lack the surplus time and financial resources to participate in green consumption. As a result, they are unable to attain the moral recognition and social distinction associated with "enlightened" consumption. Rather than attributing this class polarization solely to the cultural dynamics of environmentalism, we argue that it is better understood as a consequence, and driver, of the broader social inequalities that underpin consumer economies -inequalities that are salient to how production is structured in globalized economies and to how markets are organized and communicate cultural values. We contend that this dynamic of inequality within consumerist societies has been largely overlooked in climate policy frameworks and public discourse, to its own detriment.
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BibTeX
@article{anantharaman2026market,
title = {{Market Inequalities and Ecological Distinction: The Moral Ruses of Sustainable Consumption across the North-South Divide}},
author = {Manisha Anantharaman and Sophie Dubuisson-Quellier},
journal = {Sociologica},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.60923/issn.1971-8853/24165},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05766932v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Market Inequalities and Ecological Distinction: The Moral Ruses of Sustainable Consumption across the North-South Divide
AU - Manisha Anantharaman
AU - Sophie Dubuisson-Quellier
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/06
JO - Sociologica
DO - 10.60923/issn.1971-8853/24165
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05766932v1
AB - This paper critically explores how social inequalities shape the practice and politics of sustainable consumption. Drawing on a cultural and economic sociology approach and comparing contexts in the Global North (France) and Global South (India), we argue that sustainable consumption is an insufficient motor for eco-social transformation because it relies on and reproduces market inequalities via everyday practices. Dominant middleclass, performative environmentalisms exclude and stigmatize the poor and aspirational working classes, who often lack the surplus time and financial resources to participate in green consumption. As a result, they are unable to attain the moral recognition and social distinction associated with "enlightened" consumption. Rather than attributing this class polarization solely to the cultural dynamics of environmentalism, we argue that it is better understood as a consequence, and driver, of the broader social inequalities that underpin consumer economies -inequalities that are salient to how production is structured in globalized economies and to how markets are organized and communicate cultural values. We contend that this dynamic of inequality within consumerist societies has been largely overlooked in climate policy frameworks and public discourse, to its own detriment.
SN - 1971-8853
ER -