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  1. Home
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  3. Consumption, Status, and Sustainability
  • Cited by 1
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
July 2021
Print publication year:
2021
Online ISBN:
9781108874441
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108874441
Subjects:
Social and Cultural Anthropology, Archaeology: General Interest, Archaeology, Anthropology, Earth and Environmental Science: General Interest
Series:
New Directions in Sustainability and Society
Information

Book description

This volume addresses current concerns about the climate and environmental sustainability by exploring one of the key drivers of contemporary environmental problems: the role of status competition in generating what we consume, and what we throw away, to the detriment of the planet. Across time and space, humans have pursued social status in many different ways - through ritual purity, singing or dancing, child-bearing, bodily deformation, even headhunting. In many of the world's most consumptive societies, however, consumption has become closely tied to how individuals build and communicate status. Given this tight link, people will be reluctant to reduce consumption levels – and environmental impact -- and forego their ability to communicate or improve their social standing.  Drawing on cross-cultural and archaeological evidence, this book asks how a stronger understanding of the links between status and consumption across time, space, and culture might bend the curve towards a more sustainable future.

Reviews

‘A strongly diachronic collection, the pieces within this book form a comprehensive examination of status and consumption. Suitable for those conducting research in the fields of anthropology, sociology, geography, archaeology, or any environmentally oriented social science ... Recommended.’

J. Asselin Source: Choice Connect

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