Culture and Privilege in Capitalist Asia - Jurusan Antropologi ...

CULTURAL RELATIONS AND THE NEW RICH 27
WEALTH CONSUMPTION AND STATUS
CONTESTATION
An upturn has definitely hit South and Southeast Asia, and the newest
recruits to the middle class are shopping for culture.
(Asiaweek, 16 October 1992)
It’s a Malaysia where [men’s lifestyle magazine] readers drive BMWs
and Mercedes, ride Harleys, punch data into laptop computers, drink
tequila sunrises in Hard Rock cafés (in a predominantly Muslim
country), visit Paris and pay for it all on platinum Visa cards and large
salaries.
(Financial Review, 2 October 1995)
Since early this year, developers [in China’s Guangdong province]
have filled pages of Hong Kong dailies with full-spread colour
advertisements touting mockEuropean architecture, fountains and
landscaped gardens.
(Far Eastern Economic Review, 14 July 1994)
Today, keeping up with the Joshis is the accepted middle-class norm.
(Far Eastern Economic Review, 14 January 1993)
Spurred by the growth of the international media and the subsequent
emergence of a pan-Asian consumer class, advertisers are increasingly
trying to consolidate brands and strategies to carry across national
borders. More important they want to mould Asia’s massive, growing
markets into a single mass entity.
(Far Eastern Economic Review, 25 February 1993)
The Maruti-Suzuki Esteems and Tata Sierras roll up towards midnight
at the Fireball (Disco), and out get the young set of Delhi’s affluent
classes: blue Levis made in Bangalore, black tops, vamp lipstick,
unisex short haircuts, muscles sculptured at the gym. Outside the
door, kept back by security guards, are groups of Jat boys, sons of the
dominant peasant caste in the surrounding Haryana countryside, who
gape in censorious envy at the independent rich girls in skimpy clothes.
(Financial Review, 4 October 1995)
As Mercedes-Benzes and mansions begin to proliferate in countries
where millions still toil in destitution, new affluence stirs old
resentment… People admire the rich for their success, but resent how
they enjoy the fruits and prestige of their achievement.
(Asiaweek, 8 September 1995)