Intersubjectivities underlying consumption norms in Complexo da Penha

Data collected during fieldwork make two points of contribution: first, they increase our understanding of the functioning of an existing subjectivity, and second they identify a new one.

Firstly, regarding the functioning of intra class differentiation, a feeling of recrimination was commonly manifested. It was clear that attempts at social differentiation via consumption were penalized when the person practicing it was perceived as an equal in terms of destitution. This individual was treated as a "social fraud", who through ostentatious consumption – unsuccessfully - tried to hide a reality marked by material precariousness, and hence the recurrence of expressions related to "wanting to be what one is not." And logically, the greater the detachment between social reality and appearances, the greater the social judgment:

"We have to shop thinking like that, right, about living within our means...so, in my family there are people who don’t have the financial means but want to buy things so they can show it off to people, you know? And don’t want to live their reality, don’t accept it. They try to show that they are something they’re not." (Cris)

"They do it out of greed. They want to be something, want to spend something they can’t. Want to have a status they don’t have, you know."(Fernando)

"I know many people who spend more than they should. That can’t do those things and are forcing the situation to be something that they can’t be, because they don’t have the means for it. They want to spend what they don’t have." (Lucio)

But ostentatious consumption became legitimate when the other was perceived as someone who actually had the financial means to do so. This became evident when we asked participants if they admired people who owned expensive houses and cars. Most people answered positively:

"I admire them! If you have those things it’s because you conquered them, everything requires a sacrifice, you know. If he got it is because he fought for it. If I want it, I have to fight to have it too, right?” (Cris).

"Oh, I agree yes, because they fought to conquer that. I really admire their struggle to obtain property, a material good that is a car, a motorcycle or whatever." (Danilo) "I think it’s a god thing if they can have it.... I admire it because the person is hard working." (Esther)

"I admire because the person worked to conquer that. I admire it." (Fernando)

"I admire because I think it's cool. Because sometimes the person got there fighting for it, nothing falls from the sky. Nothing happens by chance. He fought, worked and conquered what he has. So, I think it's cool. When it’s a product of hard work is cool, that I admire." (Lucio)

"There are people who have them, to the extent that they work hard, but like, I don’t care much about these things. We have what we deserve.” (Ian)

"I don’t admire, I think that if they have it, they earned it. They fought for it, they deserve it. If they got these things, is because they deserve them.” (Leonardo)

"If the person has that it’s because he did something to deserve it, right. So, I will never envy that. I admire the character of the person in the first place." (Mariana)

Even those who did not define their feeling as one of admiration, as the last three statements, instantly associated possessing expensive homes and cars to individual effort. Therefore, when there was no feeling of admiration towards the owners of these things, there was always the recognition of the individual merit related to the conquest. This points to the ideology of meritocracy, the great legitimator of social hierarchization in modern capitalist societies, which was very apparent during the interviews.

Secondly, we identified the existence of a norm of intra-class equalization, which is associated with a conformative type of consumption. It is not necessarily associated with a ritual - and therefore does not necessarily involve the social display of this consumption. Social valuation in this case comes from the feeling of belonging to an inferior social position, but one that has significantly increased its purchasing power over time, as suggested by the following report:

"Because back in my mom’s days, even for me, the poor were really poor. I remember that my mother used to raise chickens ... my mother planted a lot of things. But we had nothing. There was only one bed for us to sleep in, a chair like that, but there was no couch. After a while she was able to buy a tv. But it was all different from the poor I see today. The poor of today have everything in the house."(Janete)

For Janete, the “poor of today” surpassed a state of extreme destitution and now they “have everything in the house”. If “having everything in the house” is considered to be the normal state of her social reference group, this creates an impulse to conform. By conforming, she starts to belong to a group of people which has been increasing its economic capabilities over time.

Next, we move on to the investigation of the shared logics that ground financial norms.

6.3.2 Intersubjectivities underlying financial norms in Complexo da Penha – the case of