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Conspicuous reserves: Ideologies of water consumption and the performance of class
Author(s) -
O'Leary Heather
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
economic anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2330-4847
DOI - 10.1002/sea2.12150
Subject(s) - water scarcity , scarcity , ideology , human settlement , consumption (sociology) , agency (philosophy) , conspicuous consumption , sociology , social stratification , identity (music) , water use , water consumption , development economics , economics , natural resource economics , political economy , geography , water resource management , social science , political science , ecology , neoclassical economics , market economy , environmental science , agriculture , archaeology , politics , physics , acoustics , law , biology , institutional economics
Water has multiple values across and within cultures—transforming it from basic substance to a vehicle of cultural identity. Water scarcity can be imposed by hydrological or by social exclusion; each reinforces the other. Yet, even under scarcity, hierarchies are not immutable. People use myriad tools to increase their share of water, including, at times, the expenditure of more water. In water‐scarce informal settlements and tenements in Delhi, India, people's conspicuous use of water not only increases their social status and economic power but also generates additional access to water. This article argues that broader transformations of urban Indian culture, such as its increased commitment to middle classness, are demonstrated through the conspicuous consumption of water as a form of economic agency. Economic anthropology's theories of consumption are valuable frameworks to challenge the way water expenditures are modeled and hierarchies are upheld.