Contradictions in the development of eco-consumerism in the context of R. Inglehart’s evolutionary theory of modernization
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22098352 |
|---|---|
| Authors | N V Goncharov (Orenburg State University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 631-648 |
| Publication date | 2025-12-25 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | RUDN Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2313-2272 • E-ISSN: 2408-8897 |
| Publisher | Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (PUBLISHER • RU) |
| DOI | 10.22363/2313-2272-2025-25-4-631-648 |
| OpenAlex | W7125027634 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 17 |
The article considers the development of eco-sustainable practices as a part of the global cultural shift from materialist values to the post-materialist ones. The first part briefly outlines the central ideas of R. Inglehart’s evolutionary theory of modernization, which defines the global cultural shift as a transition in individual life strategies from “survival” to “self-expression” due to the growing predominance of post-materialist values over the materialist ones. Such transformations are expected to reshape consumer practices - from hedonistic consumption rooted in acquisitive values to responsible, proenvironmental consumption shaped by post-materialist orientations. However, this transition is inconsistent and contradictory due to multiple barriers. The author considers institutional and value-based barriers to the expansion of pro-environmental consumption (green gap, elitism of eco-consumption in qualitative terms, hedonistic values and orientations). The article is based on empirical data and aims at proving the hypothesis of the macro-social stability of hedonistic consumer practices which prevail even in societies with high levels of economic and existential security, where post-materialism dominates the social-political sphere. Even younger generations, which socialized in the conditions of relative economic security and are more likely to have post-materialist orientations, show a decline in interest in pro-environmental consumption. The author argues that eco-consumerism is a nonlinear outcome of the global value shift from materialism to post-materialism, which makes ecoconsumption practices a hybrid phenomenon that reflects an adaptation of consumer values to ecological trends. Thus, eco-consumerism as an expression of post-materialism contradicts the logic of consumerist hedonism supported and reinforced by the contemporary consumer culture
Consumerism · Culture theory · Hedonism · Individualism · Materialism · Modernization theory · Cultural Studies and Postmodernism · Digital Transformation in Law · Innovation, Sustainability, Human-Machine Systems
Political Consumerism
Political Virtue and Shopping
Modernization and Postmodernization
The Global Modern, postmaterial values and periphery capitalism in Russia
Escaping from the economy
Overstating Value Change
The Silent Revolution in Europe
The Inglehart-Flanagan Debate over Postmaterialist Values
Misconceptions of Measurement Equivalence
Live Better by Consuming Less
Post-Materialism in an Environment of Insecurity
Economic Security and Value Change
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |