Income Inequality, Class and Consumption

Since the beginning of the new century, the world has experiencing rapid and deep changes in the labour market, work relations and occupational distribution. Until 2008 crisis, several countries had gone through a process of social and economic development, with an increasing in work positions as well as an improvement of living patterns for a significant proportion of the population. This process would be accompanied by an increase in the consumption possibilities for different social classes, especially with the inclusion of a proportion of underprivilege groups. Nevertheless, there is less agreement about the inequality decreasing throughout the last two decades, which can be worsen with the COVID19 pandemic.

Thus, the persistence of income inequalities, despite the increasing in education and technology, is the focus of our session proposal. For that, the session is expected to include papers examining the relationship between social class, consumption, and income distribution, in the light of different political and economic cycles in different social contexts. Based on that, our objective is to debate the processes and dynamics involved in individual and collective trajectories, by studying the mechanisms and features involved in recent changes in class distribution, lifestyle, consumption standards, adopting an analytical and critical reflection.

In this sense, comparative presentations are welcome, either diachronically, cross-national or among social groups or local communities.

We look forward to rigorous research that addresses the issues raised with "sociological imagination" and methodological accuracy. We welcome submissions that draw on both qualitative and quantitative methodologies.