Border and Mobility – Kerr Et Al

Environmentalism and consumerism: The contradiction of globalization in behavior consumption of the urban middle class in Surabaya, Indonesia

D.A. Arimbi, N. Wulan & F. Colombijn Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia

ABSTRACT: The aim of this research is to study the human–environment interactions in Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia. We will focus on middle-class behavior because the middle class is most susceptible to globalizing impacts on the environment. This study uses a qualitative method: observation and purposive sampling (in-depth, open-ended interviews) in Surabaya and the data are taken from 2017 to 2018. The targeted findings of this research are the consumption behaviors of the urban-middle class in Surabaya and how this class negotiates between environmentalism and consumerism. Important findings include models of consumption and environmental awareness of the middle class in Sura- baya. One most important finding indicates that the higher the social class the individual is, the less s/he is concerned with environmental issues. The choice of middle-class consumptive lifestyles functions as a strong influence for its members to neglect their environmental con- sciousness for the sake of prestige and consumption.

Keywords: globalization, environmentalism, consumption, Surabaya

1 INTRODUCTION

The contemporary global environmental crisis is arguably the single most important issue faced by our world. Local issues of human health, threatened by air pollution, unclean water, inadequate collection of solid waste, and a failing sewerage system, are particularly pertinent to the lives of millions of inhabitants of cities in the Global South (Drakakis-Smith 1995). The North is notorious for its indulgence in consumption, but people in the South aspire to the same ‘modern’ lifestyle as people in the North. Economic growth will enable them to realize these aspirations. What will happen when the populations of Indonesia, China, India, Brazil, and other emerging economies consume at the same level per capita as the North? This question is not meant to lead attention away from the Northern responsibility for its problematic consumption and production methods, nor to deny emerging economies their fair share of global resources and high consumption levels! But the question does empha- size that the economic development of countries in the South will create problems for the environment. The aim of this research is to study the human–environment interactions in Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia. We will focus on middle-class behavior, because, as will be detailed in the literature review below, the middle class is most susceptible to globalizing impacts on the environment. These global forces produce two contradictory results. On the negative side, global models (from the West, but also for instance from emerging economies such as China) stimulate wasteful consumption patterns. Indonesians follow global fashion trends, aspire to use a car instead of alternative transportation, use air-conditioning (considered ‘modern’) instead of making use of natural ways of cooling a house, and so on. On the positive side, global models of environmentalism also make an impact on the Indonesian middle class and stimulate its members to behave in an eco-friendly way. Such models of 223 pro-environmental behavior can come from an environmentalist discourse, but also, for instance, from Islam or other religions. Indonesia is rife with paradoxical examples of this double influence. For instance, as we once noted the car-free day in Semarang was opened by the Governor of Central Java, who came to the event by car. He found it beneath his dignity not to arrive by car. Another example is offered by environmental activists who hold a conference in a luxurious hotel on Bali; both the aerial flight and climate conditions in the hotel have no doubt harmed the environment. The specific purpose of the research is to answer the central question addressed in this proposal, which is how urban middle-class Indonesians negotiate the contradictory global influences of wasteful consumption and environmental care. The research is very important to understand human–environmental interactions at a theoretical level. The results will also add to a global, comparative understanding of the effects of economic growth. And finally the research will produce practical insights that can be used to build environmental awareness and action in Indonesia. Part of the research needed to be conducted in the Netherlands. Accepting the definition of the Brundtland Commission that sustainable development is development that “meets the need of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED 1987), any study of sustainable development must have a time depth of at least one generation. Therefore adding a historical perspective to study contemporary environmental sustainability is imperative. Due to the Indonesian-Dutch postcolonial legacy, there is by far no country in the Global South with equally rich historical sources than the Netherlands, which enable the study of human–environment interactions. Just as important is the fact that the KITLV in Leiden has the best library resources on Indonesia anywhere in the world. The most innovative aspect of this proposal (the urgency of this research) is the choice to study the dialectics between the contradictory global trends of environmentalism and consumerism of the middle class. Existing studies of middle-class consumption in Indonesia (e.g. Robison 1996; Tanter and Young 1990) do not focus on the environmental consequences of these consumption styles. Existing studies of the environment have too much ignored Indo- nesia, which is a serious mistake. As the fourth largest country in the world, situated in one of the most dynamic parts of the world, Southeast Asia, Indonesia should be of prime concern for a study on the environment in emerging economies in all circumstances. The study is also innovative in its conscious use of a historical approach, as a necessary prerequisite for an environmental study. To study history is not, as so often, an aim in itself, but is indispensable for testing the sustainability of contemporary institutions. This approach will enrich theoretical debates about both scavenging and middle-class consumptive lifestyles.

2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

The literature on environmental problems is enormous. If we focus only on solid waste, the number of scientific publications about waste is as overwhelming as the volume of waste itself. There are also many specialized journals, like Waste Management, or Resources, Con- servation and Recycling about solid waste. Growing urbanization and economic development have made the issue of urban pollution, and the treatment of waste in particular, more pressing than ever. Economic growth produces more pollution; conversely, growing pollution threatens the sustainability of (economic) development. Urban pollution not only puts economic growth at risk and negatively affects human health but also imperils human well-being in general (Davis 2007). The influential Brundtland Commission contends that economic and social development can go together with preservation of our resources and does not need to happen at the expense of chances of development for future generations (WCED 1987). This contention, however, is a moot point. David Satterthwaite, for instance, argues that the key to environmental degradation is found in middle-class and elite consumption patterns and the urban- based production and distribution systems that serve them (Satterthwaite 2003: 74). If we accept the working hypothesis that urban poverty is not necessarily the biggest cause of 224 environmental degradation in the Global South (Ghanimé and Jahan 2004; Martínez-Alier 1995), but wealth might create problems, the question arises as to what impact growing prosperity will make. It is not just growing prosperity that is creating environmental challenges, but the modernization of the world. In the modernized world, or, in Zygmunt Bauman’s words, at a time of “liquid modernity”, when fixed, traditional frameworks were abandoned, people had the freedom, but were also required, to make individual choices to determine their position in society, still, of course, within societal constraints (Bauman 2000: 18–23). One way to find one’s place in modern society is by consumptive choices. While the drive to modernization was perhaps led by the West, societies outside the West (who were often once colonized by the West) adopted modernity as well, but selectively; they picked what suited them best (Colom- bijn and Coté 2015). In Indonesia, advertisements in newspapers and journals from the mid- twentieth century promoted fashionable clothes, electric lighting, and modern kitchenware. Also less tangible things and certain behavior conveyed the idea of modernity: Western music, American films, smoking cigarettes, and, especially for women, the use of toothpaste and having fresh breath (Basundoro 2015; Husain 2015; Khusyairi and Colombijn 2015; Kusno 2010: 168–81; Maier 1997; Schulte Nordholt 1997: 20). In a process of objectification, people engage with material objects and as consumers reso- cialize commodities from which they had become estranged as producers (Miller 1995: 143). Thorstein Veblen used the term conspicuous consumption to describe the deliberately wasteful consumption of the elite (O’Brien 2011: 156–9). The combined result of this stage of liquid modernity, objectification of culture, and conspicuous consumption is an ever-faster level of consumption. Fashion and inbuilt obsolescence compel people to throw away goods that in pre-modern times would have been used much longer. Much more waste is being produced than humans would do if they simply satisfied their material needs. However, it would be wrong to see economic development of a growing middle class only as a threat to the environment. The current economic development in the Global South may produce several simultaneous effects, especially if the growth reaches larger segments of the population. Growing consumption is likely to produce more waste. Fewer people might be willing to take on the task of waste-picking, which is as a rule looked down upon by the society at large. So, the problem of waste may worsen in two ways when economies develop: more waste is produced and less is recycled. Nevertheless, these negative environmental effects of development might be offset by growing environmental awareness among the middle class, which takes in global notions of environmentalism. In sum, a better insight into the conditions for environmental awareness in the middle class helps to find tools to reduce the swelling problem of waste in the Global South. Narratives that explain the status of the environment in general, or waste and consumption in particular, are influenced by political and economic interests (Nunan 2015: 31; Rob- bins 2004: 12). Therefore the study of consumption, the environment, and waste should be undertaken from a perspective rooted in political ecology. Paul Robbins (2004: 12) defines political ecology as the “empirical, research-based explo- rations to explain linkages in the condition and change of social/environmental systems, with explicit consideration of relations of power.” These relations of power are, perhaps by definition, uneven, and consequently the study of waste involves a study of the exercise and unequal distribution of power. Seeking social justice is a key aim of a political ecology analysis because there is a normative understanding that there are more sustainable and less exploitative (of both nature and people) forms of human–environmental interactions. The analysis of power is also a matter of scale, and local environmental problems must be studied in the context of national and international influences (Bryant 1992; Jaffe and Dürr 2010; Nunan 2015; Robbins 2004).

3 METHOD OF RESEARCH

The overarching research question we wish to explore is how middle-class people in Indonesian cities produce and process waste, and reflect on their interactions with the environment. 225 The research took place in Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia, with a population of 2.8 million people. Surabaya is a port city, with a comparatively well-developed industry, the largest naval base in the country, and like most cities in the Global South, a large and varied service sector. It is also the capital city of the province of East Java (Dick 2002). The research covers the particular question of what meaning does the middle class give to the exemplary place of consumerism, the shopping mall. How does the middle class relate to global trends? Why do they sometimes indulge in excessive consumption and other times join global forces to fight environmental damage? How do they negotiate contradictory global messages of consumerism and environmentalism? How do they integrate the use of their car, exemplary object of consumerism, with a green awareness? The research collected data from 3 malls in Surabaya and interviewed 30 respondents in these malls. The respondents chosen were those who have been categorized as middle-class people that are called cukupan, categorized as those who have an income range of 3–10 million rupiah. We also chose some students who are called new-middle-class people because education has helped them be categorized as educated people, and only rich people and middle-class people can apply to be a member of the university. However, the scholarship that the government give means lower-class people can join universities (Gerke, 2005).

4 FINDINGS

As a business and industrial city that absorbs many people, Surabaya also creates problems related to waste and pollution. Traditionally, industries in Surabaya increase their productiv- ity and this enables economic growth and prosperity. The consumption behavior is also one of the effects of the target of economic growth and prosperity. However, this condition can also be a problem for citizens in negotiating the fundamental message toward preserving their environment and the global message of consumerism. The citizens are just the objects of globalization that leads us to consume more products. As the target of globalization is to make the distant become closer, reachable, and affordable, the citizens tend to choose competitive products that bring them benefits. When the respondents were being asked questions related to their shopping activity and their understanding about eco-awareness, it seems that they know but are not intensively concerned about it. The data were taken from some middle-class people who were enjoying the malls dur- ing the weekend. They comprise several answers from several questions related to renewable products, energy-saving program, and sustainability. The first question was related to how far they understand green awareness or eco-awareness. The results showed that 25 people out of 30 said they understood enough about it, and 5 of them do not understand about it. Market industry as the actor who provides material products and services has an important role in offering green products or services. Unfortunately, in Surabaya it is not becoming an important focus for the government relating the greening environment program. They still freely spread solid waste, which is mostly plastic waste. In addition the amount of plastic used has increased drastically coupled with an increase in the intensity of shopping. It is impossible to restrain citizens’ habit of shopping. Advertise- ments invite them to help each other by consuming some products. The more people consume industrial products, the more salary the employee gets; the more salary the employee gets, the more consumptive s/he is. As we know, the word ‘prosperity’ means that all people become successful and there are equal financial opportunities (Press). So, it is difficult to control their shopping activity since prosperity, especially financial wealth, is the target of life. Some of the respondents said that it is impossible to control their outcome, because the more salary they get, the more money they spend. It means that the more plastics they consume, the more fuel they use for reaching the mall and the more energy they use. The way they consume actually also gives them their identity. According to Solvay Gerke, the rise of middle-class people in Indonesia is marked by the rise of consumption. By consuming many things people can construct their legitimacy; they can be the arbiters, hawkers, and trend-setters of the ‘modernity’ (Gerke, 2005). As the researchers analyze through the 226 way the respondents consume, all of them enjoy the shopping mall for getting fashionable things such as clothes and make-up, having coffee at Starbucks, or dinner at McD or at the food court. Those things in Surabaya are costly to imitate; only middle-class society can spend their time and money in consuming them. When the respondents were asked to choose between reducing their consumption habit and reducing the use of plastic waste, they gave answers indicating that whilst they still do some measure of environmentally friendly hab- its, they cannot reduce what they buy, especially because they buy everyday needs alongside family (N, 2017), reminding us that some Indonesian middle-class people are bold enough to reject the invitation to reduce their consumption lifestyle. On one side, the program that invites them to prevent the environment from being polluted is beneficial, and on the other side it is illogical enough for them because they want to preserve their prestige. In addition, this rejection will be a new trend for new-middle-class society, students, for example. Even if they do not have income from other institutions, they have a daily budget from their parents. Some of the respondents buy make-up that is an international brand, such as Victoria’s Secret. This make-up has helped them to be part of modernity. Those who wear this make-up have been already being members of an international fashion trend. However, being educated in university does not help you to be a member of international modernity (Gerke, 2005). It can be looked at how they prefer to buy make-up, T-shirts, bags, and shoes at the mall rather than the traditional market, as we know that the brands are only located in the high-class malls, such as Galaxy Mall, Tunjungan Plaza Mall, and Grand City Mall.

5 INTRODUCING GOVERNMENT AS THE AGENT OF LOCAL CULTURE

Regarding the green awareness movement, the Surabaya government has already applied this program by inviting its citizens to join in many events. In contrast, this program tends to favor the externalization of ecological costs and blend with some product promotions that let capitalist development increase. From the statements above, we know that on one side the government intensively invites its citizens to keep the environment clean and minimize solid waste, but the business actors, such as stores, give them plastic bags to contain their purchases. Markus Lederer said that this ambivalence actually should be solved by using the term of trade-offs. In this system, the government as the policy maker should be consistent with the effort of greening the land. There will be some sectors who will be traded-off in order to be consistent (Lederer, 2018). The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has listed 10 key economic sectors that are “driving the definition trends of the transition to Green Economy including increasing human well-being and social equity and reducing environmental risks and eco-logical scarcities”. In addition, according to Urban F, the key characteristic of the Green Economic approach is that social, ecological, and economic issues should be approached in an integrated manner and that they entail some different types of feedback effects. Positive interaction within and across these two issues can be considered as synergies (Urban, 2013). Lederer said that both trade-offs and synergies are the result of interaction that may come about through either deliberate action or as unintended consequences and can themselves become the subjects of bureaucracy management (Lederer, 2018). In contrast, some of the trade-offs and synergies that have been done are adverse for one of two sides; commonly, the government could not control maximally that its side is always get that adverse. It is evident that politics always creates risks for citizens. The government as the agent of local culture forgets to bring its citizens for upholding the local wisdom. In this process, local cultures do not work because of the wave of globalization.

6 CONCLUSION

In Surabaya, the above forms of the symbolic demonstration of social class and group membership exist because of interpretation of status or prestige. With rapid capitalist economic development that has a target of prosperity for all people, prestige and status become 227 negotiable values depending mainly on how they live and their consumption patterns. The international standard of consumption also helps Indonesian people become members of middle-class society on a national or international scale. In the name of increasing the grade of prosperity, globalization brings us to Western culture. In this process, local culture does not work to help people reduce the usage of plastic or solid waste.

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