ABSTRACT
To decipher and deconstruct the multifaceted relationship between globalization and local transformation in Chinese cities, especially Shanghai (Chen and Sun 2007; Sun and Chen 2005), this chapter focuses on the residential differentiation of global oriented consumption in Shanghai as a function of socioeconomic variables and personal global connections (PGCs) (e.g. having worked for a foreign company locally). Data1 from Shanghai reveal a considerable variation among different residential categorieswith regard to residents’socioeconomic status, and that while social economic divisions are prevalent among residential categories, PGCs significantly affect global oriented consumer behaviors such as eating McDonald’s or KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken), purchasing and wearing foreign brand clothes, and using foreign brand household appliances. That is, people in better or higher-end residential spaces with certain global connections are more likely to purchase foreign brand goods, while rural residents and those with fewer global connections are attracted more by the symbolic meaning of foreign products. The findings suggest that residential categories reflect people’s socioeconomic status and external connections, both of which influence the extent to which people are oriented toward consuming global brand products, especially in a globalizing city like Shanghai where residential patterns and lifestyles have become more differentiated.
