THE IMAGINED ‘CONSUMER DEMOCRACY’ AND ELITE (RE)PRODUCTION IN YEMEN

Abstract

In the republican state which emerged in North Yemen after the 1962 revolution the new ruling elite, which forms the core of the nouveaux riches, buttresses its claim to high status by wealth display and conspicuous consumption. Depending on regional variation, the old elite's acquiescence in or rejection of new consumption practices expresses respectively either the maintenance of an elevated social position or a protest against what is considered a corrupt social order. Whereas consumption has led to a degree of homogeneity among the affluent old and the new elite of San‘a, the old elite as a whole has become more fragmented. In light of Bourdieu's Distinction, this article argues that ‘taste’, generated by class‐related incorporated dispositions, may manifest itself in practices ranging from lavish consumption to renunciation. Consumer choice must be explored in relation both to moral schemes and to the pursuit of social pre‐eminence.