YOUNG, Ahead of Print.
Consumption patterns in social groups are diversely affected by global and local processes. Using a mixed approach, this study analyses the consumption pattern of three classes of young in Tehran (capital of Iran) including the rich, middle and lower classes. The findings suggest that the self-indulgent lifestyle of rich kids of Tehran is a reproduction of global consumption patterns. The ingress of global patterns and culture into society was also mediated through the rich class, who are inclined to convergence in consumption in the global context. Rich kids act as the reference group for lifestyle among middle- and lower-class youth, who adopt eclectic lifestyles in the local context. Overall, the nature and extent to which rich kids are perceived as a reference group differ between the two classes, with the middle-class youth taking a more realistic, extensive and imitative perspective and the lower class incorporating a more mental, limited, false and damaging mindset.