Consumption and Vietnam’s New Middle Classes: Societal Transformations and Everyday Life (Consumption and Public Life) 3031141660, 9783031141669

Table of contents :
Acknowledgments
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
1: Introduction: Consumption, Societal Transformations and Everyday Life in Vietnam
Consumption, Change and Continuity
Social Practices, Everyday Geographies and Political Economy: Doing Consumption Research in Vietnam
Outline of the Book
References
2: Consumption Transformed: Đôˀi Mơ'i, New Middle Classes and the Construction of Consumer Socialism
Consuming Đổi Mới1
The Socialist Market Economy and the Creation of New Middle Classes
Constructing Consumer Socialism
The Socialist Consumer Revolution
Conflicted Consumerism
Conclusion
References
3: Reflexive Individuals and the Political Economy of Everyday Practices: Theorising Consumption and Capitalist Development
Challenging Practice Theory: Consumers, Culture and the Political Economy of Practices
Consumers as Reflexive Individuals
Culture and Practice
The Political Economy of Practices
Practices and the Political Economy of Development: Concluding Discussion
References
4: Wheels of Change: Motorbikes, Cars and Capitalism
Driving Đổi Mới: Contextual and Theoretical Starting Points
Theorising Automobility and Moto-Mobility
‘Motorbike Ethnography’
Hanoi on Wheels: The System of Moto-Mobility and Its Everyday Geography
Driving in the System of Moto-Mobility
The Particularities of Hanoi’s Moto-Mobile Streetscapes
Mundane Mobilities and Their Moorings
Emerging Automobility
Mobile Distinction
Italian Luxury
Success on Four Wheels
Better Service, Higher Bribes
The Car as a Business Strategy
Bringing Success to the quê
Mobile Pragmatism and Conspicuous Immobility
Conspicuous Luck
Normalising Automobility: Cars, Capitalism, and Socio-Politically Embedded Mobility
Between the Exceptional and the Expected
Conclusion
References
5: Food Transformations, Food Cultures and Food Practices in the Socialist Market Economy
Đổi Mới’s Foodscape Transformations
Practices, Culture and Foodscapes
Eating Out Under Consumer Socialism
Change and Continuity
Heterogeneous Foodways
Changing Food Cultures6
Generational Differences
Concluding Discussion: Food Cultures and the Political Economy of Food Practices
References
6: Đổi Mới and the Meatification of Everyday Food Practices
Meat and Development
Development, Agricultural Change and Meat Consumption in Vietnam
Increasing Meat Consumption in Vietnam: The Main Factors
Factor 1: Provisioning Meat: Increased Availability and Affordability
Factor 2: Meat Intensification of Food Practices
Factor 3: Eating Out
Factor 4: Meat Representing Development and Distinction
Eating a Capitalist Transformation: Practices and Provision
Meat Cultures
Conclusion
References
7: Electrifying Development: Consumption Booms and Household Energy Demand
Consuming Energy
Energy Transformations and the Political Economy of Energy
Consumer Socialism and Household Electricity Consumption
The Power of Stuff
Conditioning Comfort
Electrifying Mobility
Conclusion
References
8: Conclusion: Consumption, Sustainability and the Political Economy of Consumer Socialism
Studying Consumption and Development
Consumption in the Socialist Market Economy: Variegated Transformations
Change and Continuity
Pandemic Disruptions
Asian Middle Classes and Sustainable, Post-pandemic Futures
References
Correction to: Consumption Transformed: Đôˀi Mơ’i, New Middle Classes and the Construction of Consumer Socialism
Index

Citation preview

CONSUMPTION AND PUBLIC LIFE

Consumption and Vietnam’s New Middle Classes Societal Transformations and Everyday Life Arve Hansen

Consumption and Public Life

Series Editors Frank Trentmann Birkbeck, University of London London, UK Richard Wilk Indiana University Bloomington, IN, USA

The series will be a channel and focus for some of the most interesting recent work on consumption, establishing innovative approaches and a new research agenda. New approaches and public debates around consumption in modern societies will be pursued within media, politics, ethics, sociology, economics, management and cultural studies.

Arve Hansen

Consumption and Vietnam’s New Middle Classes Societal Transformations and Everyday Life

Arve Hansen Centre for Development and the Environment University of Oslo Oslo, Norway

ISSN 2947-8227     ISSN 2947-8235 (electronic) Consumption and Public Life ISBN 978-3-031-14166-9    ISBN 978-3-031-14167-6 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14167-6 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022, corrected publication 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Contributor:Cannon Photography LLC / Alamy Stock Photo This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

To Tale and Hedda

Acknowledgments

This book draws on a decade of work. It has involved long periods of fieldwork, countless meals and conversations, and innumerable hours spent on motorbikes. It has been written in a wide range of geographical locations, notably Hanoi, Uppsala, Oslo and Fosnavåg. And it has taken quite a long time to write, much due to certain pandemic disruptions. The list of people who in different ways have contributed to this book is very long, but I will summarise those most directly involved here. First of all, I am forever grateful and indebted to my interviewees, my research assistants, and my friends and colleagues in Vietnam who have helped me understand at least parts of this wonderful country. I’m still learning and hope I get to go back soon. Special thanks to my good friend and colleague Do Ta Khanh and the Institute of European Studies at Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences. Without you, none of this would have been possible. My good friend and colleague Nguyen Thi Le has helped me understand Vietnam and is my go-to person whenever I have new layers of complexity to untangle. And my friend and colleague Vinh has been endlessly patient with my ignorance since day one and always helped out whenever I’m confused. Thank you! I have met so many wonderful people through my many stays in Vietnam, and all of them have one way or another influenced my work. A special thanks to my good friend Huong who has helped in so many ways with research and language training and shared so many meals and drinks and good times. Special thanks also to vii

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Mac for culinary explorations and for making sure so much of the free time in Hanoi has been fun and interesting. My work on consumption is deeply inspired by my friend, supervisor and mentor Hal Wilhite, who tragically passed away in 2019. His influence is obvious in this book and in all my work, and I have benefitted greatly from working with him. Many of the chapters in this book have benefitted from comments from friends and colleagues. Special thanks to Johannes Volden, Nguyen Thi Le, Dennis Zuev and Marius Korsnes who have acted as informal reviewers of different chapters. Parts of Chap. 2 draw on a book chapter in the book The Socialist Market Economy in Asia, which I co-edited with Jo Inge Bekkevold and Kristen Nordhaug. My co-editors as well as Henrik Nykvist and Rebekka Åsnes Sagild made constructive feedback on earlier drafts of this text. Chapter 4 figured (in a previous form) in my PhD thesis and benefitted from excellent feedback from Hege Merete Knutsen, Harold Wilhite, Desmond McNeill, Ida Rudolfsen, Karina Standal and Maren Aase, as well as by the anonymous referees in the Mobilities journal. Special thanks to Hege, who was the co-supervisor of my PhD and has been tremendously important for my work and for my understanding of economic geography. Chapter 6 has been published in Geoforum and benefitted greatly from comments by Desmond McNeill, Jostein Jakobsen, Lynn P. Nygaard and anonymous referees. Figure 6.1 was created by my wife Ida Rudolfsen. Thank you! I benefit every day from working across disciplines with strong teams at the Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM) at the University of Oslo. Particularly important is the research group ‘Sustainable consumption and energy equity’, which I am lucky enough to lead. Special thanks to Ulrikke Wethal, Johannes Volden and Øyvind Sundet for stimulating practice-theoretical discussions and even a practice-­theoretical reading group, and to Tanja Winther and the fabulous Include project for inspiration, collaboration and funding. Special thanks to everyone in the administration at SUM, and to our director, Sidsel Roalkvam, and former director Kristi Ann Stølen, for constant support and an insistence on the importance of thorough and grounded knowledge. The book draws on my work as a PhD candidate, postdoctoral fellow and researcher at SUM, and the centre has thus funded most

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of the work with this book. Parts of the time writing this book have been generously supported by Include—research centre for socially inclusive energy transitions, hosted by SUM and funded by The Research Council of Norway (295704). Big thanks to series editors Frank Trentmann and Richard Wilk for constant inspiration in the field of consumption research and for valuable comments on the book proposal. Thank you also to the anonymous referees for constructive feedback on the book proposal and the complete manuscript. Thank you to the excellent team at Palgrave and Springer, especially Connie Li, Sharla Plant and Liam Inscoe-Jones, for their assistance, and not least for their patience. Finally, endless thanks to my family. My wife, Ida, has made writing this book possible and has contributed with inputs on several chapters. Thank you for the love and patience. Hedda and Tale: You are everything to me. Hopefully we can take you both to Vietnam soon. This book is dedicated to you.

Contents

1 Introduction:  Consumption, Societal Transformations and Everyday Life in Vietnam  1 2 C  onsumption Transformed: Đổi Mớ i, New Middle Classes and the Construction of Consumer Socialism 17 3 Reflexive  Individuals and the Political Economy of Everyday Practices: Theorising Consumption and Capitalist Development 33 4 Wheels of Change: Motorbikes, Cars and Capitalism 53 5 Food  Transformations, Food Cultures and Food Practices in the Socialist Market Economy 91 6 Đổi Mớ i and the Meatification of Everyday Food Practices115 7 Electrifying  Development: Consumption Booms and Household Energy Demand147

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8 Conclusion:  Consumption, Sustainability and the Political Economy of Consumer Socialism173 C  orrection to: Consumption Transformed: Đổi Mớ i, New Middle Classes and the Construction of Consumer Socialism C1 I ndex 195

List of Figures

Fig. 2.1 Ownership of consumer goods (average number of items per household), 2002–2018 23 Fig. 4.1 Vietnam domestic motorbike sales and production, 1998–2020 55 Fig. 4.2 Vietnam domestic automobile production and sales, 2000–2020 56 Fig. 6.1 Meat consumption and affluence, 2013 119 Fig. 6.2 Meat consumption per capita, Vietnam, 1993–2020 121 Fig. 6.3 Monthly expenditure on eating out by income quintiles, 2002 and 2018. VND, current prices 131 Fig. 6.4 Percentage of consumption expenditure spent on eating out by income quintiles, 2002 and 2018 131 Fig. 7.1 Annual per capita electricity consumption (kWh) in Vietnam, 1986-2020151 Fig. 7.2 Average number of selected consumer goods per urban Vietnamese household, 2002-2018 154

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List of Tables

Table 6.1 Daily kcal per capita, Vietnam, 1961–2018 Table 6.2 GDP/capita, urbanisation rates and meat consumption in SE Asia and China, 2018

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1 Introduction: Consumption, Societal Transformations and Everyday Life in Vietnam

A few decades ago, Vietnam was among the poorest countries in Asia. Economically, the country suffered under a largely failed planned economy scheme. Politically, the ruling communist regime was isolated from international cooperation beyond the communist bloc. Poverty was widespread and undernutrition a common problem. Fast forward some thirty years, and the communist regime represents one of the few constants in what is a remarkable story of social and economic transformation. Vietnam has over three decades been among the best performers in the global capitalist economy, has an economy deeply embedded in global trade and production networks and is an active participant in regional and global political cooperation. The country does well on almost all development indicators: Child and maternal mortality rates have dropped rapidly, people live considerably longer and are more educated, and very few now live in extreme poverty (see Bekkevold et al., 2020). Living standards have risen dramatically as the majority of people are much better off and a minority has become very wealthy. Due to these achievements, and despite the continuous and systemized suppression of dissidents and a very poor human rights track record (e.g. Amnesty International, 2022), the country is often referred to as a major success story of development (e.g. Baum, 2020).

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 A. Hansen, Consumption and Vietnam’s New Middle Classes, Consumption and Public Life, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14167-6_1

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Vietnam’s transformations are connected to the economic reforms known as Đổi Mớ i—often translated as ‘renovation’ or ‘renewal’—which were officially implemented at the Sixth National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam in 1986. Since then, Vietnam has been home to one of the most rapidly growing economies in the world (see Malesky & London, 2014; Bekkevold et  al., 2020). The country has become a major exporter of agricultural produce, textiles and footwear, and recently also a regional industrial hub. Vietnam is now a major motorbike producer and has become increasingly important in electronics. For example, about 60 per cent of Korean mobile giant Samsung’s phones are produced in Vietnam.1 At the same time, the rapid developments since Đổi Mớ i have led to a wide range of environmental problems, including soil degradation and dangerous levels of air and water pollution (see Ortmann, 2017, 2020). If given a choice, few would probably want to return to the poverty and hardship of the old Vietnam. But many of those who remember it speak fondly of the clean air, the quiet and safe streets, the fresh and healthy food and the beautiful nature. From a sustainable consumption perspective, the poorer version of the country was in line with visions for sustainable futures around the world today. Walking and bicycling represented the dominant means of transportation and there were hardly cars on the road. Households owned few consumer goods and hardly used electricity, and the average person consumed very few animal products. Today, in the large cities, on average every household own at least one motorbike a TV and a smartphone, many now also a car, electricity demand outgrows domestic production and meat is part of almost every meal of the average consumer. This book aims to explain these dramatic changes in consumption patterns and the socio-economic transformations that have made them possible. Consumption patterns have become less sustainable, but Vietnam is certainly not unique in this regard. Environmental unsustainability is deeply engrained in modern consumer societies. Through consumption patterns that are often taken-for-granted parts of everyday life, households play a central role in destroying the global environment, as household consumption patterns are connected to as much as 72 per cent of all global greenhouse gas emissions (Dubois et  al., 2019). Vietnamese

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households consume far less resources than the average household in affluent countries. But Vietnam represents a fascinating example of how consumption patterns change alongside, and as part of, economic development and increasing living standards. We are used to think of production and consumption alongside Global North-South categories; the rich North consumes what the poor South produces (see Gregson & Ferdous, 2015). This in some cases still holds true, with the extraction of cobalt in dangerous mines in DR Congo by workers living in extreme poverty in order to fuel low-carbon transformations in affluent societies one of the most glaring examples (see Dunlap, 2021; Sovacool et  al., 2019). But in general terms, the division between consuming too much and too little is found between classes across national borders (see Otero et al., 2018). The main consumer markets of global capitalism have long been moving South, and particularly East (Hansen & Wethal, Forthcoming). In the middle of these processes are new middle classes with increased purchasing power (see Kharas, 2017). While parts of the new middle classes are relatively wealthy, most of them are not (Trentmann, 2017). In total, they nevertheless represent a colossal transformational force. Understanding the consumption patterns of the new middle classes in Asia and elsewhere is crucial for global sustainability. Consumer societies and consumer cultures take different shapes in different institutional and cultural contexts. The many different shapes they take is what makes consumption studies an interesting and important field. But, as is discussed further below, they do share some fundamental traits everywhere. Vietnam is no exception, as this book studies in detail. Both the successes and the downfalls of the economic development path of Vietnam have been well-documented in the literature (Masina, 2006, 2012; Masina & Cerimele, 2018; Hansen, 2015; Fforde & De Vylder, 1996; Van Arkadie & Mallon, 2003; Bekkevold et  al., 2020). That is also the case for political developments, as scholars have tried to make sense of the power and influence of the communist regime and its continuous Leninist orientation in a much-transformed economy and society (e.g. Gainsborough, 2010; London, 2014; Bui, 2020). Over the recent decade, also the middle classes have attracted some well-deserved attention (Le Thu, 2015), including changing food practices (Ehlert, 2016; Wertheim-Heck, 2015; Hansen, 2021), new aspirations (Earl,

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2020) and the role of different forms of consumption in new forms of class-based distinction (Drummond & Thomas, 2003; Bélanger et  al., 2012; Earl, 2014; Hansen, 2020). Ten years have, however, passed since the last broad assessment of consumption in contemporary Vietnam (Nguyen-Marshall et al., 2012). This book draws inspiration from all of the above, but also provides novelty through a systematic approach to how everyday consumption patterns have changed as part of overall development processes. Furthermore, it represents the first comprehensive study of household consumption in Vietnam from a sustainability perspective, zooming in on mobility, food and energy, the most important aspects of household consumption from an environmental point of view (see e.g. Ivanova et al., 2016). While the overall changes seen in Vietnam since Đổi Mớ i are outlined in the next chapter, and the overall theoretical framework for the book is explained in Chap. 3, the remainder of this chapter will focus on some of the fundamental starting points of the book project.

Consumption, Change and Continuity Consumption research has developed into a large field that spans many disciplines (see for example Evans, 2019). This book is inspired by this field, and in particular the ‘practice turn’ that has led to a strong focus on how consumption is embedded in a range of mundane activities and often the outcome of habits rather than careful deliberation (Warde, 2005, 2014). But, as discussed more in detail in Chap. 3, my own take on consumption involves a central role for the economic activities and the overall societal conditions in which consumption takes place. My take on consumption and change is thus one that is grounded in everyday life but with an eye towards production and provision. Although Vietnam is now home to a capitalist market economy and has largely developed a consumer society,2 and although household consumption levels have expanded at a dramatic pace, transformations are partial, stalled and ongoing.3 Anthony D’Costa (2014) provides a useful framework for understanding Asian emerging economies today through his concept of ‘compressed capitalism’. According to him, although many

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countries in Asia experience rapid growth through capitalist development, and although living standards often improve considerably in the process, it would be a mistake to understand these changes as a process of transition or of ‘catch-up’ with mature capitalist economies. Rather, he argues, the particular forms that integration into global capitalism take in contemporary development lead to particular forms of capitalist development. These are ‘compressed’, he argues, in the sense that historical processes that used to follow a specific temporal order now take place at the same time, resulting in the co-existence of advanced and informal economic sectors and the mass creation of precarious and low-paid jobs. Similar to how modern consumer societies in general are built on the exploitation of workers elsewhere (e.g. Brand & Wissen, 2021), this compressed capitalism in turn partly creates the necessary foundation for parts of the contemporary consumer society in Vietnam through, for example, providing cheap food (see Chap. 5; Hansen, forthcoming) or the ‘socialist servants’ that make middle-class lifestyles possible (Nguyen, 2015). One of the rather straightforward starting points of this book is a focus on change and continuity. As is clear from several of the chapters, I find there is a certain tendency to exaggerate change in discussions of the new middle classes. Reading about them in the media leaves the impression that millions and millions of people suddenly and overnight leave all their traditions and cultural practices behind them and start consuming like US citizens or any member of the expanding global middle classes. This is, of course, not true. Geography always matters, and the new consumers of global capitalism emerge in contexts fundamentally shaped by local cultures, political systems, economic arrangements and so on. Still, we also have good evidence for consumption following some particular and predictable patterns alongside increasing affluence. I find a focus on ‘variegation’ useful. Here I am inspired by Peck and Theodore (2007), who introduced the concept of variegated capitalism as a response to what they saw as the shortcomings of the varieties of capitalism literature in economic sociology (see also Zhang & Peck, 2016; Peck & Zhang, 2013). At the core of the concept is a multi-scalar understanding of capitalism as taking different shapes in different contexts, but always involving the same fundamental structure and driven by the same underlying

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principles. For the case of Vietnam, there is no doubt that the country has a particular take on capitalism, to quite some extent shared by its ‘socialist’ neighbors China and Laos (Bekkevold et al., 2020). This socialist market economy, what London (2020) calls ‘market-Leninism’, has delivered immense success in achieving economic growth, alleviating poverty and lifting living standards. The point here is that such a model obviously also co-shapes consumption patterns, which is discussed in more detail in the next chapter. The broader point I am trying to make is that we can understand the changes following economic development as a form of ‘variegated transformations’. Alongside capitalist development and new middle classes, evidence tells us that we can expect certain consumption patterns, including more meat-intensive diets (Chap. 6; Winders & Ransom, 2019), more car ownership (Chap. 4; Hansen & Nielsen, 2017) and a lot more stuff (Chap. 2; Trentmann, 2017). Partly these changes are driven by changes in what Ritzer (2005) has called ‘the means of consumption’: the emergence of new places for consumption, including supermarkets, shopping malls, and fast-food chains. In short, societies develop into consumer societies, and through globalization, and particularly through accumulation strategies and the power of capital, these take similar shapes everywhere. However, ending the analysis there would be a mistake. Different economic, institutional and cultural contexts provide different consumer societies. From a sustainability perspective, the most interesting part is to understand what these differences reveal in terms of potentials for different and more sustainable solutions. This book is an attempt to carry out such an analysis. In doing so, I focus on what Elizabeth Shove (2003: 18) calls the ‘standardization and globalization of ultimately unsustainable expectation’. In other words, I approach the consumption patterns that due to their resource intensity probably cannot be ‘democratized’ to the entire global population without ecological collapse. It is also an attempt to contribute to a discussion of how to study continuity and change in consumption patterns in emerging economies, as well as how to theoretically make sense of them. I study variegated processes of normalization of a range of consumption patterns, zooming in on mobilities, food and energy. But I also focus particular attention on areas where Vietnam has been home to considerable ‘booms’ in consumption: the motorbike society and emergence of automobility,

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the spike in meat consumption and the rapid normalization of air-­ conditioners and electric two-wheelers. The downside of such an approach is that it leaves out many interesting forms and aspects of consumption out (see Chaps. 2 and 8), while one of its strengths is that it allows focused and holistic analysis of the many different factors co-shaping consumption patterns. The book has a decidedly urban focus. While rural economies, landscapes and livelihoods have undergone significant transformations, many of the changes associated with reforms in Vietnam have been particularly intense in its largest cities. With new employment opportunities, new land laws and a relaxing of the strict hộ khẩu (household registration) system, Vietnam has been rapidly urbanising since the early 1990s (Nguyen et al., 2012; Labbé, 2021). The changes have been particularly dramatic in Hanoi, as the city’s borders were expanded in 2008 to include neighbouring Ha Tay province and several districts and communes, effectively tripling the physical size of the capital and doubling its population (see Vietnam News, 2008). In 2020, according to General Statistics Office (GSO, 2021) data, Hanoi had a population of 8.2  million and HCMC 9.2 million people. These two cities also represent political and economic centres in Vietnam, with significantly higher growth rates and lower poverty rates than the rest of the country. The two largest cities are also where the vast majority of Vietnam’s upper- and middle-class households are found (see World Bank, 2018). Much of my research has been in cities. And although both work and leisure have taken me to many different parts of Vietnam, most of my research has focused on Hanoi. This fascinating city celebrated its 1000th year of existence in 2010 (the majority of the time known as Thang Long), and still bears visible traits from Chinese rule, various Vietnamese imperial dynasties, the American War and Soviet-style architecture and planning (see Logan, 2000 and Horen, 2005 for overviews; see also Carlet-Soulages et  al., 2019).4 In more recent times, Đổi Mớ i has made significant social, economic and physical impacts on Vietnam’s capital city. The latest twist in the tale is that authorities are planning to turn Hanoi into a globally leading ‘sustainable city’, although it is still unclear exactly what this will entail (see Turner, 2020).

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I return to outlining the rest of the book after briefly considering the methods employed in doing the research all of the following material draws on.

 ocial Practices, Everyday Geographies S and Political Economy: Doing Consumption Research in Vietnam This book draws on many years of doing research in Vietnam, including annual short or long stays every year from 2010 to 2019. I spent seven months in Hanoi doing fieldwork for my PhD in 2012 and 2013, and then a total of around three months doing fieldwork for my postdoctoral project in 2017 and 2018. In addition, I have been involved in a range of projects that have taken me to different parts of the country, and my involvement in running a development studies programme in Hoi An (from Fall 2010 and onwards) has seen me spend much time in central Vietnam. While much of my fieldwork has centred on Hanoi, I have done research in Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh City and been on many fieldtrips and to both rural and urban areas in many different parts of the country. The reason why I list all of these trips here is that they have all contributed to and shaped my understanding of Vietnam and my take on the transformations the country has gone through. While I have all along had an overall interest in changing consumption patterns broadly understood, my PhD thesis zoomed in on mobility (Hansen, 2016) and my postdoc work mostly on food consumption, with a particular interest in meat. Approximately a couple of hundred interviews—ranging from in-depth household interviews through (semi-) structured interviews with experts, policymakers and entrepreneurs to short conversations with owners of street kitchens—represent the main data source that I draw on in this book. That said, observations, informal talks and a wide range of secondary sources have also played a crucial role (see Hansen, 2016, 2018a, 2018b, 2021). My methods have all along included an important ethnographic component, including what I have called a ‘motorbike ethnography’ (see

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Hansen, 2018a) and an ‘eating ethnography’ (Hansen, 2018b, 2021). By ethnography, I here imply that I have focused on living what I study with the aim to develop more deeply grounded understanding of the processes I seek to explain, whether that involves driving a motorbike everywhere or eating at the wide range of restaurants and street kitchens that urban middle classes frequent. An eating ethnography is indeed a good excuse for eating out frequently. But then again, eating out several times a day is a perfectly normal thing to do among the middle classes in urban Vietnam. My quite simple epistemological starting point is that  social practices are best understood by participating in them and by attaining broad knowledge of the context within which they take place. Therefore, my research is informed by so much more than formal methods. It is informed by reading Vietnamese newspapers and magazines, by informal conversations with friends, colleagues and acquaintances, by visits to the homes of people, by making and eating dinner in the houses of friends, by just living in Vietnam, involving shopping for food, doing laundry, going to the cinema, theatre and opera house, drinking coffee, going for walks, riding a bicycle, giving lectures, and even some informal English language classes, and reading novels. All of this and much more has significantly informed my research. As is obvious from the earlier discussion, I privilege the local and the mundane, seeking to understand how consumption changes through and in everyday life. As Jonathan Rigg has put it, ‘Starting with, or privileging, the local and the everyday is important not only because it highlights the explanatory distance separating macroscopic and microscopic interpretation, but also because it forces a consideration of human agency’ (Rigg, 2007: 9). And age-old questions of structure and agency—and the attempts by practice theories to transcend them (see Chap. 3)—remain to me among the most fascinating and important parts of social-scientific inquiry and consumption research. That said, my approach assumes that consumption patterns are deeply shaped by macro-economic factors and systems of provision. Simply put, consumption is conditioned by the political economy and economic geography of development. The intersection between everyday practices and economic development processes is perhaps what I find most interesting. This means that I have studied policy documents and development reports, interviewed state representatives, policymakers and corporate representatives, but also that I have

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interviewed salespeople, market vendors, and owners of restaurants and street food stalls. Doing research in Vietnam comes with challenges, in particular related to access (see Scott et  al., 2006 and Turner, 2013a, 2013b for discussions). I have been so fortunate as to have colleagues and institutional affiliations that have eased my work significantly in that regards, as well as research assistants who have been essential in recruiting participants and setting up interviews. But the Covid-19 pandemic has made fieldwork impossible, and at the time of writing I have spent more than two years without visiting Vietnam. Luckily I have good colleagues and friends in the country who have helped me make sense of the impact of the pandemic in Vietnam and the attempts by Vietnamese authorities to tackle it. However, since I do not have first-hand knowledge of the situation on the ground, something that would force a significant break with the methods behind the empirical chapters in the book, I have decided not to focus on the pandemic in this book. That said, it is brought up in different chapters, and the concluding chapter has a separate section on its impacts and the need for more research.

Outline of the Book Throughout the book, I ‘zoom in and out’ on particular practices and the broader context of the political economy of development in Vietnam (see Nicolini, 2012). Chapter 2 starts with Đổi Mớ i and how the embrace of a market economy forced an uneasy embrace of consumer society for the communist regime. The chapter proceeds to show how overall consumption patterns have changed in Vietnam since then and studies the emergence of new middle classes and the creation of what I call ‘consumer socialism’. Chapter 3 then takes a step back to consider the theoretical approach of the book. In other words, those mainly interested in understanding contemporary Vietnam can skip this one. It focuses on social practice theory, and especially what has been located as the main shortcomings of practice-theoretical approaches to consumption; the role of culture, political economy and reflexive individuals in co-shaping practices. Chapter 4 zooms in on mobility, analysing the development of

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Vietnam’s unique motorbike society through what I term a ‘system of moto-mobility’, as well as how cars have emerged in the two-wheeled dominated streets of Hanoi. Chapter 5 discusses the major food transformations Vietnam has seen in the past decades and is seeing today. It combines a focus on eating out, on foodscapes, and on food cultures to discuss change and continuity and the cultures and political economies of food practices in Vietnam today. Chapter 6 keeps within the realm of food but zooms in on Vietnam’s meat boom. It shows how the ‘meatification’ of diets has developed through major changes in the systems of provision of meat and changes in how and where food is served and consumed. Chapter 7 analyses the dramatic increase in electricity consumption in Vietnam in the past decades through the political economy of energy and the everyday practices of households, focusing in particular on air-conditioning and electric vehicles. Finally, Chap. 8 aims to tie the many findings and discussions presented throughout the book together and consider what these tell us about contemporary Vietnam, consumption theory and the prospects for a more sustainable future.

Notes 1. At the time of writing, Samsung was planning to move increasing shares of production from Vietnam to India and Indonesia, but Vietnam would still produce half of all Samsung phones (see for example Sammobile, 2021). 2. As discussed in Chap. 2, the official story is that Vietnam has managed to develop a ‘market economy with a socialist orientation’, and that capitalism has little to do with it. But I argue today’s economy should be considered as a form of state capitalism (see Hansen, 2015). 3. See Masina and Cerimele (2018) for a discussion of stalled transition in the macro-economic sense. 4. Archeological findings indicate human habitation of present-day Hanoi for 10,000 years (Horen, 2005).

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References Amnesty International. (2022). Viet Nam. https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/asia-­and-­the-­pacific/south-­east-­asia-­and-­the-­pacific/viet-­nam/ Baum, A. (2020). Vietnam’s development success story and the unfinished SDG agenda. IMF working paper no. 20/31. https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/ WP/Issues/2020/02/14/Vietnam-­s-­Development-­Success-­Story-­and-­the-­ Unfinished-­SDG-­Agenda-­48966 Bekkevold, J. I., Hansen, A., & Nordhaug, K. (2020). Introducing the socialist market economy. In A. Hansen, J. I. Bekkevold, & K. Nordhaug (Eds.), The socialist market economy in Asia. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-­981-­15-­6248-­8_1 Bélanger, D., Welch Drummond, L.  B., & Nguyen-Marshall, V. (2012). Introduction: Who are the urban middle class in Vietnam? In V. Nguyen-­ Marshall, L. B. Welch Drummond, & D. Bélanger (Eds.), The reinvention of distinction: Modernity and the middle class in urban Vietnam. Springer. Brand, U., & Wissen, M. (2021). The imperial mode of living: Everyday life and the ecological crisis of capitalism. Brooklyn: Verso Books. Bui, T. H. (2020). Governance, the socialist market economy, and the party-­ state in Vietnam and China. In A. Hansen, J. I. Bekkevold, & K. Nordhaug (Eds.), The socialist market economy in Asia. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-­981-­15-­6248-­8_1 Carlet-Soulages, F., Schwenkel, C., & Sarah, G. (2019). Socialist modernism: An architectural photo essay of everyday spaces in Hà Nội. Journal of Vietnamese Studies, 14(4), 64–80. D’Costa, A. (2014). Compressed capitalism and development. Critical Asian Studies, 46(2), 317–344. https://doi.org/10.1080/14672715.2014.898458. Drummond, L. B. W., & Thomas, M. (Eds.). (2003). Consuming urban culture in contemporary Vietnam. RoutledgeCurzon. Dubois, G., Sovacool, B., Aall, C., Nilsson, M., Barbier, C., Herrmann, A., Bruyère, S., et al. (2019). It starts at home? Climate policies targeting household consumption and behavioral decisions are key to low-carbon futures. Energy Research & Social Science, 52(June), 144–158. Dunlap, A. (2021). The politics of ecocide, genocide and megaprojects: interrogating natural resource extraction, identity and the normalization of erasure. Journal of Genocide Research, 23(2), 212–235. https://doi.org/10.108 0/14623528.2020.1754051 Earl, C. (2014). Vietnam’s new middle classes: Gender, career, city. NIAS Press.

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Earl, C. (2020). Future-making tactics: Exploring middle-class living and green practices in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Ethnos, 85, 454–470. Ehlert, J. (2016). Emerging consumerism and eating out in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: The social embeddedness of food sharing. In M.  Sahakian, C. Saloma, & S. Erkman (Eds.), Food consumption in the city: Practices and patterns in urban Asia and the Pacific (pp. 71–89). Routledge. Evans, D. M. (2019). What is consumption, where has it been going, and does it still matter? The Sociological Review, 67(3), 499–517. https://doi. org/10.1177/0038026118764028 Fforde, A., & De Vylder, S. (1996). From plan to market: The economic transition in Vietnam. Westview Press. Gainsborough, M. (2010). Vietnam: Rethinking the state. Zed Books. Gregson, N., & Ferdous, R. (2015). Making space for ethical consumption in the South. Geoforum, 67, 244–255. GSO-General Statistics Office of Vietnam. (2021). Population data. https:// www.gso.gov.vn/en/px-­web/?pxid=E0201&theme=Population%20and%20 Employment Hansen, A. (2015). The best of both worlds? The power and pitfalls of Vietnam’s development model. In A. Hansen & U. Wethal (Eds.), Emerging economies and challenges to sustainability: Theories, strategies, local realities. Routledge. Hansen, A. (2016). Capitalist transition on wheels. Development, consumption and motorized mobility in Hanoi. PhD Thesis. Oslo: University of Oslo. https://www.duo.uio.no/handle/10852/52717 Hansen, A. (2018a). Doing Urban development fieldwork: Motorbike ethnography in Hanoi. SAGE Research Methods. https://doi.org/10.4135/ 9781526429384. Hansen, A. (2018b). Meat consumption and capitalist development: The meatification of food provision and practice in Vietnam. Geoforum, 93, 57–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2018.05.008 Hansen, A. (2020). Consumer socialism: Consumption, development and the new middle classes in China and Vietnam. In A. Hansen, J. I. Bekkevold, & K.  Nordhaug (Eds.), The Socialist Market economy in Asia: Development in China, Vietnam and Laos (pp.  221–243). Springer. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-­981-­15-­6248-­8_8 Hansen, A. (2021). Negotiating unsustainable food transformations: Development, middle classes and everyday food practices in vietnam. European Journal of Development Research, 34(3), 1441–1459. https://doi. org/10.1057/s41287-­021-­00429-­6

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Hansen, A. (Forthcoming). Eating out in contemporary Hanoi: Middle-class food practices, compressed capitalism, and the late socialist good life. Hansen, A., & Nielsen, K. B. (2017). Wheels of change: Cars, automobility and development in Asia. In A. Hansen, & K. B. Nielsen (Ed.), Cars, automobility and development in Asia: Wheels of change (pp.  3–14). Routledge. issn-9781138930704. Hansen, A., & Wethal, U. (Forthcoming). The new middle classes: Consumption, development and sustainability. In B.  Bull & M.  Aguilar-Støen (Eds.), Handbook on international development and the environment, Routledge Horen, B. v. (2005). City profile: Hanoi. Cities, 22(2), 161–173. Ivanova, D., Stadler, K., Steen‐Olsen, K., Wood, R., Vita, G., Tukker, A., & Hertwich, E. G. (2016). Environmental impact assessment of household consumption. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 20(3), 526–536. Kharas, H. (2017). The unprecedented expansion of the global middle class: An update. In Global economy & development working papers Brookings Institution. Labbé, D. (2021). Urban transition in Hanoi: Huge challenges ahead. ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute. https://think-­asia.org/bitstream/handle/11540/13072/ TRS2_21.pdf?sequence=1 Le Thu, H. (2015). The middle class in Hanoi: Vulnerability and concerns. In ISEAS perspective. ISEAS. Logan, W. S. (2000). Hanoi: Biography of a city. Select Publishing. London, J. (2014). Politics in contemporary Vietnam. In J.  London (Ed.), Politics in contemporary Vietnam: Party, state, and authority relations. Palgrave Macmillan. London, J. D. (2020). China and Vietnam as instances of consolidated market-­ Leninism. In A. Hansen, J. I. Bekkevold, & K. Nordhaug (Eds.), The socialist market economy in Asia. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/ 978-­981-­15-­6248-­8_3 Malesky, E., & London, J. (2014). The political economy of development in China and Vietnam. Annual Review of Political Science, 17, 395–419. Masina, P. (2006). Vietnam’s development strategies. Routledge. Masina, P. (2012). Vietnam between developmental state and neoliberalism: The case of the industrial sector. In C. Kyung-Sup, B. Fine, & L. Weiss (Eds.), Developmental politics in transition: The neoliberal era and beyond. Palgrave Macmillan. Masina, P., & Cerimele, M. (2018). Patterns of industrialisation and the state of industrial labour in post-WTO accession Vietnam. European Journal of East Asian Studies, 17(2), 289–323.

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Nguyen, M. T. N. (2015). Vietnam’s socialist servants: Domesticity, class, gender, and identity. Routledge. Nguyen, T. A., Rigg, J., Huong, L. T. T., & Dieu, D. T. (2012). Becoming and being urban in Hanoi: Rural-urban migration and relations in Viet Nam. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 39(5), 1103–1131. Nguyen-Marshall, V., Welch Drummond, L. B., & Bélanger, D. (Eds.). (2012). The reinvention of distinction: Modernity and the middle class in urban Vietnam. Springer. Nicolini, D. (2012). Practice theory, work & organization: An introduction. Oxford University Press. Ortmann, S. (2017). Environmental governance in Vietnam: Institutional reforms and failures. Palgrave Macmillan. Ortmann, S. (2020). Evolving environmental governance structures in a market socialist state: The case of Vietnam. In A.  Hansen, J.  I. Bekkevold, & K. Nordhaug (Eds.), The socialist market economy in Asia. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-­981-­15-­6248-­8_1 Otero, G., Gürcan, E. C., Pechlaner, G., & Liberman, G. (2018). Food security, obesity, and inequality: Measuring the risk of exposure to the neoliberal diet. J Agrar Change, 18, 536–554. https://doi-­org.ezproxy.uio.no/10.1111/ joac.12252 Peck, J., & Theodore, N. (2007). Variegated capitalism. Progress in human geography, 31(6), 731–772. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132507083505. Peck, J., & Zhang, J. (2013). A variety of capitalism… with Chinese characteristics? Journal of Economic Geography, 13(3), 357–396. Rigg, J. (2007). An everyday geography of the global south. Routledge. Ritzer, G. (2005). Enchanting a disenchanted world: Revolutionizing the means of consumption. London: Pine Forge Press. Sammobile. (2021). Samsung will rely less on Vietnam for its smartphone needs, 17.11.21. https://www.sammobile.com/news/samsung-­rely-­less-­vietnam-­ for-­smartphone-­needs/ Scott, S., Miller, F., & Lloyd, K. (2006). Doing fieldwork in development geography: Research culture and research spaces in Vietnam. Geographical Research, 44(1), 28–40. Shove, E. (2003). Comfort, cleanliness and convenience: The social organization of normality. Berg. Sovacool, B.  K., Martiskainen, M., Hook, A., et  al. (2019). Decarbonization and its discontents: A critical energy justice perspective on four low-carbon transitions. Climatic Change, 155, 581–619. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10584-­019-­02521-­7

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Trentmann, F. (2017). Empire of things: How we became a world of consumers, from the fifteenth century to the twenty-first. Penguin Books. Turner, S. (2013a). Dilemmas and detours: Fieldwork with ethnic minorities in upland Southwest China, Vietnam, and Laos. In S. Turner (Ed.), Red stamps and gold stars : Fieldwork dilemmas in upland socialist Asia. UBC Press. Turner, S. (2013b). Red stamps and gold stars on the margins. In S.  Turner (Ed.), Red stamps and gold stars: Fieldwork dilemmas in upland socialist Asia. UBC Press. Turner, S. (2020). Informal motorbike taxi drivers and mobility injustice on Hanoi’s streets. Negotiating the curve of a new narrative. Journal of Transport Geography, 85, 102728. Van Arkadie, B., & Mallon, R. (2003). Viet Nam: A transition tiger? Asia Pacific Press, The Australian National University. Vietnam News. (2008). People’s Council agrees to triple Ha Noi’s size. Retrieved from http://vietnamnews.vn/politics-­laws/175117/peoples-­council-­agrees-­ to-­triple-­ha-­nois-­size.html Warde, A. (2005). Consumption and theories of practice. Journal of Consumer Culture, 5(2), 131–153. Warde, A. (2014). After taste: Culture, consumption and theories of practice. Journal of Consumer Culture, 14(3), 279–303. Winders, B., & Ransom, E. (2019). Introduction to the global meat industry: Expanding production, consumption and trade. In B. Winders & E. Ransom (Eds.), Global meat. Social and environmental consequences of the expanding meat industry. The MIT Press: Cambridge. Wertheim-Heck, S. C. (2015). We have to eat, right? food safety concerns and shopping for daily vegetables in modernizing Vietnam. PhD Thesis. Wageningen University. https://edepot.wur.nl/361799 World Bank. (2018). Climbing the ladder: Poverty reduction and shared prosperity in Vietnam. World Bank. Zhang, J., & Peck, J. (2016). Variegated capitalism, Chinese style: Regional models, multi-scalar constructions. Regional Studies, 50(1), 52–78. https:// doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2013.856514

2 ˀ Consumption Transformed: Đôi Mơ'i, New Middle Classes and the Construction of Consumer Socialism

Wandering around, for example, central Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City or Danang these days, only the omnipresent hammer and sickle remind you that you are in a country ruled by a communist regime. Vietnam’s consumer society in all its variety surrounds you. This includes the usual ingredients of late capitalist cities all over the world: dense traffic, a range of glitzy shopping malls, as well as global fast food chains, coffee franchises and luxury brands. But these only make up the top layer of this fascinating world of consumption. The many street kitchens, wet markets and specialty stores are also central to the consumer revolution Vietnam has been going through. As are all the mundane things we tend to take for granted; the houses, the electricity, the water and even the roads and pavements. The traffic stands out from most other places. Millions of motorbikes dominate the streets, leaving a constant soundscape of buzzing and honking and making crossing the street a challenging endeavour for any visitors that have yet to learn the skill—or mastered the nerves—of the slow and steady stroll through the swirling two-wheelers (see Chap. 4). In this chapter, I will go through Vietnam’s consumer revolution, focusing on the overall changes in consumption patterns since Đổi Mớ i, as well as how these are driven by the overall capitalist transformation in The original version of the chapter has been revised. A correction to this chapter can be found at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14167-6_9 © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022, corrected publication 2022 A. Hansen, Consumption and Vietnam’s New Middle Classes, Consumption and Public Life, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14167-6_2

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the country, including the rise of new middle classes, the new availability of goods and the ruling communist party’s rather hesitant embrace of consumer society. Finally, I discuss some of the paradoxes connected to middle-class consumption and the ostensible construction of socialism in Vietnam.

Consuming Đổi Mới1 The Vietnamese middle classes and their changing consumption patterns have gradually attracted some well-deserved attention (see Drummond & Thomas, 2003; Bélanger et  al., 2012; Earl, 2014; Le Thu, 2015; Hansen, 2021). Vietnam’s transformations and emergence as consumer society is part of larger trends that sees the global economy shift eastwards. Asia is already home to more than half of the 3.2 billion people considered the ‘global middle class’, and the Asian middle classes keep expanding rapidly (Kharas, 2017). These estimates obviously group together highly diverse groups of people (see Koo, 2016), but the expansion nevertheless reflects social and economic changes that will have major impacts locally and globally. The extent and nature of these impacts, however, remain largely unknown. As ‘consumer classes’ (World Bank, 2018), the middle classes are somewhat paradoxically expected to both represent demand for more goods and services—contributing to building domestic markets, in turn, fuelling economic development and lessening dependence on exports—and take the lead in reducing resource use and overconsumption (Wiemann, 2015). Although large parts of the ‘new Asian middle classes’ are far from rich, their increasing purchases of consumer goods do contribute to significant consumption booms. Indeed, following in the footsteps of production chains, the main consumer markets of global capitalism are moving east (Hansen & Wethal, 2015). This is in large part due to the expansion of the Chinese middle class, already estimated to consist of a quarter billion people (The Economist, 2016) and growing rapidly (Kharas, 2017), in turn contributing to China by the end of 2017 surpassing the US as the world’s largest retail market (Fickling, 2018). Also China’s socialist neighbours to the south, Vietnam and Laos, are home to rapidly expanding middle classes

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with increasing purchasing power. In other words, large parts of the new consumer classes of global capitalism are found in nominally socialist countries. As Koo (2016: 442) argues, ‘[t]he middle class is a notoriously heterogeneous category’. It is also a category used to the extent of depriving it of meaning, particularly in the rather paradoxical classless employment of class in large parts of the development field (see Hansen & Wethal, Forthcoming). In Vietnam, class is a sensitive and complex topic (see Earl, 2014). A middle class does not really exist in official nor media discourse, where rather, if anything, a ‘middle-level’ segment of the population is referred to (see Bélanger et  al., 2012). Still, the presence and importance of the middle classes in contemporary Vietnam is obvious (Le Thu, 2015). In this book, I do not engage in a discussion of whether the boundaries of the middle classes are best defined by income (Birdsall, 2015) or other forms of capital (Bourdieu, 1984), or ‘cash, credentials or culture’ (Reeves et al., 2018). I do take the pragmatic and straightforward starting point of seeing them as the big group of people between the poor(est) and the rich(est), but I also take for granted that being middle class comes with different expectations and lifestyles than being, for example, a peasant or a manual labourer in the industrial sector, no matter if people in these latter groups should somehow get their hands on money (e.g. see discussions in Bourdieu, 1984; Earl, 2014; Flemmen et al., 2018). Furthermore, and in contrast to much of the development literature, I separate the middle classes from the upper classes (Hansen & Wethal, Forthcoming; see also Gainsborough, 2010). The Vietnamese middle classes represented in this book tend to be educated and have office jobs or similar in the public or private sector (or both), and they do have money to spend on consumption, although some much more than others (see Earl, 2014 or Gainsborough, 2010 for discussions and attempts to classify the Vietnamese middle classes). Due to the heterogeneity of the middle classes, I insist on referring to them in plural terms. Before the socialist take-over following the expulsion of French and US imperial missions, Vietnam had seen dramatic social and economic transformations through the end of imperial rule. Apart from their many devastating sides, French colonialism had made some forms of social mobility possible and had opened some room for the emergence of classes

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between the elite minority and the peasant majority. Vietnam was mainly a peasant society, but the political economy of French colonialism created business, employment and education opportunities for small sections of the Vietnamese population, in turn leading to the formation of a sort of Vietnamese urban middle class (see Bélanger et al., 2012). If we compare Vietnam to its giant neighbour to the North, the socialist projects of China and Vietnam looked quite different but did have in common Soviet-inspired political frameworks and ideologies, as well as educated leaderships combined with a strong foundation in the peasantry (Kerkvliet et  al., 1998). As is well-known, they also had in common, although to different extents, violent clampdowns on anyone seen as an enemy of the socialist revolution and a strong favouring of people of ‘good class background’, particularly revolutionaries (Bélanger et  al., 2012; Walder, 2015). The urban middle classes clearly suffered under the socialist projects’ aim to radically break with the past and create a new, classless society. Typical middle-class jobs disappeared and were replaced by what Chen (2013) calls a ‘quasi-middle class’ of salaried servants. And typical ‘modern’ middle-class lifestyles were judged to be in opposition to the goals of socialism (Bélanger et al., 2012). Under socialism, consumption patterns should be homogenised in the name of equality—solved through for example rationing—and consumption should be for utilitarian purposes. For Vietnam’s early communist leaders, Vann (2012: 163) argues, The problem with consumerism, and especially its conspicuous forms, was essentially a Marxist one, namely that it represented the pursuit of false wants and needs; people wanted more and more, and ever newer models of goods not for their practical utility, but for their value as status objects.

That said, cadres enjoyed a range of special privileges and consumption patterns were far from as harmonised in practice as they were according to ideology (Truitt, 2013). Making a temporal jump ahead, some decades later the market reforms involved new dramatic transformations. After decades of suppressing the anti-socialist behaviour of the suspicious middle classes, suddenly they were needed again as the communist party started explicitly embracing the market economy and implicitly embracing capitalism.

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 he Socialist Market Economy and the Creation T of New Middle Classes The story of the market reforms in Vietnam is well-known (see Fforde & De Vylder, 1996; Van Arkadie & Mallon, 2003; Masina, 2006; Vasavakul, 2019; Bekkevold et al., 2020). Apart from the obvious economic challenges, the reforms also involved difficult questions on what it meant for the socialist projects to invite the market back in. In China, Deng Xiaoping saw no fundamental opposition between a socialist system and a market economy. He is also famous for his rather pragmatic approach towards wealth creation: ‘let some people get rich first’.2 Also in Vietnam, it was clear among political leaders that the market economy had to be a tool used to deliver progress, not a different way of organising society. As put by Mai Huu Thuc (2001: 20), the market economy is ‘an economic institution in practice, not an economic foundation of a social system’. Innumerable hours have been spent discussing exactly what this new model entails, and large quantities of text have been published justifying and explaining the combination of socialism and the market. As is well-­ known, the result was variations around the theme ‘market economy with a socialist orientation’, what Jonathan London (2020) more precisely calls market-Leninism and I have previously dubbed ‘state capitalism with a Leninist orientation’ (Hansen, 2015). What these alternative wordings have in common is a focus on the fact that the current development model involves few remainders of socialist practice, but a very strong presence of the Leninist political system, with the communist party at the pinnacle of a hierarchically organised society. Despite considerable scepticism towards the side-effects of a market economy (see e.g. Elliott, 2012), economic growth took off, poverty levels dropped rapidly (Banik & Hansen, 2016) and living standards steadily increased following reforms. In the advent of the market and with rapidly growing economies, some got both rich and glorious, usually those with close connections to the party. But also outside the inner echelons of power, many were much better off than before, and new jobs and opportunities for education and income created a favourable political-economic environment for the emergence of new middle classes in the rapidly

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expanding cities. Although referring to China, Chen’s (2013: 59) summary works for Vietnam as well, finding that the main overall factors contributing to the growth of the middle classes have been the expansion of college education, the reforms of enterprises, the development of the private economy and the inflow of investments from abroad. While these are all crucial, however, I would add the associated factors of access to new consumer goods and services and the eventual embrace of consumer society. The party undoubtedly remains influential in every aspect of society in Vietnam. Outside observers have frequently predicted that the new middle classes with their education from abroad and cosmopolitan lifestyles—what I refer to as the upper middle class—will challenge the authoritarian regime. Indeed, this is the expectation in standard political theory (see Birdsall, 2015). So far, however, the middle classes seem to be, as Gainsborough (2010: 17) has put it, ‘very much of the system’. The socialist market economy has not delivered political freedoms, and the middle classes remain partly loyal to the system. It has, however, opened up for the freedom to consume. But in order to fully develop a consumer society, the middle classes had to have access to things and to spend their money on them.

Constructing Consumer Socialism Although economic openness became the mantra following reforms, many—particularly conservative forces—in the communist party were worried about the possibly eroding impacts of embracing globalisation (Elliott, 2012). As I will return to later, one of the biggest fears have concerned the degrading consequences of ‘consumerism’. However, in a capitalist economy, increasing consumption is closely connected to economic growth, and increasing domestic consumption is important for the wellbeing of the economy. And consumption has been boosted by the party-­ state, economically through expanding access to credit and eventually through reducing tariffs on imported consumer goods. Socially through providing more leisure time and public holidays. And also culturally, through embracing what can be defined as typical middle-class lifestyles

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as ‘modern’ and ‘civilized’, what in China has been known as ‘higher quality’ or high-suzhi (Kipnis, 2006; Miao, 2017). All of these factors have paved the way for a socialist consumer revolution.

The Socialist Consumer Revolution In addition to ideological scepticism towards consumerism, planned economies have often struggled to keep up with the demand for consumer items. With the maturing of the socialist market economy, both factors have lost importance. The increase in ownership of consumer goods in Vietnam the past decades has been extraordinary (see Fig. 2.1). While all segments of society have taken some part in this ‘consumer revolution’, they have so to very different extents. Fuelled by rising incomes and—more recently—soaring household debt (Viet-Ha T. Nguyen et al., 2018), particularly the upper parts of the urban middle classes are adopting lifestyles and consumption patterns that are globally associated with middle-class status. Young, fashionable urbanites have become emblematic of this class, with clothing styles, 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0

2002

2010

2018

Fig. 2.1  Ownership of consumer goods (average number of items per household), 2002–2018. Note: Compiled by author based on Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey 2012 and 2018 (GSO, 2012, 2018)

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hairdos and eating and drinking habits to match their status. Niche stores and hip, quality-oriented cafés and coffee shops are examples of the urban spaces frequented by this segment of the middle classes. More generally, housing practices are changing towards smaller households in increasingly air-conditioned environments, the entertainment industry is booming, smart phones have become normal and are, in turn, driving other consumption changes (see Chap. 7), shopping malls and supermarkets are popping up and so are restaurants and fast-food chains, while travelling within or outside one’s country for tourism purposes had become a normal leisure activity before the Covid-19 pandemic. The middle classes live in larger and more solid houses, often equipped with modern appliances, and spend much more on non-food items than the rest of society (see World Bank, 2018). Furthermore, transport has become motorised. While the Vietnamese middle classes are still predominantly driving motorbikes, car sales have boomed in recent years, as I return to in the next chapter. The combination of new digital practices and the mobility of Vietnam’s new middle classes affects consumption in many ways. For example, studies and tourism abroad contribute to new consumer expectations, and sharing pictures from trips abroad on social media is a central form of status display today. Travels are also possibilities for purchasing goods, since buying goods abroad can mean considerably lower prices and secures authenticity in a market where counterfeits are normal and consumers tend to distrust the origin and quality of goods. This has led to a large, informal market for goods brought back in person by travellers, often sold online through platforms such as Facebook, but also in people’s living rooms. These goods are known as hàng xách tay (hand-­delivered or carry-on depending on context), referring to how the goods are hand carried into the country. While hàng xách tay remains popular, today many Facebook vendors get their goods delivered through cargo companies (see Le, 2022). Young women are the most common suppliers and consumers of the online shopping services. And the societal transformations in Vietnam have brought about a complex mix of new gender expectations and the revitalisation of Confucian values (Earl, 2014). The former is seen clearly in new ideals for feminine sexuality shaped in relation to consumption (Nguyen-vo, 2010), while the latter is clear, for

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example, in government family campaigns for ‘harmonious’ and ‘morally sound’ families (Rydstrøm, 2010). For Vietnamese women, this mix includes a responsibility for taking care of the family and keeping the house tidy to be considered not only a respectable and dutiful daughter-­ in-­law but also contrasting ideals between a bourgeoning fashion market and traditional feminine ideals towards a ‘neat and humble appearance in all situation’ (Binh, 2004). Importantly, however, gender expectations are changing in relation to broader socio-economic transformations and changing social practices (e.g. Nguyen & Locke, 2014), and the official ideals are both negotiated and contested in everyday life (e.g. Rydström, in press). Some people fully fit the stereotypes of the new, conspicuous, business-­ savvy and foreign-oriented middle classes. I interviewed a young man in Hanoi back in 2013. He ran his own small company, and most likely had family connections in the communist party. He wore an expensive-­ looking suit and drove a brand new X5, one of the largest and most expensive BMWs in the market at the time. In his fairly simple office, a set of golf clubs sat casually in a corner, while on his work desk, he had placed a copy of Donald Trump’s How to Get Rich. To an extent, this man is the result of the political economy of the socialist market economy. And, to an extent, conspicuous consumption of this kind is an integrated part of post-reform Vietnam. But most people are not like him. Rather than wealthy, most of Vietnam’s middle classes are ‘anxious consumers on a budget’, like the rest of the new Asian middle classes (Trentmann, 2017: 374). But they too have access to a wide range of consumer goods. They too drive motorbikes, eat more meat, have air conditioners and travel on holidays. In short, although in highly unequal ways, Vietnam has developed a consumer society. Still, however, although the communist regime has embraced consumption, it does not mean they encourage all forms of consumption.

Conflicted Consumerism Among communist party leaders, one of the feared negative side effects of developing a market economy and integrating with the capitalist world was the associated desire for consumer items, often imported, bringing

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along a consumer culture deemed incompatible with socialist values. As Davis (2011: 339) reports from China, consumerism was seen as ‘the defining element of cultural and moral degradation in the contemporary global era’, and linked to ‘materialism, hedonism, and worship of money’. Similar worries have been widespread in Vietnam. Taylor (2003: 139) argues that by the early 1990s, there was a perceived cultural crisis brought along by opening Vietnamese society to the non-communist world, and state officials identified the main ‘adverse effects’ as ‘“a cult of exotic taste”, the dizzying pace of borrowing, the resurgence of a cultural inferiority complex […] and the emergence of consumerism’ (italics in original). Thus, while ‘openness’ was the slogan, both Vietnamese politicians started arguing for restrictions on imports, worrying particularly about the impact foreign influences had on youth (Marr & Rosen, 1998). As Marr and Rosen (1998: 149) wrote in the late 1990s, ‘Even Communist Party members loyal to the reform strategy sometimes wonder if Vietnam is losing its soul to Coca Cola, Madonna and Hollywood’. Foreign influences were seen to cause a wide range of negative side effects of reforms and the following economic development, including increases in crime and violence blamed on movies from the US and other parts of Asia (Marr & Rosen, 1998). But also conspicuous consumer items were treated with scepticism, and some goods, like private cars, were long considered off-limits. This has changed significantly. The scepticism towards consumer goods has indeed become less marked as gradually, the communist parties have embraced consumer society. Indeed, as Vann (2012) argues, consumption is now one of the most significant forms of freedom enjoyed by Vietnamese citizens.3 Consumption is both a relatively safe ‘freedom’ to give to citizens, and a realm where the government can ‘deliver development’ to people while stimulating economic growth. In the process, in what Trentmann (2017: 394) for the case of China has called ‘an extreme version of the symbiosis between consumerism and authoritarianism’, consumer socialism has arguably created the ultimate capitalist consumer-citizen: unfree as citizen, free as consumer. However, freedom comes with responsibility. Just like the New Socialist Man was expected to be selfless and always do what was good for the collective, the new socialist consumer is expected to act ‘civilized’ and ‘modern’ and in line with national culture. As Gillen (2016: 41) puts it, the

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state ‘uses culture as a means to caution Vietnamese society against consumerism and the perils of individual wealth’. Consumption is now good, but only as long as it does not go on accord with the culture of the socialist market economy. Exactly what this means can be hard to decipher, but morality seems to be central. At least, as the market economy depends on middle-class consumers, prosperity has been rendered a moral issue. As put by Leshkowich (2012: 110), ‘prosperity comes to those who embody valorized forms of selfhood and continually assess the success of their efforts to measure up to standards of culture, civilization, and modernity’. So far this aspect has been more directly addressed in China than in Vietnam. Indeed, consumption is an important part of Xi Jinping’s ‘ecological civilization’, which is supposed to restore a harmonious relationship between human and nature, and where sustainable—or high quality, healthy and eco-friendly—consumption is central (Pan, 2016).

Conclusion The new ‘consumer classes’ are vital to the economic wellbeing of the socialist market economy. This is already a story of immense transformation. Davis’ (2011: 337) point about China is equally relevant to Vietnam: ‘An economy that for three decades […] had been defined by the ideals of ascetic socialism had become a twenty-first-century pillar of global consumer capitalism’. What consequences will the developments of consumer socialism have? Lewis H. Siegelbaum (2008) has argued that the Soviet Union struck a Faustian bargain when it introduced private automobility, as it simultaneously provided freedom and laid bare some of the glaring shortcomings of the planned economy. Escalating levels of consumption in Vietnam is clearly a different case, but the point might be relevant. While at least parts of the communist regime remain sceptical towards the culturally eroding consequences of ‘consumerism’, their defining power in the realm of consumption is shaky, to say the least. Their worries also appear shallow, given that the same ruling elite has been central to embedding the Vietnamese economy and society in the flows of global capitalism and encouraging more consumption. An appetite for consumption has awakened, and the state is even more dependent

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on delivering development-as-consumption than ever before. If this comes to an end, and the new middle classes do not see that the system has any openings for them to fulfil their aspirations, it could have significant political consequences. Another crucial aspect of the new consumer society is that it lays bare the contradictions of the development model of Vietnam (and China) and unveils the capitalist nature of this rewriting of ‘socialism’. According to official rhetoric, the socialist market economy is a step on the way towards constructing socialism. While this official story keeps losing credibility, the communist party seems to embrace educated, moral and relatively affluent citizens as new forms of the ‘Socialist Man’. In practice, the party now embraces the middle classes and their lifestyles. What I term ‘consumer socialism’ is thus replete with contradictions and reveals and thrives on the deep inequalities embedded in the political economy of the socialist market economy, as I will return to throughout the book. First, however, the next chapter will take a step back and consider how to theoretically approach and make sense of the many changes Vietnam has gone through over the past decades.

Notes 1. This part draws on Hansen (2020). 2. Which in popular accounts over time has turned into ‘to get rich is glorious’, something he probably never said. 3. Yu, 2014 has argued the same for the case of China.

References Banik, D., & Hansen, A. (2016). The Frontiers of poverty reduction in emerging Asia. Forum for Development Studies, 43(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.108 0/08039410.2015.1134646 Bekkevold, J. I., Hansen, A., & Nordhaug, K. (2020). Introducing the socialist market economy. In A. Hansen, J. I. Bekkevold, & K. Nordhaug (Eds.), The socialist market economy in Asia. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-­981-­15-­6248-­8_1

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Bélanger, D., Welch Drummond, L.  B., & Nguyen-Marshall, V. (2012). Introduction: Who are the urban middle class in Vietnam? In V. Nguyen-­ Marshall, L. B. Welch Drummond, & D. Bélanger (Eds.), The reinvention of distinction: Modernity and the middle class in urban Vietnam. Springer. Binh, N. T. N. (2004). The confucian four feminine virtues (tu duc): The old versus the new – Ke thua versus phat huy. In L. Drummond & H. Rydstrøm (Eds.), Gender practices in contemporary Vietnam (pp. 47–73). NIAS Press. Birdsall, N. (2015). Does the rise of the middle class lock in good government in the developing world? The European Journal of Development Research, 27(2), 217–229. Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction : A social critique of the judgement of taste. Routledge & Kegan Paul. Chen, J. (2013). A middle class without democracy: Economic growth and the prospects for democratization in China. Oxford University Press. Davis, D.  S. (2011). Consumption in postsocialist China. In Encyclopedia of consumer culture. SAGE Publications. Drummond, L. B. W., & Thomas, M. (Eds.). (2003). Consuming urban culture in contemporary Vietnam. RoutledgeCurzon. Earl, C. (2014). Vietnam’s new middle classes: Gender, career, city. NIAS Press. Elliott, D. W. P. (2012). Changing worlds: Vietnam’s transition from cold war to globalization. Oxford University Press. Fforde, A., & De Vylder, S. (1996). From plan to market: The economic transition in Vietnam. Westview Press. Fickling, D (2018). Beware the wrath of the Chinese consumer. Bloomberg, 06.07.2018. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-­07-­06/ beware-­the-­wrath-­of-­the-­chinese-­consumer. Flemmen, M., Jarness, V., & Rosenlund, L. (2018). Social space and cultural class divisions: The forms of capital and contemporary lifestyle ­differentiation. The British Journal of Sociology, 69, 124–153. https://doi. org/10.1111/1468-­4446.12295 Gainsborough, M. (2010). Vietnam: Rethinking the state. Zed Books. Gillen. (2016). Entrepreneurialism and tourism in contemporary Vietnam. Lexington Books. GSO  – General Statistics Office of Vietnam. (2012). Results of the Viet Nam household living standards survey 2012. https://www.gso.gov.vn/ en/data-­and-­statistics/2019/04/data-­results-­of-­the-­viet-­nam-­household­living-­standards-­survey-­2012/

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GSO  – General Statistics Office of Vietnam. (2018). Results of the Viet Nam household living standards survey 2018. https://www.gso.gov.vn/en/data-­and-­ s t a t i s t i c s / 2 0 2 0 / 0 5 / r e s u l t -­o f -­t h e -­v i e t n a m -­h o u s e h o l d -­l i v i n g ­standards-­survey-­2018/ Hansen, A. (2015). The best of both worlds? The power and pitfalls of Vietnam’s development model. In A. Hansen & U. Wethal (Eds.), Emerging economies and challenges to sustainability: Theories, strategies, local realities. Routledge. Hansen, A. (2020). Consumer socialism: Consumption, development and the new middle classes in China and Vietnam. In A. Hansen, J. I. Bekkevold, & K.  Nordhaug (Eds.), The socialist market economy in Asia: Development in China, Vietnam and Laos. Palgrave Macmillan. Hansen, A. (2021). Negotiating unsustainable food transformations: Development, middle classes and everyday food practices in Vietnam. European Journal of Development Research, 34, 1441. https://doi.org/10.1057/ s41287-­021-­00429-­6 Hansen, A., & Wethal, U. (2015). Emerging economies and challenges to sustainability. In A. Hansen & U. Wethal (Eds.), Emerging economies and challenges to sustainability: Theories, strategies, local realities. Routledge. Hansen, A., & Wethal, U. (Forthcoming). The new middle classes: Consumption, development and sustainability. In B.  Bull & M.  Aguilar-Støen (Eds.), Handbook on international development and the environment. Routledge. Kerkvliet, B., Chan, A., & Unger, J. (1998). Comparing the Chinese and Vietnamese reforms: An introduction. The China Journal, 40, 1–7. Kharas, H. (2017). The unprecedented expansion of the global middle class: An update. In Global economy & development working papers. Brookings Institution. Kipnis, A. (2006). Suzhi: A keyword approach. The China Quarterly, 186, 295–313. Koo, H. (2016). The global middle class: How is it made, what does it represent? Globalizations, 13(4), 440–453. Le, L. (2022). How to buy baby formula in Quang Binh. Rest of World. 31.05.2022. https://restofworld.org/2022/how-­to-­buy-­baby-­formula-­in-­ quang-­binh/. Le Thu, H. (2015). The middle class in Hanoi: Vulnerability and concerns. In ISEAS perspective. ISEAS. Leshkowich, A.  M. (2012). Finances, family, fashion, fitness, and...Freedom? The changing lives of urban middle-class Vietnamese women. In V. Nguyen-­ Marshall, L. B. Welch Drummond, & D. Bélanger (Eds.), The reinvention of distinction: Modernity and the middle class in urban Vietnam. Springer.

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London, J. D. (2020). China and Vietnam as instances of consolidated market-­ Leninism. In A. Hansen, J. I. Bekkevold, & K. Nordhaug (Eds.), The socialist market economy in Asia. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-­ 981-­15-­6248-­8_3 Mai Huu Thuc. (2001). Characteristics of market economy with socialist orientation in Viet Nam. Vietnam Social Sciences, 1(81), 20–25. Marr, D., & Rosen, S. (1998). Chinese and Vietnamese youth in the 1990s. The China Journal, 40, 145–172. Masina, P. (2006). Vietnam’s development strategies. Routledge. Miao, Y. (2017). Middle class identity in China: Subjectivity and stratification. Asian Studies Review, 41(4), 629–646. Nguyen, M. T. N., & Locke, C. (2014). Rural-urban migration in Vietnam and China: Gendered householding, production of space and the state, The Journal of Peasant Studies, 41(5), 855–876, https://doi.org/10.1080/0306615 0.2014.925884 Nguyen, V.-H.  T., Nguyen, H.-K.  T., Vuong, T.-T., Ho, M.-T., & Vuong, Q.-H. (2018). How swelling debts give rise to a new type of politics in Vietnam. CEB working paper no 18/026. Université Libre de Bruxelles. Nguyen-vo, T.-h. (2010). The real and the true: Neo-liberalism and gender governance in Vietnam. In H.  Rydstrøm (Ed.), Gendered inequalities in Asia: Configuring, contesting and recognizing women and men (pp.  44–68). NIAS Press. Pan, J. (2016). China’s environmental governing and ecological civilization. Springer. Reeves, R. V., Guyot, K., & Krause, E. (2018). Definint the middle class: Cash, credentials or culture? Brookings Institution, 07.05.2018. https://www.brookings.edu/research/defining-­the-­middle-­class-­cash-­credentials-­or-­culture/. Rydstrøm, H. (2010). Compromised ideals: Family life and the recognition of women in Vietnam. In H.  Rydstrøm (Ed.), Gendered inequalities in Asia: Configuring, contesting and recognizing women and men (pp.  170–190). NIAS Press. Rydström, H. (in press). Family, gender, and new constellations: Crises and changing configurations in late Đổi Mớ i Vietnam. In D.  Perkins & B. Ljunggren (Eds.), State, economy, society in a shifting global environment. Harvard University Press. Siegelbaum, L. H. (2008). Cars for comrades: The life of the Soviet automobile. Cornell University Press.

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Taylor, P. (2003). Digesting reform: Opera and cultural identity in Ho Chi Minh City. In L. Drummond & M. Thomas (Eds.), Consuming urban culture in contemporary Vietnam (pp. 138–154). RoutledgeCurzon. The Economist. (2016). 225m reasons for China’s leaders to worry. https:// www.economist.com/leaders/2016/07/09/225m-­r easons-­f or-­c hinas-­ leaders-­to-­worry Trentmann, F. (2017). Empire of things: How we became a world of consumers, from the fifteenth century to the twenty-first. Penguin Books. Truitt, A. (2013). Dreaming of money in Ho Chi Minh City. University of Washington Press. Van Arkadie, B., & Mallon, R. (2003). Viet Nam: A transition tiger? Asia Pacific Press, The Australian National University. Vann, E. F. (2012). Afterword: Consumption and middle-class subjectivity in Vietnam. In V. Nguyen-Marshall, L. B. Welch Drummond, & D. Bélanger (Eds.), The reinvention of distinction: Modernity and the middle class in urban Vietnam. Springer. Vasavakul, T. (2019). Vietnam: A pathway from state socialism. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108608312 Walder, A.  G. (2015). China under Mao: A revolution derailed. Harvard University Press. Wiemann, J. (2015). Sharing global responsibility: The role of the middle classes on the way to a just and sustainable global economy. European Journal of Development Research, 27, 205–216. https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2015.2 World Bank. (2018). Climbing the ladder: Poverty reduction and shared prosperity in Vietnam. World Bank. Yu, L. (2014). Consumption in China. Polity Press.

3 Reflexive Individuals and the Political Economy of Everyday Practices: Theorising Consumption and Capitalist Development

Sometimes, changes in consumption seem straightforward. With economic development, people get new jobs and better income, and they start going to supermarkets instead of traditional markets, drive cars instead of ride bicycles and use washing machines instead of washing clothes by hand. This is also the short version of what has happened in Vietnam the past decades, as the two preceding chapter have shown. And research does tell us that we can expect increasing consumption of a range of goods and services alongside rising income, for example, cars (see Chap. 4), unhealthy food (Chap. 5), meat (Chap. 6) and electricity (Chap. 7). However, these expectations of consumption are not universal and neutral ‘truths’, they are built into development models, visions of the good life and the very logics of capitalist accumulation. Furthermore, as this book’s chapters discuss more in detail, consumption patterns take considerably different forms in different contexts, just like everyday practices do. As Alan Warde (2005: 139) puts it, ‘the substantive forms that practices take will always be conditional upon the institutional arrangements characteristic of time, space and social context’. Understanding these variations in emerging economies, and the potentials they open for more sustainable forms for consumption, is a crucial yet understudied © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 A. Hansen, Consumption and Vietnam’s New Middle Classes, Consumption and Public Life, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14167-6_3

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topic with ramifications for global sustainability. In order to approach these variations, or variegations (Peck & Theodore, 2007),1 there is need for a theoretical framework able to both make sense of the role of consumption in the everyday life of people and the ways consumption is shaped by policies and macro-economic processes. I argue in this chapter that the practice turn in the social sciences provides an excellent point of departure. However, if used alone, a practice approach runs the risk of missing out on the significant extent to which consumption is shaped by supply, provision and governance.2 Going beyond the surface of the seemingly straightforward changes in consumption described earlier, understanding escalating levels of household consumption is a complex task. Consumption is shaped by a wide range of factors concerning how our stuff is produced and sold, how and what we eat, how we find shelter, how we move around and so on. These are all social processes, since no human act is fully independent of other people and organization of the society that surrounds us. As Slater (1997: 5) puts it in his book Consumer Culture, ‘In a word, the profoundly social nature of consumption is about as close to a universal presupposition as any responsible social theorist ever gets’. This complexity, I argue, is often ignored when consumption outside high-income countries is discussed. A range of simplifications—ranging from the little helpful rational consumer of mainstream economics to explaining rising consumption primarily as ‘Westernisation’—tend to dominate discussions surrounding the ‘new consumers’ of global capitalism (see Hansen, 2021a). Furthermore, and rather surprisingly given the profound impacts they are having and will have on global consumption patterns and resource use, these new consumers have been subject to relatively little attention in the by now large field of consumption research. This field has had a tendency to focus on affluent societies, a tendency strengthened during the ‘practice turn’ the past couple of decades (although see Hansen & Jakobsen, 2020; Rinkinen et al., 2019; Sahakian et al., 2018; Sahakian et al., 2016; Sahakian, 2014). The focus on established consumer societies is perhaps not surprising, given their high levels of consumption and their vast environmental footprints (Ivanova et al., 2015). But at the speed, the middle classes in emerging economies are growing and their consumption levels increasing (see Kharas, 2017), the lack of

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comprehensive and grounded studies on these represents an important lacuna in the literature. I argue that an agenda to make sense of consumption among new middle classes can build on theories of practice, but needs to cover practice theories’ blind spot towards political economy. Most importantly, such an agenda needs to embed the fundamentally structuring role that capitalism has on consumption patterns without conforming to production-centrism. Much has been written about the practice turn in consumption research (see Welch & Warde, 2015 for an overview). Adopting a practice approach involves seeing consumption as ‘moments’ in social practice and thus as fundamentally shaped by social and material contexts (Warde, 2005, 2014). Rooted in the philosophy of Wittgenstein and Heidegger and the social theories of Giddens (1984) and Bourdieu (1977), the works of Schatzki (1996) and Reckwitz (2002) have been particularly central to the most recent revival of practice theories (see Halkier et al., 2011). The shared starting point is that society is made up of a nexus of practices that link and form ‘complexes and constellations’ (Hui et al., 2017). A practice is, according to Schatzki (2002: 87), a ‘temporally evolving, open-ended set of doings and sayings linked by practical understandings, rules, teleoaffective structure, and general understandings’. Relatedly, and perhaps more accessibly, Reckwitz’ (2002: 249) has defined a practice as a routinized type of behaviour which consists of several elements, interconnected to one another: forms of bodily activities, forms of mental activities, ‘things’ and their use, a background knowledge in the form of understanding, know-how, states of emotion and motivational knowledge.

These definitions have in common that they point to practices as put together by things people say and do, but also how these ‘doings’ and ‘sayings’ shaped by forms of knowledge or understandings that ‘exist’ in society beyond individual actors. Reckwitz also specifically adds ‘things’, and the practice turn has seen a strong re-orientation towards materiality and material, or ‘distributed’, agency (see Wilhite, 2009). These approaches have been discussed in detail elsewhere (see Gram-Hanssen, 2011, 2021 for overviews), and will not be dealt with further here. Rather,

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it is the overall starting point and approach that is important for this book, valuing a firm grounding of consumption in the social and material processes and contexts that make up everyday life rather than a focus on consumption as mainly the outcome of individual choices or explicit cultural symbolism, or as merely the endpoint of production processes (Warde, 2005, 2014). The practice-theoretical starting point fundamentally shapes this book in my focus on everyday life and socio-material settings for understanding consumption, but I do not necessarily engage the full range of practice-theoretical tools and concepts throughout the book. Rather, I rely on popular simplifications, or operationalisations, of the components of practices, namely that practices consist of ‘elements’ involving materials, meanings and competences (Shove et al., 2012) or social, bodily and material ‘pillars’ (Sahakian & Wilhite, 2014) that must be understood together in order to make sense of consumption patterns and how they change. I return to these throughout the book. While important and highly interesting developments are taking place that see practice-theoretical approaches to consumption grow increasingly sophisticated (see Warde et al., 2017; Welch et al., 2020), social theories represent lenses to understand reality and will always be better at explaining some aspects of society than others (Warde, 2017). Hence, practice approaches cannot do everything, and there has recently been increasing attention to its weak spots and the side-effects of its increasing dominance in the field of consumption research.

 hallenging Practice Theory: Consumers, C Culture and the Political Economy of Practices Welch et al. (2020) have located what they see as three lacunae in the literature on practice theory, concerning how theoretical developments have dealt with reflexive individuals, culture, and economy. I will look into these knowledge gaps, in turn, and let this discussion simultaneously work as an overview of the theoretical framework that informs the book. I start with the position of the consumer in practice theory.

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Consumers as Reflexive Individuals Practice theory has an interesting relationship to individuals. First of all, the practice approach bridges a fundamental dualism in approaches to consumption; that between consumers as dupes or sovereign agents. Whereas economic orthodoxy conceptualizes the consumer as a sovereign agent which actively makes calculated and rational decisions, Marxist and other radical approaches have tended to view the individual consumer as relatively powerless in the encounter with structural forces (whether these relate to capitalism or other social structures). In between these, many social and cultural approaches to consumption, whether focusing on the structures of consumer society or on lifestyles and expressive individuals navigating consumer culture, have tended to end up relying on a relatively strong focus on the consumer. Practice theory represents something different. As put by Warde (2005: 146): The [practice] approach offers a distinctive perspective, attending less to individual choices and more to the collective development of modes of appropriate conduct in everyday life. The analytical focus shifts from the insatiable wants of the human animal to the instituted conventions of collective culture, from personal expression to social competence, from mildly constrained choice to disciplined participation. […] the key focal points become the organization of the practice and the moments of consumption enjoined. Persons confront moments of consumption neither as sovereign choosers nor as dupes.

A central point in theories of practice has always been to transcend the structure-agency dichotomy and develop a holistic understanding of society and the position and acts of individuals within it, seen in Giddens’ (1984) ‘structuration’ theory and Bourdieu’s conceptual apparatus. Bourdieu (1977), as one of the defining scholars of practice theory, famously introduced the concepts of habitus, or ‘systems of durable, transposable dispositions’ (Bourdieu, 1977: 72, emphasis in original), and field, or the current ‘state of play’ in a given social arena. In Bourdieu’s work, as explained by Thomson (2008: 75), ‘field and habitus constitute a dialectic through which specific practices produce and reproduce the

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social world that at the same time is making them’. The relationship is complex and goes far beyond a classic structure-agency dualism. Instead, Bourdieu argues, structures and agency operate simultaneously. The habitus, for example, as put by Bourdieu (1984: 166): ‘is not only a structuring structure, which organizes practices and the perception of practices, but also a structured structure’. Practice approaches are thus rooted in an acknowledgement of the fundamentally interlinked nature of structure and agency.3 Another influential practice theorist that inspires this book is Shelly Ortner and her writings on agency.4 She convincingly argues, along the lines of Bourdieu, that agency at one level ‘belongs’ to individuals, but that social subjects are, in turn, always ‘embedded in webs of relations’ (Ortner, 2006: 151). Thus, individuals seem to have agency, she argues, but this agency is always ‘interactively negotiated’ (Ortner, 2006: 151–152). Furthermore, agency to Ortner consists of two interrelated components, power and ‘projects’. Specifically, she distinguishes between agency understood as a form of power, including both domination and resistance, and ‘agency as a form of intention or desire, as the pursuit of goals and the enactment of projects’ (Ortner, 2006: 153). Although never detached from the society and cultures within which they take place, these projects represent a clear role for reflexive individuals in practices. While less used in consumption research than in different anthropological fields, her understanding of agency is highly useful for understanding individuals within practices. The focus on agency, projects and power in Ortner’s work separates her practice approach from the main lines of practice-theoretical work on consumption, where the individual consumer is set aside for the purpose of keeping practices centre stage. Since practices are defined not by individual participation, but by shared social action, people are approached not as individual agents but as ‘practitioners’ (Shove, 2014) or ‘carriers’ (Reckwitz, 2002) of practices. Indeed, as Warde (2005) has argued, from the perspective of practice approaches, the very concept of ‘the consumer’ disappears. However, recently, and particularly within the subfield of ethical or sustainable consumption, counter-reactions have pointed to the importance of better understanding and accounting for reflexive individuals in consumption (Volden & Hansen, 2022; Gram-Hanssen, 2021;

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Halkier, 2020; Evans et al., 2017; Keller & Halkier, 2014). This is important, as long as such a re-introduction of the individual does not lead us too far away from the fundamental notion that agency in practices is distributed between people and the socio-material contexts in which they act. Instead, agency can be understood as constrained by practices. Davide Nicolini (2012) conceptualizes this as a tension between repetition and reproduction, or the indeterminate and the bounded, in practices. As he puts it: Practising is […] inherently and necessarily an act of poiesis, creation, invention and improvisation, aimed at producing sameness with what is, by definition, different and changeable. Practices are literally re-produced on each novel occasion. At the same time, however, practicing is also bounded. The sense established by the practice is a horizon which prevents us from seeing differently. (Nicolini, 2012: 226)

Reflexive individuals are central throughout this book as interviewees and practitioners. Although combined with participant observation, it is mainly through individual accounts of their experiences that I seek to understand the practices studied in the different chapters (see Hitchings, 2012 and Greene & Royston, 2021 for interesting discussions on the use of talk-based methods to understand practices). The fact that their accounts come from a culture different from my own, both complicates and simplifies this process. It can be easier to study foreign cultures since less is taken for granted and more of the fabric of normality is visible to outsiders simply because it is uncommon to them. On the other hand, the foreign observer always risks misinterpreting the context studied and the cultural expressions consumption represents. Which brings us to the next lacuna suggested by Welch et al. (2020), namely culture.

Culture and Practice As Douglas and Isherwood (1979: 42) state in one of the classic studies of consumption research, The World of Goods, ‘[n]o human exists except steeped in the culture of his time and place’. It is certainly possible to

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argue that culture is fundamental to social practice theory and that all practices are necessarily also cultural practice (Reckwitz, 2002). But practice theory in many ways re-emerged as a response to the cultural turn in the social sciences. As Campbell (1995) discusses in detail, with post-­ modernity, and prominent scholars such as Jean François Lyotard (1984) and Frederic Jameson (1991), symbols became the essence of everyday life. Consumption was given crucial importance, and the postmodern society was associated with a consumer society where consumption was mainly symbolic rather than instrumental (see also Baudrillard, 1998 [1970]). Positional goods, consumer culture and lifestyles became important, and in many ways. the consumer was theoretically ‘liberated’ in contrast to the previous dominance of production-centric ‘economic-­ materialist’ perspectives (Campbell, 1995). As summarised by Warde (2014: 282), ‘[t]he key emergent figure was what might be termed “the expressive individual”, whose activities, possessions, meanings and judgements were directed towards symbolic communication of identity by means of lifestyle’. Along with this, ‘consumerism’ became a central trait of consumer culture, a culture of consumption in which images ‘saturate the fabric of social life with a mêlée of signs and messages which summon up new expressive and hedonistic definitions of the good life’ (Featherstone, 1983: 4). The cultural turn was highly influential, and arguably also contributed significantly to bringing consumption to the fore as a field in itself to be understood as much more than the end-point of production or the wastefulness of the elites (see Campbell, 1995). That symbols and the aesthetic qualities of goods are important dimensions of consumption is now well-­ established. In the words of Slater (1997: 4): The most private act of consumption animates public and social systems of signs, not necessarily in the sense of public display (as in ideas of ‘emulation’, ‘conspicuous consumption’ or ‘status competition’), but more fundamentally through the process of cultural reproduction: in consuming we do not – ever – simply reproduce our physical existence but also reproduce (sustain, evolve, defend, contest, imagine, reject) culturally specific, meaningful ways of life.

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Culture has in many ways remained central also after the practice turn. As put by Warde (2005: 147), ‘the embodied, socially structured institutions which provide the parameters of the domains of action, and the location of social groups in social space, keep the social and the cultural in the frame together’. Placing culture as central to practices is also clearly in line with classic practice-theoretical thinking. For example, culture was at the core of class-based distinction in Bourdieu’s approach to consumption.5 As Ortner (2006: 78) argues, the concept of habitus shares similarities with ideas of culture, as it represents an ‘internalized sense of the world’ that acts through what Ortner calls ‘cultural fixing’ to make conditions in a given setting seem natural and normal. Relatedly, culture may relate closely to many of the elements of practices. Take, for example, the definition of culture by prominent development anthropologist James Ferguson (1999: 104). To him, culture is ‘the socially negotiated and continually contested frameworks of meaning that mediate between [society and the individual]’. Although they could be understood in a variety of ways, few if any practice theorists would deny that such ‘frameworks’ are central to a practice approach, whether approached as meanings (Shove et al., 2012), general understandings (Schatzki, 2002) or forms of ‘knowledge’ (Sahakian & Wilhite, 2014).6 There is thus not necessarily a lack of attention to culture in its broadest sense, but there is decidedly less focus on ‘explicit culture’. Welch et al. (2020) argue that most ‘second generation’ practice theoretical approaches do not deal directly with culture, and certainly not ‘explicit’ forms of culture, including symbolic, declarative and reflexive acts.7 This neglect can be seen as a consequence of the practice turn’s revaluation of the mundane and inconspicuous aspects of consumption. While there is no necessary opposition between a practice approach and ‘explicit culture’, the latter may require direct attention to consumers, as discussed in the previous section. Several of the chapters in this book do touch on how the cultural symbolism of consumption is important, perhaps most obvious in the case of the car owners in Chap. 4 who quite blatantly engage in positional consumption. But the main focus in this book is on the transformation of everyday life through a study of social relations and how changing material circumstances, broadly understood to incorporate economic conditions, things and infrastructures, co-shape consumption patterns. This

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brings us to the third and final lacuna located by Welch et al. (2020)— practice theories’ blind spot towards the political economy of consumption (see also Evans, 2019, 2020; Hansen, 2017, 2018; Welch & Warde, 2015; Warde, 2014).

The Political Economy of Practices Despite their theoretical complexity, practice theories tend to have little to say about political economy. More precisely, practice accounts have provided excellent analyses of the embeddedness of a wide range of consumption activities in everyday life, but have had less to say about the political-economic context within which consumption takes place or the economic forces co-shaping demand for, and consumption of, goods and services. Practice approaches have in many ways become dominant at the cost of systemic readings of consumption, such as the rich literature on consumer society or accounts that place consumption within wider economic processes (Evans, 2019, 2020). Although practice and provision may belong within the same complexes and constellations that make up the fabric of everyday life (Hui et al., 2017), the sphere of production tends to be obscured within practice approaches often zoomed-in focus on the mundane (Welch & Warde, 2015). Many practice accounts do include a nod towards Ben Fine’s ‘systems of provision’, but mainly as a way to engage with infrastructures or spaces of consumption. For example, Elizabeth Shove and colleagues have shown how states and businesses contribute to shaping infrastructure-practice relations (see Cass et al., 2018 and contributions in Shove & Trentmann, 2019) and to ‘breeding’ demand (Rinkinen et al., 2021). And in his work on the ‘consumption junction’, Gert Spaargaren has sought to combine studies of demand, consumption and systems of provision through specific sites that represent intersections between practices of production and consumption (see Spaargaren, 2013; Oosterveer et al., 2007; see also Wertheim-Heck, 2015). But capitalism as a social and economic system rarely figures in practice theoretical approaches to consumption. An important exception is Harold Wilhite’s late-career work, which firmly placed capitalism as a core driver of unsustainable consumption through profit-seeking firms,

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the growth imperative, and what he conceptualized as cultures and habits of growth (Wilhite, 2016; see also Wilhite & Hansen, 2015). While such approaches are far from the mainstream of practice theories, they do take us a step closer to the original ideas of Ben Fine, who sought to take capitalist economic structures seriously as fundamental force in consumption. Fine (2002: 79) has defined systems of provision (SOP) as ‘the inclusive chain of activity that attaches consumption to the production that makes it possible’. Following Fine’s approach, we also need to incorporate the whole process before acquisition in order to understand consumption, in other words the linkages that go all the way back to production. As formulated by Fine (2013: 221), ‘The SOP approach allowed, and deliberately intended, the strengthening if not the (re)introduction of the material to the (cultural) study of consumption’. This approach has, however, been criticised for focusing too much on broader economic structures. In SOP, according to Goodman and Dupuis (2002: 7), the consumer ‘emerges only to disappear again into a production centred framework’. This was certainly not the intention, and Bayliss and Fine (2020) engage directly with this common critique to show that SOP is a broader approach than what it is often credited for. SOP does, however, remain a system-based approach that on its own is not particularly fine-­ tuned towards—and not designed to study—the socio-material complexity of everyday life. The question thus remains: How can an account be able to both take into account the conditioning effects of production and retail without losing sight of the complexity of everyday life? The flat ontology dominating many practice theories complicates an engagement with large-scale phenomena such as capitalism, but it does not necessarily exclude the possibility of doing so. As Nicolini (2017) argues, one way to approach large-scale phenomena from a practice perspective is to study the actual manifestations of these phenomena rather than abstract entities. According to him, ‘As soon as we set out to study “the market” or “institutions” or “the state” in abstract theoretical terms (even if we use the word practice a thousand times), we abandon a practice-­oriented project and start doing something else’ (Nicolini, 2017: 113). Instead, a study of practices needs to be grounded in how practices play out in real life. It is possible to deal with capitalism in this way

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through, for example, the ways that the strategies of accumulation of businesses play out in consumption or explicit studies of how the exploitation of nature and humans on which consumption patterns often rely contribute to generating demand (see Brand and Wissen, 2021; Anantharaman, 2018). This is also in line with the original SOP approach. Ben Fine and colleagues have indeed always insisted that systems of provision should be studied through specific commodities and the chains that link production and consumption, not as generalized or abstract structures (see Fine, 1995, 2002, 2013; Fine & Leopold, 1993; Bayliss & Fine, 2020). Furthermore, I would add, such a practice-theoretical approach to capitalism and consumption should also take into account that although the overarching imperatives of capitalism remain the same everywhere, capitalism takes variegated and multi-scalarly defined forms in different countries, cultures and contexts (see Peck & Theodore, 2007; Zhang & Peck, 2016). How Vietnam’s very particular hybrid form of capitalism, the so-called socialist market economy (see Hansen et al., 2020), impacts consumption is discussed throughout this book. Although the chapters approach consumption in different ways and draw on a range of theories, my overarching approach and point of departure in this book is to study practices and systems of provision in combination, where the latter enable consumption of particular types of goods and also contribute to normalize and materially embed particular consumption patterns. This is a useful way, I find, to study the escalation of consumption typical for processes of economic development, and for capturing the impacts of the political economy of development on consumption. The practice approach remains vital in order to ground all the processes I study in the everyday geographies of consumption and the lived experience of people.

 ractices and the Political Economy of Development: P Concluding Discussion The methodological tools for studying consumption can be similar whether we focus on Vietnam or for example a wealthy European country, and an employment of practice theory requires a close engagement

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with everyday life no matter where consumption is studied. And, generally speaking, despite what many popular accounts may have us believe, the concerns of the emerging middle classes in Vietnam and Asia are similar to those of middle classes and consumers elsewhere. Consumers rarely seek consumption for the sake of consuming. Instead, through various forms of consumption, they seek to survive and enjoy versions of the good life, to care for friends and family, to establish and maintain social relations, to stand out and to fit in in different contexts and social groups and so on. Or they seek to ‘stay cool, look good and move around’ (Hansen et al., 2016). These goals are sought within similar, yet different, practices around the world. And late capitalist consumer societies tend to share some fundamental traits through the infrastructures of consumption, including, for example, mobility systems, supermarkets and shopping malls, as well a strong presence of global brands owned by often extremely powerful corporations. At the same time, Vietnam is different from many other places due to the fast pace of change. Furthermore, the fact that the normalization of the ownership of a wide range of goods is a relatively recent phenomenon clearly makes consumption different from in mature consumer societies. Furthermore, the fact that economic development, as well as ideas of ‘modernization’ and ‘civilization’ (see Chap. 2) are high on the agenda and directly engaged by media and authorities, make large-scale phenomena hard to ignore. While I argue that taking political economy into account is important for understanding changing consumption anywhere, this becomes more obvious in contexts of rapid economic development and societal transformations such as those that have taken place in Vietnam. I am still grappling with how to best combine a practice-theoretical orientation towards the complexity of everyday life with a sophisticated analysis of the political-economic contexts within which consumption takes place. I have found an ‘everyday geographies of consumption’ approach useful, connecting consumers and businesses through the spatial organization of consumption, including where and in what kind of establishments people acquire their goods. A certain geographical orientation is obvious throughout this book, and I believe there is much potential in developing a proper geographical take on consumption (see

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Lane & Mansvelt, 2020; Mansvelt, 2005; Hansen, 2016). In general, as discussed in this chapter, I believe the conceptual tools are already out there. But managing to take both consumption and production seriously does require, I believe, a stronger sense of willingness among practice theorists to engage with production and provision heads on. Such an engagement is easier said than done, as large parts of the field of consumption research have developed in opposition to both the production-­ centrism of for example Marxist theory and the dominance of the simplified approach to consumption represented by neoclassical economics (see Miller, 1995; Fine, 2002). It would probably also require engagement with theoretical perspectives that are better designed to analyse economic forces. As Wilk (2002: 9) puts it in his case for a ‘heterodox multigenic’ consumption theory, ‘A pragmatic pluralist approach must draw on whatever tools can work, recognizing that different explanations for consumption may be useful in the right circumstances’. My main approach, in this book and elsewhere, is to combine practice theory and systems of provision and let the two different sets of theories do what they are best at, leaving production and retail to the SOP approach and the rest to the social practice approach. While this does create an exaggerated ‘division’ between practice and provision when from a practice approach everything is ultimately part of the same ‘nexus’ (Hui et al., 2017), it is useful for analytical purposes. In doing so, I engage systems of provision mainly as condition for particular consumption patterns, but also as a structuring force that works in tandem with policies to materialize particular constellations of practices and forms of consumption. The remaining chapters will in different ways engage this overall framework to analyse the radical changes Vietnam has seen over the past decades in the realms of mobility, food, meat and energy.

Notes 1. I am inspired by Peck and Theodore’s (2007) variegated capitalism approach, which emphasizes that although capitalism takes different shapes in different geographic and cultural contexts, the core principles of capitalism remain the same. Similarly, the changes in consumption

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­ atterns alongside capitalist development certainly take very different p forms in different contexts, but with important similarities shared across all capitalist consumer societies (see also Wilhite & Hansen, 2015; Hansen, 2021b). 2. Parts of this chapter draw on my PhD Thesis (Hansen, 2016). 3. See Jacobsen and Hansen (2021) for a case for to a larger extent employing Bourdieu’s work more directly in contemporary practice theory. 4. Ortner (1984) is in fact considered among the first to coin the term ‘practice theory’, in the 1984 article ‘Theory in anthropology Since the sixties’, published in Comparative Studies in Society and History (see Hui et al., 2017). 5. An interesting discussion is to what extent Bourdieu, and Giddens for that matter, stayed loyal to their practice theories when analysing consumption (see Warde, 2005). 6. See Ortner (2006) for in-depth discussions of the position of culture in practices. 7. A different but related line of critique points to how practice approaches obscure ‘supra-practice configurations’ such as widespread cultural discourses (Welch & Warde, 2015: 97).

References Anantharaman, M. (2018). Critical sustainable consumption: A research agenda. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 8, 553–561. https:// doi.org/10.1007/s13412-­018-­0487-­4 Baudrillard, J. (1998 [1970]). The consumer society: Myths and structures. Sage. Bayliss, K., & Fine, B. (2020). A guide to the systems of provision approach: Who gets what, how and why (1st ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a theory of practice. Cambridge University Press. Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste. Routledge & Kegan Paul. Brand, U., & Wissen, M. (2021). The imperial mode of living: Everyday life and the ecological crisis of capitalism. Brooklyn: Verso Books. Campbell, C. (1995). The sociology of consumption. In D. Miller (Ed.), Acknowledging consumption: A review of new studies. Routledge.

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Cass, N., Schwanen, T., & Shove, E. (2018). Infrastructures, intersections and societal transformations. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 137, 160–167. Douglas, M., & Isherwood, B. (1979). The world of goods. Basic Books. Evans, D. M. (2019). What is consumption, where has it been going, and does it still matter? The Sociological Review, 67(3), 499–517. https://doi. org/10.1177/0038026118764028 Evans, D. M. (2020). After practice? Material semiotic approaches to consumption and economy. Cultural Sociology, 14(4), 340–356. https://doi. org/10.1177/1749975520923521 Evans, D., Welch, D., & Swaffield, J. (2017). Constructing and mobilizing ‘the consumer’: Responsibility, consumption and the politics of sustainability. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 49(6), 1396–1412. Featherstone, M. (1983). Consumer culture: An introduction. Theory, Culture & Society, 1(3), 4–9. Ferguson, J. (1999). Expectations of modernity: Myths and meanings of urban life on the Zambian Copperbelt. University of California Press. Fine, B. (1995). From political economy to consumption. In D. Miller (Ed.), Acknowledging consumption: a review of new studies. Routledge. Fine, B. (2002). The world of consumption: The material and cultural revisited. Routledge. Fine, B. (2013). Consumption matters. Ephemera, 13(2), 217–248. Fine, B., & Leopold, E. (1993). The world of consumption. Routledge. Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. Polity Press. Goodman, D., & Dupuis, E. M. (2002). Knowing food and growing food: Beyond the production-consumption debate in the sociology of agriculture. Sociologia Ruralis, 42, 5–22. Gram-Hanssen, K. (2011). Understanding change and continuity in residential energy consumption. Journal of Consumer Culture, 11(1), 61–78. Gram-Hanssen, K. (2021). Conceptualising ethical consumption within theories of practice. Journal of consumer culture, 21, 432. https://doi. org/10.1177/14695405211013956. Online first. Greene, M., & Royston, S. (2021). Can people talk about their past practice? Challenges, opportunities and practical applications of biographic inquiry for geographic research on consumption. Area. Accepted Author Manuscript., 54, 268. https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12773

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Halkier, B. (2020). Social interaction as key to understanding the intertwining of routinized and culturally contested consumption. Cultural Sociology, 14(4), 399–416. https://doi.org/10.1177/1749975520922454 Halkier, B., Katz-Gerro, T., & Martens, L. (2011). Applying practice theory to the study of consumption: Theoretical and methodological considerations. Journal of Consumer Culture, 11(1), 3–13. Hansen, A. (2016). Capitalist transition on wheels: Development, consumption and motorised mobility in Hanoi. Thesis submitted for the PhD degree in human geography. University of Oslo. https://www.duo.uio.no/handle/ 10852/52717 Hansen, A. (2017). Transport in transition: Doi moi and the consumption of cars and motorbikes in Hanoi. Journal of Consumer Culture, 17(2), 378–396. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540515602301 Hansen, A. (2018). Meat consumption and capitalist development: The meatification of food provision and practice in Vietnam. Geoforum, 93, 57–68. Hansen, A. (2021a). Negotiating unsustainable food transformations: Development, middle classes and everyday food practices in Vietnam. European Journal of Development Research, 34, 1441. https://doi.org/10.1057/ s41287-­021-­00429-­6 Hansen, A. (2021b). Eating a capitalist transformation: Economic development, culinary hybridisation and changing meat cultures in Vietnam. In A. Hansen & K. L. Syse (Eds.), Changing meat cultures: Food practices, global capitalism, and the consumption of animals. Rowman & Littlefield. Hansen, A., Bekkevold, J. I., & Nordhaug, K. (Eds.). (2020). The socialist market economy in Asia: Development in China, Vietnam and Laos (pp. 3–25). Springer Singapore. Hansen, A., & Jakobsen, J. (2020). Meatification and everyday geographies of consumption in Vietnam and China. Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, 102(1), 21–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/04353684.2019.1709217 Hansen, A., Nielsen, K. B., & Wilhite, H. (2016). Staying cool, looking good, moving around: Consumption, sustainability and the ‘rise of the south’. Forum for Development Studies, 43(1), 5–25. https://doi.org/10.108 0/08039410.2015.1134640 Hitchings, R. (2012). People can talk about their practices. Area, 44(1), 61–67. Hui, A., Schatzki, T., & Shove, E. (2017). Introduction. In A. Hui, T. Schatzki, & E. Shove (Eds.), The nexus of practices: Connections, constellations, practitioners (pp. 98–113). Routledge.

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Ivanova, D., Stadler, K., Steen-Olsen, K., Wood, R., Vita, G., Tukker, A., & Hertwich, E. G. (2015). Environmental impact assessment of household consumption. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 20(3), 526–536. Jacobsen, M. H., & Hansen, A. R. (2021). (Re)introducing embodied practical understanding to the sociology of sustainable consumption. Journal of Consumer Culture, 21(4), 747–763. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540519846213 Jameson, F. (1991). Postmodernism, or, the cultural logic of late capitalism. Verso. Keller, M., & Halkier, B. (2014). Positioning consumption: A practice theoretical approach to contested consumption and media discourse. Marketing Theory, 14(1), 35–51. Kharas, H. (2017). The unprecedented expansion of the global middle class: An update. In Global economy & development working papers. Brookings Institution. Lane, R., & Mansvelt, J. (2020). New consumption geographies: Introduction to the special section. Geographical Research, 58, 207–213. https://doi. org/10.1111/1745-­5871.12410 Lyotard, J.-F. (1984). The postmodern condition: A report on knowledge (Vol. vol. 10). Manchester University Press. Mansvelt, J. (2005). Geographies of consumption. Sage. Miller, D. (1995). Consumption as the vanguard of history: A polemic by way of an introduction. In D. Miller (Ed.), Acknowledging consumption: A review of new studies. Routledge. Nicolini, D. (2012). Practice theory, work & organization: An introduction. Oxford University Press. Nicolini, D. (2017). Is small the only beautiful? Making sense of ‘large phenomena’ from a practice based perspective. In A. Hui, T. Schatzki, & E. Shove (Eds.), The nexus of practices: Connections, constellations, practitioners (pp. 98–113). Routledge. Oosterveer, P., Guivant, J., & Spaargaren, G. (2007). Shopping for green food in globalizing supermarkets: Sustainability at the consumption junction. In Handbook of environment and society. SAGE https://doi.org/10.4135/97 81848607873.n29 Ortner, S. B. (1984). Theory in anthropology since the sixties. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 26(1), 126–166. http://www.jstor.org/ stable/178524 Ortner, S. B. (2006). Anthropology and social theory: Culture, power, and the acting subject. Duke University Press.

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Peck, J., & Theodore, N. (2007). Variegated capitalism. Progress in Human Geography, 31(6), 731–772. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132507083505 Reckwitz, A. (2002). Toward a theory of social practices. European Journal of Social Theory, 5(2), 243–263. Rinkinen, J., Shove, E., & Marsden, G. (2021). Conceptualising demand: A distinctive approach to consumption and practice. Routledge. Rinkinen, J., Shove, E., & Smits, M. (2019). Cold chains in Hanoi and Bangkok: Changing systems of provision and practice. Journal of Consumer Culture, 19(3), 379–397. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540517717783 Sahakian, M. (2014). Keeping cool in Southeast Asia: Energy, climate and the environment. Palgrave Macmillan. Sahakian, M., Saloma, C., & Erkman, S. (2016). Food consumption in the city: Practices and patterns in urban Asia and the Pacific. Routledge. Sahakian, M., Saloma, C., & Ganguly, S. (2018). Exploring the role of taste middle-class household practices: Implications for sustainable food consumption in Metro Manilla and Bangalore. Asian Journal of Social Science, 46, 304–329. Sahakian, M., & Wilhite, H. (2014). Making practice theory more practicable: Towards more sustainable forms of consumption. Journal of Consumer Culture, 14(1), 25–44. Schatzki, T. R. (1996). Social practices: A Wittgensteinian approach to human activity and the social. Cambridge University Press. Schatzki, T. R. (2002). The site of the social: A philosophical account of the constitution of social life and change. Penn State Press. Shove, E. (2014). Putting practice into policy: Reconfiguring questions of consumption and climate change. Contemporary Social Science, 9(4), 415–429. Shove, E., Pantzar, M., & Watson, M. (2012). The dynamics of social practice: Everyday life and how it changes. Sage. Shove, E., & Trentmann, F. (Eds.). (2019). Infrastructures in practice: The dynamics of demand in networked societies. Routledge. Slater, D. (1997). Consumer culture and modernity. Polity Press. Spaargaren, G. (2013). The ecological modernization of social practices at the consumption-junction theoretical reflections underpinning empirical research on sustainable consumption. Culture della sostenibilità, 12, 31–65. Thomson, P. (2008). Field. In M. Grenfell (Ed.), Pierre Bourdieu, Key concepts. Durham: Acumen.

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Volden, J., & Hansen, A. (2022). Practical aeromobilities: Making sense of environmentalist air-travel. Mobilities, 17, 349. https://doi.org/10.1080/1745010 1.2021.1985381 Warde, A. (2005). Consumption and theories of practice. Journal of Consumer Culture, 5(2), 131–153. Warde, A. (2014). After taste: Culture, consumption and theories of practice. Journal of Consumer Culture, 14(3), 279–303. Warde, A. (2017). Consumption: A sociological analysis. Palgrave Macmillan. Warde, A., Welch, D., & Paddock, J. (2017). Studying consumption through the lens of practice. In M. Keller, B. Halkier, M. Truninger, et al. (Eds.), Routledge handbook on consumption (pp. 29–42). Routledge. Welch, D., Halkier, B., & Keller, M. (2020). Introduction to the special issue: Renewing theories of practice and reappraising the cultural. Cultural Sociology, 14(4), 325–339. https://doi.org/10.1177/1749975520954146 Welch, D., & Warde, A. (2015). Theories of practice and sustainable consumption. In L. Reisch & J. Thøgersen (Eds.), Handbook of research on sustainable consumption (pp. 84–100). Edward Elgar. Wertheim-Heck, S. C. (2015). We have to eat, right? food safety concerns and shopping for daily vegetables in modernizing Vietnam. PhD Thesis. Wageningen University. Wilhite, H. (2009). The conditioning of comfort. Building Research & Information, 37(1). Wilhite, H. L. (2016). The political economy of low carbon transformation: Breaking the habits of capitalism. Routledge. Wilhite, H., & Hansen, A. (2015). Reflections on the meta-practice of capitalism and its capacity for sustaining a low energy transformation. In C. Zelem & C. Beslay (Eds.), Sociologie de l'énergie: Gouvernance et pratiques sociales. CNRS Editions. Wilk, R. (2002). Consumption, human needs, and environmental change. Global Environmental Change, 12, 5–13. Zhang, J., & Peck, J. (2016). Variegated capitalism, Chinese style: Regional models. Multi-scalar Constructions. Regional Studies, 50(1), 52–78. https:// doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2013.856514

4 Wheels of Change: Motorbikes, Cars and Capitalism

Driving in the streets of Hanoi can be an overwhelming experience. The intense and noisy traffic, simultaneously moving in all directions, demand constant concentration. In the densely populated city centre, street vendors, hawker stalls, pedestrians and a range of vehicles compete for scarce road space, while the smell of exhaust fumes intermingle with the multitude of fragrances from the famous Hanoian street food scene. Nevertheless, the biggest challenge for newcomers to Hanoian streetscapes, whether on foot or on wheels, is the sheer numbers of motorbikes.1 The two-wheelers are seemingly everywhere, either parked or in motion, and the humming and honking of millions of motorbikes is the soundtrack of contemporary Hanoi. While motorbikes have been present in the streets of Hanoi since colonial times, the motorbike dominance seen today is a relatively recent phenomenon, taking off in the 1990s alongside and after Đổi Mớ i (see Chap. 2). Increased mobility of goods and people has been at the core of the changes in Vietnam since the reforms. This has taken place on different scales, with increased flows of goods, ideas and people in and out of the country and in and out of regions within the country; increased rural– urban migration; and new forms of mobility within cities. Importantly, the flows of goods and people have also changed significantly, with integration into regional and global capitalism replacing the former networks © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 A. Hansen, Consumption and Vietnam’s New Middle Classes, Consumption and Public Life, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14167-6_4

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of mobility within the communist bloc. In urban areas, Đổi Mớ i has led to a significant reorganisation of urban geographies through new patterns and practices of housing, work and leisure, as well as of the forms of mobility spatially connecting these (Hansen, 2017). While a wide range of commodities has become more available in Vietnam and Hanoi over the last decades (see Chap. 2; Drummond, 2012), probably none has made an impact comparable to that of the motorbike. This chapter studies the development of Vietnam’s motorbike society, as well as the emergence of cars in what I call a ‘system of moto-mobility’. In doing so, I employ insights from two ‘turns’ in the social sciences, towards mobilities and practices. In the following part, I introduce these turns as well as the contextual backdrop of the study. Subsequently, I introduce the mobile methods that I term ‘motorbike ethnography’, before moving on to understand the system of moto-mobility and the role of motorbikes and cars in contemporary consumer culture in Vietnam.

 riving Đổi Mới: Contextual and Theoretical D Starting Points While bicycles still dominated individual transport in the early days of reforms, the number of motorbikes started really taking off as the reforms matured (see Hansen, 2017). During the early years, this was partly an outcome of more openness to trade, but since then Vietnam has developed a significant motorbike industry. With millions of bikes sold every year (see Fig. 4.1), ownership levels increased at a dramatic pace. According to the Department of Traffic Safety at the Ministry of Transport, the number of motorbikes on Vietnamese roads increased 48-fold over the three decades following reforms, from 1.2 million in 1990 to an astounding 58 million in 2018. In 2018, there were 6 million motorbikes in Hanoi and 8.5 million motorbikes in Ho Chi Minh City alone (in DTI News, 2019). In other words, there are about as many motorbikes as people in the two cities. The motorbikes in today’s Hanoi are at least as dominant as cars are in a typical city in the mature capitalist world. In the recent decade, however, another mobility transition has become increasingly visible for every year I have visited the city: there are

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5 4.5 4

Million vehicles

3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0

Motorbikes sold

Motorbikes produced

Fig. 4.1  Vietnam domestic motorbike sales and production, 1998–2020. Notes: Compiled by author. Numbers have been rounded off. Production numbers for 2020 were listed by GSO as preliminary at the time of writing. Source: Sales: 1998–2005: Motorbike Joint Working Group (2007); 2006–2008: estimated from Fujita (2013a); 2009–2010: Yamaha Motor (2011); 2011–2020: Numbers from Vietnam Association of Motorcycle Manufacturers (various years). Production: GSO statistics (various years)

more cars on the road. Statistics confirm the impression from the streets. Nationally, car sales took off towards the middle of the 2010s (see Fig. 4.2), and by 2021, there were an estimated 600,000 cars (of all types and sizes) on the streets of Hanoi alone (Hanoi Department of Transport, in VietnamNet, 2021). While Vietnam now is home to a considerable motorbike industry, the attempts to develop a car industry has been partly unsuccessful, particularly if we exclude assemblage of parts produced elsewhere (Hansen, 2016a; Small, 2018). But cars have gradually grown in popularity and are making a strong presence. In an already ‘motorised’ society, the increasing popularity of cars stems from how cars allow for practices of mobility to be performed in a safer, more comfortable, cleaner and ‘healthier’ manner, all the time allowing the driver to display social status while being mobile. In addition to depending on material affluence and mobility of goods, all of these changes are moored in socio-cultural changes following Vietnam’s capitalist transformation

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Number of vehicles

300000 250000 200000 150000 100000 50000 0

Cars sold

Cars produced

Fig. 4.2  Vietnam domestic automobile production and sales, 2000–2020. Notes: Compiled by author. Numbers include all four-wheeled vehicles. Production numbers exclude assembly of imported completely knocked down or semi-knocked down kits. Production numbers for 2002–2004 have been reported by OICA as estimates. Source: OICA statistics (various years). Sales 2018 numbers from Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (in VietnamNet 2019)

(Hansen, 2017). The private automobile has indeed started to make strong material, social and cultural impacts. And despite a slowdown in sales following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, there are clear expectations of automobility to continue becoming more dominant in the future (Ngoc, 2021; Small, 2018, 2021; Hansen, 2016a).

Theorising Automobility and Moto-Mobility Cars and automobility have received significant attention in what has been known as a mobilities ‘turn’ or ‘paradigm’ in the social sciences (Sheller & Urry, 2006; see Cresswell, 2010, 2012, 2014 for overviews). Through work on automobilities (e.g. Sheller & Urry, 2000; Urry, 2004; Featherstone, 2004; Dennis & Urry, 2009; Merriman, 2009), the previously surprisingly understudied social and material significance of the car has been thoroughly investigated, especially in mature capitalist countries (although see e.g. Edensor, 2004; Giucci, 2012; Monroe, 2014; Butler &

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Hannam, 2014; Broz & Habeck, 2015; Small, 2018). Since the mobilities turn, detailed accounts have been given of aspects of automobility such as driving (Thrift, 2004), ‘passengering’ (Laurier et al., 2008), accidents (Short & Pinet-Peralta, 2010) and ‘automotive emotions’ (Sheller, 2004). The attention given to cars stands in sharp contrast to the neglect of motorbikes and motorcycles in the mobilities literature. As an example, when Urry (2004: 29) in his influential article on the ‘system of automobility’ states that ‘[t]he seamlessness of the car journey makes other modes of travel inflexible and fragmented’, this clearly overlooks two-wheeled motorised transport. When motorbikes have received attention, like in Pinch and Reimer’s (2012) welcome discussion of ‘moto-­ mobility’, the analysis tends to focus on the motorcycle as a form of alternative mobility in a car dominated system. Indeed, as argued by Gillen (2015), when motorbikes do enter mobility discussions, it tends to be as an ‘exotic’ means of travel in usually wealthy, English-speaking countries. The crucial role played by motorbikes in the everyday mobilities of a range of countries, particularly in Eastern parts of Asia but increasingly also elsewhere (such as in many African countries), has remained seriously understudied (see e.g. Sopranzetti, 2014). But in Vietnam, it is impossible to ignore motorbikes, and they have gradually received more attention among Vietnam scholars (see Van Nguyen, 2020; Jamme, 2020; Turner & Ngo, 2019; Truitt, 2008). I have elsewhere investigated how the dominance of motorbikes, and later the increasing presence of cars, developed through a combination of the political economy of trade and industrialisation, urban development, increasing purchasing power, infrastructure and everyday mobility practices. The motorbike entered geographies previously defined by its two-wheeled, non-motorised sibling, the bicycle (Hansen, 2017). Hue-Tam Jamme (2020) shows how the particularities of moto-mobility create ‘productive frictions’, defined as the opportunities for social interactions that arise in the encounter between moto-mobility and the built environment. In this chapter, I build on these insights and, drawing on my own ‘motorbike ethnography’ and on Urry’s (2004) system of automobility, argue that a local ‘system of moto-mobility’ is discernible in Hanoi. While demanding significantly less energy, resources and road and parking space than the car, the ways the motorbike has become embedded in the material and social life of Hanoi share many similarities with the role of the car in Urry’ system.

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According to Urry (2004), automobility as a concept refers to a ‘self-expanding’ system whose broader social, cultural and material interlinkages fundamentally shape modern life. Automobility can further be conceptualised as a ‘self-organizing autopoietic, non-linear system that spreads world-wide, and includes cars, car-drivers, roads, petroleum supplies and many novel objects, technologies and signs’ Urry (2004: 27). I will not speculate to what extent the system of moto-­mobility should be considered as self-expanding, nor will I focus on how or whether it is expanding globally.2 Rather, I focus on understanding how practices of moto-mobility take on systemic features. Furthermore, I explore how automobility emerges as a competitor to the two-wheeled system, but also how it has so far remained second to the twowheelers. By ‘putting social relations into travel’ (Sheller & Urry, 2006: 208), I introduce the concept of ‘mobile distinction’ to explain a central part of automobility in contemporary Hanoi. Towards the end of the chapter, I discuss the normalisation of cars in Hanoi. First of all, however, I briefly introduce the methodology that has played a crucial role in shaping my interpretation of Hanoian mobilities.

‘Motorbike Ethnography’ The research behind this chapter is based on both mobile and immobile qualitative methods (Merriman, 2014). Inspired by mobile methods’ aim to ‘go along with’ the movements of the contemporary world in order to grasp it better (Büscher et al., 2011), I have been on the move and in traffic for much of my fieldwork. More specifically, the fieldwork has been ‘moto-mobile’, as for the great majority of time I drove a motorbike. This allowed me to participate in the life of Hanoi traffic, to visit widely different parts of the city and to mentally and bodily experience both the pleasures and dangers of moto-mobility.3 It furthermore provided me the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of the logics of Hanoian moto-­ mobility, as well as the impact of the growing number of cars in the streets. The main fieldwork in Hanoi was conducted over a total of seven months in 2012 and 2013, but the research benefits from visits at least once a year in the following years, until the Covid-19 pandemic made visits more difficult (see Chap. 1). In addition to the participative approach

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of observing-while-being-in traffic, the fieldwork consisted of more immobile interviews, usually conducted in offices or coffee shops (usually reached by motorbike). This included semi-structured and in-­depth interviews with a number of policy makers, car and motorbike retailers, car and motorbike manufacturers and, most importantly, 30 car owners and 16 motorbike owners. The car- and motorbike-owning group of informants mainly belonged to what broadly can be described as the middle class in Vietnam, although their incomes ranged from average to very high (see discussion in Chap. 2). In addition, this research has benefitted from a very large number of informal talks about cars and motorbikes with people all over Vietnam, as well as car journeys (as a passenger) and motorbike rides in many different parts of the country, rural and urban, during a large number of visits from 2010 to 2019. The informants were chosen mainly through a combination of purposive and snowball sampling, based on the networks of informants, colleagues, acquaintances, and different research assistants. Within this overall approach, the main sampling strategy was to encounter informants with different backgrounds and occupations and of different age and gender. My informants came from a wide range of occupations and social positions, such as teachers, clerks, military officials, state-employed academic researchers, a variety of businessmen and -women, and government officials of different ranks, including family members of very high-ranking officials.

 anoi on Wheels: The System H of Moto-­Mobility and Its Everyday Geography The social, cultural and material interlinkages of moto-mobility have fundamentally shaped Hanoi, from infrastructure through consumption geography to everyday practices (see Hansen, 2017). And just like Urry describes the ‘car-driver’, the ‘motorbike-rider’ can usefully be conceptualised as a ‘hybrid assemblage of specific human activities, machines, roads, buildings, signs and cultures of mobility’ (Urry, 2004: 26). In order to understand how these assemblages and interlinkages work in practice, I hold that the best approach is to engage in mobile practices to ground new knowledge in the particularities of the many different spaces and places of mobility.

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Driving in the System of Moto-Mobility A typical day for a large number of Hanoians starts in a mobile fashion by getting up early (often around 5 am) and heading out for the morning exercise. This is a special time of day in the city, where Hanoi can remind of the stories and pictures of the ‘old days’ when the streets were tranquil and people were using their feet or bicycles to get around town. All around the city people are walking, bicycling or practicing tai chi, or they are in public squares such as Ly Thai To or by the Lenin monument participating in more organised activities such as dancing, aerobics, or even ‘laughing yoga’. The city is very much alive, and mobile street vendors on foot or bicycles are offering a range of goods by the streets. Following the morning exercise it is time for breakfast, either at home or at a favourite phở place, perhaps followed by a coffee with friends (particularly for men) or (usually for women) a walk or bicycle ride to the local wet market to try to agree on prices with the vendors for the daily quanta of fresh produce. Between 6 and 7 am, the streetscapes start changing into the particular scenes that are now iconic for Hanoi and Vietnam. Millions of Hanoians bring their motorbikes out of their living rooms or other parking areas and enter the streets. These motorbikes and their riders, together with the systems of provision and the infrastructure that have dialectically developed alongside them, as well as the particular socialities they enable and reinforce, make up what I consider a local system of moto-mobility. Watching the flow of these two-wheeled human-machine hybrids from the side-line is fascinating and evokes images of chaos. This is the chaos that has made Hanoi highly unfriendly to non-motorised transport. Motorbikes can go almost anywhere and are found in every nook and cranny of the complex two-wheeled friendly system of labyrinths in Hanoi.4 They are usually parked—in rush hours even driven—on the sidewalks, to the detriment of pedestrians and cyclists (see Leather et al., 2011). The system of moto-mobility provides a rather unique sense of urban mobility that I would argue extends far beyond that of the car in the system of automobility. This mobility is almost addictive, allowing motorbikers to relatively easily move from doorstep to doorstep more or

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less anywhere in the densely populated city, and in many different ways makes walking a less tempting option. As put by Vietnamese novelist Nguyen Truong Quy (2014: 21): ‘Such is the Hanoian’s attachment to the motorbike that these days, using one’s feet has become an option of last resort, the little chore one must suffer when arriving at the office or walking into one’s home’. At the same time, in a context where public transport has not kept up with rapid urbanisation, the motorbike has been the saviour for getting Hanoians around town in a new economy requiring increased spatial mobility (World Bank, 2011). At first glance, the unruly streetscapes can be terrifying for newcomers, as the many online tourist guides on how to cross the street in Hanoi testifies to. But enter the streets on your own motorbike and become part of the swarm, and you soon notice the logics of traffic. Nguyen Truong Quy (2014: 67) has caught well how the frenzied traffic changes when you become part of the movement: ‘when I am in that sea myself, there’s no problem, I am in my element, flowing and coursing with the ease of a fish in water’. This reflects my own experiences in my many daily drives in the city, where I would soon adapt to the swarms around me, even to the point of driving on sidewalks when in a rush to get somewhere. In the mostly narrow streets, traffic jams certainly also occur, something that I quickly discovered in my daily commute to my Hanoi office, although far from the extent of other large Southeast Asian cities where car ownership is more widespread, such as downtown Bangkok or the infamous macet in Jakarta. Requiring significantly less space, the hordes of motorbikes flow in very different ways from the typically stagnant traffic jam of cars, although becoming part of the individual yet collective movement of these bikes still strongly shapes your own movements in traffic.

 he Particularities of Hanoi’s T Moto-Mobile Streetscapes I could easily spend the whole chapter discussing the different norms and practices in Hanoian traffic, ranging from frequently driving on the wrong side of the road through the art of dodging pedestrians to the

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many particularities of honking (honk too little and you represent danger in traffic, honk too much and you are deemed as uncivilized). Some patterns, like the fact that a majority of motorbikers at traffic lights start driving some seconds before the red light changes to green and stop driving some seconds after it has changed to red again, add chaos, materially moored in the countdown system displayed on all traffic lights in the city. Seemingly everyone disobeys some of the formal rules of traffic, but if you diverge too much from the normal, accepted behaviour—for instance by ignoring red lights completely or honking constantly as you drive (a surprisingly common practice)—you are quickly judged as lacking urban know-how. Many of my middle-class interviewees indeed blamed the traffic situation in Hanoi on people being uneducated, and particularly on the many rural migrants in the city. Break the law, and you also risk running into the traffic police. In central Hanoi, the traffic police in their khaki uniforms are everywhere, ready to hand out fines for any minor or major offence, usually solved through a 200,000 Vietnamese Dong (VND)5 ‘direct payment’.6 While more unconventional vehicles such as oxcarts, tuktuks and cyclos have been banned from the streets of Hanoi (the latter are still allowed for tourism purposes), the motorbikes have almost completely taken over the city. However, young people on electric bicycles and, increasingly, electric scooters silently glide past you, their quiet engines disrupting traditional traffic practices of navigating by sound. While holding a certain elusive promise of greener mobility, the electric bicycles, requiring neither a helmet nor a driver’s licence to operate, so far seem to compete more with the traditional bicycles than with motorbikes (see Chap. 7). The few remaining bicycles in the streets are either the often Vietnamese-made bicycles of school children, the rackety old bikes of street vendors, the colourful ‘fixie bikes’ of the young and trendy or the expensive, imported mountain bikes now in fashion for exercise among the better off (see Earl, 2020; Van Nguyen, 2020; Carruthers, 2016; Hansen, 2016b). Motorbikes come in all shapes and sizes but are usually small and light. The motorbike models are in many ways gendered, men traditionally preferring ‘semi-automatic’ versions where you place one leg on each side of the bike and do your own gearing, while models aimed towards the

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female market segment are usually the more petrol-consuming fully automatic scooters designed to let the driver keep the legs together (thus being skirt-friendly). In addition, new models such as Honda’s ‘Lead’, despite being quite large and heavy, have become very popular partly because of the generous space under the seat. Many of my female informants reported this feature as highly convenient as it allowed them to store, for example, purses while driving, and helmets and ‘driving gear’ while parked. The latter is another common sight in Hanoi’s streets and a central part of the material culture of Vietnamese moto-mobility; girls and women covered from head to toe in clothing designed to keep the sun out and the skin pale. Larger motorcycles until recently demanded special permission, which interestingly usually has required membership in a motorcycle club, and are seldom seen in the streets. Rare also are the few remaining left-over motorbikes from the former communist bloc, such as the famous Minsk and Babetta. Those that dominate traffic range from the early Honda motorbikes such as the ‘Dream’ through contemporary Japanese and Taiwanese models to more exclusive scooters of Italian making. Motorbikes also function as taxis. Although the number of taxi cabs has grown so rapidly that Hanoi stopped granting new licences in 2012 (Thanh Nien News, 2014), still all over the city xe ôm drivers (motorbike taxis, literally ‘hugging vehicle’) have for decades been waiting and shouting for customers on the street corners, often in impressive manners taking a nap on their parked motorbikes.7 In recent years, however, many of these have been replaced by the colourful jackets and helmets of drivers working for a number of ride-hailing companies, Grab being by far the largest (see Hansen et al., 2020).

Mundane Mobilities and Their Moorings As noted in the introduction, two-wheeled motorised mobility has in the literature mainly been approached through subcultures and alternative mobilities, visible in the contributions to the Journal of Motorcycle Studies. This diverges significantly from the position of motorbikes in Hanoi, although to be sure some Hanoians are quite passionate about their bikes.

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The motorbike mainly represents the normal way to perform mundane mobilities. In short time, it has become an essential part of the highly mobile Hanoian everyday life, and is used for all kinds of purposes, such as carrying out errands, going to work or school and home or to restaurants for lunch, picking up children, or even ‘walking’ the dog, in turn making Hanoian everyday practices highly motorised. Aldred and Jungnickel (2013: 606) have described the car as ‘an object whose ownership and use both enables and locks in a variety of practices’. In Hanoi, the car also locks out some of the old practices of the motorbike, such as driving from doorstep to doorstep, or stopping alongside the road to shop, eat or drink. And the narrow streets and large networks of alleyways make the city much easier to traverse on two wheels than on four (Hansen, 2015). In other words, the system of moto-mobility makes the car in many ways an inconvenient means of transportation. In the literature on automobility, the possibility to decide individually when and where to move is often considered one of the main allures of the car. In the words of Sheller and Urry (2000: 743), Automobility (in some respects) is a source of freedom, the “freedom of the road”. Its flexibility enables the car-driver to travel at speed, at any time, in any direction along the complex road systems of western societies that link together most houses, workplaces and leisure sites. Cars, therefore, extend where people can go and hence what as humans they are literally able to do.

Inside Hanoi, this ‘freedom’ is arguably more the case for motorbikes than cars. In the words of a young, female motorbike driver, ‘the best part of driving a motorbike is [that] you take freedom in your own hands and can go anywhere you want’ (Interview, October 2013). The motorbike provides a highly flexible, privatised means of getting around. Indeed, it has been closely associated with the new post-reform freedoms of Vietnam (Truitt, 2008; Van Nguyen, 2020). However, as Urry’s (2004) has characterised the system of automobility, this is in many ways a coerced flexibility, as the lack of public transport combined with the structuring of everyday life and the urban environment of Hanoi around the two-­ wheeler frequently leaves Hanoians with little choice.

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Cerise and Maximy (2010) aptly describe the streets of Hanoi as inhabited by a population of ‘centaurs’, so closely attached to the motorbike that it can almost be seen as a part of their bodies. Driving it has, in turn, become ‘second nature’ to Hanoians, according to Nguyen Truong Quy (2014: 20). It feels so ‘natural’ to drive that many of my informants told me they started driving one long before they had turned 18 (the required age by law), and very few of them reported to have driver’s licences. Indeed, Mai Ha (2014) has suggested less than 4% of Vietnam’s inhabitants hold a driver’s licence, despite the fact that on average every household nationwide owns a motorbike (GSO, 2012). Again this separates motorbikes from cars. All of my car-owning informants had driver’s licences, and many reported driving a car as quite challenging. While driving a motorbike in Hanoi certainly requires quite some skills, it seems to in relatively short time have undergone a process of social normalisation to the extent that driving one is almost perceived as an integral part of being Vietnamese; a young, female motorbike owner indeed compared riding a motorbike for Vietnamese to riding a horse for Mongolians (Interview, October 2013). The system of moto-mobility also depends on its own set of moorings. A crucial part is played not only by the narrow road networks and housing practices (see Hansen, 2017) but also by the parking infrastructure. Very different from the eternal search for parking space often associated with urban automobility, parking a motorbike in Hanoi is rarely a problem. At home, motorbikes are usually parked on the front porch at daytime and inside, often in the living room, at nighttime. In public spaces, motorbikes are parked on the sidewalks, usually immediately in front of shops, offices or other businesses, and are often watched by a parking attendant who will usually write a number in chalk on the seat of your motorbike and hand you a note with your designated number. Others will organise the parked motorbikes by licence plate, and Hanoians will often memorise the digits of their licence plates. The organised parking facilities all have in common that they charge around 5000 VND for parking, no matter how long you leave it there (although as a foreigner, the price may easily be higher). In addition, many are running private businesses by letting people park their bikes in private parking lots. Normally, however, you will never have to walk very far. The new malls

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that have been popping up in different areas of the city use a similar but more modernised parking system, often involving electronic cards (without any chalk-scribbling on the seat). The parking facilities of these malls are usually found in the basement, where often thousands of motorbikes are lined up, in many places organised according to brand (e.g. the Vespas in one area, Hondas in another). Cars are on different floors, and the ample room for car parking in the new malls separates them from the conspicuous lack of parking space for cars in central Hanoi, and can be seen as both a response to and expectation of emerging automobility.

Emerging Automobility Driving a motorbike in the streets of Hanoi, you very quickly notice the cars. Despite still being outnumbered by motorbikes, the cars have started to make a substantial impact. A car requires up to seven times the road space of a motorbike (World Bank, 2014), and in the narrow streets designed for two-wheelers, cars easily clog up traffic. They struggle to push their way through the sea of motorbikes, and although useful as ‘shields’ against traffic at intersections, cars make traffic more dangerous for the more vulnerable motorbike drivers. Striking also is the prevalence of new and expensive cars, moored partly in the high prices on any cars, the limited access to used cars and, as discussed below, partly in more symbolic concerns. Due to high levels of taxes and fees, a car in Vietnam is relatively speaking very expensive. Although it may be possible to acquire a used car for less, a new car usually starts at more than 300–400 million VND. A new Toyota sedan, one of the most popular brands in Hanoi, costs more than 500 million, and some models closer to 1 billion. By comparison, a new Honda motorbike is available for less than 20 million VND (although the most expensive Piaggio models cost several hundred million, and larger motorcycles easily cost more than a car). Furthermore, the expenses for parking, insurance, fuel and fees among my car-owning informants varied between 3 and 10 million VND a month. With a job in the public sector, an individual will usually (officially) earn somewhere between 3 and 5 million a month. A farmer or construction worker earns less. A car is thus far out of reach with a ‘normal’ income, and it is safe to assume

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that a car owner belongs to Hanoi’s upper echelons. In this sense cars are a mobile manifestation of the inequalities embedded in Vietnam’s capitalist transformation and can be effectively used to display and achieve social standing in the reorganisation of status and class following Đổi Mớ i.

Mobile Distinction Material goods play a crucial role in social performance as carriers of messages enabling their owners to communicate social positions, values and traits. They are used in ‘cognitive classifications’, as put by Douglas and Isherwood (1979) in their classic study The World of Goods. The meaning of goods, however, is fundamentally dependent on context. As Bourdieu (1984: 94) reminds us, ‘[o]bjects, even industrial products, are not objective in the ordinary sense of the word, i.e., independent of the interest and tastes of those who perceive them, and they do not impose the self-­ evidence of a universal, unanimously approved meaning’. Or in Kopytoff’s (1986) terminology, although the world of commodities is indeed marked by homogenisation, the cultural and social ‘biographies’ of things may differ significantly across societies and cultures. Although automobility seems to represent perhaps the closest we get to a blueprint of ‘the modern society’ (Hansen, 2016a), the messages a car conveys must be understood in their context. Vietnam is a ‘transition economy’, and the shift from socialism to capitalism has involved an alteration of social hierarchies. At least there is now more room for alternatives to the strict hierarchies of the communist party, although connections to the state still represent direct and indirect roads to prosperity (Gainsborough, 2010). Famously, Thorstein Veblen (2007 [1899]) used the concept of ‘conspicuous consumption’ to explain the purchase of luxury goods for the display of economic power in a new socio-economic context where inherited social positions were losing their monopoly on hierarchically structuring society. Although in an entirely different time and space from Veblen’s analysis, this starting point speaks well to the Vietnamese post- Đổi Mớ i society. Escaping the rather ascetic frames set by the planned economy, the reforms have in many different ways led to a renewed importance of social distinction through consumption (Bélanger et al., 2012; Vann, 2012).

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Italian Luxury In the first decades following Đổi Mớ i, motorbikes were the ultimate symbol of the new Vietnam, of modernity and progress (Truitt, 2008). While motorbike ownership now has been socially normalised, certain motorbike models are still attached significant status. Driving around Hanoi it is easy to recognise a favourite among the wealthier parts of the young middle-class: the Italian Piaggio or Vespa. All over the city fashion-­ conscious urbanites are driving around on these Italian icons (see Arvidsson, 2001), and a host of models are available. A representative for Piaggio Vietnam explained in an interview how new market segments have been forming in the country, what she referred to as the premium and luxury markets. These are the segments where Piaggio has been highly successful in Vietnam (see also Wunker, 2011), with the cheapest Piaggio models costing about the double of the cheapest Hondas, and the most expensive, imported models at the time of fieldwork reaching as high as 350 million VND. The Piaggio representative considered the main allure of their scooters not to be quality but style. She further explained how the high-end motorbike market in Vietnam was considered extraordinary, and that they had not been able to achieve the same kind of success in other countries in the region (interview, November, 2013).8 The big ‘luxury market’ for motorbikes is probably partly due to the high taxes imposed on cars, but it is also due to the important position of the motorbike as a means of transportation in Hanoi. The expensive and good-looking Italian motorbikes represent ways to achieve social distinction while keeping the convenience of the motorbike. Importantly, however, many of those able to afford the ‘luxury’ brands of motorbikes also own a car. And as a general symbol of development and modernity, little can now compete with the four-wheeler.

Success on Four Wheels Surprisingly, the only small cars usually seen in the streets of Hanoi are taxis. The private cars predominantly range from normal sedans to very big SUVs.9 There are many Japanese cars on the roads, particularly

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Toyotas, but also many BMWs, Audis, Mercedes’ and even some Rolls-­ Royces. It feels slightly absurd to drive in, for example, the area around the Presidential Palace and the iconic Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and see these totems of global capitalism move beneath neon signs of the hammer and sickle. At the same time, this contradiction is emblematic of Vietnam’s ‘market socialism’. The cars in the streets of Hanoi indeed reflect Vietnam’s successful integration into global capitalism. They also serve as powerful reminders of the fact that some have become very wealthy in the process, and that it is now acceptable to spend very large amounts of money on consumer goods and to publically flaunt them. Cars convey status, wealth and social standing in public spaces better than probably any other commodity. As Wengenroth (2011: 4) puts it, as ‘the most starkly displayed item of consumption next to clothing, there is no semiotically innocent car’. In a country in rapid development and with immense differences between the richest and the poorest, the symbolic value of the car is arguably even stronger. One of my older informants, a man who had lived in Hanoi most of his life, reflected on the question of why more and more people in Hanoi wanted to get a car instead of—or in addition to—a motorbike. While seeing the car as convenient for escaping bad weather and for taking the family out for trips, he would usually drive his Honda motorbike, and appeared rather annoyed with his high-earning son for buying him a car. He saw the most important reason as related to conspicuous display of wealth: In my family everyone has a motorbike, but my son still wanted to buy a car. So it’s just the Vietnamese characteristic. We want to prove that with a car we are richer. Actually we don’t use it to work; we only use it once a week on average. But we still buy it to show other people, it’s important (Interview, October 2013, translated from Vietnamese).

While this tendency is certainly not limited to Vietnamese people, it does reflect a sentiment that is often expressed about the inhabitants of Hanoi. Interestingly, as indeed highlighted by many of my informants, the capital of Vietnam and the home to the communist political elite is famous in Vietnam for a marked tendency towards purchase and display of

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positional goods, much more so than the financial capital Ho Chi Minh City in the South (see also Fforde, 2003).10 Since the car is very expensive in Vietnam, it is a clear display of purchasing power. It is also a mobile display, allowing its user to openly show his or her status in the streets. Owning a car today in the new, capitalist economy of Vietnam, communicates success; that its owner is one of those who have been able to make his or her way in the treacherous, yet potentially extremely lucrative, waters of the market economy. In Hanoi, I was often told in English that the car ‘gives you a nice face’. It ‘polishes one’s name’ (đánh bóng tên tuổi) following a popular Vietnamese phrase. This can have direct implications for its owner.

Better Service, Higher Bribes In the system of commodity-based social classifications, a car really makes its driver stand out from the crowd. The messages conveyed by a car in contemporary Hanoi can indeed directly affect the treatment of its owner in social settings. As reflected in this conversation with a young, female car owner, the social impact of driving a car in Hanoi extends beyond just making an impression: Informant: I think people tend to respect the people driving cars. I think so. Researcher: Why do you think? Informant: Here in Vietnam? Because cars represent your wealth. That kind of thing. So if you go by car, people will think OK, you are rich, you have money, and…And if you go to some kind of service, business, they will treat you better. Researcher: Yeah? Did you experience this yourself? Informant: Yes. Researcher: Like in a restaurant? Informant: Yeah, yeah! It’s different from when I go by motorbike. (Interview, October, 2013)

But the message of wealth the car sends does not necessarily lead to positive outcomes for the driver. The prolific traffic police are also able to apply this information to their own specific take on progressive taxation.

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Thus, my car-owning informants reported that the fines (bribes) they had to pay to the police were often more than twice as high in a car compared to on a motorbike.11 Similarly, several informants also told me that shopping alongside the road became more expensive in a car than on a motorbike. The point remains that driving a car in the sea of motorbikes ensures different treatment, usually in a positive sense. Nowhere is this as important as for those trying to make a living in the highly relationship-­ contingent market economy of Vietnam.

The Car as a Business Strategy Businessmen in Hanoi today actively use their car to show actual or potential business partners that they can be trusted as successful entrepreneurs. I interviewed one young Hanoian businessman who had recently changed his practical family car towards a more expensive and less practical model. He told me: ‘If I have a meeting or appointment with [a] customer I have to go by car’. When I asked why, he said ‘because…you know…if I go by car maybe my image is better with the customer’. He said if he already had known the client for a long time he could use his motorbike, but if needing to make an impression he needed the car. But a car alone is not sufficient: ‘It should be nice, usually it should be [an] expensive car. Like you know the cost is maybe more than 50,000 US Dollar’ (Interview, April 2013). Another young businessman told me a similar story, as can be seen in the following conversation: Researcher: For your job, do you need to show that you have a car? Informant: A lot. Researcher: Why? Informant: It will give your partners confidence in you. Researcher: Does it matter what type of car? Informant: Yes, it matters. The better the car, the more they believe in you. Some kinds of cars make very little change. Like Daewoo’s Matiz. Researcher: And what kinds change it a lot? Informant: Toyota, Mercedes, BMW. (Interview, May 2013, translated from Vietnamese)

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The young businessman here discusses a status hierarchy of cars. The Matiz is a small car made by the South Korean car manufacturer Daewoo. This is comparatively low-priced and inconspicuous, and thus does not necessarily communicate sufficient success when inserted ‘into the lower ranks of a powerful status hierarchy of objects’ (Hansen & Nielsen, 2014: 77). This, along with the overall high cost of buying and owning any type of car, helps explain the prevalence of luxury cars in the streets of Hanoi. The statements by these young businessmen were confirmed in many other interviews. What they are discussing is a form of conspicuous consumption, but perhaps more accurately strategies of distinction (Bourdieu, 1984). Social distinction, however, is a tricky game. The highly educated part of the elite in Hanoi frowns upon the flaunting of luxury cars as a vulgar public display of wealth, something belonging to the nouveau riche.12 As an older and highly successful businessman told me, this is something ‘rich peasants’ do. Of course, you can own a car (he did not, he would be driven in company cars or taxis everywhere), but you should not try to ‘show off’ with it (Interview, October 2013). Nevertheless, in the market economy, the car is actively used as an artefact to define, display and entrench positions as successful businessmen. The car in other words assists both spatial and social mobility. This point can be further illustrated by taking a short detour out of the city.

Bringing Success to the quê The Hanoian middle class is increasingly mobile, leaving the city for work and holidays. Most of my informants would nonetheless principally emphasise the importance of one particular mobile practice: returning to the quê, the rural hometown. In the context of rapid urbanisation, a large proportion of Hanoi’s inhabitants have at some point migrated from the countryside, and return to the quê for Tết (Lunar New Year) or other special occasions such as death-anniversaries. Returning ‘home’ is of course a common practice for rural–urban migrants around the world, but through the importance attached to place in Vietnamese identity, belief systems and family life, interlinked with the central position of spatially determined rituals of ancestor veneration, the practice takes on

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strong significance in Vietnam. With Đổi Mớ i, as Jellema (2007: 60) puts it, ‘Improved transportation and more disposable income, combined with the relaxation of central control […], has meant both more mobility away from native places as well as greater ease in return journeys’. The car has become increasingly central to returning ‘home’. After getting outside the central areas of Hanoi, the streetscapes and motorscapes change character. Motorbikes are still everywhere, but there are more cars and larger vehicles on the roads. The velocity of traffic is much higher and the ‘chaos’ of the crowded streets of Hanoi changes to dangerous high-­ speed driving practices. The motorbikes are here outside their dominant realm, the unprotected drivers highly exposed to accidents. While there are ample opportunities for leaving the city by public transport networks, the possibility of comfortably leaving the city for short and long trips without relying on public transport (or on renting a car) was highlighted by many of my informants as one of the main attractions of purchasing a car. Furthermore, while it is possible, and indeed increasingly popular among young people to leave Hanoi on a motorbike, it is hardly comfortable to drive long distances on the small vehicles. Particularly for long-­ distance spatial mobility, the car offers promises of comfort and safety where the two-wheeler cannot compete (Hansen, 2017). But again, the car is simultaneously a vehicle for and symbol of social mobility. Coming from a poor province in the North of Vietnam, a young businessman I interviewed spoke of the experience of coming home with a new car. He said in his hometown no one had ever owned one (as an example of the disparities between rural and urban Vietnam), so when he arrived in his car, children would come running after him, and all the neighbours would come to visit his family. I first took this as interest in the car as a material object, but he explained that the neighbours did not care too much about the car as such. They came to see him, to try to understand what he had done to be able to afford the car. In this way, he made his family proud, and securely cemented his position in the quê as a successful young man. In his own words, ‘The car is the best symbol of a successful person. You can rent an apartment, but you have to own a car to show your personality’ (Interview, May 2013, translated from Vietnamese). In other words, a motorbike, or even a rented car, could not have delivered the same social benefits as a private car did, and having a

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nice apartment in the city would mean little when returning to the countryside. The young man had become part of the urban middle class, and was able to use the most obvious proof of his new societal position to travel to his hometown.

Mobile Pragmatism and Conspicuous Immobility As the discussion so far has shown, the spatial mobility of cars is in many ways central to the social meaning attached to them. They are conspicuous in traffic and they can be driven to the hometown, to business meetings, to restaurants or other public spaces. However, cars are obviously often immobile. For large parts of their ‘lives’, they are parked. But this device designed for moving people around can also serve a purpose without leaving its allotted parking space. Indeed, one of the most frequent stories I heard in Hanoi when asking people about cars referred to immobility rather than mobility. It was explained to me how some rich people would purchase cars they seldom or never used. According to these stories, people buy cars just because car ownership has become expected in certain social positions, or because they want to show that they can buy a car. According to a young businessman in Hanoi, ‘they get a car to show their personality, but when they go outside they use a motorbike’ (Interview, May, 2013, translated from Vietnamese). In other words, the motorbike is often seen as superior to cars in terms of getting from A to B within the city, and very few of my car-owning informants would stop driving motorbikes. This reflects a sort of mobile pragmatism that I am yet to encounter in accounts of middle-class mobility in other Asian countries, where cars have taken over completely as the preferred means of transportation (e.g. Fischer, 2014 on Malaysia; Nielsen & Wilhite, 2015 on India; Gerth, 2016 on China). Mobile pragmatism notwithstanding, in Hanoi cars have such strong connotations attached to them that they do not even have to be in use to serve their social purpose. Interestingly, this position has also opened for a curious integration of traditional beliefs into practices of mobile distinction.

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Conspicuous Luck For those wanting to stand out further from the crowd in Hanoi than they already do by driving an expensive car, the licence plate is a good place to start. In the streets of Hanoi, the licence plates of vehicles tell stories about their owners. First of all, the colour of the licence plate: If it is red, the vehicle belongs to the military; if blue, it belongs to the public sector; and if white, it is privately owned. But more interestingly, the combination of numbers on the licence plate takes on meaning. A licence plate with, the number 8888, for example, guarantees that the owner is a person with significant wealth and political connections. The combination of the prevalence of accidents and the high economic and emotional value attached to cars has opened for the movement of traditional practices of phong thủy or feng shui, into traffic, with many car owners looking to find a car with a colour that ‘matches their personality’. Similarly, the combination of the search for luck and distinction has introduced numerology to the streets. In many parts of East and Southeast Asia, numbers are believed to have the capacity to bring luck and prosperity as well as bad luck and suffering. In the market economy, ‘lucky numbers’ (số đẹp in Vietnamese, literally meaning beautiful number) have been commodified, and, for example, the market for lucky mobile phone numbers is thriving. Also for licence plates for cars, numbers are given high financial value. There is a wide variety of numbers that is sought after, and to an outsider, the practice can be quite confusing.13 In general, eight and nine are positive numbers. Eight in Sino-Vietnamese is bat, which sounds like phát in Vietnamese (meaning development or progress). Nine in Sino-Vietnamese is cuu, which sounds like cửu, implying something everlasting, permanent, or longevity. On the other hand, the number four symbolizes death. A wide range of number combinations can be positive or negative. For example, it is considered lucky if the numbers are increasing exponentially, or if they in combination add up to eight or nine. In contrast to mobile phone numbers, it is now illegal to buy lucky numbers for licence plates. They are all randomly drawn by pushing a button at the registration office and a number appears on the screen. Still,

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as in basically any aspect of post-Đổi Mớ i Vietnam, those with strong financial means and political connections find ways of getting around the system, something that was explained to me in detail by a car retailer (Interview, April, 2013). The inaccessibility of lucky numbers, in turn, makes them a perfect status symbol, as only the very wealthy and powerful can get access. As put by Nguyen Truong Quy (2014: 92–93), ‘[a] truly classy car in Hanoi […] must have an exclusive license plate number […] for giving our cars that last, crucial touch of prestige’. There is no fixed price for a good number, but it is a well-known fact in Hanoi that prices can be very high. When I asked what it would cost to get the number 8888, the ‘luckiest’ it gets, a young businessman told me: ‘Too expensive! One billion Vietnamese Dong. When people see the number plate they can image the owner of the car. No need to talk more.’ (Interview, April 2013; see also Gerth, 2016 on licence plates in China). Another interesting aspect of these conspicuous practices of numerology is that my informants generally saw it as funny to consider investing in a lucky licence plate for their motorbikes. While some still do, this was not considered as a particularly status-enhancing practice. This serves as another example of the declining position of the motorbike in the status hierarchy of goods. Based on the aforementioned discussion, it is safe to conclude that in the hierarchy of material objects, the private car has clearly overtaken the throne of the motorbike as a sign of success in contemporary Hanoi. This reflects important macro-level changes in Vietnam. While motorbike ownership quickly became fairly uncontroversial, owning a car is more conspicuous, and has not always had positive connotations in Vietnam. As Broz and Habeck (2015) note concerning the dual role of cars in the Soviet Union, cars can be seen as suspicious items related to individualism and consumerism rather than socialist progress (see also Siegelbaum, 2008). Indeed, the changing social position of cars can in many ways be seen as a symbol of Vietnam’s capitalist transformation.

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 ormalising Automobility: Cars, Capitalism, N and Socio-Politically Embedded Mobility In the streets of central Hanoi, the system of moto-mobility continues making cars a slow and inconvenient means of transportation. Outside central areas, however, new forms of dwelling, shopping, and moving around are materialising, where the expectation of car ownership is built into wider roads, bigger supermarkets and extensive spaces for parking (see Hoai, 2015). Likewise, new highways are often only accessible for cars, creating a new form of socio-spatial separation between car drivers and motorbike drivers. These changes in mobility regimes reflect larger development trends in Vietnam. As is typical for contemporary capitalism and indeed for Vietnam’s development experience in general, the motorbikes and cars on the roads in Hanoi are manufactured by big actors from more mature capitalist economies. They are in many ways ‘global capitalism on wheels’, represented through different Asian and Italian motorbike brands and East-­ Asian, European or American car brands. The new flows of goods associated with Đổi Mớ i have been fundamental to the development of the current motorscape in Vietnam (Hansen, 2017). But the reforms involved much more than spatial movement of goods, they have indeed led to a renegotiation of the role of goods and private consumption in the development project of the country. Communist planned economies have always, in different ways and through different means, restricted consumption alongside a promise of future material affluence. This restriction usually goes along well with an ideological scepticism towards what is considered bourgeoisie high levels of individual consumption (see Chap. 2). In a society where everyone is supposed to be equal, display of personal wealth can be dangerous. Although there were certainly very different levels of wealth during the communist times in Vietnam (see e.g. Truitt, 2013), one had to be careful with conspicuous display of relative affluence. This changed with Đổi Mớ i, but just as reforms were gradual this was also a gradual process. The need for growth in the new economic system, as Vann (2012) has pointed out, led to a shift in state rhetoric towards valuing even conspicuous

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displays of wealth as positive for the economy and thus for Vietnam’s overall vision and goal of modernisation and industrialisation. In acts that just a few decades ago would be materially impossible (due to the unavailability of goods) and socially disastrous, the Hanoian upper and middle classes today openly display their wealth through housing, clothing, eating practices and, as Jellema (2007) points out, even religious worship. Nowhere, however, is the newly acquired wealth more visible than in traffic. As Truitt (2008: 4) puts it, in Vietnam, ‘it is in traffic that one sees the emergence of the middle class’. These changes were reflected by one of my older informants, a high-­ ranking public sector employee who bought a car in the early 2000s, at a time when very few people had cars in Hanoi: ‘In my office, I was maybe one of the first to use a private car. When people saw me buying a car, they also bought one. Even if they had enough money, they were afraid of buying a car until I got one’. I asked him why they were afraid, and he said ‘because they are in charge of a position, people see them and may get the wrong impression. This gradually disappears. That’s in the past, not now. Now people are afraid of buying cars for other reasons’. People are now rather worried about the high costs, the difficulties of driving in Hanoi and the strict traffic rule enforcement as well as lack of available parking space, he continued (Interview, April 2013, translated from Vietnamese). While there are still government-induced disincentives to buying cars through high taxes, these are not ideologically driven, but rather pragmatic approaches to raise public funds as well as to a serious development challenge driven by the inability of the streets of Vietnamese cities to accommodate widespread car ownership (Hansen, 2016a, in press). Thus, cars now being materially and (for some) financially available and socially and politically acceptable, car ownership is increasing fast in Hanoi. This is likely to further increase with the reduction of taxes on imported cars combined with the emergence of Vietnam’s first truly domestic carmaker, Vinfast, which opened its first manufacturing complex in 2017. Belonging to the exceptionally powerful Vingroup, it has high ambitions both in the domestic and foreign car markets (see Valdes-­ Dapena, 2021; Ariffin, 2018). Alongside this trend, the car seems to be gradually losing its position as an extraordinary commodity. Like motorbikes before them, cars are increasingly normalised. In the words of a car

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retailer in Hanoi, ‘the car is still a form of jewellery in Vietnam, but it is gradually changing towards a means of transportation’ (Interview, April 2013). While the car is still an elusive dream for many, it is already seen as mundane for the better off in Vietnam. In a discussion with a group of businessmen, I was told that the car no longer works as a display of success, since ‘everyone has one’ (Interview, May 2013). This is, mildly put, an overstatement. Yet, it is a telling example of how cars have achieved a position where certain occupations and classes come with an expectation of four-wheeled mobility. This normalisation process may, in turn, pave the way for a potential break with the system of moto-mobility.

Between the Exceptional and the Expected History has shown that a gradual increase in levels of car ownership can be expected with increasing affluence (Medlock & Soligo, 2002), so in that sense, the gradual normalisation of automobility in Hanoi is to be expected. In many East and Southeast Asian countries, widespread motorbike ownership has been common. Good comparative numbers on motorbikes are hard to find, but Vietnam certainly does have a very high ratio of motorbike ownership. For example, Thailand, also known for significant levels of moto-mobility, in 2000 had about 215 motorbikes per 1000 people (Nagai et al., 2003), a time when Thailand’s GDP per capita was closer to that of Vietnam today. In Vietnam, with around 58 million motorbikes and a population of approximately 98 million, the rate is currently about 592 motorbikes per 1000 people, in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, there are about as many motorbikes as there are people. In countries with a high prevalence of motorbikes, car ownership has also increased rapidly with economic growth (Nishitateno & Burke, 2014), although to different extents. A look at the most updated ‘motorisation rates’ (four-wheel vehicles per 1000 people) I could find shows that Vietnam’s 2015 motorisation rate of 23 was significantly lower than other ‘emerging economies’ in the larger region, for example, Indonesia’s 87, China’s 118, Thailand’s 228 and Malaysia’s 439 (OICA, 2014). We cannot conclude much based on these numbers, however, since compared to these countries, Vietnam is still relatively poor.14 These countries

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also have in common relatively large domestic automobile industries, and, for example, Malaysia and to some extent China have actively encouraged domestic car consumption (Barter, 2004; Gerth, 2016). The Vietnamese government has attempted to develop a domestic auto industry, but so far has placed high taxes and fees on domestic car consumption. Different ministries disagree on how to deal with the car, but with more trade openness and now also a Vietnamese automaker, Vinfast, in place, car ownership may increase even more rapidly in the future (Hansen, 2016, 2022). However, economic explanations can only take us part of the way. Mobility and its cultures, practices, meanings and moorings, and along with this the processes that entrench moto-mobility and automobility in different countries and societies, are complex and context-specific. As Sheller and Urry (2006: 210) put it, ‘[m]obility is always located and materialised’. Vietnam and Hanoi are clear examples of this. The system of moto-mobility has developed alongside economic growth but has been fundamentally shaped by existing mobility cultures and infrastructures shaped around bicycles. Easily replacing the bicycle in a range of mobility practices, motorbikes rapidly became the dominant means of transportation. This was, in turn, shaped by systems of provision, as a range of processes involving the opening up for trade and the gradual access to more affordable motorbike models, made the motorised two-wheelers available (see Hansen, 2017; Fujita, 2013a, b). The next step now may be an electrification of the motorbike fleet, with new domestic and foreign actors entering the competition. Chapter 7 returns to this.

Conclusion It is due time for mobilities research to appreciate the motorbike as a crucial part of everyday mobility for a large portion of the world’s inhabitants. This, combined with deeper engagement with the meanings, moorings and expansion of automobility in different countries, cultures and societies could lead to interesting theoretical discussions. This chapter has suggested that the best way of doing so is through strong empirical grounding in the places and spaces in question.

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As this chapter has shown, there are many particularities to motorised mobility in Hanoi. The motorbike, for now at least, remains the king of the road, and the streetscapes and urban geographies of the city are strongly shaped by the system of moto-mobility. This system already delivers on many of the promises associated with cars in the literature on automobility. Motorbikes provide flexibility, individual movement and relatively effortless spatial mobility. Cars are nevertheless increasing in number and have overtaken the position of motorbikes as aspirational and positional goods. Hanoi, after years of motorbike dominance, has seen a craze for cars that extends beyond the functional appeal of the four-wheeler and that has seen car ownership emerge as a personal development goal for many. Conspicuous displays of often immense wealth have become acceptable in Vietnam’s ‘market socialism’, and rich children of communist leaders driving luxury capitalist-produced cars are emblematic of the contradictions embedded in Vietnam’s development model. As a particularly stark contrast to the closed borders of the days of the planned economy, global capitalism is vividly represented in the streets of Hanoi through Japanese, Korean, German, French and American cars. Some of them cost more than a lifetime’s earnings for the Vietnamese working class, and thus also act as a reminder of the inequalities embedded in the new economy. Both in general social performance and in business strategies, the car is now the ultimate object for displaying and achieving upward social mobility in the market economy. This seems to be diminishing as car ownership becomes more widespread, but for now the car effectively separates, both mentally and physically, the richest from the rest in Vietnam. To conclude that people consume cars only to display status would however be ungrounded, as the car clearly also possesses unique functional value. Rather mobile distinction is one important factor for explaining the allure of cars in a city already on wheels. Driving a car is a very different experience than driving a motorbike, and as car ownership spreads the comfort, cleanliness and relative safety promised by the four-wheeler seem to become embedded in the expectations of higher material living standards. For the sake of urban mobility, the social position of cars may

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well signal a new era and the beginning of a break with the dominance of two-wheeled transport. The position of the car in Vietnam’s development strategies is still a contested topic. In the streets of Hanoi, however, cars are predominantly discussed as a manifestation of progress and development. The proposition by Hanoi authorities to ban motorbikes, but not cars, from central areas of the city by 2030, ostensibly for traffic purposes, speaks to this (Hansen, 2022). Indeed, many of my informants referred to an alteration of a traditional Vietnamese proverb describing what a young man should aspire to achieve in life; ‘buy a buffalo, build a house, get a wife’ has now become ‘buy a car, build a house, get a wife’. The remaining question is to what extent the system of moto-mobility will slow down the speed of increasing car ownership.

Notes 1. As is common practice in Vietnam, I use the term ‘motorbike’ to refer to most two-wheelers, although I use ‘motorcycle’ when discussing vehicles with large engines. Most motorbikes in Vietnam range between 50 and 150 cc, and many of them would elsewhere be known as scooters. 2. The global motorbike market is indeed expanding. However, I am not convinced that considering any of these systems as self-expanding is a very helpful starting point. As any other commodity, cars and motorbikes depend on systems of provision, institutional arrangements and flows of goods. There is a complex range of agents involved in global and local mobilities, from individual users to large manufacturers, with local and national governments as strong mediators. 3. While driving in Hanoi was an overall pleasurable experience, it also involved exposure to high levels of air pollution and involvement in several near-accidents. 4. See Hansen (2017) for a discussion of the dialectical relationship between infrastructure and two-wheeled mobility in Hanoi. 5. By the time of writing, 22,000 VND = approximately 1 US Dollar. 6. The police was a popular topic in my interviews. Almost all of my informants had at some point in their lives been stopped by the police, and there was general agreement that if you are unlucky, the police will

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always find a reason to fine you. Standard practice for fines is that the police will often take your motorbike until you have been to the police station to pay the fine. As getting by without the motorbike is not a tempting scenario for most Hanoians, the problem is usually solved through directly paying the fine to the police officer, usually without any kind of receipt. I experienced this myself during fieldwork in 2017, but my fine was considerably higher than the standard. 7. In contrast to regular taxis, a xe ôm traditionally does not operate with meters or fixed prices. Metered motorbike taxis have been tried, but now app-based ‘sharing’ services have taken over big shares of the market (see Hansen et al., 2020; Turner & Hanh, 2019). See also Sopranzetti (2014) for an interesting discussion of the social and political roles of motorbike taxis in Thailand. 8. Indeed, Piaggio has established Vietnam as its manufacturing base for Southeast Asia. 9. In all my prying about cars, the prevalence of big cars was either explained as a status symbol or by the fact that the roads outside the city are often in a very bad condition (reinforcing the point that driving long distance is an important reason for Hanoians to buy cars). 10. While I do not have a convincing explanation for this phenomenon, at least part of the answer may be found in a traditionally stronger focus on status and prestige in the former communist capital versus the more liberal southern parts of the country with their relatively short and shallower experience with communism and historically stronger presence of foreign consumer goods. Many of my informants referred to people in the South as ‘more relaxed’. 11. Interestingly, informants explained to me that if the car looks particularly luxurious, perhaps even with a conspicuous licence plate, the police would usually not stop it. Although a very expensive car could signify a profitable ‘client’, it also means that its driver probably has very powerful political connections. 12. Arguably no one is ‘old rich’ in Hanoi, but there are significant differences between those highly educated and politically connected, and those mainly possessing newly acquired economic capital (see Huong Le Thu, 2015 for a recent discussion on class categorization in Vietnam). 13. This is a topic that sparked much discussion in my interviews. While opinions varied as to the importance of lucky numbers, even those seeing the practice as rather ‘silly superstition’ would normally prefer a nice number for their licence plate.

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14. According to World Bank (2015) data, Vietnam’s GNI per capita in 2014 was USD 1890. By contrast, Indonesia’s GNI per capita was twice as high (USD 3630), Thailand’s almost three times as high (USD 5370), China’s almost four times as high (USD 7380), and Malaysia’s more than five times as high (USD 10,760). Vietnam’s GNI per capita was slightly higher than India (USD 1570), which by comparison in 2015 had a motorisation rate of 22 (OICA, 2014).

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Gerth, K. 2016. “Driven to change: The Chinese state-led development of a car culture and economy”. In Energy and transport in green transition: Perspectives on Ecomodernity, edited by A. Midttun, and Witoszek, N. : Routledge. Gillen, J. (2015). Streets of fire: Motorbike mobilities in Vietnam. Area, 48, 64. https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12225 Giucci, G. (2012). The cultural life of the automobile: Roads to modernity. University of Texas Press. GSO – General Statistics Office of Vietnam. (2012). Statistical yearbook. Statistical Publishing House. Hansen, A. (2015). The best of both worlds? The power and pitfalls of Vietnam’s development model. In A. Hansen & U. Wethal (Eds.), Emerging economies and challenges to sustainability: Theories, strategies, local realities (pp. 92–105). Routledge. Hansen, A. (2016a). Driving development? The problems and promises of the car in Vietnam. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 46(4), 551–569. https://doi. org/10.1080/00472336.2016.1151916 Hansen, A. (2016b). Sustainable urbanisation in Vietnam: Can Hanoi bring back the bicycle? Tvergastein, 7, 34–41. Hansen, A. (2017). Transport in transition: Doi moi and the consumption of cars and motorbikes in Hanoi. Journal of Consumer Culture, 17(2), 378–396. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540515602301 Hansen, A. (2022). Driving Doi Moi: Motorbikes, Cars, and Capitalism in Vietnam’s Socialist Market Economy. In London, Jonathan (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Vietnam. Routledge. Hansen, A., Nguyen, T. A., & Luu, L. K. (2020). Commercialising the xe om: Motorbike Taxis, GrabBike and Shared Mobilities in Hanoi. I S. Kesselring, M. Freudendal-Pedersen, & D. Zuev (Red.), Sharing Mobilities: New Perspectives for the Mobile Risk Society. Routledge Hansen, A., & Nielsen, K. B. (2014). Cars of future past in Vietnam and India. Tvergastein, 4, 72–79. Hansen, A., Nielsen, K. B., & Wilhite, H. (2016). Staying cool, looking good, moving around: Consumption, sustainability and the ‘rise of the south’. Forum for Development Studies, 43(1), 5–25. Hoai, A. T. (2015). Urban spaces production in transition: The cases of the new urban areas of Hanoi. Urban Policy and Research, 33(1), 79–97. Jamme, H-T. (2020). Productive frictions and urbanism in transition: Planning lessons from traffic flows and urban street life in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. PhD Thesis, University of Southern California.

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Jellema, K. (2007). Returning home: Ancestor veneration and the nationalism of Doi Moi Vietnam. In P. Taylor (Ed.), Modernity and re-enchantment: Religion in post-revolutionary Vietnam (p. 57–89). Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. Kopytoff, I. (1986). The cultural biography of things: Commoditization as process. In A. Appadurai (Ed.), The social life of things: Commodities in cultural perspective. Cambridge University Press. Labbé, D. (2021). Urban transition in Hanoi: Huge challenges ahead. ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute. https://think-­asia.org/bitstream/handle/11540/13072/ TRS2_21.pdf?sequence=1. Laurier, E., Lorimer, H., Brown, B., Jones, O., Juhlin, O., Noble, A., Perry, M., et al. (2008). Driving and ‘Passengering’: Notes on the ordinary organization of car travel. Mobilities, 3(1), 1–23. Le Thu, H. (2015). The middle class in Hanoi: Vulnerability and concerns. In ISEAS perspective # 8. ISEAS. Leather, J., Fabian, H., Gota, S., & Mejia, A. (2011). Walkability and pedestrian facilities in Asian cities: State and issues. In Asian Development Bank (Ed.), ADB sustainable development working paper series. Asian Development Bank. Mai Ha. (2014). Vietnam to recognize international driver’s license in 2015. Thanh Nien News. http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/vietnam-­to-­ recognize-­international-­drivers-­license-­in-­2015-­33942.html (Date: 27.11.2015). Medlock, K. B., & Soligo, R. (2002). Car ownership and economic development with forecasts to the year 2015. Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, 36(2), 163–188. Merriman, P. (2009). Automobility and the geographies of the car. Geography Compass, 3(2), 586–599. Merriman, P. (2014). Rethinking Mobile methods. Mobilities, 9(2), 167–187. Monroe, K. V. (2014). Automobility and citizenship in interwar Lebanon. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 34(3), 518–531. Motorbike Joint Working Group. (2007). For sound development of the motorbike industry in Vietnam. Hanoi: Vietnam Development Forum. Nagai, Y., Okada, Y., Fukuda, A., & Hashino, Y. (2003). Two-wheeled vehicle ownership trends and issues in the Asian region. Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, 5, 135–146. Ngoc, M. (2021). Vietnam’s car market set for booming by year-end. Hanoi Times. 08.11.2021. https://hanoitimes.vn/vietnams-­car-­market-­set-­for-­ booming-­by-­year-­end-­319211.html.

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́ ngạo] Nguyen Truong Quy. (2014). The wandering motorbike [Xe máy tiêu (Jacob O. Gold, Trans.). Center for Southeast Asian Studies. Nielsen, K. B., & Wilhite, H. (2015). The rise and fall of the ‘people’s car’: Middle-class aspirations, status and mobile symbolism in ‘New India’. Contemporary South Asia., 23, 371. https://doi.org/10.1080/0958493 5.2015.1090951 Nishitateno, S., & Burke, P. J. (2014). The motorcycle Kuznets curve. Journal of Transport Geography, 36, 116–123. OICA. (2014). World vehicles in use. http://www.oica.net/wp-­content/uploads// total-­inuse-­2013.pdf. Pinch, P., & Reimer, S. (2012). Moto-mobilities: Geographies of the motorcycle and motorcyclists. Mobilities, 7(3), 439–457. Sheller, M. (2004). Automotive emotions: Feeling the car. Theory, Culture & Society, 21(4–5), 221–242. Sheller, M., & Urry, J. (2000). The City and the car. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 24(4), 737–757. Sheller, M., & Urry, J. (2006). The new mobilities paradigm. Environment and Planning A, 38, 207–226. Short, J. R., & Pinet-Peralta, L. M. (2010). No accident: Traffic and pedestrians in the Modern City. Mobilities, 5(1), 41–59. Siegelbaum, L. H. (2008). Cars for comrades: The life of the Soviet automobile. Cornell University Press. Small, I. (2018). Anticipating the automobile: Transportation transformations in Vietnam. In S. N. N. Cross, C. Ruvalcaba, A. Venkatesh, & R. W. Belk (Eds.), Consumer culture theory (research in consumer behavior) (Vol. 19, pp. 145–161). Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/ S0885-­211120180000019009 Small, I. (2021). Vietnam’s car market and AFTA: Kicking it up a gear. Fulcrum. 19.04.2021. https://fulcrum.sg/ vietnams-­car-­market-­and-­afta-­kicking-­it-­up-­a-­gear/. Sopranzetti, C. (2014). Owners of the map: Mobility and mobilization and motorcycle taxi drivers in Bangkok. City & Society, 26(1), 120–143. Thanh Nien News. (2014). Hanoi to kick out unlicensed taxis. http://www. thanhniennews.com/society/hanoi-­t o-­k ick-­o ut-­u nlicensed-­t axis­29858.html. Thrift, N. (2004). Driving in the City. Theory, Culture & Society, 21(4–5), 41–59. Truitt, A. (2008). On the back of a motorbike: Middle-class mobility in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. American Ethnologist, 35(1), 3–19.

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Truitt, A. (2013). Dreaming of money in Ho Chi Minh City. University of Washington Press. Turner, S., & Hạnh, N. T. (2019). Contesting socialist state visions for modern mobilities: Informal motorbike taxi drivers’ struggles and strategies on Hanoi’s streets, Vietnam. International Development Planning Review, 41(1), 43–61. Urry, J. (2004). The ‘system’ of automobility. Theory, Culture & Society, 21(4–5), 25–39. Valdes-Dapena, P. (2021). Japan and South Korea cracked the American car market. Now a company from Vietnam wants to try. 18.11.21. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/17/business/vinfast-­e lectric-­s uvs-­a merica/ index.html. Van Nguyen, M. (2020). The transformation of mobility in post-đổi mớ i Vietnam. Civilisations, 69, 129–148. Vann, E. F. (2012). Afterword: Consumption and middle-class subjectivity in Vietnam. In V. Nguyen-Marshall, L. B. W. Drummond, & D. Bélanger (Eds.), The reinvention of distinction: Modernity and the middle class in urban Vietnam (pp. 157–170). Springer. Veblen, T. (2007 [1899]). The theory of the leisure class: An economic study of institutions. Oxford University Press. VietnamNet. (2019). Car sales in Vietnam up 5.8% yoy in 2018. 14.01.2019. https://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/215936/car-­sales-­in-­vietnam-­ up-­5-­8%2D%2Dyoy-­in-­2018.html VietnamNet. (2021). Hanoi’s proposal to collect fees from cars entering inner city raises concerns. 02.11.2021. https://vietnamnet.vn/en/feature/hanoi-­s-­ p ro p o s a l -­t o -­c o l l e c t -­f e e s -­f ro m -­c a r s -­e n t e r i n g -­i n n e r -­c i t y -­r a i s e s -­ concerns-­7 88632.html#:~:text=There%20are%206.4%20million%20 registered%20vehicles%20in%20Hanoi%2C,motorbikes%2C%20according%20to%20the%20Hanoi%20Department%20of%20Transport. Wengenroth, U. (2011). Automobiles. In D. Southerton (Ed.), Encyclopedia of consumer culture. SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412994248.n31 World Bank. (2011). Vietnam urbanization review. World Bank. World Bank. (2014). Motorization and urban transport in East Asia: Motorcycle, Motor Scooter & Motorbike Ownership & use in Hanoi, final report. World Bank. World Bank. (2015). 2015 world development indicators, country profiles. http:// databank.worldbank.org/data/Views/Reports/ReportWidgetCustom. aspx?Report_Name=CountryProfile&Id=b450fd57&tbar=y&dd=y &inf=n&zm=n.

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Wunker, S. (2011). How the Vespa became Vietnamese. Forbes. http://www. forbes.com/sites/stephenwunker/2011/11/08/how-­t he-­v espa-­b ecame-­ vietnamese/ (Date: 27.11.2015). Yamaha Motor. (2011). ‘Annual Report 2010’. Accessed March 22, 2022. http://global.yamaha-motor.com/ir/annual/pdf/2010/2010annual-e.pdf

5 Food Transformations, Food Cultures and Food Practices in the Socialist Market Economy

It is early morning in Hanoi, but the narrow streets of my neighbourhood are busy. Vendors with temporary stalls, usually just consisting of a tiny stool and small containers with products spread out on the sidewalk, are selling fruit, vegetables, herbs and meat. This chợ cóc, or informal market,1 is there only during the early morning hours yet have important functions in my local foodscapes. As I continue my early morning walk, the area’s particular smell of polluted lake mixes with the typical smells and scents of Hanoi, a combination of exhaust fumes, flowers, fresh herbs and fruit and a wide range of fried delicacies. It is still not 6 am, yet as usual, the streets surrounding a small lake are full of people practicing tai chi, doing push-ups, walking, walking the dog, walking backwards, running, boxing or playing badminton. At an informal street market in the middle of a small road, vendors are selling belts, purses and clothes, many of them obvious counterfeits of famous brands. They soon have to move on as traffic is gradually picking up, and motorbikes start replacing the many racing-style bicycles as Hanoi’s streetscapes begin their daily temporal transformation towards their motorised alter ego, as discussed in the previous chapter. Some mobile street vendors resist the motorisation, selling mangos, pineapples and other fresh fruit from their bicycles. I buy a few mangos, clumsily and half-heartedly negotiating the price. A group of men have already started on the first cup of strong, iced coffee of the © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 A. Hansen, Consumption and Vietnam’s New Middle Classes, Consumption and Public Life, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14167-6_5

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day. Others are eating breakfast at small street kitchens, some of them directly on the sidewalk, others in backyards or in living rooms facing the street, most of them with tiny plastic chairs and plastic tables. Almost all of these places have in common that they are only open, indeed only physically present, during the early morning hours. I reach the main local market where (mostly) women are busy shopping for fresh herbs and vegetables. I pass my regular bún riêu spot, as well as places making other popular Hanoian breakfast dishes, such as bánh mì and cháo, before arriving at my favourite spot for phơ ̉ bò.2 At one of my regular breakfast spots, two young women are serving what is popularly considered ‘Vietnam’s national dish’ (see Peters, 2010) in a beautiful and peaceful backyard. It is still early morning; the courtyard is busy, with most of us eating alone, even though several people often share a table. Customers are ordering their soup as they enter, by naming how the meat should be prepared. I order phơ ̉ bò tái, with raw beef cooked directly in the soup, in the process letting the desire for proper phơ ̉ and my wish to adapt to local food practices challenge my usual meat-reducing foodways, simultaneously contributing to Vietnam’s meat boom (see Chap. 6). A big, steaming bowl of phơ ̉ is placed in front of me just a minute later. I watch the many rituals performed around me in terms of adding ingredients and cleaning chopsticks, all of them fitting nicely into a description of the materials, competences and meanings involved in food practices (see Shove et al., 2012 and Chap. 3). I squeeze lime over my spoon to avoid pits in the bowl, using the rest of the lime to clean my chopsticks, then add extra fish sauce, chilli sauce and fresh chilli. I add some quẩy (fried breadsticks) and a glass of trà đá (iced tea) to my order and enjoy a very high-quality and nutritious meal. A meal that easily requires 12 h to prepare but less than a minute to serve. This is slow food served as fast food, like so much of Hanoi’s rich street food scene. Phơ ̉ is indeed simultaneously a routine taste of the good life and an object of deep passion and pride, for example, reflected in the poems written in its honour by some of Vietnam’s most famous historical writers. To me, it represents a fascinating, tasty and convenient start to my day as I finish my meal with still enough time to round off my morning ritual with a post-breakfast glass of nâu đá by the lake.3

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This little vignette from my fieldwork is first of all a futile attempt to convey in words the sensory experience of Hanoi’s early-morning streetscapes. But it also serves the purpose of placing us in the middle of the continuity and transformation, or perhaps continuity-in-­ transformation, that characterises food in Vietnam and Hanoi today. My morning ritual could have been performed in a similar fashion more or less anywhere in the city, since it involves participation in morning time practices that are in many ways shared all over Hanoi. In narrow streets, by lakes and in open spaces all over this large city, people are out very early to do exercise, to shop for food, to eat and to drink coffee, just like people are in other Vietnamese cities. But the local foodscapes in Truc Bach, where I was based, has its particularities. It is popular among both locals and expats due to its relative peacefulness and local food specialities, and among the latter group due to its central location and both distance and proximity to the expat enclaves around Tay Ho, or West Lake.4 The area is also increasingly popular among tourists, due to the tourist industry’s ever-expanding definition of Hanoi’s ‘old quarter’. Although first ending up there due to a misunderstanding in 2013, I have kept coming back almost every year since and been able to follow closely the many small and big changes involved in the gradual transformation of the area. In this chapter, based on extensive fieldwork including interviews, observations and an overall ‘eating ethnography’ (see Chap. 1; Hansen, 2021a, b), I use street scenes from Truc Bach as the starting point for discussing food transformations in the context of rapid economic development, as well as food practices amid these changes. Towards the end of the chapter, I zoom in on food cultures and how they co-shape food practices. Before that, however, a few words should be said about the conceptual and contextual points of departure.

Đổi Mớ i’s Foodscape Transformations Not that long ago, getting enough to eat was a central concern for a majority of Vietnamese. In the decades following Đổi Mớ i, the immense success in increasing agricultural output made sure food scarcity is no

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longer a main problem (see Marzin & Michaud, 2016). The story of how Vietnam transformed from being an importer of rice to becoming the second-largest rice exporter in the world is well-known. But this was just one of many success stories that saw Vietnam become a major exporter of agricultural goods and, crucially, saw Vietnamese get access to more food and average calorie intake increase by almost 50 per cent in three decades (see Chap. 6). To be sure, food security remains a concern among marginalised groups in the country. About 11 per cent of the population are considered undernourished and 2 per cent ‘severely food insecure’, and as usual the poorer mountainous regions and ethnic minorities are overrepresented in these statistics (Raneri et al., 2019: 4). However, alongside prevailing undernutrition in some areas, obesity is on the rise in others, and the food challenges Vietnam are facing today increasingly take form of food safety and overnutrition (see contributions in Ehlert & Faltmann, 2019). In other words, like many other low- and middle-income countries, Vietnam faces the so-called double burden of malnutrition, and similar food transformations to those seen in Vietnam are seen elsewhere. Known as a global ‘nutrition transition’, there is a clear trend across the world of diets changing towards more fatty, sugary, meaty and generally unhealthy food alongside increasing affluence (e.g. Popkin et al., 2012; Chap. 6). The changes in food consumption in emerging economies is expected to alter global food systems in coming decades (Gandhi & Zhou, 2014) and will have major sustainability implications. New middle classes are placed at the centre of global food transformations. But the image painted of these middle classes in both media and scholarly work is often misleading, and as I have argued elsewhere, the complexity of food consumption patterns among the new middle classes remains poorly understood. Interestingly, despite the large quantity of research convincingly showing that the rational individual is an unhelpful starting point for understanding consumption, this figure still stands strong within the global sustainability agenda (Hansen, 2021a). Furthermore, whenever new middle classes and consumption are discussed, claims of ‘Westernisation’ tend to follow. As discussed in Chap. 2, the impact of Western, capitalist culture was a central worry of the ruling communist regime during the early days of reforms. This is a concern they share with much critical development

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thinking, where development is seen as a force of cultural erosion (see e.g. Sachs, 1992). In the realm of food, fast-food franchises are often the main villain of such processes. To George Ritzer, the fast-food chains became emblematic of the entire standardising force of global capitalism in what he conceptualised as the McDonaldization of society (Ritzer, 1993), and fast-food franchises a central ‘cathedral of consumption’ in his studies of the societal impact of the new places where people consume goods and services (Ritzer, 2005). In nutrition research, the same chains, alongside supermarkets, have been presented as central to a process that sees diets in Asia become ‘Westernised’ (Pingali, 2007; see Schoen, 2013 for an example of media approaches). While pointing to important food-­ related changes following the expansion of global capitalism, such as the expansion of corporate power, the commercialisation of agriculture, and the health consequences of food systemic changes, the Westernisation story hides as much as it reveals (see Hansen, 2021b; for broader discussions of the alleged Westernisation of Asian culture, see contributions in Beng-Huat, 2000). At least for the case of Vietnam, a focus on homogenising foodways would at best disclose parts of the story of ongoing dietary changes. In this chapter, I seek to add complexity to these debates. Specifically, I want to show how large-scale food transformations unfold in urban Vietnam through a study of food and eating among Hanoi’s middle classes. I focus mainly on eating out, that is, meals consumed in establishments such as restaurants, cafeterias and street kitchens. I focus on eating out both as a form of ‘ordinary consumption’ (Gronow & Warde, 2001) and as extraordinary consumption. Using Truc Bach as a starting point, my main interest is in understanding middle-class food practices in the context of transforming foodscapes and use this to discuss how middle classes engage and negotiate these transformations in everyday life.

Practices, Culture and Foodscapes As discussed in Chap. 3, I argue for taking both practices and political economy seriously in order to understand changing everyday consumption, and that this is particularly important in the context of large-scale

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transformations such as those Vietnam has gone through in recent decades. Food is certainly no exception. In this chapter, I employ the geographical concept of foodscapes in order to capture food–place relations and local food systems. Foodscapes is a broad concept and employed in a variety of ways (see Goodman et al., 2010; Hansen & Jakobsen, 2020). As Miewald and McCann (2014) argue, foodscapes is useful as a specifically spatial approach to food systems, in contrast to the focus on sociality in foodways. Like Miewald and McCann, I find it useful for emphasizing the spatial environments in which people encounter food. My approach thus share similarities with the concept of ‘food environments’ (see Turner et al., 2018), but I see foodscapes as a more dynamic concept that enables analysis of the everyday geographies of food consumption and how these are co-shaped by systems of provision, power and political economy. In my approach, foodscapes represent the spatial and scalar intersection between the macro-geographies of food systems and everyday practices (see Hansen & Jakobsen, 2020). From a foodscape and food system perspective, Vietnam represents change. In order to grasp the continuity that is part of processes of change, I specifically use culture to approach the stability that unfolds over time in food practices (see Chap. 3), and in order to grasp the tacit, shared understandings that exist in society beyond individuals and individual practices. In the practice-theoretical apparatus of Schatzki (2002), such broadly shared cultural conceptions could be conceptualized as ‘general understandings’ (see Chap. 3). As Welch and Warde (2017) argue, such understandings can operate at both a discursive and a pre-reflexive level and understanding their role in shaping practices represents an important frontier in consumption research. In this chapter, I approach general understandings through studying food’s connection to wider belief systems in Vietnam and show that specific, yet often tacit, knowledge about different forms of foods, in particular related to energy and balance, contribute to shaping food practices.

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Eating Out Under Consumer Socialism Đổi Mớ i has in many ways led to dramatic transformations of foodscapes and food practices in Hanoi. The reforms have indeed led to food transformations all over Vietnam, and especially in cities. Shopping for food is an obvious case, where mini-markets, supermarkets and a range of speciality shops and alternative food networks compete with traditional wet markets (see Wertheim-Heck & Raneri, 2019; Wertheim-Heck et al., 2015). However, arguably the most dramatic changes have taken place in terms of eating away from home. While the traditional Vietnamese meal remains important—typically including the entire family sharing a large number of dishes either on the floor or, increasingly, around the table— the extent to which eating meals away from home has become embedded in everyday life, especially for the middle and upper classes, is fascinating (see Chap. 6). A central part of these changes is the plethora of eateries and restaurants that have emerged since the initiation of market reforms. While restaurants and eateries have emerged in all price segments, the international franchises tend to draw particular attention. As discussed further, fast-food chains are certainly present in Vietnam, and consumers are often well familiar with hamburgers, pizza and other typically ‘Western’ products. But for the new middle classes, the international franchises at best represent the occasional and the extraordinary. Eating out in Hanoi, as in Vietnam in general, is still defined by eating at street kitchens (see Hansen, forthcoming). The international franchises, as well as other foreign foods, at best represent add-ons to foodways represented at least as much by continuity as by change.5 Indeed, my experience is that Vietnamese consumers often look for traditional food when eating away from home. The popularity of street food is obvious in Truc Bach, although the lunchtime foodscapes are different from those in the morning hours. Many of the phơ ̉ places are closed, sometimes replaced by street kitchens offering bún dishes. Bún, often called ‘rice vermicelli’ in English, is highly popular in Hanoi, and is central to a wide range of popular lunchtime street food dishes. While rice noodles may replace the steamed rice in some meals, however, the standard lunchtime question remains ‘ăn cơ m

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chư a?’ or ‘have you eaten rice yet?’ It is not necessary to eat at home to get a full rice meal. Although somewhat debated among middle-class consumers due to hygiene reasons (as discussed below), the buffet style cơ m bình dân places, literally ‘popular rice’, play a central role in feeding Hanoi during lunchtime. The model follows clear rules. You enter, get a plate with rice and then tell the owner or waiter what vegetables and fish or meat you would like from a usually rich selection. You find a seat, usually sharing a table with others, then get a bowl of canh (soup), as well as iced tea if you ask for it specifically. Similarly, office cafeterias often offer affordable lunch meals, structured as a traditional meal. For example, at my office cafeteria when working in Hanoi, 25,000 VND, around 1 US dollar, would get me a rich meal including boiled rice, pork or other kinds of meat or fish, vegetables, canh, and fish sauce (see Hansen, 2021b). Both the cafeterias and cơ m bình dân places are examples of affordable and popular forms of eating away from home that closely adhere to the traditional Vietnamese principles of a balanced meal (as discussed below). Also some of the international fast-food franchises have realized they should offer rice meals to attract customers. Reflecting this fact, some of my younger interviewees said they liked going to the Korean fast-food chain Lotteria for lunch. Not for the burgers, but for the fried chicken with rice. Similar trends are visible in the evenings in my Hanoi neighbourhood. Evenings are lively in parts of Truc Bach. The highly popular lẩu (hotpot) places of the area are now open, serving lẩu ếch (frog hotpot) and other treats. On the narrow road alongside the small Truc Bach lake, young people have the task of luring customers to competing spots and are shouting and waving at the many passing motorbikes. The same is the case for the crossing Ngu Xa street, which is very crowded most evenings, with a large number of establishments serving the popular phơ ̉ cuốn (‘phơ ̉ roll’)—rolls made of phơ ̉ noodle dough and filled with meat and herbs that the neighbourhood is famous for—competing for customers. Often similar in terms of the plastic tables and tiny chairs, these places are catering towards a relatively young crowd of diners. Different from morning and lunch meals, people are spending time, chatting and laughing as they eat. Some are also drinking. The heavier drinking takes place at a range of

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bia hơ i spots close by, serving affordable meals and light, cheap beer, and attracting a slightly older and overwhelmingly male crowd. These places remain at the very core of Hanoian dining and drinking culture, although they are now facing intense competition.

Change and Continuity Amidst dramatic economic and social transformations, Truc Bach has remained recognisable in many ways throughout the decade or so that I have spent time there. People still flock to the area for hotpot and rolled phơ ̉. The formal Chau Long wet market and surrounding informal markets are as busy as ever, and street vendors on bicycles still ply the streets with their fruit, vegetables and flowers. Some things have, however, quite clearly changed. Next to one of the popular bia hơ i joints is now a massive, new beer hall, often playing very loud music and serving only foreign beer brands like Tiger, Sapporo and even draught Budweiser. While this place is one of the many new beer halls catering the middle classes, a few minutes’ walk away a highly popular lakefront bar serving Vietnam produced micro brews serve as a reminder of the steadily increasing presence of foreigners as well as of Vietnam’s recent craft beer boom. My favourite phơ ̉ place is gone. It is not uncommon for street kitchens to close, and many others have appeared. But many have been forced out of business by the city authorities’ campaigns to clean up the sidewalks (see Turner & Ngo, 2019 for more). Intended to make sidewalks walkable, the campaigns have forced vendors and street kitchens to move inside or to make do with much smaller seating areas, and many move back and forth, depending on when the police arrive. This is part of efforts and visions to ‘modernize’ Hanoi. Another part of this modernization is a rapid ‘supermarketisation’ (Wertheim-Heck et al., 2019). Indeed, next door to my old phơ ̉ spot one now finds of the main new actors in these streetscapes: a new VinMart+. This chain of convenience stores owned by the exceptionally powerful VinGroup (see Reed, 2019) have popped up like mushrooms in Hanoi’s streets the past few years. Vingroup is the largest of a range of new actors, in a planned development that has seen thousands of new supermarkets and minimarkets emerge over a few years

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(Vietnam Investment Review, 2018, 2019). Another example is the Japanese AEON group, which recently revealed plans to expand from 4 to more than 100 MaxValu stores and from 6 to 16 AEON Malls by 2025, naming Vietnam as its most important market outside Japan (Kono & Onishi, 2021). A large number of domestic, regional and global actors have entered Hanoi’s and Vietnam’s food scene with the hope of making a profit from the ongoing transformations in how people acquire food and what, how and where they eat it. These also include a large number of restaurant chains, many of them catering to middle classes, and many of them now present in Truc Bach (see Hansen, forthcoming). These changes are significant and represent changes in the systems of provision of food. In many ways, they also represent changes in entire systems of consumption through changing the practice complexes in which food shopping takes place. While the minimarts fit into existing urban geographies, the large supermarkets and shopping malls are built to also accommodate emerging automobility (Chap. 4). Car drivers cannot continue performing food practices that are built around walking and two-wheelers (see Jamme, 2020). This creates a certain division between the two-wheeled majority and the four-wheeled minority. And in general, Hanoians are divided in their foodways, also when it comes to how to appropriately eat out.

Heterogeneous Foodways In these changing foodscapes, eating can be harder and easier than ever. Never in history has the average Vietnamese consumer had similar access to food, both in terms of quantity and variety. Yet worries about food safety are a defining part of contemporary Vietnam (Ehlert & Faltmann, 2019), and many are worried about the health effects of their diets. I have elsewhere explained how middle-class consumers negotiate food transformations through adopting different strategies to food practices, such as trying to limit the impact of foreign fast-food chains on the diets of their children or determining the safety of vegetables at local markets by looks and smell. Many also rely on alternative food networks for many parts of their food practices. Importantly, consumers do have agency, but this

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agency is bounded by the overall practices within which consumption takes place (see Chap. 3), including strong impacts of foodscapes and the political economy of food (Hansen, 2021a). Many food practices among Vietnamese urban middle classes revolve around eating out. It is not uncommon to eat out several times every day. Street kitchens play a central role in these practices. Their fast and affordable meals make them convenient and enable their embeddedness in breakfast and lunch routines. If we look at the political economy of these food practices, they are enabled by Vietnam’s ‘compressed capitalism’ (D’Costa, 2014), which sees the co-existence of middle classes with significant purchasing power and a large precariat, often represented by rural migrants, who work in the food sector (Hansen, forthcoming). That said, while more or less all my middle-class interviewees would eat out relatively frequently, they are divided in terms of where to eat. Hanoi’s middle classes are heterogeneous, also in their foodways. Three of my interviewees, all young women, are good examples of this heterogeneity. Tuan, a woman in her late twenties who has a master’s degree from Britain and works for a large development organisation, would go almost daily to a slightly more upmarket cơ m bình dân place, catering to middle classes and expats, offering a peaceful seating area and advertising ‘clean food’. When hearing the place mentioned, my research assistant advised me to try it since it is ‘really good, like Vietnamese traditional, like a family meal’. As my research assistant put it: ‘I live alone, so it would be hard for me to cook like three dishes. It’s too much work and I have to clean and there you have so many options. [For] 30-40 thousand [Dong].’ Tuan would go to a variety of places for lunch with her coworkers: ‘streetfood and also restaurants. Depends on the day. Whether we decide we’ll have a treat that day, we’ll go to the restaurant. But mostly like the local places. Phơ ̉ and bún, and we usually go to the [cơ m bình dân] place’ (Interview, March 2017). Ngoc, a woman in her early thirties, was openly enthusiastic about Hanoi’s many food options. Married to an Australian man, she was used to frequenting expat circles and had a rather cosmopolitan approach to food. She estimated that around half of all her meals would be away from home. And she was open to anything, as long as it was not too exotic, and as long as it did not include ‘wild animals or pets’, as she put it, clearly

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positioning herself in opposition to the dog meat consumption that remains popular in parts of Hanoi (see Hansen, 2021b). She was a part of the large segments of the young Hanoian middle classes that both share a fascination for Hanoian street food and the many new food imports. In her own words, when asked about what she would eat when eating out: ‘Street food. Bún [is] always my top choice. And also, I love other countries’ food. Like Mexican, I like Mexican’, naming some of the most popular Mexican places catering to expats. Later in the interview, she stated, ‘I love Indian food’. She also said she liked going out to vegetarian places, which are increasing rapidly in number in Hanoi alongside an increasing popularity of vegetarianism. And Vietnamese food, ‘but from other provinces, like the middle or the South. I love Southern Vietnamese food’ (Interview, March 2017). Huyen, a young fashion journalist, would hardly ever eat street food. In fact, she clearly stated her disdain towards street kitchens and expressed shock towards some of her colleagues who would eat there. The exception would be when her daughter really wanted it, and then they would go to an up-market phơ ̉ place. I met her at a peaceful and beautiful West Lake café, clearly catering to expats and the upper end of Vietnamese society. You can easily tell by the prices, which exist almost in a parallel universe to the rest of society and where, for example, a single cup of coffee costs the double of a full meal at a street kitchen. Huyen was married to a foreigner and had more ‘Western’ habits than any middle-class Hanoian I have met. This included eating sliced bread or cereals for breakfast, and if they did go out, they would go to nice cafés, such as French bakeries: ‘If we have time we go to St. Honore for breakfast. Good coffee and croissant and pain de chocolate’ (Interview, March 2017). This one sentence alone made her cosmopolitan middle-classness obvious, including correct pronunciation of French names and pastries. In contrast to the timesaving street food, this was something she and her husband did when they had time to indulge in a longer breakfast. In other words, this was less the case of ‘ordinary’, everyday eating, and rather eating out as leisure activity, even as an act of social performance. To her, the main reason for eating at a French bakery was arguably not to ‘show off’, but rather because, quite simply, she really enjoyed going there, which, in turn, can be understood as fundamentally shaped by her upper middle-class

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habitus and the hierarchies of taste embedded in class-based distinction (Bourdieu, 1984). Tuan, Ngoc and Huyen represent three segments of the Vietnamese middle-classes and can act as a reminder of why these should be categorized in plural (see Chap. 2 and Hansen, 2020). Tuan represents the perhaps most common approach to food amongst the middle classes; changes are not dramatic, but good food is sought in slightly more upmarket places than what would be the case for those with lower income. The defining factor is the word ‘sạch’, meaning clean, where middle-classness can mean being able and willing to pay more for similar food that is believed to come from safer sources (see Faltmann, 2019). Ngoc represents the cosmopolitan and hip end, with fluent English and friends from around the world. She had studied abroad, frequented in expat circles and had a Western boyfriend. But, common among the young and trendy, especially those leaning towards the hip and hipster segments of the middle classes and their search for quality and authenticity (see Michael, 2015 for interesting discussion), both foreign food and local street food are valued. Huyen represents a similar class segment but is more posh and clearly borders to the upper class. Being cosmopolitan to the extent of eating bread (that is not bánh mì) and cereals for breakfast is uncommon. And she is separated from Ngoc also in the attitude towards street food, which among this segment is seen as unsafe and unhygienic. I recognize this difference among some of my Hanoian friends and acquaintances, where some take pride in knowing their way around the local street food scene while others warn me against eating at such places. These class-based differences are in line with Bourdieu’s theories of class and taste. A central point in these theories is that tastes are embodied and that food preferences and practices involve a wide range of tacit processes. For example, while Huyen could be reflexively and strategically positioning herself in class hierarchies when keeping away from street food and going to expensive, French patisseries, a more probable explanation is that her habitus made these ‘choices’ appear as quite simply the appropriate way to eat. The three young women are also examples of change and continuity in food transformations. My research and experiences in Vietnam do not support a ‘Westernisation’ thesis, although global culinary influences are

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obvious. That said, Pingali (2007: 282) argues that Westernisation is shaped by two main stages, ‘income-induced diet diversification’ and ‘diet globalization and westernization’. During the first, he argues, diets diversify but ‘maintain predominantly traditional features’ before the more radical changes take place during the second stage. In this way, it would be possible to interpret the three women as representing different stages of an ongoing transition in Vietnam. Then again, the extent to which more affluent Asian countries have seen a thorough Westernisation of diets also seem somewhat exaggerated (see e.g. contributions in Kong & Sinh, 2016), and the influence of selected parts of Asian culinary traditions in ‘the West’ are now very strong. In general, I argue, too little attention given to continuity in discussions of dietary changes and the new middle classes. This continuity takes place through existing food practices, which, in turn, are deeply shaped by food cultures.

Changing Food Cultures6 As discussed in Chap. 2, the practice turn and culture have a rather complex relationship. But it would be hard to fully understand food practices without taking into account food culture. Food culture can be approached in a variety of ways. Here I am particularly interested in the importance of larger belief systems in Vietnamese food culture, and how these weave through everyday practices, in turn, contributing to the strong degree of continuity in Vietnam’s food transformations. Hien, one of my middle-class interviewees said the following about going out for phơ ̉: You have meat, and the broth is already balanced because you have 6-7 different spices. You have ginger, star anise, cinnamon, onions, ginger, and they put all the phơ ̉ spices into the beef broth. And it’s so good and really flavorful and it helps with digestion. They grill all this and then they put it back into the broth. Without it, it is not really delicious. That’s why it’s always more delicious outside, because you have to cook the broth for 7-8 hours. That’s why they only do one dish, because it takes so much time to prepare. And they do it over night, so the broth is so good. But for the

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f­ amily, no one is going to spend 7 or 8 hours on the heating, electricity and everything and you spend a lot of time cleaning and preparing, but it’s not as good. (Interview, March, 2017)

The mention of balance here is central. Balance is crucial to Vietnamese food culture as it indeed is to dominant Vietnamese belief systems in general. Here, the universe consists of the opposing energies of âm (yin) and dư ơ ng (yang), and food is no exception. While these are not necessarily spoken of directly, particularly not among the younger population, it is common knowledge that food items have ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ properties that do not relate to temperature. In practice-theoretical terms, they are part of often pre-reflexive general understandings that contribute to organizing practices (Schatzki, 2002; Welch & Warde, 2017). While many may not be aware of, or at least not actively reflect on, the cosmological dimensions of hot and cold food, they do engage with the practical implications of them. These are strengthened by the often deep relationship between medicine and food. As argued by anthropologist Nir Avieli (2012: 223), there is no dichotomy between food and medicine in Vietnam, hence ‘anything edible is essentially or potentially a medicine and vice versa’. In this system, heating and cooling qualities are attributed to dishes, ingredients, seasoning and cooking techniques (see Avieli, 2012). Therefore, dishes need balancing in order to maintain physical and emotional harmony, something that is achieved through the combination of ingredients and through the set-up of the meal. Both my Vietnamese friends and interviewees would usually display some knowledge of how to create balance in and with food, without necessarily being able to explain why two ingredients should or should not mix. This is an example of the tacit knowledge that food culture may represent; the deeper layer of foodways that can determine tastes, preferences and skills without deliberate and reflexive attention. This is also one of the reasons why the meeting of food cultures does not necessarily cause drastic change, but rather a mix of change and continuity, captured by the term ‘hybridisation’ (see Hansen, 2021b). The culture of balance infuses both specific dishes and the compilation of meals. A typical traditional meal in Vietnam centres around steamed rice. The side dishes surrounding the rice must be balanced, and should

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́ ), greens and a ‘dry’ include boiled soup (canh), fish sauce (nư ớ c măm dish, often meat or fish (Avieli, 2012). While these are particularly visible in family meals, traditionally eaten on the floor, the principle of balance is often kept also in food spaces where one eats alone. For example, eating at an office canteen or at a cơ m bình dân establishment would involve the five main ingredients. In some places, such as my own office canteen in Hanoi, the five ingredients are even materially engrained in the trays on which food is served. Foreign food practices can obviously challenge these foodways. Sometimes a certain culinary balance can be negotiated with additional rice. A common embodied understanding in Vietnamese food practices is that rice is what makes you full, and a meal without it is thus for many not a full meal. Partly due to this reason, other food from East Asia is often explained as ‘acceptable’ by interviewees. Western food, however, usually represented by pasta, pizza and burgers, is often seen as ‘unsuitable’, especially due to its use of dairy products. Still, they are growing in influence, and the younger generations grow up with a very different relationship to pizza, pasta and burgers than what their parents and grandparents did. Rather than ‘westernisation’, the foreign food mainly contributes to diversity. If eaten at all, Western food is usually a small part of diets that would be dominated by typically Vietnamese dishes. The big fast-food franchises know the importance of context, and tend to adopt to local taste buds (Watson, 2006). In Vietnam, as elsewhere in Eastern parts of Asia, this means serving rice meals.

Generational Differences While many of my interviewees embraced the opportunity to eat out and Hanoi’s diverse foodscapes, some among the older generations worried about the foodways of the younger generations, a phenomenon certainly not restricted to Vietnam. They were particularly worried about what would happen to traditional food in the processes of change they saw around them. I met Phuong, a retired middle-class woman, in her tube house in an alley not far from Truc Bach. We talked in her modern and well-equipped kitchen on the fourth floor. She was passionate about

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food, and felt, she explained, that even though Đổi Mớ i had led to many positive changes, it had also lead to the adoption of foreign food cultures and that young people did not find the old, ‘pure Vietnamese’ food suitable anymore. The main reason, she said, was time. Traditional food would involve many dishes and sauces and require a lot of work in preparing. Even though she was a good cook, she said, she would often go out to eat. As she put it: ‘I love being with my friends, and I love eating with my kids, I also have grandkids. So I often eat out’. But she was clearly not entirely sure how to feel about it, and added: Especially young people love eating outside. They even prefer it because it is so fast. They don’t need to do so much. For example, in my generation we still have the traditional mindset and the old way of thinking. So the idea of spending money outside is a little bit…So I love eating outside but also at home. Young people want something simple and fast. And if you eat at home you need a lot of time […] And then you have to clean the dishes. Even with two people there will be a lot of dishes to clean. (Interview, March 2017, translated from Vietnamese)

In other words, Phuong, like many others her age, was worried that overall societal changes and the speeding up of everyday life were working against Vietnamese food traditions, reflecting worries associated with food transformations seen in many parts of the world (e.g. Jackson et al., 2018). Specifically, she was worried about the impact of the increasing prevalence of eating out, again reflecting common contemporary food concerns (e.g. Warde & Martens, 2000). Like Phuong, most of my interviewees enjoyed eating out, but several did see this practice as breaking with important dimensions of Vietnamese food culture. Nhung, a woman in her late twenties, living in one of the old tube houses of Hanoi with her parents and brother, is a good example. She would go out to eat often, because she finished work late and wanted to go to the gym. She said she did not like eating outside. Because, she said, you know, the energy and atmosphere of a family dinner is different from eating outside […] eating outside has like a very different energy. I don’t

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know how to [explain it], but it’s different for Vietnam, cooking for each other is more important. It’s kind of connecting [us]. (Interview, March 2017)

She was a vegetarian due to care for animal rights, a still rather uncommon statement in Vietnam, where vegetarianism tends to either be about religion or health concerns. She said what she truly missed after becoming a vegetarian, was street food, since almost all of it would have some kind of meat in it, as I return to in the following chapter. This had, in turn, made her less social, she lamented, as she used to hang out with friends over street food in the past. As an example of how common it is to eat out among Hanoian middle classes, it should be added that she invited me out for a vegetarian meal right after stating that she did not like eating away from home. Nhung’s vegetarianism, in turn, reflects new possible food transformations in Vietnam, where cutting back on meat has become more common and where a wide range of new vegetarian food outlets have emerged in urban foodscapes (Hansen & Nguyen, 2022).

 oncluding Discussion: Food Cultures C and the Political Economy of Food Practices This chapter has presented some of the ongoing food transformations in Hanoi and Vietnam, focusing mainly on the increasing prevalence of eating out. It has shown how changing foodscapes do not necessarily translate into entirely new ways of eating. Instead, alongside dramatic changes, continuity is ensured by the organizing role played by general understandings in the form of food culture. Furthermore, I have discussed the heterogeneous food practices and preferences of Hanoian middle classes through the case of three female interviewees, as well as discussed the generational differences in food practices. Throughout the chapter, I have discussed claims of Westernisation, and shown that although globalisation have made obvious impacts on food in Vietnam, food practices are rather differently Vietnamese than ‘Western’. What is often seen as ‘Westernisation’ can be more usefully understood as ongoing changes caused by late-capitalist transformations, in terms of

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increased presence of corporate interests and industrially processed food in local foodscapes, as well as steep inequalities in access to safe and healthy food (Otero, 2018). In other words, it is capitalism rather than ‘Western diets’ that is expanding. While capitalism is diverse and leads to diverse outcomes also in food, the drive for profit clearly leads both to the industrialisation of food and the standardisation in food franchises.7 Together, capitalist food systems lead to highly unequal diets, where the wealthiest can get the finest ingredients from all corners of the world while the poorer segments eat more fatty, sugary and processed food (Otero, 2018). The capitalist diet involves the dominance of corporate interests from farm to fork, and simultaneously expands and limits the options available to consumers (Hansen & Jakobsen, 2020; Wilk, 2018). In other words, through the variegated expansion of capitalism (Peck & Theodore, 2007), food systems are homogenised at the structural-­ institutional level (see Ram, 2004). These processes clearly affect local food practices but take different shapes in the encounter with local food cultures. Eating a rice lunch at Lotteria, or at Burger King for that matter, is an obvious example, while eating street food prepared from industrially produced ingredients is a more inconspicuous example of the same overall process. What they all have in common is that they have in different ways contributed to a rapid increase in meat consumption in Vietnam, a topic that deserves an entire chapter.

Notes 1. Literally ‘toad market’, referring to how they, at least in theory, jump around. 2. Bún riêu is a crab, pork tomato and rice vermicelli noodle soup and a Hanoi breakfast favourite; bánh mì is the famous Vietnamese baguette and comes in a wide range of versions; cháo is rice congee; phơ ̉ bò is noodle soup with beef. 3. (Ca phe) nâu đá translates directly as ‘brown ice’ and is a usually stronger version of what in central and southern parts of the country is known as cà phê sữ a đá, iced coffee with (condensed) milk 4. It should be noted that Truc Bach increasingly is part of this enclave

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5. An interesting exception in Vietnam is bread, which became common with the French under colonial times. While used by the colons as a way to distinguish themselves from the local rice-eating population (see Peters, 2012: 156–161), bread, or bánh mì, has become a common part of Vietnamese foodways, although in a highly hybridised form. 6. This part draws on Hansen (2021b). 7. There are many aspects of Vietnam’s ongoing food transformations that I have not covered in detail in this chapter. For example the increasing prevalence of different forms of processed food, again a defining part of contemporary global food systems. However, again continuation is more important than radical change. For example, the most obvious way that processed food makes it to Vietnamese consumers is through soft drinks, snacks and instant noodles. Vietnam has among the highest consumption levels of instant noodles in the world.

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Michael, J. (2015). It’s really not hip to be a hipster: Negotiating trends and authenticity in the cultural field. Journal of Consumer Culture, 15(2), 163–182. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540513493206 Miewald, C., & McCann, E. (2014). Foodscapes and the geographies of poverty: Sustenance, strategy, and politics in an urban neighborhood. Antipode, 46, 537–556. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12057 Otero, G. (2018). The neoliberal diet: Healthy profits, unhealthy people. University of Texas Press. Peck, J., & Theodore, N. (2007). Variegated capitalism. Progress in Human Geography, 31(6), 731–772. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132507083505 Peters, E. J. (2010). Defusing Phơ ̉: Soup stories and Ethnic Erasures, 1919–2009. Contemporary French and Francophone Studies, 14(2), 159–167. Peters, E. J. (2012). Appetites and aspirations in Vietnam: Food and drink in the long nineteenth century. AltaMira Press. Pingali, P. (2007). Westernization of Asian diets and the transformation of food systems: Implications for research and policy. Food Policy, 32(3), 281–298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2006.08.001 Popkin, B. M., Adair, L. S., & Ng, S. W. (2012). Global nutrition transition and the pandemic of obesity in developing countries. Nutrition Reviews, 70(1), 3–21. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-­4887.2011.00456.x Ram, U. (2004). Glocommodification: How the global consumes the local – McDonald’s in Israel. Current Sociology, 52(1), 11–31. Raneri, J. E., Kennedy, G., Nguyen, T., Wertheim-Heck, S., Do, H., Nguyen, P. H., et al (2019). Determining key research areas for healthier diets and sustainable food systems in Viet Nam. In IFPRI Discussion Paper 1872. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi. org/10.2499/p15738coll2.133433 Reed, J. (2019, June 27). The rise and rise of a Vietnamese corporate empire. FinancialTimes. Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/84323c32-­9799-­ 11e9-­9573-­ee5cbb98ed36 Ritzer, G. (1993). The McDonaldization of society: An investigation into the changing character of contemporary social life. Pine Forge Press. Ritzer, G. (2005). Enchanting a disenchanted world: Revolutionizing the means of consumption. Pine Forge Press. Sachs, W. (1992). Introduction. In W. Sachs (Ed.), The development dictionary: A guide to knowledge as power (pp. 1–5). Zed Books.

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Schatzki, T. (2002). The site of the social: A philosophical account of the constitution of social life and change. Pennsylvania State University Press. Schoen, J. W. (2013). New global middle class hungers for good ol’ US fast food. CNBC, 609.08.2013. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/id/100950287 Shove, E., Pantzar, M., & Watson, M. (2012). The dynamics of social practice: Everyday life and how it changes. Sage. Turner, S., & Ngo, N. H. (2019). Contesting socialist state visions for modern mobilities: Informal motorbike taxi drivers’ struggles and strategies on Hanoi’s streets, Vietnam. International Development Planning Review, 41(1), 43–61. Turner, C., Aggarwal, A., Walls, H., Herforth, A., Drewnowski, A., Coates, J., Kalamatianou, S., & Kadiyala, S. (2018). Concepts and critical perspectives for food environment research: A global framework with implications for action in low- and middle-income countries. Global Food Security, 18, 93–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2018.08.003 Vietnam Investment Review. (2018, December 30). 117 VinMart+ stores to be launched per day. Retrieved from https://www.vir.com.vn/117-­vinmart-­ stores-­to-­be-­launched-­per-­day-­64857.html Vietnam Investment Review. (2019, April 01). Convenience stores have strong development in the future. Retrieved from https://www.vir.com.vn/ convenience-­stores-­have-­strong-­development-­in-­the-­future-­66784.html Warde, A., & Martens, L. (2000). Eating out: Social differentiation, consumption and pleasure. Cambridge University Press. Watson, J. L. (Ed.). (2006). Golden arches east: McDonald’s in East Asia (2nd ed.). Stanford University Press. Welch, D., & Warde, A. (2017). How should we understand ‘general understandings’? In A. Hui, T. R. Schatzki, & E. Shove (Eds.), The nexus of practices: Connections, constellations, practitioners. Routledge. Wertheim-Heck, S. C. O., & Raneri, J. E. (2019). A cross-disciplinary mixed-­ method approach to understand how food retail environment transformations influence food choice and intake among the urban poor: Experiences from Vietnam. Appetite, 142, 104370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. appet.2019.104370 Wertheim-Heck, S. C. O., Vellema, S., & Spaargaren, G. (2015). Food safety and urban food markets in Vietnam: The need for flexible and customized retail modernization policies. Food Policy, 54, 95–106. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2015.05.002

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Wertheim-Heck, S., Raneri, J. E., & Oosterveer, P. (2019). Food safety and nutrition for low-income urbanites: Exploring a social justice dilemma in consumption policy. Environment & Urbanization, 31(2), 397–420. https:// doi.org/10.1177/0956247819858019 Wilk, R. (2018). Global junk: Who is to blame for the obesity epidemic? RAE-­ Revista de Administração de Empresas, 58(3), 332–336.

6 Đổi Mới and the Meatification of Everyday Food Practices

Perhaps the most dramatic part of Vietnam’s food transformations (as outlined in Chap. 5) is the rapid increase in production and consumption of meat. This meat boom has not taken place in a vacuum, but should rather be seen as a particularly intense case of a global phenomenon. Over the past decades, global consumption of meat and animal products has increased dramatically. By 2019, total global meat supply reached 334 million tonnes, and global annual average meat consumption per capita hit 43 kg, compared to 23 kg in 1961 (FAOSTAT),1 despite the global population more than doubling in that period. As FAO pointed out in the seminal report Livestock’s Long Shadow, until the early 1980s, daily consumption of meat and dairy products was mainly an OECD privilege (Steinfeld et al., 2006). Then in the subsequent two decades, total global meat supply almost doubled from 133 million tonnes in 1980 to 239 million tonnes in 2002. In developing countries, total annual meat supply tripled (from 47 million tonnes to 137 million tonnes), while annual per capita meat consumption doubled (from 14 kg to 28 kg) in the same period (Steinfeld et al., 2006). The upwards spiralling trend has continued and is expected to persist over the coming decade (OECD/FAO, 2016; Henchion et al., 2014; see also Hansen et al., 2021).

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 A. Hansen, Consumption and Vietnam’s New Middle Classes, Consumption and Public Life, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14167-6_6

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From a food, nutrition and well-being perspective, some increase in meat consumption in developing countries can have very positive effects. However, meat production is a highly inefficient way to provide food to a growing population and current consumption levels and production processes have serious environmental consequences (Weis, 2013a; Neo & Emel, 2017). For example, livestock systems already emit up to 18 per cent of total greenhouse gases and use 25–32 per cent of global fresh water (Herrero et al., 2015). While it is certainly possible to make livestock processes more efficient and more environmentally friendly (e.g. Kristensen et al., 2014; Herrero et al., 2015), current trends in meat consumption are unsustainable, and a further global-scale increase in consumption is thus deeply problematic. The increases in meat consumption in developing countries have popularly been seen as part of a ‘nutrition transition’2 (Popkin, 1993; Popkin et al., 2012) and a ‘livestock revolution’ (Delgado et al., 1999; Delgado, 2003). While capturing important general trends, both ideas have been criticised for their simplicity and for being partly misleading. For example, as a global average, diets may not be changing as much as the ‘nutrition transition’ suggests (Pica-Ciamarra & Otte, 2011). As for the livestock revolution, it may more of a gradual evolution than a dramatic revolution (MacLachlan, 2015a; Pica-Ciamarra & Otte, 2011). More importantly, as indeed acknowledged by Delgado (2003), these are not global as much as spatially uneven phenomena occurring in some regions and not in others. The livestock revolution, for example, has been very strong in parts of East and Southeast Asia, and non-existent in most of Africa (Delgado, 2003) where only southern parts of the continent have seen any increase in per capita meat consumption (OECD/FAO, 2016). Furthermore, Weis (2013a, b) has criticised how these concepts make escalating meat consumption seem a natural and inevitable outcome of growing affluence, along the lines of old-school linear development thinking. Instead, he argues, we should be looking at how specific capitalist development trajectories, and most importantly industrial livestock production and associated industries, make what he terms the ‘meatification’ of diets possible (Weis, 2013a, b). A similar argument is made by Schneider (2017) based on the study of what she conceptualises as China’s

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‘industrial meat regime’ (see also Schneider & Sharma, 2014; Sharma, 2014). While the aforementioned scholarship has produced valuable insights on the political economy and economic geography of meat, a gap in both mainstream and critical accounts of surging meat consumption is consumption itself (see also Hansen & Jakobsen, 2020; Hansen, 2018). More precisely, consumption trends are discussed, but the drivers of these trends are mostly assumed or generalised. In the literature on the nutrition transition and the livestock revolution, common explanations for changes in consumption are first and foremost increasing affluence, but also urbanisation and an associated convergence towards ‘Western-style’ diets (Kearney, 2010; Delgado, 2003; Popkin, 1993). In critical accounts, consumption is often mentioned, but it is production regimes that are studied. All of these are undoubtedly important factors, as will be discussed further. But they are also insufficient explanations. Decades of research on consumption has shown that although consumers are far from autonomous agents, they—or we—do possess considerable agency. Affluence makes more consumption of certain things possible, but not inevitable. As Weis (2013a) argues, there are few reasons to believe we as humans are programmed to eat as much meat as possible. Instead, as is discussed in this chapter, our eating habits, and consumption patterns in general, are shaped by both systems of provision and everyday practices. If the unsustainable global surge in meat consumption is to be confronted, we need to understand not only the forces and processes that have led to increased production but also the reasons why people eat more and more meat. This chapter analyses different developments contributing to escalating meat consumption in Vietnam, combining a focus on changes in production and provisioning with analysis of changes in everyday food practices. Through this study, the chapter aims to contribute towards a more empirically grounded understanding of meat-intensive development trends. The chapter makes three main contributions: First, in support of contributions by scholars such as Weis (2013a, b) and Schneider (2017), it brings further evidence to the idea of meatification of food provision and practice as being the outcome of capitalist development strategies and processes, rather than inevitabilities based on human

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beings’ insatiable hunger for meat. Second, it provides a contextualised analysis of rapidly increasing meat consumption in Vietnam. And third, it shows the importance of taking consumption seriously in order to understand how and why diets become meatified. After an explanation of methodology, the chapter starts with a discussion of the relationship between development and meat consumption based on existing literature, before zooming in on development and consumption in Vietnam. In the subsequent section, the chapter analyses what I argue are the four main factors contributing to escalating meat consumption in Vietnam: increasing availability of meat, meat intensification of everyday food practices, increasing prevalence of eating out and the social significance of meat as a symbol of development and social status. Crucially, the chapter goes on to argue, these are not ‘natural’ development trajectories, but the outcome of specific policies and of the spatial expansion of capitalism.

Meat and Development There is a clear correlation between increasing meat consumption and increasing affluence, although only up to a point and with considerable variation (Grigg, 1995; Sans & Combris, 2015). Figure 6.1 shows the relationship between GDP and meat consumption (measured as food supply3). Statistical analyses support the inverted U-shaped relationship shown in the figure. The decrease at higher income levels is sometimes referred to as a possible ‘second nutrition transition’ (Mathijs, 2015; Vranken et al., 2014). What makes people, as a general trend, eat more meat when they get more money, beyond the fact that they can now afford to do so? And why are there such big variations between countries? There is a need for more in-depth, empirically grounded studies of uneven meatification. In line with the framework outlined in Chap. 2, this chapter analyses meat consumption through food provision and practices and takes changes in the provision of meat as a starting point for understanding how escalating consumption has been possible in Vietnam.

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Fig. 6.1  Meat consumption and affluence, 2013. Source: Compiled by author based on FAOSTAT (meat) and World Development Indicators (GDP/capita PPP, constant 2011 international dollars). Note: 2013 statistics for both per capita meat consumption and per capita GDP. Meat consumption based on FAO food supply statistics, meaning that numbers include meat wasted or otherwise not consumed by humans. The curve in the figure is fitted with a fractional polynomial. The figure includes all countries and territories for which FAO provides meat statistics, with a few exceptions where GDP data was unavailable (see Hansen, 2018). For the purpose of illustration and due to extreme GDP values, the small semi-­ autonomous region of Macao was excluded

 evelopment, Agricultural Change and Meat D Consumption in Vietnam Agricultural development has played a crucial role in Vietnam’s recent development trajectories, both in feeding a growing population, but crucially also as a central part of export-led development strategies and rural poverty alleviation. With the largely failed collectivisation of agriculture during the planned economy, food was scarce and Vietnam became

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dependent on imports. Output increased tremendously and Vietnam became an important agricultural exporter, with agricultural exports forming a central part of GDP growth (Marzin & Michaud, 2016; see Chap. 5). For many Vietnamese, Đổi Mớ i has involved a transformation from extreme scarcity to relative abundance. And for most Vietnamese, reforms have involved significant improvements in living standards, reflected, for example, in life expectancy increasing from 67.5 years in 1980 to 75.4 years in 2019, and infant mortality rates decreasing from 46.6 per 1000 live births in 1980 to 15.9 per 1000 in 2019 (World Bank, 2022). Improved nutrition has represented an important part of these development achievements. Table 6.1 shows how from the year Đổi Mớ i was officially implemented (1986) until 2018, daily per capita calorie intake increased by an average of about 46.5 per cent. Table 6.1 also clearly reveals a strong increase in consumption of animal products. In the same period, calories from vegetal products increased by about 23.5 per cent (1904 kcal to 2352 kcal), while calories from animal products increased by 318 per cent (161 kcal to 673 kcal). This increase was largely due to a drastic rise in the consumption of pork (96 kcal to 370 kcal) (FAOSTAT). According to FAO numbers, yearly meat consumption per capita in Vietnam increased from 14.26 kg in 1986 to 57.03 kg in 2019 (FAOSTAT). Figure 6.2 shows that the bulk of meat consumption is represented by pork, but the strongest relative increase was in the consumption of beef and poultry. Pork consumption per capita more than tripled between 1993 and 2018, before declining significantly due to the outbreak of African Swine Fever (see Hansen, 2021). Beef consumption Table 6.1  Daily kcal per capita, Vietnam, 1961–2018 1961 1971 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001 2006 2011 2016 2018 Grand total Vegetal products Animal products

1907 1957 2004 2065 1856 2018 2299 2483 2716 2952 3025 1769 1829 1880 1904 1691 1798 2004 2046 2141 2311 2352 138

128

124

161

166

221

294

437

575

641

673

Source: Adopted from Marzin and Michaud (2016); updated with numbers from FAOSTAT

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35 30

Kilograms

25 20

Beef and veal Pork

15

Poultry

10 5

1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

0

Fig. 6.2  Meat consumption per capita, Vietnam, 1993–2020. Source: Compiled by author based on numbers from OECD (2021)

increased more than six-fold between 1993 and 2017, before also declining somewhat, while poultry consumption rose more than eight-­fold between 1993 and 2020, despite the slump caused by repeated outbreaks of avian flu (see Porter, 2019). Also the consumption of other animal products has increased significantly. The clearest example is milk consumption, which increased more than five-fold from an annual 1.4 kg per capita in 1986 to 7.71 kg per capita in 2018 (FAOSTAT). These are all dramatic increases. And the magnitude of the total consumption is even more dramatic when it is borne in mind that Vietnam’s population between 1993 and 2018 increased from 62 million to 95.5 million (World Bank, 2022). It should, furthermore, be noted here that these numbers do not include the consumption of dog meat and ‘wild meat’. Both are widespread practices (see Avieli, 2011; Drury, 2011; Hansen, 2021), so the total meat consumption is considerably higher than these numbers indicate. Vietnam consumes more meat compared to other Southeast Asian countries at similar levels of per capita GDP (see Table 6.2) and much

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Table 6.2  GDP/capita, urbanisation rates and meat consumption in SE Asia and China, 2018 GDP/capita PPP (current US $) Brunei Darussalam Singapore Malaysia Thailand China Indonesia Philippines Vietnam Lao PDR Myanmar Cambodia Timor-Leste

Urban population (% of total)

Meat, food supply quantity/kg/capita

61,839

78

85.99a

99,842 28,220 18,527 15,609 11,644 8721 7768 7775 5150 4259 3125

100 76 50 59 55 47 36 35 31 23 31

–b 53.79 28.88 62.43 12.43 37.04 65.16 24.11 47.98 12.15 32.74

Note: aBrunei data are from 2013 b FAO does not provide numbers for meat consumption in Singaporem Statista data has estimated it to be 66 kg per capita in 2020 (Statista, 2021) Source: World Development Indicators; FAOSTAT

more than the Southeast Asian average of 31.11 kg (FAOSTAT). Indeed, Vietnam consumes more meat compared to most countries in the world at similar levels of GDP (see Hansen, 2018). Meat consumption per capita in Vietnam had in 2019 (the latest year with available FAO numbers) surpassed the level of Malaysia, which had a GDP per capita (PPP) about 3.5 times higher than Vietnam’s. Taking income into account, Vietnam also has a relatively high level of meat consumption compared to China. The trends over time have been similar in the two countries, although China in 2019 had a GDP per capita (PPP) about double that of Vietnam. Given that these two countries have a culture of dog and wild meat consumption, the total meat consumption numbers should again be much higher. From the numbers presented so far in the chapter, it becomes clear that Vietnam in many ways fits into the story of the livestock revolution and the nutrition transition. But Table 6.2 also shows that affluence and urbanisation alone cannot explain diverging levels of meat consumption in the region. Vietnam is not wealthy and is among the least urbanised

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countries in Southeast Asia. It is also unlikely that ‘Western’ influences on diets are stronger in Vietnam than in neighbouring countries. The following section will investigate the main factors contributing to increasing meat consumption in Vietnam.

Increasing Meat Consumption in Vietnam: The Main Factors Starting on the provisioning side with the rather obvious factor of improved availability of meat, I move on to discuss changes in food practices, looking into the meat intensification of traditional dishes; the influences of new, meat intensive foreign food practices and the increasing prevalence of eating out. I then dig deeper into the meanings of meat consumption in Vietnam today, focusing on associations between meat and development and the status-enhancing potentials of (certain forms of ) meat consumption.

F actor 1: Provisioning Meat: Increased Availability and Affordability Although there have long been discussions about the primacy of production versus consumption (see e.g. Miller, 1995), needless to say, consumption cannot take place without available products. Arguably, improved access to goods and improved means to acquire them represents a significant part of how development is experienced by most people. While there were informal channels for getting meat during the days of the planned economy with its rationing system, meat scarcity was the reality for most Vietnamese before Đổi Mớ i. Even in cities it is common for many Vietnamese to remember a time not that long ago when meat was a luxury to be enjoyed mainly during the lunar New Year (Tết) celebrations and at weddings. This was indeed the role of meat in the diet of most Vietnamese also before the communist days, at least for the rural majority (Peters, 2012). The stories of meat scarcity stand in sharp contrast to the burgeoning meat markets and supermarket shelves today, as

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summarised by this statement by a retired woman who lived through those changes: When I was born it was peace, but we didn’t have any meat. Very little. When I was a teenager it was war and we had to leave the city to avoid the bombs and there was also no meat. Maybe in the end of the month or once every two weeks my parents would send something for us to eat, but no meat. When I was a grown-up we had a bit more meat. And then we opened up with Đổi Mớ i, and they brought in meat from everywhere. And now I think there’s too much meat! (Interview, March, 2017)

The increased availability of meat is due to two main factors. First of all, agricultural output and processing have increased dramatically with Đổi Mớ i, as already indicated earlier. The story of rice production is well-­ known (e.g. Marzin & Michaud, 2016), but the increases in parts of the livestock sector have been equally astounding. Production in the livestock sector has grown faster than production in crops since Đổi Mớ i. For example, the share of the livestock sector of total agricultural production increased from 20 per cent in 1995 to 27 per cent in 2013 (OECD, 2015). If we compare production numbers at the year of reforms to the latest available numbers at the time of writing, annual beef production grew more than three-fold from 135.980 tonnes in 1986 to 449.767 tonnes in 2019, pork production increased more than six-fold from 625,000 tonnes in 1986 to 3,816,414 tonnes in 2018, before a dramatic drop from 2019 due to the impact of African swine fever that led to the death and culling of 20 per cent of the total pig population (OECD/ FAO, 2020). Poultry, and mainly chicken, production grew fastest, as is indeed the case on the global scale (see Hansen et al., 2021), and increased eight-fold from 132,900 tonnes in 1986 to 1,089,111 tonnes in 2019 (FAOSTAT). The government aims for further growth in the sector, and in addition to goals of meeting domestic demand, aims to significantly increase exports (see Hansen, 2021; Vietnam News, 2020). As an integral agricultural sector for both domestic food production and rural incomes, the livestock sector has been subject to a variety of government support

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programmes (OECD, 2015; Vu Hoang Yen, 2017; for an overview of recent policies, see Tran Cong Thang & Bui Thi Viet Anh, 2016). Interestingly, the Vietnamese livestock sector has remained mainly small-scale, as indeed has most of Vietnam’s agriculture (OECD, 2015; see also Rigg et al., 2016). This feature has, however, been changing as a result of government policies favouring farm specialization, agricultural industrialisation and the up-scaling of production (Cesaro, 2016), and a recent process of consolidation in the farming sector has been observable (OECD, 2015). Also, smallholders have to an increasing extent—with the help of authorities and international organisations—introduced more efficient production processes such as stall feeding systems instead of grazing, which have, in turn, led to higher quality meat (see Stür et al., 2013). Many smallholders also now serve as contract farmers to large corporations such as Charoen Pokphand (CP) from Thailand and Japfa Comfeed from Indonesia (interview, agricultural value chain expert, Hanoi, October, 2017). An associated development has also been a very rapid rise in the domestic production of maize (GSO, 2017) as well as in imports of maize and soy beans for the livestock sector, with imports now comprising 60 per cent of all animal feed (Cesaro, 2016). These changes in domestic agricultural output are obviously a very large part of the explanation for why meat consumption has increased so rapidly. But for poultry and beef, demand has outgrown domestic supply (IPSOS Business Consulting, 2016). This brings us to the second part of the provision story: international trade. Vietnam has opened its market for imports from a range of large meat producing countries and become a major meat importer, with meat imports rising from almost none in 2000 to USD 3.7 billion in 2015, before declining to USD 2.2 billion in 2019. India, Hong Kong, the US, Australia and Brazil are the largest exporters and frozen beef by far the most important commodity in terms of value, followed by poultry and pork (Chatham House, 2021). The latter indeed saw dramatic increase following the outbreak of African swine fever in 2018 (Euromeatnews, 2020). These imports took off when Vietnam joined the WTO in 2007. Vietnam also exports meat, mainly pork to Hong Kong (60.1 million USD in 2019) and poultry to China (26.2 million USD in 2018), but imports accounted for sixteen times the value of exports in 2019 (Chatham House, 2021).

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A relatively new trend is to import live animals from abroad for rearing and slaughter in Vietnam. This trade reached the value of 552 million USD in 2019 (Chatham House, 2021), mainly represented by live cattle from Australia, and some from Thailand and Laos, which together represent most of the imported value. On the other hand, Vietnam used to export cattle and pigs, mainly to Laos and China, but this trade is negligible today. Export of live pigs to China came to a stop in 2017 when China stopped imports of live pigs due to putative quality concerns. The increased availability of meat is obviously necessary for meat consumption to increase, combined with the fact that this has made meat much more affordable to consumers. Before the outbreak of African swine fever, pork production indeed saw a crisis of oversupply due to both the halt in exports to China and increasing imports to Vietnam, which pushed down prices significantly (see for example VnExpress, 2017; Ho Binh Minh, 2017). The increase in supply has to some extent been driven by increasing demand from a gradually more affluent population, and recently the expectation of a growing market for Vietnamese pigs and pork products in China, the world’s largest market for pork. There are structural changes along entire livestock supply chains in Vietnam. Farming has, as stated earlier, remained mostly small-scale, but the government is now intent on luring more investors to agriculture. The feed industry is increasingly dominated by imports and multinational corporations – small-scale neighbourhood slaughtering in urban areas has been replaced by larger sites outside the cities, and individual traders on motorbikes delivering meat to wet markets are facing competition from companies transporting meat by trucks to restaurants and supermarkets. A certain supermarketisation is doubtlessly taking place in Vietnam’s cities, with government backing (Wertheim-Heck et al., 2015), although many traditional wet markets are so far proving resilient. The retailing sector opened for foreign investments in January 2009, as part of Vietnam’s WTO commitments (Wertheim-Heck et al., 2015). Alongside the large supermarkets, there has been a significant surge, in recent years, in smaller mini-marts, such as VinMart+ (see Chap. 5). As a response to increasing concerns about quality and cleanliness among consumers, corporations such as the powerful Vingroup have started ‘farm-­ to-­fork’ initiatives where they control the entire value chain. It seems

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likely that this is one of the business models the government will be supporting in coming years, and among many of my interviewees VinMart’s food was indeed highlighted as safer than others due to this control. While small minimarts sell chilled meat, the large supermarkets usually have a wide variety of options, including fresh, chilled and frozen meat. In addition, an increasing number of processed meat products, such as sausages and premade meals, are available in supermarkets. In sum, the changes in the systems of provision for meat represent an important facilitator for escalating meat consumption. Vietnam is able to produce more meat, and alongside imports and new retail structures, the availability of meat has increased dramatically. Supply is nevertheless a necessary but insufficient factor for explaining consumption, and exaggerating the role of supply removes agency from consumers. Many household interviewees reflected on the rapid changes in the food scene, and particularly on the fact that they no longer knew where the meat came from. There were different opinions as to whether safe shops, trusted market vendors or supermarkets were the best or safest places to buy meat, and some also talked of informal trade networks to get ‘clean meat’ directly from the countryside. This brings us to consumers and food practices. What lies behind the increased shopping for and eating of meat? How has meat consumption increased in everyday Vietnamese food practices?

Factor 2: Meat Intensification of Food Practices This second factor can be separated into two main issues: The meat intensification of ‘traditional’ meals and dishes and the influence of foreign meat intensive dishes and eating practices. First of all, meat is a part of a wide range of what are considered ‘traditional’ Vietnamese dishes, although this is probably due to alterations over time rather than a true reflection of what daily diets historically have involved for most Vietnamese (see Peters, 2012). Nevertheless, broths for most of the noodle soups, such as the famous and highly popular breakfast dish phở, are cooked on animal parts, and meat or fish (or both) is considered a necessary part of a meal, together with rice, soup, and greens

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and vegetables (see also Avieli, 2012; Chap. 5). These dishes, however, used to involve very small amounts of meat, if any at all. By contrast, today the phở, like most other noodle dishes, is often served with generous portions of beef or chicken. In many phở stalls, the customer is able to choose from many different parts of the animal, as well as different ways of preparing them. This came up in a conversation with a retired professional and her daughter. The mother, referring to phở, stated that ‘before, people put very little meat in it. Now there’s so much meat’ (translated from Vietnamese). The daughter agreed, and added the example of a popular pork and rice vermicelli dish: ‘Bún chả also. Before, very little meat. But now it’s like you just eat meat, basically’ (Interview, March 2017). Similarly, meat is now standard in lunch and dinner meals, although still usually as one of several dishes. These changes to dishes and meals can be seen as a form of rather subtle changes to the materiality of everyday practices, and although difficult to quantify are likely to be an important reason for increasing meat consumption. The reasons for this intensification are many, including increased supply of meat and, a point further developed, the positive associations meat has for many people. For the street food dishes, an element of competition also plays a role, as street kitchens compete to offer the best deal and the tastiest dishes. In addition to the meat intensification of what are considered typical Vietnamese dishes, a range of foreign-influenced eating practices and dishes are relevant. Foreign influences on Vietnamese eating practices are nothing new (see Peters, 2012). The famous bánh mì4 is a French-­ Vietnamese hybrid, and even phở, the Vietnamese ‘national dish’, is probably a Chinese-Vietnamese hybrid emerging only about 100 years ago (Peters, 2010). But market reforms have brought a new range of foreign influences, and while the impact of foreign influences on local food practices has often been exaggerated in popular and academic accounts (see e.g. Wilk, 2006 for discussion), these influences do represent an important factor here. While meat is part of typical meals in Vietnam, foreign food practices that are increasing in popularity in cities are pushing meat to the centre of the meal. KFC was the first of the transnational food giants to establish businesses in Vietnam, opening its first outlet in 1997. At the time of

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writing, there were 153 KFC restaurants in Vietnam, in a total of 36 cities and provinces.5 While KFC is probably the most popular, American franchises like Burger King and McDonald’s entered later, as did East Asian franchises like Jollibee from the Philippines and Lotteria from Korea. Pizza and pasta have also grown highly popular in cities, led by foreign franchises such as Pizza Hut and Domino’s, national hybrids such as Pepperoni’s and Al Fresco and local independent restaurants. At the higher end of the price scale, steak houses have recently been emerging in cities. There, large portions of beef usually represent the main part of the meal. While the steak houses are in many cases North or South American-inspired, eating beef also exists in a street food hybrid known as Bò bít tết, and served with fries on plastic tables. Some Eastern meat intensive practices have also become highly popular. Japanese and Korean BBQ restaurants are among the most popular around for those who can afford it. Some of these are highly meat intensive, and many of them tend to advertise imported meat, often from the US or Australia. In an interesting example of globalisation and its associated processes of hybridisation, I interviewed the Vietnamese owner of a big and very popular Korean BBQ restaurant in Hanoi. First of all, she said that she would adapt the Korean-inspired tastes to local taste buds by using Vietnamese herbs and spices to better suit her young, Vietnamese customer base. She then explained that all the meat she used was imported from Brazil, ‘because now consumers prefer things that come from outside, and also the imported meat is sometimes cheaper, actually a lot cheaper than meat produced in Vietnam’. The imported meat was seen as a sign of quality, she said, and added that customers probably did not know that frozen meat imported from Brazil was cheaper than locally produced meat (Interview, March, 2017, translated from Vietnamese). Another East Asian influence is found in the success story of instant noodles. With a wide variety of national and foreign brands available, usually including some processed meat or seafood, Vietnam ranks as the third-largest consumer of instant noodles in the world.6 Although foreign food and foreign food outlets are gaining traction, they usually represent an addition to a diet consisting mainly of traditional Vietnamese food usually including rice or noodles. Interviewees frequently reported that they found Western food ‘too creamy’ and not

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suitable to Vietnamese taste buds. Nevertheless, most of my household interviewees would fairly regularly eat foreign food, especially when eating out. And I have been frequently told that children love Western food like pizza, pasta and hamburgers, possibly foreshadowing future dietary changes when a generation more accustomed to foreign tastes grows up. The following quote from a 30-year-old dance instructor illustrates the combination of foreign and Vietnamese food: ‘My son is 5 years old. And he really likes traditional food […]. My mum cooks very well, so he really likes traditional Vietnamese food. And KFC’ (Interview, March, 2017, translated from Vietnamese). Or the following quote from a self-employed man in his late thirties, reflecting the dietary diversity among the Vietnamese urban middle class: ‘My wife loves Western food. My son loves Western food and my daughter loves Japanese food. And I love Vietnamese food’ (Interview, April, 2017, translated from Vietnamese). Only my most foreign-inspired interviewees, such as a few of those married to foreigners, would challenge the centrality of rice and noodles in their diets (see Chap. 5). And few would venture to cook foreign food at home. Instead, many would experiment with foreign tastes when going out to eat, which takes me to my next contributing factor.

Factor 3: Eating Out The third factor is closely related to the second, but deserves a separate section. Eating away from home is seen as an important part of the nutrition transition (Popkin et al., 2012), and over the past decade, Vietnam has seen an immense increase in the prevalence of eating out. As Fig. 6.3 shows, the average spending on meals outside of home increased almost 15-fold between 2002 and 2018. Consumption expenditure in general increased significantly in this period, and Fig. 6.4 shows that the average percentage of total consumption expenditure spent on meals outside has also increased significantly. Although the richest 20 per cent stand out and spend almost seven times the amount of the poorest quintile, spending on meals outside has increased significantly among all income segments. The figures also show that according to official statistics, urban households spend much more on eating out than rural households, both

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600000 500000 400000 300000 200000 100000 0

Total average

Urban average

Rural average

Quintile 1 2002

Quintile 2

Quintile 3

Quintile 4

Quintile 5

2018

Fig. 6.3  Monthly expenditure on eating out by income quintiles, 2002 and 2018. VND, current prices. Source: Compiled by author based on GSO (2012, 2018)

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

Total average

Urban average

Rural average

Quintile 1 2002

Quintile 2

Quintile 3

Quintile 4

Quintile 5

2018

Fig. 6.4  Percentage of consumption expenditure spent on eating out by income quintiles, 2002 and 2018. Source: Compiled by author based on GSO (2012, 2018)

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in absolute terms and as a percentage of income, although the spending by rural households has seen the strongest relative increase. There are reasons to believe that many meals outside involve more meat than meals at home, both because of the structure of the typical family meal with a remaining strong focus on rice and vegetables, and because of the more meat-intensive food practices introduced in restaurants and fast food outlets. A look at the numbers from the national household survey shows that reported average meat consumption was 26.16 kg in 2018 versus 15.6 kg in 2002 (GSO, 2012, 2018). Using FAOSTAT data, as discussed earlier, total meat supply was 57.03 kg per capita in 2019 versus 27.8 kg per capita in 2002. The reasons for the sharp difference between households’ reported consumption and total meat supply can be many. First, meat can be wasted instead of reaching the consumer. It is possible that more food was wasted in 2019 than in 2002, perhaps as part of new and more wasteful value chains. Furthermore, consumption in the tourism sector is significant. Vietnam had 2.6 million international arrivals in 2002 and about 18 million in 2019 (World Bank, 2022). Still, as meat eaten outside the home is not reported in the household survey, there are reasons to believe that this discrepancy also reflects the fact that Vietnamese in general eat less at home and more out than they did before (see Figs. 6.3 and 6.4). Why do people eat out more? Macro-economic processes and everyday practices co-shape this trend. More restaurants and increasing incomes are obvious factors, but equally important are changes in the dynamics of everyday life. Different work hours, longer commuting distances and a more diverse social life are characteristics of the changes associated with economic development—and more so in cities than in rural areas—that make meals outside more convenient and more popular than cooking at home. Smaller households and the declining importance of the family meal are also important factors. Vietnam, like many other countries in the region, also has a very large number of inexpensive eateries serving quality food, which usually also offer a take-away service. These eateries and eating practices are now under threat in cities as local and national authorities continue moulding Vietnam in their vision of a ‘modern and civilized’ society. The same is the case for traditional markets, which remain the main outlet for food in Vietnam. Changes in living and

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working situations combined with changes in mobility practices with increasing car ownership instead of motorbikes (Chap. 4; Hansen, 2017) and government policies in favour of supermarketisation are paving the way for new forms of shopping practices with a wider availability of fresh and processed meat products. A large number of food scares have further accelerated this trend, although also contributing to the expansion of small ‘safe food’ shops and informal food networks from farm to city (see Chap. 5). The tendency towards eating out was reflected in most of my interviews with middle-class households, especially among the younger interviewees. Some of them, especially if they were unmarried but lived away from their parents—a relatively new phenomenon in Vietnam—reported eating almost every meal outside or through take away or home delivery. The combination of a plethora of street kitchens serving affordable and tasty dishes and materialisations of Hanoi’s ‘system of moto-mobility’ (Hansen, 2017; Chap. 4) in the form of extensive motorbike delivery services contribute towards the popularity of these food practices. Also married couples reported eating out often, especially for breakfast and lunch. And many cherish this possibility, since it reduces the workload at home and provides access to a wide variety of dishes. Eating out also contributes to another part of Vietnam’s nutritional changes: Vietnamese are eating less rice (FAOSTAT). As a young, unmarried, woman somewhat triumphantly told me, referring to urban, (upper) middle-class women like her: ‘we don’t cook, so […] we are not forced to eat rice’ (Interview, March, 2017).

F actor 4: Meat Representing Development and Distinction I believe it is fairly safe to say a significant proportion of Vietnamese view eating meat as healthy. As a food conscious interviewee in her early thirties told me: ‘People think calcium comes from milk [and] protein, basically energy, comes from meat. That’s the basic understanding’ (Interview, March 2017). This kind of attitude towards meat is, of course, prevalent in a very large number of countries and cultures (see Hansen & Syse,

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2021). What distinguishes Vietnam from many other countries is that the change from extreme scarcity to abundance has been so rapid. The access to meat, I argue, is seen as a central part of development. This is important, since it has led to a positive association between increased meat consumption and increased living standards. Many of my interviewees touched upon this topic, and a few quotes can illustrate this. For example, in this conversation with a journalist in her thirties: Author: It seems meat consumption is increasing very fast in Vietnam. Informant: Yes, it’s absolutely true. I think it’s also related to […] history. Because in the past, Vietnam was a developing country and the income was quite low. So people usually bought vegetables instead of meat, because it’s cheaper. Even now, in rural areas, people usually buy vegetables instead of meat if they don’t have enough money. And rice. So meat can be considered […] as something higher income people can consume. […] So you can have more meat if you get more income. That’s the history of Vietnam, I think. […] I think we still have a gap to fill, a potential to increase consumption. (Interview, April 2017)

Or, like these reflections from a self-employed man in his late thirties: Meat represents a bit of money. We want to show that we are able to provide our kids with a bit of meat on the tray. Before, there was war, and we didn’t have anything, not meat, not anything. So people who have gone through that period want to make it up for their kids.[…] And they also want to make it up for themselves.[…]. Even after the war, there was a long period when we had little to eat. But after Đổi mớ i and all the new things that followed, we can afford it, we can make up for everything we have gone through. So when we can afford it we pay a lot for meat. It has already been 30 years since Đổi mớ i, so the habit of eating meat has had a long time to settle. Eating meat is now a new habit that we have. (Interview, April, 2017, translated from Vietnamese)

This point should be qualified by taking into account that many urbanites are, for different reasons, trying to moderate their intake of meat. Among my interviewees, some talked about the intake of red meat

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as unhealthy. Indeed, health concerns were the most common explanation given for limiting meat intake, although many would eat white meat instead. A few of my younger interviewees had also decided to go fully vegetarian (see also Hansen, 2021; Hansen & Nguyen, 2022). While there is social distinction involved in choosing not to eat meat within certain social segments, the same is certainly true for eating lots of meat. Some meat practices, such as eating dog meat and wild meat, are considered masculine and can also be status-enhancing (Avieli, 2011; Drury, 2011), although many among especially the young, urban middle class consider such practices outdated and even cruel. Eating the reproductive organs of certain animals is believed to be libido-enhancing. I have, for example, participated in men only goat meat feasts, where congealed blood was served as a starter and reproductive organs were part of the ‘hot pot’ (lẩu) main dish. Vietnam is furthermore internationally infamous for eating and using parts of rare animals due to their perceived medicinal capacities, including being a major destination for illegal rhino horns from Africa (Truong et al., 2016). Also more foreign-inspired food practices come with significant social status attached. Eating at foreign fast food outlets is popular among young people, and has become very popular for celebrating children’s birthday parties (which is also a largely imported practice). Among older and wealthier segments of the population, going out for a proper steak meal is considered appropriate. Instead of downing beer and rice wine as is common in more traditional meat feasts, alongside steak imported red wine is carefully sipped. This is a way of eating that demands different social skills. These restaurants are sites for quiet conversations, and eating must be done with a knife and fork instead of chopsticks. Most of all, however, these eating practices demand economic capital. Eating a full steak combined with red wine easily costs the average monthly salary of a worker, and it is not unusual to also pay the bill for one’s guests. As is common for practices that are inaccessible to the vast majority of the population, this is something many among the wealthier strata of the Vietnamese society enjoy indulging in. To take one example, the young upper-middle-class woman who earlier stated she was no longer forced to eat rice, said her favourite dish was beef. Interestingly, she also exclaimed ‘I love lamb’, a quite untypical statement in Vietnam where lamb is

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uncommon. But the fact that she could afford to have beef and lamb as her favourite food was, of course, also a clear expression of her privileged status, interestingly resembling the French colonialists in Peters’ (2012: 164) account who would serve leg of lamb in Saigon to declare their Frenchness and difference from the locals.

 ating a Capitalist Transformation: Practices E and Provision The discussion so far shows that Vietnam has in many ways experienced developments along the lines of what is described as the nutrition transition and the livestock revolution. Indeed, when it comes to the latter, Vietnam is perhaps the clearest example in all of Southeast Asia. The aforementioned factors also to some extent support the standard explanatory factors of increasing affluence, urbanisation and foreign (Western) influences for understanding increasing meat consumption. The factors identified here, however, also show that in the case of Vietnam, a contextualised analysis of consumption through systems of provision and everyday practices brings necessary nuance to the standard explanation and identifies additional important factors. Starting with urbanisation, Vietnam has high levels of meat consumption and a relatively low percentage of the population living in cities. The earlier discussion has shown that developments in Vietnam partly support the association between urbanisation and meat-intensive lifestyles, mainly due to the increased prevalence of meals away from home. However, Vietnamese cities are also home to an emerging popularity of meat-less lifestyles, and Vietnam’s comparatively low urbanisation levels and high meat consumption levels clearly indicate that urbanisation is insufficient to explain surging meat consumption. Affluence is an obvious factor, and incomes in Vietnam have increased very rapidly in the past three decades (e.g. World Bank, 2012). Crucially, however, changes in systems of provision of meat have at the same time made meat much more affordable. This has happened through enormous increases in output in livestock production—often, as Schneider (2017)

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has documented in China, with government support—as well as increased global and regional economic integration. Hawkes (2006) argues that the globalisation of agri-food systems and opening for foreign investment in food retailing are important explanatory factors for the nutrition transition. For Vietnam, this is a valid point. Trade and investment liberalisation has opened for imports of cheap meat and feed from abroad, as well as for the establishment of foreign fast food chains in the country. These processes can usefully be understood as part of the spatial expansion of capitalism. Although the extent to which Vietnam’s self-proclaimed ‘socialist market economy’ is capitalist is subject to some discussion (see Hansen, 2015; Bekkevold et al., 2020), it is obvious that capitalist, and state capitalist, actors in production, feed, processing and retail have played a central role in escalating meat consumption. This includes the spread of franchises, which in many ways are a symptom of market-­ liberalism combined with monopoly capitalism. People eat at these places for a wide variety of reasons and attribute very different meanings to them in different countries and cultures (see e.g. Watson, 2006), but they remain manifestations of capitalist market logics ‘from farm to fork’. Foreign influences such as these are clearly important factors for increasing meat consumption, but in Vietnam, ‘Eastern’ dietary influences are as important as ‘Western’ in terms of meat intensity. Furthermore, an equally important dimension is the meat-intensification of local meals and dishes, an often gradual and inconspicuous process. Everyday practices are deeply affected by the multi-scalar processes associated with capitalist economic development. In turn, practices and demand structures clearly co-shape the development of systems of provision. Domestic and foreign meat producers and retailers obviously pay close attention to, and contribute to fuelling, the demand and desire for meat. But supply, increasing income, urbanisation and foreign influences do not automatically make people consume more meat. As Appadurai (1986: 29) puts it, demand emerges as a function of a variety of social practices and classifications, rather than a mysterious emanation of human needs, a mechanical response to social manipulation […], or the narrowing down of a universal and voracious desire for objects to whatever happens to be available.

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In Vietnam, changes in food practices towards more eating out and more meat-intensive cooking, as well as more supermarket shopping, are strengthening and are made possible by changes in systems of provision towards more restaurants, more fast food chains, more supermarkets and more and more affordable meat in traditional markets and supermarkets. In addition, the valuation among major parts of the population of more meat as a symbol of better living standards, as well as the social distinction involved in particular forms of meat consuming behaviour, strongly feed into the meat-intensity of food practices.

Meat Cultures The social valuation of meat is an example of a culture of meat consumption that is clearly stronger in some countries than others (see Hansen & Syse, 2021). Vietnam’s high level of meat consumption compared to per capita income levels is something it shares with its giant neighbour to the North, China. Thus, there may be grounds for a deeper cultural and geographical reading of the evolution of livestock production and meat consumption that is beyond the scope of this chapter. This is strengthened by the fact that Hong Kong and Macao had among the highest levels of per capita meat consumption in the world in 2019 (FAOSTAT, see also Hansen, 2018). China and Vietnam share a long, although conflicted, history and many cultural traits (see e.g. Goscha, 2016). The two countries are probably more similar to each other—in terms of politics, economy, cultural practices and societal organisation—than each of them are to any other country. In terms of systems of provision, one of the traits Vietnam and China share is a history of small-scale pig breeding, although traditionally, as Schneider (2017: 89) argues for the case of China, ‘pigs were more valuable alive than dead’ due to their functions at the farm (see also Korsnes & Liu, 2021; Hansen, 2021). With reforms, the production expanded and people were able to consume more than their few servings of meat a year. In China, with the gradual marketisation of the economy, large-­ scale production following capitalist agricultural production principles started replacing small-scale farming as a way to increase productivity and

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enhance government control7 (Schneider, 2017; MacLachlan, 2015b). This is, to some extent, happening in Vietnam as well, where there is now a clear tendency towards blaming problems in the meat production sector on the ostensible unruliness of smallholder farming. Instead, the government is providing support and incentives for large capital to invest in agriculture, although highly sensitive and complex issues of land ownership might hamper this. Upscaling is certainly in line with global trends, bearing in mind that an estimated 75 per cent of pig (and poultry) production globally comes from industrial systems (Herrero et al., 2015). My point is that not only development per se, but also particular forms of development and food regimes in favour of cheap, mass-produced meat through domestic production and imports create the necessary backdrop for rapidly increasing meat consumption. But China and Vietnam also share very rapid transformations from communist planned economies to market economies and associated changes to everyday practices, including food practices. An understanding of everyday life and the practices through which meat reaches people’s shopping bags, plates and mouths is needed in order to understand why and how people actually eat more meat.

Conclusion Many parts of the world, and particularly Eastern parts of Asia, are seeing rapid increases in the consumption of meat. In Vietnam, meat consumption has increased very quickly since the Đổi Mớ i reforms and the rapid economic development that has followed. This chapter has shown that the standard explanations of affluence, urbanisation and foreign dietary influences are contributing factors to these changes, but they are not sufficient explanations. I have argued for an approach to meat consumption that takes into account systems of provision without neglecting the importance of everyday practices and the agency of consumers. Furthermore, I have argued that escalating meat consumption in Vietnam needs to be understood as part of the spatial expansion of capitalism and an overall capitalist transformation, including the development of a consumer society. Rather than the inevitable outcome of increasing income

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and urbanisation, these trends are made possible by capitalist development processes favouring mass production and mass consumption of meat. In sum, the systems of provision for meat in Vietnam have changed. Initially away from collective farming towards smallholder farming geared for profits from domestic and international markets. And later towards larger-scale industrial agriculture, combined with more efficient transport and more outlets in the shape of markets, supermarkets, minimarts, street kitchens, restaurants and fast food joints. Meanwhile, and partly due to these processes, food practices have been ‘meatified’. I have argued parts of this process take a conspicuous shape, like eating steak at fancy restaurants, while other parts are largely inconspicuous, such as gradually larger amounts of meat in portions of phở. Furthermore, in a country where even the richest segments of the population remember extreme scarcity, meat is for many still one of the defining factors of progress. Macro-economic processes play a vital part in shaping people’s everyday lives and consumption patterns. That said, consumers are not dupes, and consumption patterns are shaped in the encounter with social practices and preferences. Vietnam has not seen revolutionary changes in diets, at least not so far (see Chap. 5). It has, however, seen incremental access to meat and an increasing uptake of meat into food practices. In addition, since Vietnam and China both have high levels of meat consumption relative to income, and Hong Kong and Macao have among the highest levels of per capita meat consumption in the world, there are likely to be relevant cross-border cultural and geographical factors that this chapter has not sufficiently addressed. Comparative studies of countries in the region could shed more light on this factor. In general, since a further increase in global meat consumption is deeply unsustainable, more empirically grounded research is needed on the economic, social and cultural factors contributing to meatification (and demeatification).

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Notes 1. This massive growth has been driven mainly by consumption of poultry followed by pork (Henchion et al., 2014). 2. In addition to meat and other animal source food, the nutrition transition refers to shifts towards more processed food, more sugar and more fats in a wide range of low- and middle-income countries (Popkin, 1993; Popkin et al., 2012) 3. In FAO statistics, food supply refers to the food available to consumers (production plus imports minus exports). It does not mean that the food is eaten. Therefore it likely exaggerates final consumption. 4. Bánh mì literally means bread. The version that is filled with herbs, meat and sauce is now famous in many countries outside Vietnam. 5. https://kfcvietnam.com.vn/en/about-­us.html 6. https://instantnoodles.org/en/noodles/demand/table/ 7. A process that has a very different history in Hong Kong (Chan & Miller, 2015).

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7 Electrifying Development: Consumption Booms and Household Energy Demand

Personally, what first comes to mind when energy in Vietnam is discussed is the house I lived in when I first moved to the country, in 2010. It was a beautiful house by the Thu Bon river in Hoi An in central Vietnam, probably one of the nicest places I have ever lived. It came with large windows that gave nice lighting and a nice view of the river. But, and here we get to the relevance for this chapter, the construction of the house seemingly paid no attention to local climatic conditions, with large windows and little natural ventilation making the second floor of the house completely unliveable without cooling technologies. The house was constructed for artificial cooling, effectively locking air-conditioning in as a necessary part of everyday life, in the processes following a globally expanding trend (Wilhite, 2016). Indeed, all rooms had a separate air conditioning unit. The house was also explicitly ‘modern’ (see Hansen et al., 2016), fully equipped with household appliances like washing machine, TV and a large refrigerator, several bathrooms with hot shower facilities and very high number of light sources. It was remarkably different from many of the houses surrounding it. At the same time, however, it was obvious that the new houses of the emerging middle classes, both in Hoi An and elsewhere in the country, shared fundamental traits with the one I was living in. And since then, similar houses have indeed

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 A. Hansen, Consumption and Vietnam’s New Middle Classes, Consumption and Public Life, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14167-6_7

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become standard for the upper parts of the Vietnamese middle classes, who in general live in larger and more solid houses, often equipped with more modern appliances, than the rest of the population (World Bank, 2018; see also Chap. 2). The larger houses combined with the technologies designed to make everyday life more convenient and comfortable, and bodies and clothes cleaner, represent some of the clearest evidence of the transformations Vietnam has gone through the past decades. And they all play a central role in Vietnam’s ongoing surge in energy demand. All consumption involves energy, and in modern consumer societies, most consumption tends to depend on electricity. Alongside the development processes and increases in consumption discussed in this book, increasing demand for energy can be expected. The forms this demand take, the extent to which it increases, and the ways in which it is met, has crucial sustainability implications. In this chapter, I analyse the dramatic increase in electricity consumption in Vietnam the past decades through the political economy of energy and the everyday practices of households. I start with the transformations of energy provisioning systems in the country, before zooming in on consumer goods, air-conditioning and electric vehicles.

Consuming Energy Global energy consumption has grown dramatically over the past decades, mainly driven by rapid growth in demand in Asia. Indeed, China now alone consumes about a quarter of total energy and almost a third (29 per cent) of all electricity in the world (Enerdata, 2021). Household consumption is connected to large parts of this. In addition to all the indirect consumption involved in producing the things we use and the homes we live in, households tend to consume somewhere between a quarter and a third of total energy consumption in affluent and emerging economies.1 All of the appliances that have become part of everyday life in many parts of the world are what drive household energy consumption: The hot showers, the washing machines and their associated cleanliness regimes (Jack, 2017), the air-conditioners and ever-larger refrigerators (Wilhite, 2016). Not to mention TVs, mobile phones, and a seemingly

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ever-­increasing number of ‘necessary’ gadgets that surround us. Decades of consumption research has convincingly shown how these technologies become embedded and normalised in everyday life. Scholars have explained how this normalisation involves processes of ‘domestication’ through establishing relations between technology and humans (see Korsnes et al., 2018; Winther et al., 2018), as well as how it leads to, and depends on, complex relations between everyday practices, infrastructures and systems of provision (Rinkinen et al., 2021; Coutard and Shove, 2019). Relatedly, inspired by Science and Technology Studies and Bruno Latour’s (1992) insights into how human action is co-shaped by our material environment and the things we use, scholars have analysed how technologies take on agency in everyday consumption (Wilhite, 2008a). One of the most obvious cases is indoor temperature. Elisabeth Shove (2003) has shown how norms around comfortable temperatures have changed and how these are socially constructed (see also Sahakian et al., 2020). Others have elucidated how such norms are embedded into the very buildings we live in through building materials and styles combined with technologies for heating and cooling (e.g. Wilhite, 2008b, 2009; Korsnes et al., 2018). These vary depending on climatic and technological contexts. During winter in countries like Norway, where winters in many parts of the country can get freezing cold, insulation and heating technology have come a long way in keeping houses comfortable no matter the outside temperature. Construction techniques have indeed taken us to the point where the relatively new apartment I currently live in in Oslo is pleasant during the often very cold winters, but too hot during summer. While my household hardly needs to use any heating during winter, we are forced to use electric fans during summer and many of our neighbours have invested a range of cooling technologies like portable air-­conditioners. Relatedly, the many heat pumps that are installed in Norwegian houses in recent decades have affected both indoor temperatures and expectations of comfort. Just like Gram-Hanssen et al. (2012) found in Denmark, Norwegians now heat larger areas of their houses and by using heat pumps also as air-conditioners have started to keep a constant temperature all the year round (Winther & Wilhite, 2015). Energy received significantly more attention in consumption research as the focus of the field shifted towards ‘ordinary’ (Gronow & Warde,

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2001) and inconspicuous forms of consumption (Shove, 2003). Since then, energy has played a very central part in what has become a large field of consumption research, probably both thanks to its pervasive role in everyday life and its environmental impacts.2 In turn, researchers in this field have worked hard to impact an overall energy field where consumers, or ‘end users’, are largely conceptualized as rational individuals that will somehow automatically adopt and adapt to the latest technology (see Wilhite et al., 2000). While energy consumption tends to increase with economic growth (Wilhite, 2016), the shapes that energy consumption takes, as well as the amount of energy used, is context-dependent and strongly shaped by energy cultures, energy politics and energy infrastructures (see, for example, contributions in Strauss et al., 2013; Shove & Trentmann, 2019).

 nergy Transformations and the Political E Economy of Energy Energy is integral to both development and consumption. All aspects of development, from industrialization to everyday mobility, require energy, and access to energy, and particularly electricity, is often in itself understood as progress (see Winther, 2008). Although promises and expectations often remain unfulfilled, electricity remains, as James Ferguson (1999: 243) has put it, perhaps our ‘most vivid symbol of modernization and development’ (see Winther, 2008 for discussion). Unsurprisingly then, regions and countries experiencing rapid economic growth tend to see rapidly increasing demand for energy. The question from a policy perspective tends not to be demand itself but how to meet this demand, a question that is at the core of global sustainability. Southeast Asia is home to some of the fastest increases in electricity consumption in the world, and renewable energy only meets 15 per cent of demand. Between 2000 and 2019, overall energy demand in the region grew with more than 80 per cent and led to a doubling in fossil fuel use, with coal the fastest growing source (IEA, 2019).

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Vietnam is an interesting case in question, with both rapid growth in demand and rapid growth in renewable energy capacity (IEA, 2019). Figure  7.1 shows how per capita electricity consumption has grown alongside economic development since Đổi Mớ i. The communist regime has placed access to electricity high on development agendas and delivered impressive successes. In 1990, only half of households in Vietnam had access to electricity (ADB, 2015). Twenty-­ one years later, in 2011, 99 per cent of households did, and today hardly anyone is without electricity access (World Bank, 2022a). This follows a clear pattern of energy access in Southeast Asia but stand out if we compare Vietnam to the situation globally. On average, 10 per cent of the world’s population still lacks access to electricity. And if we compare Vietnam’s achievement to, for example, African ‘emerging economies’ like South Africa or Botswana, both of which have more than double the GDP per capita compared to Vietnam, 15 per cent and 30 per cent of their populations respectively lack access to electricity (World Bank, 2022a). The supply of electricity in Vietnam has been met by a mix of energy sources. Hydropower has long dominated, representing very high 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500

1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

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Per capita electricity consumption (kWh)

Fig. 7.1  Annual per capita electricity consumption (kWh) in Vietnam, 1986-2020

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percentages of electricity supply in the 1990s. Today, it still represents about a quarter (26 per cent) of total supply, while coal represents more than half (53 per cent) and natural gas 16 per cent of total electricity supply. The reliance on coal is problematic both because of environmental consequences and the fact that Vietnam does not produce enough coal to meet domestic demand and thus increasingly relies on imports (see Reuters, 2020). An interesting development is the focus on expanding renewable energy sources, which has seen especially solar power grow significantly the past few years and now make up about 5 per cent of the mix (EIA, 2021). This is in line with development plans. As in overall development strategies and indeed in most of the country’s important sectors, and similar to China (see Korsnes, 2020), Vietnam operates through long-term plans also for the energy sector. The Ministry of Industry and Trade’s ‘National power development plan for the period 2021–2030, with an outlook to 2045’, which by the time of writing was at the fourth draft stage, shows that the government expects rapid growth in energy demand for many decades into the future. However, the government also plans to lower the share of coal significantly while increasing the share of renewable energy, mainly solar and wind, both offshore and on land (see Baker MacKenzie, 2021). There have been worries expressed about what such developments will do to the power bills of households as the price of electricity has become a larger burden for some households (Ha-Duong & Nguyen, 2017). Furthermore, there are challenges related to the low cost of hydropower and the extent to which non-hydro renewables can compete with this sector (Nguyen et al., 2019). Important questions relating to land and land use also remain, the perhaps most complicated and contested development questions of all in Vietnam (see To et al., 2019). Finally, there are important questions concerning technology development and the many side-effects and problematic dependencies of ‘green’ energy on dirty technologies, extractivism and exploitative labour relations (see Dunlap, 2021). Nevertheless, to Vietnam, the prospects of reducing coal dependence is an important one, both due to energy and environmental politics.3 While Vietnam’s energy sector has attracted some academic attention (see Nguyen et al., 2019; Shem et al., 2019), there has been little research on household energy consumption in Vietnam (although see Rinkinen

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et al., 2019; Earl, 2013; Nguyen & Lefevre, 1996). And this is despite the fact that the residential sector represents more than a third of all electricity and 27 per cent of total energy use in the country (Le & Pitts, 2019). In the following sections, I analyse increasing household electricity consumption, with particular focus on ‘stuff’,4 on cool and clean indoor air, and on new means of transportation driven on electricity and often charged in living rooms.

Consumer Socialism and Household Electricity Consumption The Power of Stuff Based on a study in Tuy Hoa City in south-central Vietnam, Le and Pitts (2019) find that cooling was the by far most energy demanding in household practices, representing about a third of all total household energy consumption. This was followed by cooking, but then mainly cooking gas. As I return to later, air-conditioning units are the most obvious, but households own a rapidly increasing number of appliances that consume electricity. Le and Pitts (2019) found that no other appliance represented a very large share in their cases, but that together appliances represented a large share of household energy consumption. Lighting alone represented the largest share here (8.2 per cent), followed by rice cookers (7.2 per cent), fridges (6.6 per cent), washing machines (5 per cent), water heaters (4.2 per cent), and TVs (3.2 per cent), while ‘other kitchen appliances’ consumed a total of 4.7 per cent and ‘other appliances’ 3.6 per cent. These appliances make up a category of stuff that have come to be essential to the performance of everyday life in societies across the world. In Vietnam, like in so many parts of the world (see e.g. Wilhite, 2008b on India), appliances that run on electricity play an ever more important role in the performance of everyday life, including showers, food and mobility, but also TVs, smartphones and tablets. The striking part about developments in Vietnam is the pace at which ownership of these appliances have been mainstreamed. Returning to the revolution in ownership

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2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0

2002

2004

2006 Car

2008

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2012

Motorbike

2014

2016

2018

Telephone

Refrigerator

TV

Computer

AC

Washing machine

Water heater

Fig. 7.2  Average number of selected consumer goods per urban Vietnamese household, 2002-2018. Source: Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey (various years)

of goods (see also Chap. 2), Fig. 7.2 shows how a number of energy consuming appliances have become standard in Vietnam in just a few decades. While the numbers list telephones in general, these now mainly consist of smartphones. Vietnam has indeed in short time become one of the leading smartphone markets in the world. According to Statista data, sales tripled between 2009 and 2015 before stabilizing at 1.5 million units a year, in the process making Vietnam ninth globally in terms of per capita smartphone ownership (see Ministry of Information and Communications, 2021). Phones are practical tools but can also be part of distinction strategies. As put by Thuong, a self-employed upper middle-­class woman in her mid-twenties that I interviewed in Hanoi in 2013: ‘We are a young population, so we’re all about fashion. And the motorbike is a kind of fashion, and the cell phone. If people have money, they would change their motorbike and cell phones quite often, just to show that they have money and so on’ (interview, October 2013). Smartphones form part of large socio-technical transformations that rely on vast infrastructures. At the centre of these are digitalization and a rapid democratization of internet access. According to World Bank (2022) numbers, while hardly anyone had access to the internet at the turn of the

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millennium, 70 per cent of the population had access in 2020. Statista (2021) finds that the number had reached 77 per cent in 2021, making Vietnam one of the countries with highest number of internet users in the Asia-Pacific region, and that very large shares of access was mobile based. Internet access has become expected all over Vietnam, and the use of smartphones is, in turn, affecting other consumption patterns, with social media, e-commerce and app-based transport and food-­delivery services booming (see Chaps. 4 and 5). Unsurprisingly, the Covid-19 pandemic and Vietnam’s strict lockdown regimes sped up these processes (Le & Nguyeny, 2021). The use of all technological appliances is determined by material, social and cultural factors, and they form part of material culture. Rice cookers are for example standard kitchen equipment in many parts of Asia, but not necessarily in other parts of the world, and are, of course, closely linked to rice-intensive diets. Fridges were not common in Vietnam until fairly recently and have impacts in the whole food system through the ‘cold chains’ they enable and become part of (Rinkinen et al., 2019). Water heaters become increasingly embedded in the category of ‘necessary’ stuff as conventions around comfort and cleanliness change (Jack, 2017). And even lighting come with deep cultural connotations, as exemplified by Wilhite et al.’s (1996) classic study of different energy practices in Japan and Norway. While political economic factor such as the cost of electricity contributed to making Japanese households more frugal than Norwegian households, they found that energy practices were, in very different ways, often connected to cultural practices. Among energy-­intensive everyday practices, they found that while bathing routines were central to Japanese lifestyle, many Norwegian energy intensive practices were connected to culturally particular conceptions of ‘coziness’. For example, their interviewees in Japan expressed widely different conceptions of what kind of lighting is pleasant or ‘natural’ to their Norwegian counterparts. The fluorescent light preferred by Japanese interviewees was perceived as ‘cold’ by the Norwegians. Similarly, Norwegians would prefer multiple point lighting and the Japanese ceiling lighting. Wilhite and his colleagues find historical and cultural reasons for this. As do they for different space heating practices and cleanliness practices. All of these practices, Wilhite et al. (1996) argue, provide ‘cultural services’ that are important to take into account if we want to understand energy demand. Increasing ownership of these appliances can be expected alongside economic development and

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the development of capitalist consumer societies. But how they are used differs significantly, which is exactly what the study by Wilhite and colleagues demonstrates so well (see also Winther, 2008). In contrast to what some economic models may have us think, demand does not exist as a given entity waiting to be met, it is shaped through our everyday practices and the stuff we use. Energy demand, as argued by Wilhite et al. (2000: 123), is the ‘result of interactions in the social, cultural and technical contexts in which individual lives are played out’. Demand is also in many ways co-shaped by policy and systems of provision, as expectations of certain ways of life are built into design of large-­ scale infrastructures and provisioning systems (Rinkinen et al., 2021). This is perhaps particularly obvious in the case of energy, where consumers tend to have little control over the infrastructural conditions on which their consumption depends.

Conditioning Comfort Returning to my house in Hoi An, its construction fits into a global trend, and one that has been perhaps particularly rapid in many Asian cities. As, for example, Wilhite (2008b) has shown for the case of South India, and Sahakian (2014) for the case of the Philippines, traditional construction that took into account local environmental factors has given way to ‘modern’ forms of construction that construct buildings meant for electric air-conditioning. As Rimmer and Dick (2009) have argued, natural ventilation, eventually assisted by ceiling fans, served the purpose only as long as investors were willing to pay the extra cost for constructing addition space for high ceilings, verandas and courtyards. Mechanically conditioned indoor climates represent a good example of what Shove (2003: 9) has argued are the critical avenues for consumption research: ‘the big, and in some cases, global swing of ordinary, routinized and taken-for granted practice’. The air conditioner has in many ways become part of what I have elsewhere called ‘global blueprints of modernity’. While perhaps sounding overly deterministic, this idea points to the fact that we can expect increasing ownership rates of certain goods alongside increasing affluence, across cultural contexts, although to different extents

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and in variegated ways (see Chaps. 1 and 8). Simultaneously, the normalization of air-conditioning at a global level is likely to represent a clear case of what Shove (2003: 18) calls the ‘standardization and globalization of ultimately unsustainable expectation’ through the reproduction of comfort. While there is growth in the global market for ACs, the Asian market grows at an astounding rate (Le & Pitts, 2019). In Vietnam, sales grew from 660,000 units sold in 2011 to 1,98 million units in 2016, taking Vietnam from the tenth to the fifth-largest market in Asia in five years (Le & Pitts, 2019; Tomiyama & Ito, 2018). This growth is connected to the fact that AC is standard in offices, businesses and hotels (Hansen et al., 2016), and that Vietnam has gone through a tourism boom that saw Vietnam welcome 18 million foreign visitors in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic’s dramatic disruptions. But it is also driven by the normalization of air conditioning in Vietnamese (urban) households. In Vietnam, air conditioners were far from the first goods to take off alongside increasing affluence. According to the household living standard surveys of Vietnam’s General Statistics Office, as late as in the early 2000s, hardly anyone owned one, while by 2016, more than half of urban households had an AC and by 2018, 70 per cent of urban households did (see Fig. 7.2 and Chap. 2). The numbers resonate with the impression I have from my work with middle classes in Hanoi. I have rarely if ever entered a middle-class house without AC, and usually they would have several. Not only that, the well-­ off spend much of their days in conditioned comfort. As summarized by Rimmer and Dick (2009), this is common in Southeast Asian cities, where they find a general new tendency to control the climate rather than adjust to it. And in almost exactly the same ways that Wilhite (2008b: 120) describes everyday life in the Southern United States, they find that the new Southeast Asian urban middle classes ‘live in air conditioned houses in gated communities, travel in private airconditioned vehicles to airconditioned offices and shopping malls’ (Rimmer & Dick, 2009: 46). This resonates with parts of my research, which shows that avoiding heat is an important reason for acquiring a car in Vietnam (see Chap. 4). That said, treating the middle classes as a homogenous group is rarely helpful (see Chap. 2). While many among the Vietnamese middle classes certainly lead energy- and resource-intensive lives and while many are

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certainly not unfamiliar with conspicuous consumption (see Hansen, 2020; Chap. 4), environmentalism and practices of frugality (not necessarily connected to each other) are also widespread (see Earl, 2013). This was also obvious in Le and Pitts’ (2019) Tuy Hoa study. Their survey showed that households often turned on fans when at home, but the AC units, requiring significantly more energy to operate, were used more sparingly. Those that owned an AC would use it mainly during certain times of the day, typically only around lunchtime and nighttime, similar to what Sahakian and Steinberger (2011) found to be the case in the Philippines. In Tuy Hoa, usage reached a significant peak at 10 pm, when 87 per cent of the AC-owners would turn it on, a classic example of ‘social loading’ (Wilhite & Lutzenhiser, 1999). Many of my interviewees fit into this pattern, like Huyen, a journalist in a fashion magazine, married to a foreigner and belonging to the upper strata of the broad middle classes: Normally me and my husband start like a fight. [laughs] He doesn’t want to use air conditioner at all. But it’s so hot in the summer, especially when you sleep so we always make it run for two hours before sleeping and then we switch off all night. (Interview, Hanoi, March, 2017).

In my interviews with middle-class households in Hanoi in 2017 and 2018 (see Chap. 1), I often discussed air conditioning. All my interviewees had AC. And all agreed that it was necessary. As summarized by Phuong, a woman in her early thirties living with her parents in Hanoi’s French Quarter and a self-declared environmentalist: Researcher: Do you have one [AC unit] on each floor of the house? Interviewee: Yeah Researcher: In each bedroom? Interviewee: Yeah. In the bedroom and the dining room. Normally all families have that. The view that everyone has AC in Hanoi today is quite common among the middle classes. This is a quite simple example of the social aspects of consumption—and relate to classic insights by scholars such as Veblen (2005 [1899]) concerning social comparison and the tendency to

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compare consumption patterns to those of similar social standing as oneself. It also relates to Bourdieu’s (1984) insights into the class-based differentiation at play in the normalization of consumer goods. That said, there were different opinions among my interviewees. While all of them used AC, some saw it as bad for their skin or would talk about how natural flows of air were better for their health. This is in line with thinking alongside ideals of phong thủy (or feng shui) in Vietnam, where much focus is on the flow of energy. This, for example, comes into play when constructing a building, where specialists are often consulted in order to create the right energy flows. Phuong was among the few that also raised environmental issues. She saw air conditioners as part of a vicious circle: ‘It’s getting hotter every year. And people use more air condition and then it gets even hotter and people use more air condition’ (Interview, Hanoi, March, 2017). Research supports Phuong’s observations. Eckert and Waibel (2009) observed the so-called urban heat island effect in Ho Chi Minh City, and found that with less green spaces and increased traffic, the increased use of ACs have contributed some districts in the city experiencing significantly higher temperatures than in surrounding districts. Consumption is a social phenomenon. Interestingly, as Elisabeth Shove has convincingly argued, also bodily comfort is social. In her 2003 classic book Comfort, Convenience and Cleanliness, she shows how ideas and standards for comfort have changed over time, and how the appropriate indoor temperature in many countries has steadily increased (see also Sahakian et al., 2020). I am not familiar with similar studies for tropical areas, but it is reasonable to assume that the standard preferred temperatures during hot seasons have declined alongside air conditioners. That said, there are clear differences if we compare common Vietnamese temperature preferences to that of visitors to the country who come from temperate areas. As I witnessed through teaching in Vietnam, this is obvious when cultures of comfort meet, for example, when Northern European and Vietnamese students spend time together. The Vietnamese students would usually be too polite to complain, but we gradually realized that they were suffering from the cold temperatures in the room they shared with European fellow students. The European students would frequently adjust the temperature as low as possible, usually 17 or 18 degrees Celsius, which tended to be around 7–10 degrees lower

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than preferred by the Vietnamese students. This, however, changes somewhat over time as bodies normally tuned in on cold climates adapt to their new environments. My own experience, which I know I share with many other foreigners in Vietnam, is that when I spend longer periods in Vietnam, with time, I gradually adjust the AC unit upwards and start using it more like the standard in Vietnam, to cool down the room during hot times of the day and before going to bed. These are all examples of physiological responses to temperature and expectations and preferences for comfort. Importantly, the AC also takes on agency in how people behave inside and thus in other consumption-related practices, for example dress codes (see Wilhite, 2009). As mentioned earlier, the air conditioner has become locked-in through building practices. This is a global phenomenon. As Wilhite (2008b, 2009) has shown, these practices started in the US, Japan and Australia in the twentieth century, but has since spread across the world. Wilhite’s work on South India showed how air conditioning was not a ‘need’ waiting to be met, but the result of socio-material changes co-shaped by migration, political economy and building design. As put by Hansen, Nielsen and Wilhite (2016: 21): Air conditioners come as a component in a new building regime consisting of building designs, materials and commercial building principles that are not liveable without mechanically cooled air. This regime is structuring (literally and figuratively) an entirely new form of indoor comfort. As the new buildings built for air conditioning emerge, demand for alternative designs that retain natural cooling is diminishing as air conditioning becomes a social identifier of middle-class comfort.

In Vietnam, this is still mainly an urban thing. While by now the vast majority of urban households have at least one AC unit, only an average of 18 per cent of rural households own one (GSO, 2018). This is still a significant increase, since a decade or two ago hardly anyone in the Vietnamese countryside had ACs, but is also a clear reminder of uneven development and unevenness of Vietnam’s consumption booms. Another major inequality in Vietnam comes in the form of access to clean air, which brings us to other forms of conditioning indoor climate.

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One of the many side-effects of developmental success is pollution, and Vietnamese cities are certainly no exception. Hanoi has long struggled with serious levels of air pollution, to the extent of scoring very high on rankings of the worst polluted cities in the world (see for example Nguyen & Gia, 2019). The air pollution is at times so bad that it is directly harmful to breathe the air. Through my years of working in Hanoi, both the air pollution and the attention given to it have intensified. It is now a common conversation topic, like discussing the weather, more or less anytime. PM2.5 has become part of standard vocabulary, referring to fine particular matter, a general term for tiny particles found in air that is linked to serious health consequences, including lung cancer (WHO, 2021). Hanoi scores consistently much higher on PM2.5 than the levels recommended by the WHO (Nguyen & Gia, 2019). A related concept that has gradually entered normal vocabulary is air quality index, a number calculated based on a range of emissions, including PM2.5. Air pollution, in turn, also takes on agency and becomes part of the socio-cultural-technical context that shapes demand for goods. First of all are facemasks, which were common in Vietnam long before the most recent pandemic and which serves the double purpose of keeping the sun and air pollution out (although the standard ones do not keep out PM2.5). A more recent innovation are devices measuring air quality. And a third innovation are air purifiers. Several of my informants talked about this. Huyen said that they had measured the inside air quality to ‘100’— which is at the point where pollution levels start getting harmful—and that their kids got sick because of it. They had then acquired an air purifier and a dehumidifier, which together had solved the problem, she said. This reflects a general trend that sees well off people being able to purchase their way to purer air. Unsurprisingly, studies also show that those inside a car or a bus with air conditioning are significantly less exposed to air pollution than those on bicycles or motorbikes (see Hansen, 2017). In other words, the air people breath is yet another way in which the inequalities built into Vietnam’s socialist market economy materialises. The relatively clean air during the Covid-19 pandemic represented a stark reminder of the poisonous normality most people are forced to accept. This was much thanks to the dramatically reduced traffic flows in cities. One obvious step on the way to cleaner city air would be to reduce

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the ever-present exhaust fumes. Walking and bicycling, combined with public transport, could be effective ways to do so. But the deep embeddedness off individual motorized mobility in Vietnamese everyday life may imply that electrifying personal vehicles would be the most realistic option.

Electrifying Mobility As discussed extensively in Chap. 4, Vietnam has gone through very rapid mobility transformations, including motorization of transport as walking and bicycles have been substituted for motorbikes and cars. These consume much energy, but not electricity. Vinfast, the new car manufacturing branch of the extremely powerful VinGroup, has developed the first Vietnam made electric car, which is also the first electric car to become widely available on the market in Vietnam. Electrifying the car fleet could surely lead to less local pollution but would also contribute to further spikes in electricity consumption. Electrification is, however, unlikely to happen as long as there is no infrastructure, most notably charging stations, built for electric cars. Automobility involves an entire socio-­material system that has been built around the fossil-fuelled car (Urry, 2004). While electric cars could fit into many aspects of the same system, they require considerable adjustments. Competing with the powerful position of the fossil-fuelled car requires investments and targeted policies, including a range of incentives for consumers, evidenced by the fact that despite decades of hype and innovations, Norway remains one of the few successful electric car markets in the world (see for example Anfinsen et al., 2019). E-bikes, however, represent a different story. These can be charged at home and do not require extensive infrastructure. They thus fit nicely into Vietnam’s ‘system of moto-mobility’ (Chap. 4). The e-bike revolution in many Asian cities has not attracted much academic attention, at least not outside transportation studies (Cherry, 2007; Cherry & Cervero, 2007; Cherry et al., 2016; Campbell et al., 2016), something it shares with the motorbike revolution (see Hansen, 2017, Jamme, 2020). An important exception is Dennis Zuev, who has studied e-bikes from a socio-cultural perspective and published widely on

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e-bike mobility in China. He has shown how e-biking there has evolved from a rather spontaneous emergence through restrictions to an increasingly institutionalized and standardized mobility system (Zuev, 2018, 2020; Zuev et al., 2019). That said, and in contrast to the case of electric four wheelers, Zuev finds there has been relatively little enthusiasm for e-bikes among Chinese policymakers and media alike, both in terms of mobility and manufacturing. A similar point could be made about Vietnam, where two-wheelers are generally unpopular among policymakers and often seen as obstructions to traffic rather than potential solutions to mobility (see Turner & Ngo, 2019). But they have been increasing in popularity and come in a wider variety of shapes and sizes, with the two main categories being electric equivalents to motorbikes—I will here call them e-scooters, but they should not be confused with the new type of ‘sharing scooters’ popular in cities around the world—and a local version of electric bicycles. In terms of popularity, so far nothing compares to the latter. These are sort of a hybrid between a scooter and a bicycle. They are a form of pedelec and have pedals, but these pedals are rarely used and only if out of battery. They do not require a license, so they are immensely popular among school children and youth. While cars have increased rapidly in presence and public transport systems are being developed, two-wheelers have proved resilient in Vietnam. Electrifying this segment could therefore be a highly important strategy for mitigating the alarming levels of air pollution in cities. While the electric bicycles described above are too slow to compete with motorbikes, I have long expected the e-scooter market to take off. They certainly have become more widespread in the course of the last decade, but the development has been surprisingly sluggish. Some have blamed the fact that the bikes have so far been too slow and that the low battery quality has led to frequent replacement and constant ‘range anxiety’ (Vietcetera, 2020). Several actors have taken on the challenge. Notably, VinFast launched its Klara e-scooter in 2018 and have high ambitions for sales. Among smaller actors, the newcomer Dat Bike is attracting attention. Son Nguyen, its founder, claims in media interviews to have developed a product that solves previous challenges with e-scooters by being faster than a regular motorbike and having long-lasting batteries. Interestingly, this is a made-in-Vietnam product and is according to Son

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Nguyen also attentive to local mobility cultures by focusing on, for example, fast-charging at home and being able to fit two people on the bike (Vietcetera, 2020; Shu, 2021). It is too early to tell how this will work out. Interestingly, many of my interviewees were also sceptical to e-bikes and e-scooters. Driving in the system of moto-mobility involves using many senses, and the presence of electric vehicles reduces the effectiveness an important one—navigating by sound. I have also experienced the sudden ways in which e-bikes and e-scooters may appear next you in traffic. While there are challenges, augmented by young kids’ quite frequent disdain of traffic rules, it seems obvious that electrified two wheelers should play a central role in future mobilities in Vietnam as there will be local pollution benefits and potentials for local manufacturers. Vietnam is already home to a successful motorbike industry, but mostly dominated by foreign brands like Honda, SYM and Piaggio. Several local manufacturers, including VinFast and Dat Bike, are positioning themselves in the market. With VinFast targeting exports of electric cars to Europe and the US, e-scooters could follow. Also Dat Bike has export targets, with both the founder and investors have high hopes for the brand making it big in the rest of Southeast Asia (Shu, 2021). The fact that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has proposed to favour ‘environmentally friendly transport’, including preferential tax policies for imports, could pave the way for electrification (VietnamNet, 2020). Perhaps particularly so if Vietnam succeeds in its plans to develop renewable energy. If not, electrification could certainly still contribute to reducing local air pollution but would then contribute to increased air pollution where the energy is produced.

Conclusion This chapter has shown how household energy consumption in Vietnam increases through a range of appliances, from entertainment and communication technologies like TVs and smartphones through technologies regulating indoor air temperatures to the vehicles that allow people to move around. The normalization of air-conditioning is by far the most important in terms of energy consumption and represents a particularly

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strong form of material lock-in as buildings are increasingly constructed for this technology. In many ways, electricity consumption is built into expectations and aspirations related to development and the good life and is perhaps the realm of consumption where the agency of households is most obviously restricted by infrastructures and systems of provision. Yet research shows that Vietnamese consumers are actively trying to save energy by engaging a range of different strategies. Electricity consumption also develops alongside cultures of comfort, involving embodiment of practices and expectations depending on technologies of heating and cooling. There are thus good reasons to believe that household electricity consumption will continue increasing alongside increasing affluence and Vietnam’s overall societal transformations. Research has shown that new electricity-dependent technologies in the right context can be relatively quickly adapted and ‘domesticated’ by households. The demand for such technologies tends to stem from factors other than individual ‘desires’ for new gadgets. This chapter has shown how air purifiers are entering a possible phase of normalization in urban Vietnam, among those who can afford it. These are a response to the dangerous levels of air pollution in many Vietnamese cities, and demand for purifiers could be reduced if air pollution was mitigated. One way to do so would be to electrify the vehicle fleet, and I have given particular attention to the increasing presence of a variety of e-bikes and e-scooters. Since these are often charged at home, they belong to the realm of household electricity consumption. Given the strong dominance of motorbikes in Vietnam, e-scooters could represent the future of mobility and would lead to a shift in energy consumption from petrol to electricity. But the fact that the e-scooters are yet to become mainstream is an evidence of the strong position of the fossil-fuelled motorbike in Vietnamese mobility cultures. Changing to electric scooters does not necessarily represent a dramatic shift since they could easily fit into everyday practices without forcing many alterations. But a motorbike represents a significant investment for most consumers in Vietnam, and without targeted policies, it could prove difficult to seriously challenge the fossil-fuelled version. As put by Ryghaug and Toftaker (2016: 119), ‘[p]eople, institutions, and firms must be aligned, moulded and disciplined to create (and accept) technological development’. The clean air

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during the Covid-19 pandemic could possibly be used as a springboard to create such change and gather popular support. Vietnam has largely been electrified, and demand for electricity is expected to continue growing for decades. Households represent a significant share of this demand. While also household electricity consumption is likely to continue growing alongside new expectations for comfort, cleanliness and convenience (Shove, 2003), and possibly through the electrification of mobility, there is much potential for limiting this growth through policies supporting, for example, clean air initiatives, public transport, natural ventilation in new buildings or bicycle schemes. So far, the Vietnamese government has focused on energy efficiency in buildings and products, but a focus on consumers that take into account the ways energy consumption is embedded and embodied in everyday practices and (changing) cultural expectations of the good life could help mitigate some of the energy challenges Vietnam are facing.

Notes 1. There are large varieties and comparative numbers are not easy to find, but Enerdata (2021) finds that household represented 27.2 per cent of final energy consumption in the EU in 2017; Wijaya and Tezuka (2013) find that households represent 39 per cent of electricity consumption in Indonesia, Ghisi et al. (2007) found the same number to be 27 in Brazil (in 2000); while Le and Pitts (2019) found that households represent 27 per cent of total energy consumption and a third of electricity consumption in Vietnam. In the case of China, households represent a small share of total electricity consumption compared to in many other countries, but a very large share of the growth in consumption. Meng et al. (2019) find that Chinese households represent only 15 per cent of total consumption but 30 per cent of the growth in electricity consumption (with significant differences between rural and urban areas) 2. And, possibly, thanks to the availability of research funding. 3. Coal has become a controversial topic in Vietnam. Right before publication of this book, of the country’s most out outspoken critics of the coal sector, the environmentalist Nguy Thi Khanh, was sentenced to two years in prison for tax evasion. The case follows several other cases of ­imprisonment of environmental activists, and many analysts see the con-

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viction as directly linked to powerful interests in the coal sector (see Wee, 2022) 4. Drawing inspiration from Danny Miller’s (2010) book Stuff as a term for all the consumer objects surrounding us.

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Jack, T. (2017). Cleanliness and consumption: Exploring material and social structuring of domestic cleaning practices. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 41(1), 70–78. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.12315 Jamme, Hue-Tam (2020). Productive frictions and urbanism in transition: Planning lessons from traffic flows and urban street life in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, PhD Thesis, University of Southern California. Korsnes, M. (2020). Wind and solar energy transition in China. Routledge. Korsnes, M., Berker, T., & Woods, R. (2018). Domestication, acceptance and zero emission ambitions: Insights from a mixed method, experimental research design in a Norwegian Living Lab. Energy Research & Social Science, 39, 226–233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2017.11.004 Latour, B. (1992). Where are the missing masses? The sociology of a few mundane artifacts. In W. E. Bijker & J. Law (Eds.), Shaping technology/building society: Studies in sociotechnical change. MIT Press. Le, Q. V., & Nguyeny, J. Q. (2021, February 23). How COVID-19 is speeding up Vietnam’s digital transformation. East Asia Forum. Retrieved from https:// www.eastasiaforum.org/2021/02/23/how-­covid-­19-­is-­speeding-­up-­vietnams­digital-­transformation/ Le, V. T., & Pitts, A. (2019). A survey on electrical appliance use and energy consumption in Vietnamese households: Case study of Tuy Hoa city. Energy and Buildings, 197, 229–241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.05.051 Meng, M., Wu, S., Zhu, J., & Wang, X. (2019). What is currently driving the growth of China’s household electricity consumption? A clustering an decomposition analysis. Sustainability, 11, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3390/ su11174648 Miller, D. (2010). Stuff. Polity Press. Ministry of Information and Communications of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. (2021). Vietnam smartphone use in top 10 globally. Retrieved June 03, 2021, from https://english.mic.gov.vn/Pages/TinTuc/147433/Vietnam-­ smartphone-­use-­in-­top-­10-­globally.html Nguyen Q., & Gia, C. (2019). Hanoi air pollution worst in five years, says government report. VNExpress International. 021019. Retrieved from https://e. vnexpress.net/news/news/hanoi-­a ir-­p ollution-­w orst-­i n-­f ive-­y ears-­s ays-­ government-­report-­3990280.html Nguyen, T. A., & Lefevre, T. (1996). Analysis of household energy demand in Vietnam. Energy Policy, 24(12), 1089–1099. Nguyen, P. A., Abbott, M., & Nguyen, T. L. T. (2019). The development and cost of renewable energy resources in Vietnam. Utilities Policy, 57, 59–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jup.2019.01.009

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Statista. (2021). Internet usage in Vietnam – statistics & facts. Retrieved May 31, 2022, from https://www.statista.com/topics/6231/internet-­usage-­in-­vietnam /#dossierKeyfigures Strauss, S., Rupp, S., & Love, T. (2013). Cultures of energy: Power, practices, technologies. Routledge. To, P., Mahanty, S., & Wells-Dang. A. (2019). From “Land to the Tiller” to the “New Landlords”? The Debate over Vietnam’s Latest Land Reforms. Land, 8, 120. https://doi.org/10.3390/land8080120 Tomiyama, A., & Ito, D. (2018). Air conditioner makers battle for Vietnam’s red-hot market. Nikkei Asia. Retrieved May 30, 2018, from https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Business-­t rends/Air-­c onditioner-­m akers-­b attle-­f or-­ Vietnam-­s-­red-­hot-­market Turner, Sarah and Ngô Thúy Hạnh. (2019). “Contesting socialist state visions for modern mobilities: Informal motorbike taxi drivers’ struggles and strategies on Hanoi’s streets, Vietnam”. International Development Planning Review, 41 no. 1, 43–61. Urry, J. (2004). “The ‘System’ of Automobility.” Theory, Culture & Society 21 (4–5): 25–39. Veblen, T. (2005) [1899]. The theory of the leisure class : an economic study of institutions. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Vietcetera. (2020). Vietnam Innovator: Dat Bike’s Weaver Heralds a new generation of Vietnam-Made E-Motorbikes. Retrieved from https://vietcetera.com/ en/vietnam-­i nnovator-­d at-­b ikes-­w eaver-­h eralds-­a -­n ew-­g eneration­of-­vietnam-­made-­e-­motorbikes VietnamNet. (2020). Vietnam eyes tackling transport pollution. Retrieved from https://vietnamnet.vn/en/sci-­t ech-­e nvironment/vietnam-­e yes-­t ackling-­ transport-­pollution-­644342.html Wee, S.-L. (2022). She spoke out against Vietnam’s plans for coal. Then she was arrested. Retrieved June 20, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/ 06/17/world/asia/nguy-­thi-­khanh-­environmental-­activist-­arrested.html WHO (2021). Ambient (outdoor) air pollution. Accessed 23.09.22. https:// www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ambient-(outdoor)-airquality-and-health Wijaya, M. E., & Tezuka, T. (2013). A comparative study of households’ electricity consumption characteristics in Indonesia: A techno-socioeconomic analysis. Energy for Sustainable Development, 17(6), 596–604. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.esd.2013.09.004 Wilhite, Harold and Lutzenhiser, L., 1999: Social loading and sustainable consumption. Advances in Consumer Research 26: pp. 281–287.

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8 Conclusion: Consumption, Sustainability and the Political Economy of Consumer Socialism

Vietnam has gone through dramatic changes since the initiation of the Đổi Mớ i reforms in the 1980s. A large literature has investigated the reforms and their impact on politics, economy and society in Vietnam (see e.g. London, 2020; Nguyen, 2015; Earl, 2014; Masina, 2006; Luong, 2003; Drummond & Thomas, 2003), but a decade has passed since the last thorough study of changing consumption patterns in the country (Nguyen-Marshall et al., 2012). With a particular focus on recent trends and developments, the preceding chapters have analysed in detail Vietnam’s socio-economic transformations the past three decades through the prism of consumption. They have done so through a focus on consumer goods, mobility, food and energy; through a theoretical approach valuing the combination of everyday practices and the cultural and political-economic conditions within which they take place; and based on methods designed towards grounded and bottom-up studies of these changes. This final chapter starts by recapping the main ambitions of the book and placing the book in the larger field of consumption research, before summarizing the findings, structured around what I call ‘variegated transformations’ and ‘change and continuity’.1 Towards the end, I also add some reflections on the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and its potential impact on consumption, as well as on the need for more research on emerging middle classes. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 A. Hansen, Consumption and Vietnam’s New Middle Classes, Consumption and Public Life, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14167-6_8

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Studying Consumption and Development Research on consumption boils down to fundamental questions about why humans behave as they do. Research has clearly demonstrated that we behave in socially patterned and to some extent predictable way. The by now large field of consumption research has thoroughly documented the fundamentally social nature of consumption (Slater, 1997), and how, for example, socially and culturally defined expectations of comfort and convenience are part of shaping consumption patterns and resource use, from the clothes people wear to the size of their homes (Shove, 2003; Wilhite, 2008; Ellsworth-Krebs, 2019). Relatedly, consumption research is rich in empirical support for the social patterning of consumption, for example, in the ways people eat (Warde, 2016), drink (Thurnell-Read, 2018), dress (van der Laan & Velthuis, 2016), drive (Greene & Rau, 2018), fly (Volden & Hansen, 2022), stay clean (Jack, 2017) and heat and cool their houses (Wilhite, 2016). Social patterning implies some degree of predictability. And consumption patterns are to some extent predictable, in the sense that it is well-established that increasing affluence tends to lead to some particular overall changes in what and how people consume, involving, for example, more driving, more appliances, more supermarket shopping and diets consisting of more unhealthy food, and more animal proteins (see Chap. 3). However, a central point throughout this book is that while capitalist consumer societies do take recognizable shapes across the world, they play out in often very different ways in different temporal and spatial contexts. In this book, I draw inspiration from Peck and Theodore’s (2007) variegated capitalism approach, which focuses on exactly this combination of similarity and variety; capitalism does take different shapes depending on the relations between global connections and local geographies, norms and institutional arrangements, but the defining traits and driving forces of capitalism nevertheless remain the same. In other words, there are not many different capitalisms, but rather a singular overall economic system that takes uneven and variegated forms (see also Peck & Zhang, 2013; Zhang & Peck, 2014; Kenney-Lazar & Mark, 2021). While Peck and Theodore’s work does not focus on consumption, it is highly useful for

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understanding the political-economic configurations in which consumption takes place. A core ambition of the book is to understand consumption patterns through connecting a grounded approach to everyday life with studies of the political-economic arrangements in which everyday life unfolds. This is particularly important, I argue, if we want to go beyond the social patterning of consumption to also understand the fact that people tend to consume more and more stuff, far beyond what is strictly ‘necessary’. There indeed seems to be no end-point of escalating ‘desires’ for consumer goods. Not that long ago, this was unexpected. Even the old modernisation theorists, for example, Walt Rostow (1991 [1960]) with his linear view of development leading towards the ‘age of high mass-­ consumption’, thought there would be a limit to consumption. He assumed that at some point, people would become so wealthy that increasing income would lose its charm and the pursuit of material goods would no longer dominate people’s lives.2 Today, economic policies are built around an expectation of seemingly ever-increasing consumption. Standard economic models do expect increased income to lead to increased demand for goods. However, although mainstream economic models have expanded to also include advertising (as providing information) and ‘taste’ (McNeill, forthcoming), these models have little to say about where these tastes or this demand come from in the first place (Rinkinen et al., 2021). As Appadurai (1986) has noted, demand is frequently treated as an outcome of some infinite and transcultural desire and fixed needs. However, he points out, rather than some ‘mysterious emanation of human needs, a mechanical response to social manipulation […], or the narrowing down of a universal and voracious desire for objects to whatever happens to be available’, demand ‘emerges as a function of a variety of social practices and classifications’ (Appadurai, 1986: 29). Appadurai here effectively summarises some of the key insights of classic and contemporary consumption theory. Classics in the field explain how the consumption of goods develop through processes of distinction and emulation (Veblen, 2005 [1899]; Bourdieu, 1984), as well as how in consumer society, social activities have become ‘geared’ around ‘the accumulation and consumption of an ever-increasing range of goods and experiences’ (Featherstone, 1983: 4) and how people through even

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private acts of consumption reproduce ‘culturally specific, meaningful ways of life’ (Slater, 1997: 4). Classic consumption research also tells us that consumption is fundamentally shaped by the economic system within which it takes place, through class-defined consumption patterns and lifestyles (Bourdieu, 1984) and through the power of capital to limit options and co-shape consumption (Fine & Leopold, 1993; Ritzer, 1993). Later, in the practice turn in consumption studies, research has shown how consumption increases through normalisation processes of escalation and standardisation (Shove, 2003), and by being embedded into societal norms and in mundane activities in everyday life. These normalisation processes are shaped by both consumers and producers and can take widely different forms in different contexts, seen, for example, in the normalisation of skin lotions with ‘whitening’ formula in many parts of Asia (Hansen et al., 2016), or the rather sudden popularity of walking around with sticks for exercise as seen in the spread of (localised versions of ) so-called Nordic walking in many parts of the world (Shove & Pantzar, 2005). All of the aforementioned approaches have in different ways influenced this book. However, as I have explained more in detail elsewhere (e.g. Hansen, 2018), I have missed a deeper engagement in consumption research with non-Western and non-affluent societies.3 It is probably possible to employ a similar approach to understand consumption in any society. But I do believe there is a difference in studying consumption in the US or Europe and a country in Southeast Asia experiencing rapid economic growth and dramatic societal transformations. First and foremost, I think it is even more important to pay close attention to the defining role played by political economy in such a context. This book has studied consumption through a focus on everyday life and the political-­economic structures that are part of shaping it (Chap. 3). It is based on long-term fieldwork, a large number of interviews with households, provisioning actors, policymakers and experts, and an ethnographically oriented approach that involves a strong degree of living what I study.

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 onsumption in the Socialist Market Economy: C Variegated Transformations Vietnam has transformed from an extremely poor country to an emerging economy and one of the best growth performers in global capitalism. As part of this transformation, Vietnam has gone through what I have called a ‘consumer revolution’, a term I use to catch the speed and extent of change, as well as the fact that on road from the socialist revolution to the market economy, many aspects of household consumption have moved from being associated with bourgeois excess to being an important driving force in the economy. The fascinating construct that is the ‘socialist market economy’ runs through the chapters of this book (see also Hansen et al., 2020b), studying how the massive changes in consumption patterns are driven by the overall capitalist transformation in the country, including the rise of new middle classes, the new availability of goods, and the ruling communist party’s rather hesitant embrace of consumer society. The communist regime’s fear of the eroding effects of Western, capitalist culture has been set aside, and middle-class consumption is part of the ostensible construction of socialism in Vietnam in ways that are often hard to decipher (see Chap. 2). However, despite the obvious capitalist transformation that has been going on since the 1980s, Vietnam does not turn into any other consumer society. Instead, what we see are variegated transformations. Traffic in Vietnam serves as an excellent example of variegated transformations (Chap. 4). As could have been predicted (see e.g. Hansen & Nielsen, 2017), motorized transportation has increased rapidly alongside increasing affluence and the overall economic development of the country. But the kind of motorbike society that has developed in Vietnam is different from what is seen anywhere else, and especially outside Asia, and represents perhaps the most important, at least the most visible, change in consumption since Đổi Mớ i. From a country of bicycles at the time the reforms were initiated, motorbikes have completely taken over for its non-motorised sibling. Today, the motorbikes are challenged by cars and partly by electric scooters. Together, the changes and continuations of mobility practices and consumption and retail geographies on

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the local scale, together with global and regional-scale changes in trade networks have co-created what I have termed the ‘system of moto-­ mobility’. Influenced by Urry’s (2004) ‘system of automobility’, this term catches consumption of motorbikes as much more than the collection of individual decisions or ‘needs’. The larger material, social and symbolic frames in place contribute towards the continuation and strengthening of particular patterns of human behaviour and human–technology interactions. In other words, moto-mobility is manifested and reinforced through socio-material processes and shapes ranging from regional and global trade networks to corner repair shops and wet markets in narrow alleyways and reproduced through local mobility cultures (see also Jamme, 2020; Van Nguyen, 2020). Within this system, moto-mobility creates a sense of ‘lock-in’ for consumers, as many do not see other options than riding a motorbike. The system of moto-mobility is not necessarily a new phenomenon per se but is rather a quite different version of what research on automobilities has analysed concerning the role of the car in mature capitalist countries. The dynamics of the motorbike are different but related to those of cars; the motorbike is still a predominantly private means of performing practices of mobility, of getting from A to B, of connecting the different socialities of everyday life. At the same time, the social and material allure of cars, along with their spatial and environmental impacts, effectively separate the two means of mobility. The system of automobility is materialising rapidly in Vietnamese cities, through more cars, bigger petrol stations and more auto repair shops. It is materially embedded in the larger car parking areas and broader roads of New Urban Areas. Combined with changes in regional systems of provision, where the Vietnamese government has removed tariffs on imports from other Southeast Asian countries with large automobile industries, this appears to have paved the way for the automobile age in Vietnam (see also Small, 2018). The motorbike nevertheless remains by far the dominant means of transportation, but may face considerable restrictions on use by 2030 as the central government has asked Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Haiphong, Danang and Cantho to ban motorbikes in central districts (see Kiet, 20224). Another good example of variegated transformations is found in Vietnam’s changing foodscapes (Chaps. 5 and 6). The example of the

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increased prevalence of eating out shows that changing foodscapes do not necessarily translate into entirely new ways of eating. Instead, alongside dramatic changes, continuity is ensured by the organizing role played by general understandings in the form of food culture. Thus, popular claims of the ‘Westernisation’ of diets miss big parts of the picture. They miss the fact that Eastern influences are at least as strong as Western. More importantly, they miss the fact that although globalisation has made obvious impacts on food in Vietnam, food practices have become differently Vietnamese rather than ‘Western’. What is often seen as ‘Westernisation’ can be more usefully understood as ongoing changes caused by late-­ capitalist transformations, in terms of increased presence of corporate interests and industrially processed food in local foodscapes, as well as steep inequalities in access to safe and healthy food (Otero, 2018). In other words, it is capitalism rather than ‘Western diets’ that is expanding. Vietnam’s meat boom is a good example of how diets change through a combination of changes in food practices and foodscapes, as the political economy of food, trade and agriculture has co-created and made possible the meat intensification of a wide range of food practices. Nevertheless, a comparison with other countries shows that there are also important food-cultural dimensions to meat booms (Chap. 6). In other words, changing consumption patterns in Vietnam follow both predictable and unpredictable patterns. This is also the case for energy consumption (Chap. 7). A rich body of consumption research has shown how energy consumption increases through the services energy provides to people, related to desires and visions of the good life, and a wide range of mundane categories related to comfort, convenience and cleanliness (Shove, 2003; Wilhite, 2008; Winther, 2008; Sahakian, 2014). Furthermore, scholars have shown how these expectations are built into, and partly created by, infrastructural arrangements that are often invisible to consumers (Shove & Trentmann, 2019) and embedded into everyday practices to the extent of being taken for granted as long as they work as they should (Wethal, 2020). Similarly, household energy consumption in Vietnam has increased through the normalization of a range of appliances and technologies, from entertainment and communication technologies like TVs and smartphones through technologies regulating indoor air temperatures to the vehicles that allow people to move

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around. The normalization of air-conditioning is by far the most important in terms of energy consumption and represents a particularly strong form of material lock-in as buildings are increasingly constructed for this technology. However, while the electrical conditioning of comfort is a global trend, the normalization of air purifiers and electrified versions of the system of moto-mobility may become new examples of variegated transformations.

Change and Continuity A focus on change and continuity represents one of the more straightforward points made in this book. But the point is not insignificant. I claim we too often see only change where there is much continuity. The cases in this book do signify significant transformation, but they always develop through longstanding socio-cultural and material contexts and ‘scripts’. The motorbikes replaced the bicycles and continued in the two-wheeled socio-technical systems the bicycles contributed to creating. Vietnamese cities are still full of narrow alleys where cars will never be able to enter, and shopping is still done from the back of motorbikes. In the realm of food, global fast-food franchises are certainly a conspicuous part of contemporary foodscapes, but most people still prefer to eat a full rice meal. Deeply embodied notions of a proper meal make nutritional changes slow. A new study should however be done when today’s kids are the parent generation, to see to what extent fast food and non-Vietnamese foodways have infused Vietnam’s rich food cultures. But we should keep in mind that food cultures are always dynamic and that globalisation leads to constant processes of hybridisation. The spread of pizza, pasta, taco and noodles across the world, through both culinary experimentation and commercial interests, and the many localised food practices, they have contributed to creating, are obvious examples (e.g. Pilcher, 2012). Vietnam is no exception to culinary hybridisation. On the one hand, Vietnamese food now comes in a wide range of varieties across the world. On the other, even the national dish phở is a French-Chinese-Vietnamese

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hybrid (Peters, 2010). What is today accepted as Vietnamese food is, of course, also the result of the dynamic evolution of food cultures, as always also shaped by power relations. An example is how Emperor Minh Mang often forcefully spread what was seen as the food practices and culinary traditions of the Viet people—down to the centrality of non-sticky white rice, fish sauce and eating with chopsticks—to the many other ethnicities in his territories in the nineteenth century (Peters, 2012). The combination of change and continuity is at the heart of practice theories, which approach societal change, including consumption, as constantly shaped and re-shaped through social processes, infrastructures, things and people. A central point in this book is that theories of practice should engage more directly with the conditioning effect of political economy (see also Welch et al., 2020; Evans, 2019). This can be done in many different ways. My approach draws inspiration from Marxist political economy. As stated earlier, it draws such inspiration in the overall approach to capitalism as a singular socio-economic system. But in this book, I most directly draw on Ben Fine’s systems of provision thinking to connect consumption to the production that makes it possible and the provisioning systems that make goods and services available to consumers. The interest in the ‘backward connections’ of consumption are, in turn, related to a decidedly geographical take on consumption and practices. There is room for clearer geographically oriented thinking on these matters (see Lane & Mansvelt, 2020). This could mean a focus on the ‘everyday geographies of consumption’, in the sense of the physical spaces and places where consumption takes place (e.g. Hansen & Jakobsen, 2020). Or it could translate to multi-scalar approaches to consumption, appreciating how consumption patterns are shaped by processes operating at different scales, from global production networks to neighbourhoods, households and bodies. The recent Covid-19 pandemic represents a clear case for the importance of an attentiveness to scale, with global-­ scale disruptions in the supply of consumer goods, national-scale lockdown regulations and a changed role of the household as a range of practices were reoriented to the realm of the home. It is also likely to have long-term impacts on how we consume.

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Pandemic Disruptions The extent to which the Covid-19 pandemic will change consumption patterns is debated. While some optimistic accounts have suggested the pandemic may have opened for a transition to more sustainable ways of life across the world (e.g. Cohen, 2020), there is scant evidence of major changes in a sustainable direction (e.g. Lehmann et al., 2021). No matter the long-term effects, the pandemic has represented a unique opportunity to study the ‘fabric’ of everyday life, as disruption reveals patterns of social and material interconnection that are usually hidden from sight or not consciously brought to mind (Chappells & Trentmann, 2019; Wethal, 2020). And it certainly made an impact on people’s everyday life. For example, lockdown led to a reorganization of practice bundle arrangements which for many freed up time for reflections on and experimentations with consumption, and lockdown generally led to the forging of new practices, discourses and imaginations related to consumption (Greene et al., 2022a, b; Hoolohan et al., 2022; Moynat et al., 2022). Working from home required much consumption in on of itself (Wethal et al., 2022), and the reorganization of practices into the home sphere often led to the acquisitions of a range of materials that before had been used at offices, in gyms and in restaurants (Holmes et al., 2021). The major disruptions caused by the pandemic have played out in highly differentiated ways depending on social class and geographical context (Greene et al., 2022a). Vietnam has represented an interesting case to follow during the Covid-19 pandemic. First, as one of the largely unnoticed success stories that managed to keep the pandemic at bay, building on a combination of war rhetoric, community co-operation and experience in handling other pandemics (see Do et al., 2020). Later, through going from close to no vaccines to a high vaccination degree in short time. And all along through the fact that it was one of the few countries that saw economic growth during the pandemic, largely thanks to the fact that the export industry kept running. Through a large consortium studying consumption and everyday life in widely different contexts during the first round of lockdown in spring 2020,5 I was part of a team studying Vietnam. Since the pandemic prevented me from travelling

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there, we relied on our Hanoi-based colleague Nguyen Thi Le for conducted interviews with middle-class household in Hanoi. What we found was, unsurprisingly, that people were affected in widely different ways. Some had lost their jobs, and with no support from the state were forced to scrape a living in the informal economy. A few worked from home. Many found new ways of doing exercise, new areas of the city that they had never used before. Some tried to create settings that were similar to normality, such sitting down with instant phở in the morning in replacement of going to a street kitchen. Some told stories of how their names were listed on the neighbourhood propaganda speakers when they were in quarantine. Some talked about the empty streets and the clear sky. And all felt the impact of disruption on their everyday life, in different ways. But one of the most interesting insights was that there was a feeling that our interview guide, which was the same in all 11 countries, was too focused on change while the Vietnamese participants rather emphasized continuity. Although disruption was obvious, they tended to focus on the things that remained similar to normal. Continuity is yet again an important point. The pandemic did not always cause disruption, some actors were able to benefit from the reorganization of everyday consumption patterns, and the pandemic caused a strengthening of patterns of inequality. As a crude example, while the number of poor and starving people in the world increased, the luxury car brand Rolls Royce reported booming sales (Maslow, 2022). In the case of everyday-consumption patterns, the clearest case is probably digitalization. In all countries we did interviews, both working from home through digital solutions and online shopping had seen marked increases. Again, this significantly strengthened already-existing patterns and technologies. In Vietnam, delivery services have a long history, but have seen a marked change during the recent decade as many services have moved online and become dominated by large actors (see Hansen et al., 2020a). While forced shut during parts of the pandemic and facing a range of challenges in the form of mobility restrictions and social distancing rules, online delivery services have seen massive increase and normalization, particularly in food delivery (see Nhat, 2021; Hoang, 2021). Returning to our study, many in Vietnam certainly struggled a lot more than what was the case for the middle-class participants we

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interviewed. For example, the millions of people who rely on tourism for their livelihoods. And parts of the Vietnamese ‘success story’ were built on the back of workers, many of them sleeping on factory floors and unable to see their families over long periods of time (see Chua & Nguyen, 2021). At the time of writing, Vietnam is in a process of normalization. The country has seen more than ten million Covid-19 cases and more than 43,000 Covid-19-related deaths. It is impossible to predict the longterm impacts of the pandemic. While Vietnam’s export industry has done well, there are big uncertainties considering the tourism industry. As for consumption patterns and sustainability, the pandemic has certainly represented a reminder of some of the negative impacts of Vietnam’s transformations, particularly in terms of air quality. But there is little reason to believe that this trend will be kept during the post-pandemic ‘new normal’, at least not until there are clear alternatives to the motorized mobility on which so many Vietnamese depend. Some of the people we interviewed also said they had cut down on meat consumption during lockdown, but this was due to the simultaneous outbreak of the African Swine Fever rather than the Covid-19 pandemic.6 On the perhaps more positive note, there are good reasons to believe that many Vietnamese consumers will return to traditional markets once the pandemic is over, although the pandemic seemingly has sped up the process of supermarketisation (Wertheim-Heck, 2020).

 sian Middle Classes and Sustainable, A Post-pandemic Futures More research is needed in order to fully understand the impact of the pandemic on consumption patterns, not only in terms of the further entrenchment of unsustainable consumption patterns but also in terms of possibilities for sustainable change. The world is in desperate need for new ideas in terms of more sustainable forms of consumption. In order to find these, we first need to properly understand the deep embeddedness of unsustainable consumption patterns in capitalist consumer societies. Change needs to be carved out both through and in opposition to

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existing economic structures. Both in order to understand global sustainability challenges and potentials for sustainable change, the new middle classes in Asia and elsewhere need more attention. Today’s rich countries have a large environmental debt to the world and should take the front seat in sustainability transformations. But no matter what they do, the future of global sustainability depends on what happens in low- and middle-­income countries around the world. Vietnam is a leading growth performer in global capitalism and is likely to play an increasingly important role in global production networks, both at the producing and consuming end. And the consumption patterns of Vietnam’s new middle classes will contribute to not only further environmental devastation but possibly also sustainability innovations. A rich Vietnam literature has unveiled many of the dark sides of Vietnam’s consumer revolution, including the inequalities embedded in the socialist market economy and the state-led urban transformations towards ‘rich, civilized, and beautiful cities’ (Bekkevold et al., 2020; Endres, 2019; Harms, 2016) and the ‘socialist servants’ that make middle-class lifestyles possible (Nguyen, 2015). Recently, also more potentially positive aspects of Vietnam’s consumer revolution have been investigated, including the negotiations middle-­class consumers engage in when trying to balance societal transformation with healthy living (Hansen, 2021), and the many efforts many make towards more sustainable consumption patterns and more sustainable cities (Earl, 2020). Many Vietnamese households show a clear desire to live more sustainably, whether through bicycling (Carruthers, 2016, Hansen, 2016b), using less plastic (de Koning et al., 2015) or eating more vegetarian food (Hansen & Nguyen, 2022). Previous research has found a particularly strong interest for sustainable food consumption in Vietnam, be it less chemical use, less food waste or eating less animal-­ sourced products and more local and seasonal products (de Koning et al., 2015). As is common many places, the younger generations may be more outspoken on the topic, but many among the older generations may actually live more sustainably out of habit and tradition rather than more contemporary visions of what a sustainable consumer looks like (Earl, 2020). Brons et al. (2021: 26) call this ‘inconspicuous sustainability’— actions that are ‘sustainable in outcome but not necessarily in intention’. The electricity-saving practices discussed in Chap. 7 follow a similar logic.

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There is now also more support for sustainable consumption to be found in official sources in Vietnam, such as in the recently developed National Action Plan on Sustainable Consumption and Production (2021-2030) (Ministry of Industry and Trade, 2020). Rather unsurprisingly, given that it has been developed in response to the highly production focused Sustainable Development Goal 12 (see Gasper et al., 2019), the plan approaches ‘sustainable production and consumption’ in mainly technical and productionist terms. Nevertheless, there are signs of (un) sustainable consumption getting more attention across the board from consumers to policymakers. Furthermore, a budding environmental movement may push such agendas further. A range of incidents—such as the Formosa crisis in 2016 that saw toxic spill from the Taiwanese company Formosa Ha Tinh Steel cause ecological disaster and massive fish death and the decision by Hanoi city authorities to cut down 6708 trees in 190 streets in 2015—have led to what is characterized as an unprecedented civic movement in Vietnam (see Nguyen & Datzberger, 2018; Vu, 2017, 2019; Geertman & Boudreau, 2018).7 Still, it is important to remember that, as this book has shown in detail, the environmental footprint caused by the consumption patterns of Vietnam’s new middle classes is likely to see dramatic growth even if environmental awareness is strengthened (see also de Koning et al., 2015). Simultaneously, it is important to keep in mind that increasing consumption is closely linked to improved living standards and certainly not inherently bad, as well as the fact that, despite rapid growth, the material footprint of the average Vietnamese consumer is low compared to the average in affluent societies. Vietnam is in constant change, and many parts of the consumption patterns of the new middle classes remain under investigated, for example, in the realms of housing, clothing and drinking. Furthermore, more knowledge is needed on the developments of ‘consumer socialism’ and what kind of consumer society the communist regime will seek to develop. A clear possibility is that it will draw inspiration from Xi Jinping’s ‘ecological civilization’, where sustainable—or high quality, healthy and eco-friendly—consumption is supposed to play a central role (see Pan, 2016). Both the dark and bright sides of Vietnam’s consumer revolution deserve much more attention, and the complexity and heterogeneity of Vietnam’s new middle classes and their consumption patterns deserve to

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be untangled. Much of this knowledge production is likely to come from a new generation of Vietnamese academics (see e.g. Gillen et al., 2021), perhaps in conversation with foreign observers who can bring a useful outsider’s view on developments. Hopefully such an endeavour can be accompanied by similar attention to and updates on the new middle classes in other Asian countries, in the process providing crucial knowledge for global sustainability in what will in so many ways be an Asian century.

Notes 1. Parts of the chapter draw on arguments made in my PhD thesis (Hansen, 2016a). 2. The lesser known sixth stage in Rostow’s classic stages of growth model is called ‘beyond consumption’. Rostow claimed the US was reaching the point where the economy could not be built around people buying more stuff, since ‘everyone’ had a TV and a car and so on. History of course showed that there was little reason to worry from a macro-economic point of view. 3. There are certainly exceptions, and the work of the likes of Rick Wilk (2006) in Belize, Hal Wilhite (2008) in India, and Tanja Winther (2008) in Zanzibar are key sources of inspiration. 4. See also Nguyen and Hansen (2021) for a defense of the motorbike in Hanoi 5. See https://everydaylifeinapandemic.wordpress.com/ 6. Among the many optimistic reports coming out of the Covid pandemic, was a much-read Bloomberg article saying that the pandemic led to the biggest reduction in meat consumption globally in decades (Bloomberg News, 2020). It does seem, however, that it forgot to factor in the massive impact of the African Swine Fever, which caused the culling of hundreds of millions of pigs in East Asia and a significant reduction in pork ­consumption in some of the major pork consuming countries in the world, such as China and Vietnam (see Hansen et al., 2021). 7. The year 2022 has however also seen the arrest and imprisonment of several leading environmental activists in what appears as yet another crackdown on civil society in Vietnam (see Wee, 2022).

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Correction to: Consumption Transformed: ˀ Đôi Mơ’i, New Middle Classes and the Construction of Consumer Socialism

Correction to: Chapter 2 in: A. Hansen, Consumption and Vietnam’s New Middle Classes, Consumption and Public Life, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14167-6_2 Figure caption for Fig.  2.1 was inadvertently published with an error. This has been corrected in the chapter as below. Figure 2.1 Ownership of consumer goods (average number of items per household), 2002–2018.

The updated original version for this chapter can be found at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-­3-­031-­14167-­6_2 © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 A. Hansen, Consumption and Vietnam’s New Middle Classes, Consumption and Public Life, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14167-6_9

C1

Index1

A

Accumulation strategies, 6 AEON group, 100 Affluent societies, 3, 34, 176, 186 Affordability, 123–127 Agency, 9, 38, 39, 100, 101, 117, 127, 139, 149, 160, 161, 165 Agricultural development, 119 Air pollution, 82n3, 161, 163–165 American war, 7 Ancestor veneration, 72 Anti-socialist, 20 Asia pacific region, 155 Asian middle class, 18, 184–187 Authoritarianism, 26 Authoritarian regime, 22 Automobility, 6, 27, 56–58, 60, 64, 65, 67, 77–81, 162, 178

Automotive emotions, 57 Availability, 18, 118, 123–127, 133, 177 B

Backward connections, 181 Balance, 96, 105, 106, 185 Bangkok, 61 Bánh mì, 92, 103, 109n2, 110n5, 128, 141n4 Bia hơ i, 99 Bourdieu, Pierre, 19, 35, 37, 38, 41, 47n3, 47n5, 67, 72, 103, 159, 175, 176 Bribes, 70–71 Bún, 97, 101, 102 Bún riêu, 92, 109n2 Business strategies, 71–72, 81

 Note: Page numbers followed by ‘n’ refer to notes.

1

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 A. Hansen, Consumption and Vietnam’s New Middle Classes, Consumption and Public Life, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14167-6

195

196 Index C

Canh, 98, 106 Capitalist accumulation, 33 Capitalist culture, 94, 177 Capitalist development, 5, 6, 33–46, 116, 117 Capitalist economies, 1, 5, 22, 43, 70, 77, 137 Capitalist transformation, 17, 136–139, 177 Car industry, 55 Change and continuity, 4–8, 11, 99–100, 103, 105, 173, 180–181 Cháo, 92, 109n2 China, 6, 18, 20–23, 26–28, 74, 76, 79, 80, 84n14, 116, 122, 125, 126, 137–140, 148, 152, 163, 166n1, 187n6 Chinese middle class, 18 Chinese rule, 7 Civilization, 27, 45 Class hierarchies, 103 Clean air, 2, 160, 161, 165, 166 Coerced flexibility, 64 Cognitive classifications, 67 Cold chains, 155 Colonialism, 19, 20 Colonial times, 53, 110n5 Cơ m bình dân, 98, 101, 106 Commercialisation, 95 Communist party, 18, 20–22, 25, 26, 28, 67, 177 Communist political elite, 69 Communist regime, 1, 3, 10, 17, 25, 27, 94, 151, 177, 186 Compressed capitalism, 4, 5, 101 Conditioned comfort, 157 Conflicted consumerism, 25–27

Confucian values, 24 Conspicuous consumption, 25, 40, 67, 72, 158 Conspicuous immobility, 74 Conspicuous luck, 75–76 Conspicuous practices, 76 Consumer classes, 18, 19, 27 Consumer culture, 3, 26, 37, 40, 54 Consumer expectations, 24 Consumer goods, 2, 18, 22, 23, 25, 26, 69, 83n10, 148, 154, 159, 173, 175, 181 Consumerism, 20, 22, 23, 26, 27, 40, 76 Consumer market, 3, 18 Consumer revolution, 17, 23–25, 177, 185, 186 Consumer socialism, 10, 17–28, 97–99, 173–187 Consumer society, 4, 5, 10, 17, 18, 22, 25, 26, 28, 37, 40, 42, 139, 175, 177, 186 Consumption, 1–11, 17–28, 33–46, 59, 67, 69, 72, 77, 80, 94, 95, 100–102, 109, 110n7, 115–123, 127, 130–132, 134, 136, 141n3, 147–166, 173–182, 184, 186 Consumption activities, 42 Consumption boom, 18, 147–166 Consumption junction, 42 Consumption pattern, 2–4, 6–10, 17, 18, 20, 23, 33–36, 41, 44, 46, 46n1, 94, 117, 140, 155, 159, 173–177, 179, 181–186 Consumption research, 4, 8–10, 34–36, 38, 39, 46, 96, 149, 150, 156, 173, 174, 176, 179 Consumption studies, 3, 176

 Index 

Consumption theory, 11, 46, 175 Conversations, 8, 9, 70, 71, 128, 134, 135, 161, 187 Cosmopolitan lifestyle, 22 Counterfeits, 24, 91 Covid-19 pandemic, 10, 24, 56, 58, 155, 157, 161, 166, 173, 181, 182, 184 Crime, 26 Cultural practice, 5, 40, 138, 155 Cultural symbolism, 36, 41 D

Danang, 17, 178 Declarative acts, 41 Democratization, 154 Democratized, 6 Deng Xiaoping, 21 Development, 1, 2, 4, 5, 8–10, 19, 22, 27, 33–46, 69, 75, 77, 78, 81, 82, 95, 99, 101, 116–123, 125, 133–136, 139, 147–166, 173–176, 187 Development-as-consumption, 28 Development indicators, 1 Development models, 21, 28, 33, 81 Development project, 77 Digitalization, 154, 183 Dirty technologies, 152 Display of wealth, 69, 72 Distributed agency, 35 Đ

Đổi Mớ i, 2, 4, 7, 10, 17–28, 53–58, 67, 68, 73, 76, 77, 93–95, 97, 107, 115–140, 151, 173, 177

197

E

Eating ethnography, 9, 93 Ecological civilization, 186 Ecological collapse, 6 Economic centres, 7 Economic development, 3, 6, 9, 18, 26, 33, 44, 45, 93, 132, 137, 139, 151, 155, 177 Economic growth, 6, 21, 22, 26, 79, 80, 150, 176, 182 Economic models, 156, 175 Economic reform, 2 Economic sociology, 5 Economic system, 42, 77, 174, 176 Economic transformation, 1, 19 Education, 20–22 Electrical conditioning of comfort, 180 Electricity consumption, 11, 148, 150, 151, 153, 162, 165, 166, 166n1 Electricity-dependent technologies, 165 Electrifying mobility, 162–164 Emerging automobility, 66–67, 100 Emerging economies, 4, 6, 33, 34, 79, 94, 148, 151, 177 Emulation, 40, 175 End users, 150 Energy consumption, 148, 150, 152, 153, 164–166, 166n1, 179, 180 Energy transformation, 150–164 Environmental consequences, 116, 152 Environmental footprint, 186 Equality, 20 Ethnic minorities, 94

198 Index

Everyday geographies of consumption, 44, 45, 181 Expats, 93, 101–103 Explicit culture, 41 Exploitation of workers, 5 Expressive individual, 37, 40 Extraordinary consumption, 95 Extreme poverty, 1, 3 F

Fine, Ben, 43, 44, 46, 176 Food consumption, 8, 94, 96, 185 Food cultures, 11, 91–109, 179–181 Food environments, 96 Food practices, 3, 11, 91–109, 115–140, 179–181 Food provision, 117, 118 Foodscape, 11, 91, 93, 95–97, 100, 101, 106, 108, 109, 178–180 Foodscape transformation, 93–95 Food security, 94 Food transformation, 11, 91–109, 115 Foreign influences, 26, 128, 137 French, 19, 20, 81, 102, 103, 110n5, 136, 158 G

Gender expectations, 24, 25 General understandings, 35, 41, 96, 105, 108, 179 Geographies of consumption, 44, 45, 181 German, 81 Giddens, Anthony, 35, 37, 47n5 Global capitalism, 3, 5, 18, 19, 27, 34, 53, 69, 77, 81, 95, 177, 185

Global consumer capitalism, 27 Global fast food, 17, 180 Globalization, 6, 104, 108, 157 Global middle class, 5, 18 Global North, 3 Global production networks, 181, 185 Global South, 3 Global sustainability, 3, 34, 94, 150, 185, 187 Global trade, 1, 178 Governance, 34 Government support programmes, 124 Grab, 63 Green energy, 152 Greenhouse gas emissions, 2 Grounded studies, 35, 118 Growth imperative, 43 H

Habitus, 37, 38, 41, 103 Hanoi, 7, 8, 11, 11n4, 17, 25, 53–55, 57–82, 82n3, 82n4, 83n12, 91–93, 95, 97–102, 106–108, 109n2, 125, 129, 133, 157–159, 161, 178, 183, 186 Healthy food, 2, 33, 109, 179 Heterogeneity, 19, 101, 186 Heterogeneous foodways, 100–104 Hierarchially organised society, 21 Ho Chi Minh City, 8, 17, 54, 70, 79, 159 Hoi An, 8, 147, 156 Homogenisation, 67 Hong Kong, 125, 138, 140 Household consumption, 2, 4, 34, 148, 177

 Index 

Household energy consumption, 148, 152, 153, 164, 179 Household registration, 7 Human agency, 9 Hybridisation, 105, 129, 180

199

J

Jakarta, 61 Japanese, 63, 68, 81, 129, 130, 155 K

Korean, 2, 81, 98, 129 I

Imperial, 19 Imperial dynasties, 7 Improved nutrition, 120 Inconspicuous, 41, 72, 109, 137, 140, 150 Inconspicuous sustainability, 185 Increasing consumption, 22, 33, 175, 186 In-dept interviews, 59 Individual consumption, 77 Individualism, 76 Indonesia, 11n1, 79, 84n14, 125, 166n1 Industrialization, 150 Industrial livestock production, 116 Industrial meat regime, 117 Inequalities, 28, 67, 81, 109, 160, 161, 179, 185 Informal talks, 8, 59 Informants, 59, 63, 65, 66, 69, 71–74, 76, 78, 82, 82n6, 83n10, 83n11, 134, 161 Infrastructure, 41, 42, 45, 57, 59, 60, 80, 82n4, 149, 150, 154, 156, 162, 165, 181 Institutional affiliations, 10 Interviews, 8, 10, 59, 68, 72, 82n6, 83n13, 93, 102, 125, 133, 176, 183 Investments from abroad, 22 Italian, 63, 68, 77

L

Laos, 6, 18, 126 Late capitalist cities, 17 Late capitalist consumer societies, 45 Late capitalist transformations, 108, 179 Leisure, 7, 22, 24, 54, 64, 102 Leninist orientation, 3, 21 Leninist political system, 21 Livestock revolution, 116, 117, 122, 136 Living standards, 1, 3, 5, 6, 21, 81, 120, 134, 138, 186 Long term fieldwork, 176 Low-paid jobs, 5 Luxury brands, 17, 68 Luxury market, 68 M

Macao, 119, 138, 140 Macro-economic factors, 9 Macro-economic processes, 34, 132, 140 Malaysia, 74, 79, 80, 84n14, 122 Market Leninism, 6, 21 Market socialism, 69, 81 Marxist, 20, 37, 46, 181 Material affluence, 55, 77 Material footprint, 186

200 Index

Materialism, 26 Mature capitalist countries, 56, 178 Mature capitalist economies, 5, 77 McDonaldization, 95 Means of consumption, 6 Meat boom, 11, 92, 115, 179 Meat consumption, 7, 102, 109, 115–140, 184, 187n6 Meatification, 11, 115–140 Meat intensive diets, 6 Middle class status, 23 Middle level, 19 Mobile display, 70 Mobile distinction, 58, 67–76, 81 Mobile pragmatism, 74 Mobility practices, 57, 80, 133, 177 Modernity, 27, 68, 156 Modernization, 45, 99, 150 Modernize, 99 Motorbike, 2, 9, 17, 24, 25, 53–82, 91, 98, 126, 133, 154, 161–163, 165, 177, 178, 180, 187n4 Motorbike ethnography, 8, 54, 57–59 Motorbike industry, 54, 55, 164 Motorbike society, 6, 11, 54, 177 Motorisation rate, 79 Motorised society, 55 Motorised transport, 24, 57 Motorscapes, 73, 77 Mundane activities, 4, 176 Mundane mobilities, 63–66 N

Neoclassical economics, 46 New consumers, 5, 19, 22, 24, 28, 34

New middle classes, 3, 5, 6, 10, 17–28, 35, 94, 97, 104, 177, 185–187 The new socialist consumer, 26 The New Socialist Man, 26 Normalisation, 58, 65, 79, 149, 176 Normalization processes, 79, 176 Norway, 149, 155, 162 Numerology, 75, 76 Nutritional changes, 133, 180 Nutrition transition, 94, 116–118, 122, 130, 136, 137, 141n2 O

Online shopping, 24, 183 Ordinary consumption, 95 Organizing practices, 105 Ortner, Shelly, 38, 41, 47n4 Overconsumption, 18 Overnutrition, 94 P

Parking infrastructure, 65 Participant observation, 39 Participative approach, 58 Party-state, 22 Passengering, 57 Patterns of inequality, 183 Phở, 60, 92, 97–99, 101, 102, 104, 127, 128, 140, 180, 183 Phong thuỷ , 75, 159 Piaggio, 66, 68, 164 Planned economy, 1, 27, 67, 81, 119, 123 Political development, 3 Political-economic context, 42, 45

 Index 

Political-economic structures, 176 Political economy, 8–10, 20, 25, 28, 33–46, 57, 95, 96, 173–187 Political economy of energy, 11, 148, 150–164 Political economy of food practices, 101, 108–109 Political freedoms, 22 Political theory, 22 Positional goods, 40, 70, 81 Post-reform freedoms, 64 Post-reform Vietnam, 25 Poverty, 1–3, 6, 7, 21, 119 Power of stuff, 153–156 Power relations, 181 Practice, 9–11, 20, 21, 24, 28, 33–46, 54, 55, 58, 59, 61, 62, 64, 65, 72–76, 78, 80, 83n6, 83n13, 91–109, 115–140, 153, 155, 158, 160, 165, 166, 173, 178, 179, 181, 185 Practice approach, 34–38, 41, 42, 44, 46, 47n7 Practice theories blind spot, 35, 42 Practice theory, 36–46, 47n3, 47n4 Practice turn, 4, 34, 35, 41, 104, 176 Practice-theoretical apparatus, 96 Practice-theoretical approaches, 10, 44 Practitioners, 38, 39 Pre-reflexive level, 96 Private automobility, 27 Private consumption, 77 Private economy, 22 Production, 1–4, 11n1, 40, 42–44, 46, 55, 56, 115–117, 123–126, 136, 138–140, 141n3, 181, 186

201

Production-centrism, 35, 46 Production chains, 18 Production regimes, 117 Productive frictions, 57 Provision, 4, 34, 42, 46, 118, 125, 136–139 Public transport, 61, 64, 73, 162, 163, 166 Purchasing power, 3, 19, 57, 70, 101 Purposive sampling, 59 Q

Qualitative methods, 58 Que, 72, 73 R

Rapid urbanisation, 61, 72 Rational individuals, 94, 150 Reckwitz, Andreas, 35, 38, 40 Reflexive acts, 41 Reflexive individuals, 10, 33–46 Regional capitalism, 53 Reproduction of comfort, 157 Rural, 8, 59, 72, 73, 123, 124, 130, 132, 134, 160, 166n1 Rural economies, 7 Rural landscapes, 7 Rural livelihoods, 7 Rural migrants, 62, 101 Rural-urban migration, 53 S

Safe food, 133 Sahakian, Marlyne, 34, 36, 41, 149, 156, 158, 159, 179

202 Index

Salaried servants, 20 Schatzki, Theodore R., 35, 41, 96, 105 Scripts, 180 Semi-structured interviews, 8 Shove, Elizabeth, 6, 36, 38, 41, 42, 92, 149, 150, 156, 157, 159, 166, 174, 176, 179 Sixth national congress, 2 Snowball sampling, 59 Social benefits, 73 Social class, 182 Social distinction, 67, 68, 72, 135, 138 Social groups, 41, 45 Social hierarchies, 67 Socialism, 20, 21, 27, 28, 67 Socialist consumer revolution, 23–25 Socialist countries, 19 Socialist market economy, 6, 21–23, 25, 27, 28, 44, 91–109, 137, 161, 177–180, 185 Socialist values, 26 Social patterning of consumption, 174, 175 Social performance, 67, 81, 102 Social practice approach, 46 Social practices, 8–10, 25, 35, 137, 140, 175 Social practice theory, 10, 40 Social relations, 41, 45, 58 Social-scientific inquiry, 9 Societal transformations, 1–11, 24, 45, 165, 176, 185 Socio-cultural changes, 55 Socio-economic transformations, 2, 25, 173 Socio-material context, 35, 39

Socio-material settings, 36 Số đẹp/lucky numbers, 75, 76, 83n13 Southeast Asia, 75, 83n8, 116, 123, 136, 150, 151, 164, 176 Soviet, 7, 20 Spaces of consumption, 42 Spatial approach, 96 Spatial mobility, 61, 73, 74, 81 Standardization, 6, 157 State capitalism, 11n2, 21 Status competition, 40 Status enhancing practice, 76 Status hierarchy of cars, 72 Status hierarchy of objects, 72 Strategy of distinction, 72 Streetscapes, 53, 60–63, 73, 81, 91, 93, 99 Structure-agency dichotomy/ dualism, 37 Supermarketisation, 99, 126, 133, 184 Supply, 34, 115, 118, 119, 125–128, 132, 137, 141n3, 151, 152, 181 Suppression of dissidents, 1 Sustainable, 2, 6, 11, 27, 33, 182, 184–187 Sustainable city, 7 Sustainable consumption, 2, 38, 185, 186 Sustainable food consumption, 185 Symbolic communication, 40 Symbols, 40, 68, 73, 76, 83n9, 118, 138, 150 System of moto-mobility, 11, 54, 57–67, 77, 79–82, 133, 162, 164, 178, 180

 Index 

Systems of consumption, 100 Systems of provision (SOP), 9, 11, 42–44, 46, 60, 80, 82n2, 96, 100, 117, 127, 136–140, 149, 156, 165, 178, 181

203

Urban geographies, 54, 81, 100 Urban middle class, 9, 20, 23, 74, 101, 130, 135, 157 Urban mobility, 60, 81 V

T

Tacit knowledge, 96, 105 Tariffs, 22, 178 Tay Ho, 93 Technologies, 58, 147–150, 152, 164, 165, 178–180, 183 Tết (Lunar new year), 72, 123 Thailand, 79, 83n7, 84n14, 125, 126 Theories of practice/practice theories, 9, 10, 35–46, 47n3, 47n4, 47n5, 181 Tourism, 24, 62, 132, 157, 184 Transition economy, 67 Truc Bach, 93, 95, 97–100, 106, 109n4 U

Undernourished/undernutrition, 1, 94 United States (US), 5, 18, 19, 26, 125, 129, 160, 176, 187n2 Unsustainable, 6, 117, 140, 157 Unsustainable consumption, 42 Unsustainable consumption patterns, 184 Urban, 7–9, 24, 54, 57, 59, 62, 64, 65, 73, 95, 108, 126, 130, 133, 157, 159, 160, 165, 166n1, 185

Variegated capitalism, 5, 46n1, 174 Variegated transformations, 6, 173, 177–180 Vespa, 66, 68 VinGroup, 99, 126, 162 Violence, 26 Violent clampdowns, 20 W

Warde, Alan, 4, 33, 35–38, 40–42, 47n5, 47n7, 95, 96, 105, 107, 174 Water pollution, 2 Welch, Daniel, 35, 36, 39, 41, 42, 47n7, 96, 105, 181 West Lake, 93, 102 Westernisation, 34, 94, 95, 103, 104, 106, 108, 179 Wheels of change, 53–82 Wilhite, Harold, 35, 36, 41–43, 74, 147–150, 153, 155–158, 160, 174, 179, 187n3 Wilk, Richard, 46 X

Xe ôm, 63, 83n7 Xi Jinping, 27, 186