Contradictions in the development of eco-consumerism in the context of R. Inglehart’s evolutionary theory of modernization

The article considers the development of eco-sustainable practices as a part of the global cultural shift from materialist values to the post-materialist ones. The first part briefly outlines the central ideas of R. Inglehart’s evolutionary theory of modernization, which defines the global cultural shift as a transition in individual life strategies from “survival” to “self-expression” due to the growing predominance of post-materialist values over the materialist ones. Such transformations are expected to reshape consumer practices - from hedonistic consumption rooted in acquisitive values to responsible, proenvironmental consumption shaped by post-materialist orientations. However, this transition is inconsistent and contradictory due to multiple barriers. The author considers institutional and value-based barriers to the expansion of pro-environmental consumption (green gap, elitism of eco-consumption in qualitative terms, hedonistic values and orientations). The article is based on empirical data and aims at proving the hypothesis of the macro-social stability of hedonistic consumer practices which prevail even in societies with high levels of economic and existential security, where post-materialism dominates the social-political sphere. Even younger generations, which socialized in the conditions of relative economic security and are more likely to have post-materialist orientations, show a decline in interest in pro-environmental consumption. The author argues that eco-consumerism is a nonlinear outcome of the global value shift from materialism to post-materialism, which makes ecoconsumption practices a hybrid phenomenon that reflects an adaptation of consumer values to ecological trends. Thus, eco-consumerism as an expression of post-materialism contradicts the logic of consumerist hedonism supported and reinforced by the contemporary consumer culture.