1 Social economic classes and communication: thinking the “new” Brazilian middle class – from consumption practices to media representations 1 Marcia Perencin Tondato PPGCom-ESPM-SP (Brazil) ABSTRACT: Understanding consumption as a possibility of citizenship insertion, carried out wherever there are material goods that are turned into cultural goods by social relations, mediated by media, the place where the symbolic operates at every and any moment, this discussion focuses on the so-called Brazilian “new middle class”, its consuming practices and media representations. The corpus discussed consists of media speeches, informational and fictional ones that, for some time, celebrated a virtual inclusion, aiming to maintain the status quo of an “elite” that, only apparently, is prepared to share spaces and possibilities with the dominated groups. The analysis is based on the understanding that nowadays the individual stands as a consumer of material goods and ideas before all, living each day in more mediatized scenery, with social and civic responsibilities exceeding geographical frontiers. Aspects about the increase of material access to consumption are discussed from the speeches on interviews, articles, editorials, columns, by specialists and analysts of several areas, published in weekly magazines. I also discuss the setting of scenes of “telenovelas” 2 in foreign countries, promoting not only images consumption, but also consumption of touristic places, made more accessible through monthly payments. Linking entertainment and information I bring the program Mais Você (Rede Globo), focused on the feminine daily life, characterizing consumption as possibility and space of social insertion and citizenship right of women. Introduction 1 Presented at Middle Class Phenomenon in Emerging Markets Conference, Atlanta (GA), sept/26-29/2013. Presentation sponsored by CAPES-PAEX, process n. AEX 6048/13-7. 2 The term “telenovela” refer s to Brazilian TV serial fiction, different from American soap opera.