Classifying and classified: An interpretive study of the consumption of cruises by the “new” Brazilian middle class

•We conducted participant observation in two “new” middle-class sea cruises.•We examine how consumers use cruise consumption as a classificatory practice.•Consumers classify people, time, spaces, artifacts, and the cruise experience itself.•Symbolic struggles take place as consumers of high and low cultural capital meet.•The results of the study challenge the classic division of social classes.

The paper seeks to make a contribution in addressing a theoretical gap related to how emerging middle class consumers utilize consumption as a classificatory practice. We adopted an interpretive approach and used the method of participant observation combined with in-depth interviews. Drawing from Bourdieu and Veblen, two main categories were used to explain the use of cruises as a means of classification: distinction and conspicuous consumption. It was found in addition to consumers classifying themselves in relation to others, they classify the time spent, space, artifacts, and the very experience of the cruise itself. The cruise simulates, for a short period of time, the life of the “leisure class,” with its attendant conspicuous consumption and waste.