The purpose of (AEC) agreement is to establish ASEAN countries as basis of production for world market. But it is not only the matter of production of goods. Rather, it is a matter of free market, and in the same logics, the consumption of goods. Consumption rate considered as one of one parameter to measures the advancement of a country. This potential resides in the Middle-Class and Affluent Consumers (MAC). In some critical theories, the middle class is a class emerged from their advantage from leisure time and better income in industrial society, practicing conspicuous consumption as a way of social and class differentiation, selfidentification and self-signification (consumption as identity). As for the case, South East Asian countries were having diverse receptions with colonialism. This study will show that enforcement of AEC will trigger further consequences for MAC which will become an area of conflict of interest for the social class above them and the lowest class in different types of receptions of colonialism in our study areas (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand). In short, AEC will not only deal with production but will affect the consumptive patterns and preferences of a society, which in turn will affect the relation between its social classes which sometimes conflictual. For example, the latent class conflict in Indonesia and some other ASEAN countries often dragged into issues of racism, religion, or other socio-cultural based conflicts rooted in social disparity between classes.

AEC, consumption, colonialism, middle class, Middle-Class and Affluent Consumer (MAC)

• Aditya Permana, S.Fil., M.Hum.

• Pamungkas Ayudaning Dewanto, S.Sos., M.A.