Second-hand consumption among middle-class mothers in the UK: thrift, distinction and risk (original) (raw)
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Buying for Baby: How middle-class mothers negotiate risk with second-hand goods
Focusing on the mother as consumer as well as carer, this chapter considers mothers’ co-consuming practices related to used/second-hand baby goods purchased at nearly new sales. Citing second-hand consumption as an intimate and risky practice, the material negotiations and risk reduction strategies practiced by middle-class mothers as they engage in consuming second-hand baby items are discussed. Thirty mothers were interviewed, with the narrative of risk focused on two main themes: hygiene and safety. Concerns over hygiene were particularly prevalent when consuming textiles that were seen to harbour traces of the previous other or dirt that may contaminate the ‘pure’ child. Whilst practices of divestment and cleanliness in the home were not necessarily normalised (but were influenced by social factors) the second theme, that of safety, was heavily structured by social conventions and recognised guidelines and offered less scope for subjective mediation. Reference as: Waight, E. (2015) ‘Buying for Baby: How middle-class mothers negotiate risk with second-hand goods’ in Casey, E. and Taylor, Y. (ed.) Intimacies, Critical Consumption and Diverse Economies, Palgrave Macmillan: London, pp.197-215.
NCT nearly new sales are held across the UK as a service for local parents to buy and sell second-hand or used baby clothes, toys and equipment. This thesis investigates the social structures influencing participation, individual consumption practice at the sales (and of mothers at home) and the social role of the sales. With an emphasis on mothers as co-consumers, the study utilised a mixed-method approach of participant observation, interviewing and a quantitative survey across 13 sales/branches in the UK. Findings suggest that the typical middle-class demographic participating in the sales are not financially or socially excluded from conventional first-cycle retail but rather attend the sales in order to get the best value for money and to buy extra, non-essential baby goods, as well as for social and moral reasons of reciprocity. The thesis explores the tensions and responsibilities of motherhood as enacted through consumption practice and structured by the themes of social class, thrift and co-consumption. As a diverse retail space, attendees with higher levels of social and cultural capital benefit most from the sales and are able to mobilise the sales for both material and social/cultural resources as a space of bonding and learning. Whilst not common, the sales can encourage further involvement with NCT as a parenting charity and in local parenting networks.
Mother consumer trader: Gendering the commodification of second-hand economies since the recession
Journal of Consumer Culture, 2019
In Western contexts, 'hand-me-down' and sharing economies of children's clothes, toys and equipment remain one of the most normalised cultures of secondhand consumption. This paper explores the strategies used by mothers to realise the most economic value from these economies in current austere times with the increased possibilities offered by the democratisation of informal buying and selling spaces. Drawing on an ethnographic study of mothers participating in nearly new sales in the UK, the paper outlines the myriad moralities influencing mothers' everyday consumption, use and disposal of children's goods. It argues that providing material goods for children is a thrifty skill with mothers thinking past point-of-purchase to the resale potential of secondhand items. This strategy of trading used children's goods is a practice to circulate resources in the family and keep up with the commodification of childhood.
2012
This thesis explores the consumer practices of a group of young mothers in the city of Bristol. A staged and incremental research design was followed, which incorporated aspects of participant observation, activity based focus groups and a photo elicitation exercise. The study focuses on how a group of young mothers managing on limited incomes engaged with expansive markets for maternity and the new baby, and the meaning and emotion they attached to "baby stuff". The research describes how for the young women in this study buying for babies was a priority and part of their everyday caring work, involving the careful management of budgets and the skilful negotiation of consumer markets as well as the negation of mothers' own consumer projects ..and youth identities. While perhaps a financial necessity, it is suggested that the focus on meeting the 'needs' of babies over those of mothers enables these young women to locate themselves as 'good mothers', wh...
Eco babies: reducing a parent's ecological footprint with second-hand consumer goods
This paper argues for the direct reuse of products as the most sustainable form of consumption, over and above recycling and the use of greener technology. Baby clothes, toys and equipment are perfectly suited to entering the secondhand market as their useful life often extends beyond the needs of one family. One in five parents have acquired a greater number of secondhand items for their children since the onset of the 2009 financial crisis; therefore, parents are engaging in sustainable consumption practices. This empirical study investigates the extent to which mothers engage in secondhand consumption practices and the environmental impact this has. Thirty mothers were recruited for in-depth interviews. Whilst primary justifications were almost universally found to be financial, participants showed a strong ethical desire to reuse items which, by their very nature, had not reached the end of their useful life before being made redundant by the family. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Waight, E. (2013) ‘Eco babies: reducing a parent's ecological footprint with second-hand consumer goods’, International Journal of Green Economics, 7(2), pp.197 – 211
This chapter examines how classical approaches to retailing management should account for secondhand and peer-to-peer platform markets as they proliferate at the expense of conventional retailers. While conventional retailing has focused on how intermediaries may efficiently sell new goods to end consumers, many other market actors, including consumers themselves, have, over the past two to three decades, developed various systems of exchange and recirculation of pre-owned goods that bypass traditional shops and their brand new merchandise. This growing phenomenon not only develops on the margins of the conventional retail sector but poses a real challenge to its present and future situation. Indeed, the development of both second-hand channels and peer-to-peer platforms in the sharing economy has contributed to divesting conventional retailers from substantial revenues. To better deal with this emerging trend, we argue, there is the need to adopt a cultural perspective that departs from traditional views on retailing. Contrary to traditional marketing management that mostly focuses on the ways producers seek to reach consumers and what this implies in terms of decision-making, the organization and assemblage of various market intermediaries, we provide here a new perspective on how consumers become retailers of their own goods. Our cultural reading emphasizes the crucial role that a changing macroeconomic context plays in affecting the social and ecological outcomes of consumption, and hence individuals' shopping preferences and relationships with objects.
This article explores the processes whereby things are donated, or not donated, to charity shops. I draw on in-depth interviews conducted with adults who have sort-ed through the houses of older family members who have moved into residential accommodation, and in some cases subsequently died. The affective qualities of objects and the informants’ responsibilities to be ‘good’ family members by ensuring ‘safe passage’ for their parents’ possessions worked to ensure that many objects did not enter the second hand market, but were preserved within the family or wider social networks. Competing instincts to be ‘responsible consumers’ by not keeping things unnecessarily, worked to ‘move things along’ into charity shops, where informants believed the objects could come to be valued and singularised by other people. By providing an imagined future where goods can continue to be useful and have the opportunity to extend their biographical life, I argue that charity shops and other second-hand markets can help people to dispose of objects which they do not want to keep, but which they find difficult to throw away.
The Increasing Phenomenon of Second-Hand Clothes Purchase: Insights from the Literature
Jurnal Manajemen dan Kewirausahaan
The global trend of second-hand clothing (SHC) consumption is significantly increasing and unstoppable. This trend has made, and will continue to make, a huge impact in the clothing industry in virtually every part of the world. However, the number of studies on SHC are still limited and more importantly, the findings are mixed and inconclusive. This study investigates the trend in SHC research between 1990 and 2014. 131 published academic articles from different disciplines were collected and content analyzed and the results indicate that SHC research was highly focused on the topics of consumption behavior, textile disposal behavior, and SHC trading related issues. In addition, the results also show that SHC research was mainly conducted from the consumers’ point of view. With the increasing interest in SHC, this study attempts to develop a better understanding of SHC phenomena and provide clear future research directions to scholars in designing SHC related research.