Consumption Studies Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

In a rational expectation utility optimization model, the consumption profile is smoothed over time and, under some simplifying assumptions, it equals a constant fraction of total lifetime income. For this result to hold, the consumer... more

In a rational expectation utility optimization model, the consumption profile is smoothed over time and, under some simplifying assumptions, it equals a constant fraction of total lifetime income. For this result to hold, the consumer must be able to transfer income from one period to another. Otherwise, the consumer is under liquidity constraints. The liquidity constraint affects the allocation of durable and non-durable consumption. We focus on the relationship between the marginal utility of household durable good stock and the marginal utility of non-durable consumption. When capital markets are perfect, the marginal utility of these two variables always bears an equilibrium relationship. But if liquidity constraints are binding, the difference between the lagged value of these two variables can predict the current growth change in non-durable consumption. We estimate the long-run relationship between these two variables using an error correction model and a pseudo-panel data se...

With an emphasis on everyday life, this respected text offers a lively and perceptive account of the key theories and ideas which dominate the field of consumption and consumer culture. Engaging case studies describe forms of consumption... more

With an emphasis on everyday life, this respected text offers a lively and perceptive account of the key theories and ideas which dominate the field of consumption and consumer culture. Engaging case studies describe forms of consumption familiar to the student, provide some historical context, and illustrate how a range of theoretical perspectives – from theories of practice, to semiotics, to psychoanalysis – apply. Written by an experienced teacher, the book offers a comprehensive grounding drawing on the literature in sociology, geography, cultural studies, and anthropology. This new revised and expanded edition includes more extended discussion of gender, the senses, sustainability, globalization, and the environment, as well as a brand new chapter on the ethics of consumption.

In a world where nearly one billion people are undernourished and hungry (FAO, 2010), and where unique natural habitats are being destroyed to make space for growing crops, up to half of the food we make globally is wasted. Stuart's... more

In a world where nearly one billion people are undernourished and hungry (FAO, 2010), and where unique natural habitats are being destroyed to make space for growing crops, up to half of the food we make globally is wasted. Stuart's important book goes some way towards exploring the reasons behind this absurd situation, but leaves many important assumptions about change is social practice unexplored.

ABSTRACT In the article, we make an attempt at discussing what it means that our reality is commodified, what the consequences of this are, how we commodify our bodies and what role in this process is played by cyborgization, as well as... more

ABSTRACT In the article, we make an attempt at discussing what it means that our reality is commodified, what the consequences of this are, how we commodify our bodies and what role in this process is played by cyborgization, as well as what the relation between commodification and disembodiment is. These issues seem to be significant, because when the consumptionist and neoliberal discourse is reconstructed, the aspect of commodification of a human through cyborgization is omitted or marginalized. And such a context of commodification seems to be especially important, as it constitutes the idea of radical questioning of a biological body as a commodity of high market value. Thus, it constitutes the paradox of the commodification of body, i.e. a situation when the most attractive (from the consumer’s point view) body is a body that is disembodied to the maximum.

In 1899, MIT chemist Ellen H. Richards (1842-1911) instigated a series of annual "Lake Placid Conferences" (1899-1908) that became known as the foundation of the home economics movement. Richards's first interest was in improving the... more

In 1899, MIT chemist Ellen H. Richards (1842-1911) instigated a series of annual "Lake Placid Conferences" (1899-1908) that became known as the foundation of the home economics movement. Richards's first interest was in improving the household's well-being by using sanitary and nutrition sciences, an objective that was passed on to the movement. However, by the 1920s, home economists rather identified their field of expertise as the "science of consumption," emphasizing the idea of "rational consumption." My aim in this article is to give an account of how this shift in focus came about, by telling the story of the home economics movement founded by Richards. I examine how the movement problematized consumption by highlighting its relationship, and perception of itself, regarding economics. I argue that the concept of consumption was central to the structuring of the movement from its beginning and allowed home economists to claim it as their field of expertise because, as they believed, economists were not addressing the issue.

Qu'est-ce que consommer ? Comment aborder, en sociologue, un phénomène si familier ? Le présent ouvrage apporte des réponses à partir d'un ensemble de recherches, toutes empiriquement fondées. Les différentes thématiques abordées-enjeux... more

Qu'est-ce que consommer ? Comment aborder, en sociologue, un phénomène si familier ? Le présent ouvrage apporte des réponses à partir d'un ensemble de recherches, toutes empiriquement fondées. Les différentes thématiques abordées-enjeux de définition, étude des budgets des ménages, rôle des marchés et des dispositifs marchands, liens entre consommation et hiérarchisation des groupes sociaux, rapports entre consommation et politique-permettent de comprendre comment la sociologie « bouscule » la notion de consommation et en redessine le contenu et les contours. En introduisant de nombreuses analyses, riches et stimulantes, ce livre interroge les frontières entre certaines catégories-comme celles qui séparent consommation et production ou consommation et culture. Il questionne également certaines habitudes de pensée : pourquoi la consommation est-elle rattachée à la sphère domestique ? Pourquoi est-elle si souvent considérée comme une activité féminine ou encore pourquoi fait-elle sans cesse l'objet de jugements moraux ? SOMMAIRE : Comment aborder la consommation ?-Consommation et budgets familiaux-La consommation face à la production-Consommation et stratification sociale-Consommation et politique.

Sposoby produkcji jedzenia oraz jego związek z tożsamością mieszkańców Europy stały się u progu XXI wieku przedmiotem licznych dyskusji. Ich skutki dostrzec można w powstających rozwiązaniach prawnych – najlepszy przykład stanowi tu... more

Sposoby produkcji jedzenia oraz jego związek z tożsamością mieszkańców Europy stały się u progu XXI wieku przedmiotem licznych dyskusji. Ich skutki dostrzec można w powstających rozwiązaniach prawnych – najlepszy przykład stanowi tu Wspólna Polityka Rolna Unii Europejskiej. Unijne miliony przeznacza się na dofinansowanie europejskiego rolnictwa, które w Polsce wciąż jest jednym z największych i najważniejszych sektorów gospodarki. Oprócz pieniędzy z Brukseli przyszły do nas także systemy jakości żywności. Unijni i krajowi eksperci jasno określili granice „regionalności” i „tradycyjności” produktów. Jednak czy to oni decydują o ich autentyczności?

Una de las líneas de investigación en historia económica que está cobrando mayor protagonismo en los últimos años es la dedicada al mercado de segunda mano, a la reventa y reciclaje de objetos utilizados anteriormente por otras per-sonas.... more

Una de las líneas de investigación en historia económica que está cobrando mayor protagonismo en los últimos años es la dedicada al mercado de segunda mano, a la reventa y reciclaje de objetos utilizados anteriormente por otras per-sonas. Se trata sin duda de un tema que se relaciona muy directamente con la historia del consumo y que expresa como pocos el nivel de comercialización al que llegaron algunas sociedades preindustriales europeas, las cuales se hallaban completamente integradas, hasta en sus niveles más bajos, en las redes del mer-cado. Han sido los modernistas los pioneros en este campo, con los estudios de P. Allerston, M. Ginsburg, B. Lemire, E. Sanderson, E. Welch, J. Stobart o H. Deceulaer, entre otros, pero ya antes, en los siglos finales de la Edad Media, es posible seguir los rastros de ese activo comercio de lo usado, que en mi caso llevo unos años estudiando a partir del ejemplo de la ciudad de Valencia en los siglos xIv y xv 1. Se ha podido así constatar que no estamos ni mucho menos ante un fenó-meno marginal, sino ante un mercado básico que dominó la mayor parte de los circuitos de intercambio de algunos bienes, como los muebles o las prendas de vestir, hasta bien entrado el siglo xIx, cuando la revolución industrial comenzó a introducir la producción en cadena de objetos de uso cotidiano, e hizo poco a poco menos necesario el exprimir al máximo su uso. Más incluso, el mercado de segunda mano contribuyó de forma decisiva a modelar los comportamientos y los modelos de consumo de las clases medias y bajas de aquella sociedad, y al mismo tiempo, si lo observamos desde el punto de vista de los vendedores, se convirtió en una fuente primordial de liquidez para buena parte de la pobla-ción, que conseguía así el dinero que necesitaba en un momento concreto de su vida, desprendiéndose de una parte de sus bienes o empeñándolos de forma 1 Véase, entre los estudios de los modernistas,

Objetivos: contribuir a la investigación sobre la vinculación entre la política sanitaria de profilaxis venérea y el proceso de producción, importación y circulación de medicamentos para el tratamiento de los “males secretos”... more

Objetivos: contribuir a la investigación sobre la vinculación entre la política sanitaria de profilaxis venérea y el proceso de producción, importación y circulación de medicamentos para el tratamiento de los “males secretos” durante el siglo xx en Argentina. Desarrollo: desde 1936 el Estado desplegó una política de profilaxis venérea que otorgó prerrogativas a los grupos privados para la producción e importación de fármacos. Mientras el Departamento Nacional de Higiene promovió un tratamiento estandarizado de las dolencias, los laboratorios privados usaron publicidades para construir, ampliar y segmentar el mercado consumidor. En este artículo destacamos cómo el mensaje de las propagandas de medicamentos contra las dolencias de transmisión sexual en las revistas médicas tenía como fin transformar a los galenos en agentes de recomendación de dichos productos. Conclusiones: el tratamiento estandarizado impuesto por la burocracia sanitaria estimuló la producción, importación y oferta de fármacos de laboratorios nacionales y extranjeros. Los anuncios publicitarios apelaron al galeno como portador de un criterio legítimo para el consumo de medicamentos. Los laboratorios nanciaron revistas de grupos de galenos con el fin de ampliar el consumo de sus productos entre los pacientes de estos.

Se Gli impiegati fosse un film, inizierebbe con una veduta aerea di Berlino, sul finire degli anni venti del XX secolo. È mattina presto, l'autunno già iniziato lascia tracce nella luce debole e nel foliage urbano. La città già sveglia... more

Se Gli impiegati fosse un film, inizierebbe con una veduta aerea di Berlino, sul finire degli anni venti del XX secolo. È mattina presto, l'autunno già iniziato lascia tracce nella luce debole e nel foliage urbano. La città già sveglia scaglia le sue masse impiegatizie verso gli edifici del centro: eleganti banche, così come anonimi palazzi pubblici e privati, davanti ai quali gli impiegati si affollano in ordinate file per iniziare la giornata lavorativa. Formiche in abiti alla moda. Fuoricampo, la voce del narratore: «Ogni giorno centinaia di migliaia di impiegati popolano le strade di Berlino, eppure la loro vita è più sconosciuta di quella delle tribù primitive di cui gli impiegati ammirano i costumi al cinematografo» (Kracauer 2020, p. 19). A seguire, una serie di primi piani, ma senza volto: la cinepresa indugia su piedi, gambe, busti, dimenticando volontariamente il viso delle donne e degli uomini che entrano in ufficio. In rapida sequenza vediamo scarpe, pantaloni, gonne, camicie, quasi uniformi nei loro colori spenti-in contrasto con le vivaci foglie autunnali. Porzioni di tessuto in movimento, con il ritmo regolare di un dispositivo meccanico, inquadrati come indizi dell'uniformità degli impiegati, della sostituibilità funzionale che ne fa equivalenti inconsapevoli del proletariato di fabbrica, non fosse per le giacche impeccabili al posto della tuta da lavoro. Solo dopo questa carrellata di presenze assenti, il regista ci regala un primo piano, e un primo volto: quello di un'impiegata che, licenziata per ragioni ignote allo spettatore, presenta ricorso per riavere il lavoro o, al limite, un'indennità. Lasciamo per un istante l'interno del tribunale del lavoro, e la fantasia di questo film mai girato, per tornare sulle pagine di "Fata Morgana Web" e dichiarare il nostro scopo: non quello di recensire Gli impiegati di Siegfried Kracauer-compito già assolto brillantemente prima di noi da Walter Benjamin e Ernst Bloch, suoi colleghi alla "Frankfurter Zeitung"-ma, piuttosto, chiederci se e perché valga la pena leggere questo testo fuori dal comune che, a 90 anni esatti dalla sua prima edizione tedesca, la sociologia ha spesso snobbato. L'occasione ci viene offerta da Meltemi, che ha recentemente ripubblicato il testo con l'introduzione di Luciano Gallino alla prima (e fino a poco tempo fa) unica edizione italiana (Einaudi 1980) e un saggio di Maurizio Guerri. Innanzitutto, chi è Siegfried Kracauer? Un architetto con ambizioni da critico cinematografico e sociologo, frequentazioni importanti quali Theodor Adorno, Max Scheler e Georg Simmel, e uno straordinario teatro di osservazione della vita metropolitana moderna quale la Berlino degli anni venti. Uno dei suoi lavori più noti, Teoria del film, ne fa autore di rilievo per la sociologia del film e giustifica la libertà che ci siamo presi nell'immaginare uno sviluppo cinematografico de Gli impiegati; ma è soprattutto quest'ultimo lavoro a collocare Kracauer tra i pionieri della sociologia empirica di stampo qualitativo.

In the middle of the twentieth century, China's transnational connections flowed through the interaction of two ideologies that throughout the postwar era were at times in direct competition: consumerism and communism. In industrializing... more

In the middle of the twentieth century, China's transnational connections flowed through the interaction of two ideologies that throughout the postwar era were at times in direct competition: consumerism and communism. In industrializing countries and their colonies, consumerism had actually begun to take hold during the first third of the twentieth century, as the spread of thousands of new consumer goods, the proliferation of discussions about them and the reorientation of social life around them had contributed to the formation of distinctive consumer cultures in urban settings around the world. But this new culture created tensions with other ideologies. Over the course of the century, ideas of nationalism, anti-imperialism, and ultimately communism were often directly opposed to new consumer lifestyles and individual consumer choices, leading governments to seek to impose limits on choice, a central pillar of consumerism, in the name of a purported higher ideology. In the early twentieth century, for instance, as the new notions of national belonging were applied to commodities, products were labelled 'national' and 'foreign,' and a nationalistic consumer culture developed around commodities themselves. Across the globe, through mass campaigns urging consumers to buy domestic products, consumption became a politicized act that brought suspicion upon-and even sanctioned attacks against-'unpatriotic' consumers who knowingly or even unwittingly bought imports. In ‘Compromising with Consumerism in Socialist China,’ Gerth addresses the question: What happened to Chinese consumer culture after the Communist victories in the Soviet Union, eastern Europe, and China?

In this article, we explore the imbrication of service work with consumer markets and larger structures of inequality, including gender and class divides as well as social and economic differences. In line with current soci-olinguistic... more

In this article, we explore the imbrication of service work with consumer markets and larger structures of inequality, including gender and class divides as well as social and economic differences. In line with current soci-olinguistic scholarship on language and work, we are interested in the activity of serving people-both in the sense of being or becoming people who serve as well as in the practice of providing services to people. To do so, we offer an ethnographic account of the regime of labor surveillance as well as the daily work practices of female workers at a Starbucks coffeehouse in London, UK. We wonder about how employers organize the bodies of workers into signs, codes and messages that appeal to customers' class expectations of this type of consumption. By documenting the regimentation and surveillance of labor at Starbucks, we inquire into the prescribed rules that guide 'proper' presentations of physicality; further, we ask questions about the mechanism through which the body at Starbucks is made to express its positioning within a structure of labor and its relationality to others, especially customers.

The Household Meals Project (HMP ) looks at the division of food-related chores (shopping, putting supplies away, food preparation, cleaning up, garbage, and recycling) in 150 middle-class households in suburban and urban New York. The... more

The Household Meals Project (HMP ) looks at the division of food-related chores (shopping, putting supplies away, food preparation, cleaning up, garbage, and recycling) in 150 middle-class households in suburban and urban New York. The mixed-methods study employs quantitative, qualitative and visual (photographic) data. Issues focused on include: the micro-sociological dynamics of power and accommodation within households; how the praxis of household food chores serves as a distinct power base for women, and one that is transmitted inter-generationally as a vital component of female identity; how the cultural territory of domestic food practices serves as a site where social change is both produced and resisted, often simultaneously; and identification of several socio-historical trends in the U.S. over the last century which have acted to increase the gender imbalance in domestic food work, even as paid work and other domestic labor have moved toward gender equality. These issues all stem from a seemingly simple question: What factors lie behind the continuation of female responsibility for the majority of food-related chores in dual-headed households?
Among the findings: both women and men tend to see the praxis of food chores as a health-related, emotionally freighted vocational discipline--an unpaid job particularly geared toward women that engages the work ethic traditionally associated with paid employment--rather than as a neutral set of tasks that can be done equally well by anyone. In addition, a comparison of chore-specific data from a 1980s study with the HMP 's data reveals identifiable change in who does the work, while still maintaining female-dominated "ownership" of these responsibilities.
This work explores how the combination of personal expectations and experiences, larger social trends, and the physical setting of kitchens influence and shape the daily fulfillment of food-related responsibilities. Through this synthesis, it becomes clear that the food-related home environment--conscious, unconscious, physical, and symbolic--serves as a source of both social stability and instability as it reflects and generates social change. Far from a passive repository of private practices, household meals are seen to be a potent force in cultural, political, and economic life.

Autora: Gisela G. S. Castro. Colaboradoras: Beatriz Braga Bezerra, Gracy Cristina Astolpho Duarte, Juliana Acquarone da Rocha, Luciana da Silva Correa, Kareen Regina Terenzzo e Tania Zahar Miné. Sinopse: Como se sabe, os meios de... more

Although the new middle classes in emerging markets are a matter of significant interest for marketing scholars and managers, there is little systematic research on their values and preoccupations. This article focuses on the new middle... more

Although the new middle classes in emerging markets are a matter of significant interest for marketing scholars and managers, there is little systematic research on their values and preoccupations. This article focuses on the new middle class consumers to identify the new, shared socio-ideological sensibilities informed by the recent neoliberal reforms in emerging markets, and examines how these sensibilities are actualized in consumption. Through an ethnographic study of fashion consumption in Turkey, the authors explicate three salient new middle class sensibilities, which implicate the mastery of ordinary in pursuit of connections with people, institutions, and contexts. These sensibilities crystallize into a particular mode of consumption– formulaic creativity, which addresses consumers’ desire to align with the middle and helps them reconcile the disjuncture between the promises of neoliberalism and the realities of living in unstable societies.

Der Aufsatz untersucht den Beitrag massenmedial verbreiteter Lesestoffe zur Herausbildung einer Konsumgesellschaft in Deutschland im 20. Jahrhundert. Dabei liegt der Fokus auf der Frage, wie derartige Medien dazu beitrugen, dass sich... more

Der Aufsatz untersucht den Beitrag massenmedial verbreiteter Lesestoffe zur Herausbildung einer Konsumgesellschaft in Deutschland im 20. Jahrhundert. Dabei liegt der Fokus auf der Frage, wie derartige Medien dazu beitrugen, dass sich unter den Käufern und Nutzern (v.a. Lesern) Wünsche und Verhaltensweisen ausbildeten, die moderne Konsumenten charakterisieren.

The rapid growth in consumption of bottled water across the globe has drawn attention of policy makers and academicians alike. However, its consumption practices have been examined primarily in the context of industrialized countries.... more

The rapid growth in consumption of bottled water across the globe has drawn attention of policy makers and academicians alike. However, its consumption practices have been examined primarily in the context of industrialized countries. Drawing on studies of Science, Technology and Society, Public Understanding of Science, and institutions, this article explores the nuances of the consumption conundrum of bottled water in India. This mixed method study relies on data collected through surveys and ethnography of consumption practices at selected sites in Delhi. We find reasons for bottled water consumption to vary with the site of consumption. Although the notions of “purity” and “scarcity” drive consumption behavior, these attributes are far from being objective. Rather, they are shaped by a complex mix of sociocultural factors, public understanding of science, and trust on various institutional mechanisms of water provisioning.

The paper reviews recent practice theoretical approaches to emotion and affect and assesses their potential contribution to the sociology of consumption. How emotion is implicated in the “motivational structure of consumption” (Campbell,... more

The paper reviews recent practice theoretical approaches to emotion and affect and assesses their potential contribution to the sociology of consumption. How emotion is implicated in the “motivational structure of consumption” (Campbell, 1994) has been a foundational concern of consumption scholarship. Illouz (2009) has called for “vigorously injecting the notion of emotion into the sociology of consumption” (p. 377). However, emotion and affect are highly contested notions in social and behavioural science (Harre and Parrott, 1996). Since the millennium, the burgeoning attention of social and cultural theorists to emotion and affect has led some to characterise this as an “affective turn” (Greco and Stenner, 2008; Harding and Pribham, 2009). And in recent years, a growing body of work has developed practice theoretical accounts of emotion and affect: in sociology (Reckwitz 2012, 2017; Weenink and Spaargaren, 2016); history (Scheer, 2012); social psychology (Wetherell, 2012, 2013, 2014); and human geography (Simonsen, 2007). Practice theory accounts of emotion offer a critique of, and alternative to, influential “non-representational” theories of “affect” (e.g. Anderson, 2010; Massumi, 2002; Thrift, 2004) that posit affect as inarticulable, pre-discursive and pre-social (see Barnett, 2008; Leys, 2011; Wetherell, 2014). Despite the ‘practice turn’ in the sociology of consumption, and with one or two exceptions (e.g. Rafferty, 2011; Sahakian, Bertho and Erkman, 2016), consumption scholarship drawing on practice theory has largely yet to engage with this theoretically allied field. Drawing insights from these approaches, the paper goes on to unpack the potential for the sociology of consumption of Schatzki’s (2002, 2010) concept of “teleoaffectivity”—which articulates how motivation towards goals (teleology) and emotion (affect) are mutually implicated in practices and larger social formations.

Le bonheur se construirait, s’enseignerait et s’apprendrait : telle est l’idée à laquelle la psychologie positive prétend conférer une légitimité scientifique. Il suffirait d’écouter les experts et d'appliquer leurs techniques pour... more

Le bonheur se construirait, s’enseignerait et s’apprendrait : telle est l’idée à laquelle la psychologie positive prétend conférer une légitimité scientifique. Il suffirait d’écouter les experts et d'appliquer leurs techniques pour devenir heureux. L’industrie du bonheur, qui brasse des milliards d’euros, affirme ainsi pouvoir façonner les individus en créatures capables de faire obstruction aux sentiments négatifs, de tirer le meilleur parti d’elles-mêmes en contrôlant totalement leurs désirs improductifs et leurs pensées défaitistes. Mais n'aurions-nous pas affaire ici à une autre ruse destinée à nous convaincre, encore une fois, que la richesse et la pauvreté, le succès et l’échec, la santé et la maladie sont de notre seule responsabilité? Et si la dite science du bonheur élargissait le champ de la consommation à notre intériorité, faisant des émotions des marchandises comme les autres? Edgar Cabanas et Eva Illouz reconstituent ici avec brio les origines de cette nouvelle « science » et explorent les implications d’un phénomène parmi les plus captivants et inquiétants de ce début de siècle.

Previous research on sustainability and health-related product labels has sought to develop segmentation frameworks based on consumers' self-reports. However, consumers are likely to overstate the effect that these labels have on their... more

Previous research on sustainability and health-related product labels has sought to develop segmentation frameworks based on consumers' self-reports. However, consumers are likely to overstate the effect that these labels have on their purchasing behavior. Moreover, existing consumer segmentation frameworks do not distinguish among product labels based on whether they offer public benefits (e.g., environmental benefits, animal welfare, social equity) vs. private benefits (e.g., cost savings, health benefits) vs. both. This article addresses these gaps by 1) developing a consumer segmentation based on consumers' actual purchases of sustainability and health-related products and 2) differentiating product labels based on the benefits they offer e public, private or both. Using cluster analysis, it assesses the actual daily consumption of 132 Italian consumers over 30 months and more than 370,000 transactions. The results indicate three segments of consumers: collectivists, individualists and indifferents. Moreover, the findings show that consumer segments are affected differently depending on whether a product label promises either public benefits, private benefits or both.

This paper contributes to theories of brands as sites of identity work and convergence. It takes as its subject relations of belonging and participation as they shape communal ‘scenes’ out of which spring intimations of spaces of cultural... more

This paper contributes to theories of brands as sites of identity work and convergence. It takes as its subject relations of belonging and participation as they shape communal
‘scenes’ out of which spring intimations of spaces of cultural production as branding ecosystems. To illustrate ways in which this line of thought ignites discourses on branding as a mode of
relational being, we explore the social environment fomented around Warhol’s court, ‘The Factory’, that iconic symbol of the mediated logic of his oeuvre. Drawing on archival accounts of
Factory life, we explore cultural production as illustrative of brands and branding as social technologies exciting the imaginary and its theater of possibility. And to understand how
collective consumption of relations of connectivity nurture conditions suggestive of new branding forms, we consider the existential logic of ‘branding being’, of thinking ‘spaces’ made available through branding as a mode of relational being.

Closed loop or ‘circular’ production systems known as Circular Economy and Cradle to Cradle represent a unique opportunity to radically revise the currently wasteful system of production. One of the challenges of such systems is that... more

Closed loop or ‘circular’ production systems known as Circular Economy and Cradle to Cradle represent a unique opportunity to radically revise the currently wasteful system of production. One of the challenges of such systems is that circular products need to be both produced locally with minimum environmental footprint and simultaneously satisfy demand of global consumers. This article presents a literature review that describes the application of circular methodologies to education for sustainability, which has been slow to adopt circular systems to the curriculum. This article discusses how Bachelor and Master-level students apply their understanding of these frameworks to corporate case studies. Two assignment-related case studies are summarized, both of which analyze products that claim to be ‘circular’. The students' research shows that the first case, which describes the impact of a hybrid material soda bottle, does not meet circularity criteria. The second case study, which describes products and applications of a mushroom-based material, is more sustainable. However, the students' research shows that the manufacturers have omitted transport from the environmental impact assessment and therefore the mushroom materials may not be as sustainable as the manufacturers claim. As these particular examples showed students how green advertising can be misleading, applying “ideal” circularity principles as part of experiential learning could strengthen the curriculum. Additionally, this article recommends that sustainable business curriculum should also focus on de-growth and steady-state economy, with these radical alternatives to production becoming a central focus of education of responsible citizens.

Since Harry Gordon Selfridge first opened his eponymous department store on Oxford Street in 1909, London’s retailing industry was then revolutionized as Selfridge “literally changed everything about the way Londoners shopped” (Woodhead,... more

The paper analyses behaviour of Generation Z (GenZ) in the region of Balkans (Serbia, Croatia and Republika Srpska). It presents the survey that was conducted among young people of age between 12 and 25, during December 2019 and January... more

The paper analyses behaviour of Generation Z (GenZ) in the region of Balkans (Serbia, Croatia and Republika Srpska). It presents the survey that was conducted among young people of age between 12 and 25, during December 2019 and January 2020. Total of 523 persons participated: 309 respondents from Serbia, 102 from Croatia and 112 from Republika Srpska. The analyzed topics were: Generation Z and communication, the role of Internet in life of Generation Z, attitudes of GenZ towards shopping and consumption habits. Besides many similarities of the results between global surveys and this one aiming region of Balkans, some specifics of the region were found and analyzed. The aim of the paper was to present insights that can help researcher (preferably in the filed of marketing) to better understand the behavior of GenZ. The conclusion provides an analysis-comparison of similarities and differences of Generation Z in the Balkans comparing to global experiences.

Jamie Oliver—the global celebrity megachef extraordinaire—does not like sugar. Butter and olive oil, yes, but sugar is a serious problem because, as he puts on his website, ‘[o]besity is one of the biggest issues facing our children’s... more

Jamie Oliver—the global celebrity megachef extraordinaire—does not like sugar. Butter and olive oil, yes, but sugar is a serious problem because, as he puts on his website, ‘[o]besity is one of the biggest issues facing our children’s generation, with huge consequences for our NHS and wider economy’ (jamiesfoodrevolution.org, 2017). But what are we supposed to do about this problem given that, as he explains, ‘in 2017, diet poses a greater threat to UK families’ health and life expectancy than anything else’? Turn to Twitter, of course, to tweet our members of parliament using the novel hashtag of #GE2017—this because Prime Minister Theresa May has just called a General Election—but also that of Jamie’s branded handle of #FoodRevolution. These exhortations come on the back of Jamie’s relative success with his 2016 TV, internet and social media campaign blitz unironically called ‘Jamie’s Sugar Rush’, in which he claimed to have single-handedly persuaded the UK government to institute a future tax on sugary drinks. Given this and his multitude of other media appearances—much like other celebrity chefs, terrestrial and digital food media (e.g. food TV, tweets, Facebook posts, blogs and Youtube) and more traditional food publications (e.g. cookbooks, magazines and books)—Jamie has contributed to the production of a thoroughly mediatized foodscape.

While the processes of production and consumption are increasingly interrelated in society, there is a bourgeoning literature on consumers' increased power through the prosumption process and its evolutions and manifestations in various... more

While the processes of production and consumption are increasingly interrelated in society, there is a bourgeoning literature on consumers' increased power through the prosumption process and its evolutions and manifestations in various industries, markets and social contexts. This article challenges the theoretical assumption that all types of 'prosumers' become directly empowered by digital technology or have an equal opportunity to participate in the production process through Web 2.0. By extending Ritzer's reconceptualised idea of prosumption beyond the Global North, our research analysed two specific East Asian cases of fashion consumers whose countries shared rapidly rising economic status and cultural significance yet underwent different sociocultural trajectories. Using focus group interview, we investigated how these consumers interact differentially with the existing social structure, cultural values and other emergent social agents, and the extent to which they are able to exert an influence on the production of immaterial fashion. Contesting the expressivist take of the 'cultural turn' which overemphasises consumers' awareness of and control over symbolic fashion, this article's major theoretical contribution relates to symbolic consumption in the case of fashion – as a unique case blending material, immaterial and symbolic consumption – among young Chinese and Korean consumers geographically located out of the global fashion centres. We explored prosumption's vicissitudes and limits as a theoretical concept, challenging its universality across different cultures, political-economic models and product categories, also demonstrating the multifaceted relationships and dissimilar types of power balances between production/producer and consumption/consumer. The study concluded with the new and differing orders of fashion consumption in Korea and China: the recognition of the overlapping effects of economic, sociocultural, habitual and technological factors which constitute different levels of empowerment and create different types of 'prosumers', including 'elite prosumers' and 'passive prosumers'; and the power reshuffling among fashion producers, emergent social agents and consumers in the digital age.

Since doi moi, Vietnam has undergone a variety of social and economic transformations. Among the most obvious are found in the realm of consumption. The new openness to international trade and foreign investments has radically increased... more

Since doi moi, Vietnam has undergone a variety of social and economic transformations. Among the most obvious are found in the realm of consumption. The new openness to international trade and foreign investments has radically increased the availability of goods. And new opportunities for income have led to increased purchasing power in most social strata, although to very different extents. High-consuming urban middle classes are emerging rapidly-Vietnam's middle class is indeed considered the fastest growing in Southeast Asia-symbolising economic progress and modernisation on the one hand and growing inequalities and environmental unsustainability on the other. These changes are reflected in surging consumption of a wide variety of goods, from household appliances and food items to vehicles and luxury products. This paper approaches the new 'socialist consumer classes' partly through the particular political-economic contexts that have fostered them, but mainly through the consumption patterns and consumer culture that define them. Combining secondary statistical data with insights from ethnographic fieldwork, the paper discusses the drivers of changing consumption patterns and investigates the new roles of goods in everyday middle-class practices in Hanoi, in turn using consumption as a lens to analyse post-doi moi society.

The aim of the essay is to situate Bataille’s idiosyncratic thought on consumption in the context of the modern debate on this topic, to unravel its vacillations and contradictions, and to tease out its main implications. The modern... more

The aim of the essay is to situate Bataille’s idiosyncratic thought on consumption in the context
of the modern debate on this topic, to unravel its vacillations and contradictions, and to tease out
its main implications. The modern philosophical and ideological debate on consumption, while
highly variegated, can be usefully divided into two main camps, two broad intellectual traditions or
lineages, a Marxist and a Nietzschean one. These camps are diametrically opposed in all important
respects, including consumption, yet paradoxically enough, Bataille had roots in both. This point
is of crucial importance for understanding his position and its striking peculiarities. Bataille’s
contradictory political position is explored, a position which overtly embraces radicalism but
remains in fact profoundly attached, it is argued, to capitalism.