Journal ArticleDOI
The Poverty of Morality
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This article argued that the study of consumption is often subsumed within an ideological concern to castigate society for its materialism at the expense of an alternative morality that emerges from an empathetic concern with poverty and the desire for greater access to material resources.Abstract:
This article contends that the study of consumption is often subsumed within an ideological concern to castigate society for its materialism at the expense of an alternative morality that emerges from an empathetic concern with poverty and the desire for greater access to material resources. Examples are given of the benefits that accrue to populations from an increased quantity of goods in certain circumstances. An anti-materialist ideology is favoured by associating consumption with production rather than studying consumers themselves and their struggles to discriminate between the positive and negative consequences of commodities. The form of morality attacked here is also associated with a generalized critique of Americanization that tends to appropriate on behalf of the United States all blame and thereby agency for regressive global and local developments. The Americanization thesis also tends to ignore the contribution of much of the rest of the world to the production of consumer culture and conte...read more
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Book Chapter
Motivating Sustainable Consumption
Abstract: ........................................................................................................................ iii Executive Summary....................................................................................................... v Part 1 Framing the Debate ................................................................................ v Part 2 Models of Consumer Behaviour ........................................................... vi Part 3 Towards Behavioural Change ............................................................... xi PART 1: FRAMING THE DEBATE........................................................................ 1 1 Towards Sustainable Consumption Policy ............................................................ 3 1.1 The Challenge of Behavioural Change ...................................................... 3 1.2 The Challenge of Sustainable Consumption.............................................. 4 1.3 Terms of Reference for this Review.......................................................... 5 1.4 The Question of Evidence.......................................................................... 5 1.5 The Limitations of Systematic Review...................................................... 6 1.6 Overview of the Structure .......................................................................... 7 2 Consumption: the vanguard of history? ................................................................. 9 2.1 Consumption and Well-Being.................................................................... 9 2.2 Consumption and Needs .......................................................................... 10 2.3 Consumption and Desire .......................................................................... 11 2.4 Ordinary and Inconspicuous Consumption.............................................. 13 2.5 Consumption and Identity........................................................................ 13 2.6 The Symbolic Role of Consumer Goods ................................................. 14 2.7 Consumption as Social Conversation ...................................................... 15 2.8 Consumption and the Pursuit of Meaning ............................................... 16 2.9 Conclusions .............................................................................................. 17 PART 2: MODELS OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR ........................................... 19 3 The Role of Models .............................................................................................. 21 4 Rational Choice.................................................................................................... 29 4.1 Consumer Preference Theory................................................................... 30 4.2 The Attribute (Lancaster) Model ............................................................. 31 4.3 Rational Choice in Non-Purchasing Behaviour ....................................... 32 5 Against Rational Choice ...................................................................................... 35 5.1 Bounded Rationality, Habit and Emotion................................................ 35 5.2 The Argument against Individualism....................................................... 37 5.3 The Moral Critique ................................................................................... 39 6 Adjusted Expectancy-Value Theory.................................................................... 43 6.1 Simple Expectancy-Value Attitude Theory............................................. 43 6.2 Means-End Chain Theory........................................................................ 44 Motivating Sustainable Consumption ii 6.3 The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) .................................................. 46 6.4 The Theory of Planned Behaviour ........................................................... 48 7 Moral and Normative Conduct ............................................................................ 51 7.1 Ecological Value Theory ......................................................................... 52 7.2 Norm Activation Theory.......................................................................... 54 7.3 Stern’s Value Belief Norm Theory.......................................................... 56 7.4 The Focus Theory of Normative Conduct ............................................... 58 8 The Matter of Habit .............................................................................................. 63 8.1 Cognitive effort – control, automaticity and heuristics ........................... 64 8.2 The Role of Habit and Routine ................................................................ 65 8.3 Framing, Priming and Bias ...................................................................... 66 9 Sociality and Self ................................................................................................. 69 9.1 The Social-Symbolic Self ........................................................................ 70 9.2 The Project of Symbolic Self-Completion............................................... 73 9.3 Self-Concept, Cognitive Dissonance and Spillover ................................. 76 9.4 Self-Discrepancy Theory ......................................................................... 77 9.5 Social Identity Theory.............................................................................. 79 9.6 Cultural Theory........................................................................................ 84 10 Integrative Theories of Consumer Behaviour .................................................. 89 10.1 Structuration and Social Practices............................................................ 89 10.2 Stern’s Attitude-Behaviour-Context Model............................................. 92 10.3 Triandis’ Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour .......................................... 93 10.4 The Motivation-Opportunity-Abilities model.......................................... 95 10.5 Bagozzi’s Model of Consumer Action .................................................... 97 10.6 Summary Discussion ........................................................................... 99 PART 3: TOWARDS BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE ............................................ 103 11 Change, Persuasion and Learning.................................................................. 105 11.1 Persuasion Theory.................................................................................. 106 11.2 The Elaboration Likelihood Model........................................................ 107 11.3 Social Learning Theory.......................................................................... 109 11.4 Control, Helplessness and Participatory Problem Solving .................... 112 11.5 Breaking ‘Bad’ Habits ........................................................................... 114 11.6 Community-Based Social Marketing..................................................... 118 11.7 Summary Discussion ............................................................................. 119 12 Policy Options and Opportunities .................................................................. 121 12.1 Policy Options in Historical and Cultural Context ............................ 122 12.2 Policy Opportunities in Social and Institutional Context .................. 127 12. 3 Concluding Remarks.......................................................................... 132 References .................................................................................................................. 135 Motivating Sustainable Consumption
Journal ArticleDOI
Consuming Ethics: Articulating the Subjects and Spaces of Ethical Consumption
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that existing research on consumption fails to register the full complexity of the practices, motivations and mechanisms through which the working-up of moral selves is undertaken in relation to consumption practices.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Outline of a Theory of Practice
TL;DR: Bourdieu as mentioned in this paper develops a theory of practice which is simultaneously a critique of the methods and postures of social science and a general account of how human action should be understood.
Book
Stone Age Economics
TL;DR: Stone Age Economics as mentioned in this paper is a classic of economic anthropology, ambitiously tackling the nature of economic life and how to study it comparatively, and is one of Marshall Sahlins' most important and enduring works, claiming that stone age economies formed the original affluent society.
Posted Content
The Social Life of Things
TL;DR: The authors examine how things are sold and traded in a variety of social and cultural settings, both present and past, focusing on culturally defined aspects of exchange and socially regulated processes of circulation, illuminate the ways in which people find value in things and things give value to social relations.
Book
Europe and the People Without History
TL;DR: This paper showed that European expansion not only transformed the historical trajectory of non-European societies, but also reconstituted the historical accounts of these societies before European intervention, and asserted that anthropology must pay more attention to history.