Consumption is not what you think it is
New perspectives on an unloved yet unavoidable topic
Celebrated by some as the epitome of prosperity and condemned by others as a driver of resource exploitation, greenhouse gas emissions, and toxic waste, consumption is one of the most controversial issues of our time. Anyone who concludes that the way we consume today has a negative impact on the well-being of individuals and the planet’s habitability will find it challenging to come up with well-thought-out alternatives. Even anti-consumerists consume, and alternative consumption turns out to be complicated and ambivalent, often combining mere social signaling with unwanted consequences such as rebound effects. In other words, it is time to free thinking about consumption from the discursive impasse in which it is currently stuck.
From July 2023 to December 2024, I was part of a group of scholars and scientists whose task was to rethink consumption and consumer research. Funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, we held six workshops and discussed with over 70 experts and stakeholders from disciplines as diverse as philosophy, sociology, culture studies, economics, law, design, and computer science. In the end, our core team of five wrote a whitepaper1 titled “The Future of Consumption. An Agenda to Rethink Consumer Research,” which we presented to the public in Berlin at the end of last year. We pushed hard to not just add together various disciplinary takes but to open up the stale debate from a fresh, theoretically informed perspective. Here are some of our core ideas.
A multi-layered way of being in the world
The starting point of our considerations was the idea that consumption is more than an „individual, utility-oriented and market-mediated relationship to the world.“ To do justice to the complexity of consumption and its diverse effects, merely viewing it as a transaction with potentially negative ecological, social, and cultural externalities is not enough.
Instead, consumption is a multi-faceted way of being part of the world. At the most elementary level, which is also suggested etymologically, consumption is an earthbound way of existence, an exchange of substances, an extraction, incorporation, transformation, and excretion of matter.
Furthermore, consumption encompasses a wealth of cultural practices. People deal with things they can buy in very different ways: using them, misusing them, appropriating them, wearing them out, repairing them, sharing them, giving them away, keeping them for generations, or throwing them away carelessly.
A holistic approach attempts to conceptualize consumption as a multi-layered way of being in the world.
The joy of consumption
Once the multidimensionality of consumption is acknowledged, it becomes easier to recognize desire, exuberance, and even luxury as a part of human existence. Especially those concerned about the limits of growth on a finite planet would do well not to deny consumption’s fascination, as demonizing it inevitably leads to a backlash.
Instead, there are many ways to channel consumption’s joy into paths that benefit people and the planet. Property, for example, often rejected by those critical of capitalism, can strengthen care relationships. Generosity, one of the most beautiful human qualities, can be expressed in memorable celebrations where people experience community and share material things. Engaging with beautiful objects, developing connoisseurship, or cultivating one’s cooking skills can exercise sensibility and appreciation and even foster gratitude or awe.
Multiple regimes of provision
From a historical perspective, individualized distribution of goods through markets is only one of many possible ways to organize consumption. There are others, and they might as well coexist. The historian Alexander Sedlmaier speaks of “regimes of provision” and recalls their diversity. Similarly, historian Annette Kehnel, in her book “We Could Do Things Differently. A Brief History of Sustainability”, searches for forgotten ways of life and economics that are surprisingly inspiring for today’s challenges.
Alternative forms of consumption include cooperatives, shared forms of use and collective supply infrastructures, crowdfunding, as well as the reuse, repair, and recycling of material objects.
Our paper encourages thinking in possibilities and advocates for stimulating societal and economic imagination through experimental and exploratory approaches.
Empowerment: capability and infrastructure
Regulatory practices often come too late, have unintended side effects, and turn out to be dysfunctional. Furthermore, voters do not want their lifestyle to be dictated to them. It is, therefore, essential to think about consumer policy less from a perspective of protection but from the idea of enabling.
Two aspects are critical here: Firstly, the so-called foundational economy, which means basic background structures that pre-determinate possibilities and impossibilities, e.g., a charging infrastructure that makes it easier for consumers to opt for electric cars. I’ve written about this before:
„Well-functioning structural foundations of individual well-being (think, e.g., digitalization, public transport, education, parks and libraries...) serve every citizen, enhance equal opportunities, and improve the overall quality of life.“
Secondly, the idea of consumer protection should accentuate consumer empowerment and capabilities. In a world in which consumers increasingly perceive their situation as precarious and themselves as vulnerable, it is vital to practice dealing with uncertainty and the ability to adapt to new circumstances. Consumers need to learn how to cope with loss and be resilient. For example, in an environment of AI-generated recommendations, critically assessing the values and judgment practices encoded in them is crucial to strengthening the user’s autonomy.
Consumption is just one of the many challenges of the present day, but it certainly plays a key role. It’s an area of expertise overdue to be thought of freshly, discover untapped paths, and open up windows of opportunity.
Lamla, Jörn/Heidbrink, Ludger/Hohnsträter, Dirk/Loer, Kathrin/Roschka, Jakob (2024): Die Zukunft des Konsums. Agenda zur Neuperspektivierung der Verbraucherforschung. Kassel: Universität Kassel. DOI: 10.17170/kobra-2024110711087
I grew up in a world in which demand surpassed supply. It didn't feel like paradise ...
Good call! Consumption maybe "unloved", yet it is the foundation of economical well being and growth which then form the basis for political and social stability. Whilst consumers might feel more vulnerable than ever, in an age where everybody wants to be victimized, the truth is that consumers never had more power, more choice and more price transparency than today.