Colloque ESA (European Sociological Association) - Sociology of consumption 2022

Consumption, justice and futures: Where do we go from here?
 

Topics: Prosumption and the prosumer, Sustainable consumers / sustainable consumption
Keywords: Consumer labor, products lifespan, household goods, daily practices, longevity practices

To make or not to make objects last? Consumers between prosumption and the desire for simplicity

Julie Madon

The practices by which consumers influence their household goods’ lifespan have gained increasing attention in the academic literature (Cooper, 2010). I call “longevity practices” the practices (second-hand consumption, search for durable products, maintenance, repair, storage, donation, resale…) by which individuals try to make their objects last. Some work has attempted to explain the conditions under which these practices are performed. They show that, although there are some profiles that make objects last longer than others (Ackermann et al., 2018; Brough & Isaac, 2010), they do not always make their objects last. Market offers and advertising (Spinney et al., 2012), as well as the entourage, the context, the time available (Cooper and Evans, 2010; Van Nes, 2010), also influence people’s practices.

In this presentation, I propose to take into account the variability and reversibility of people’s daily practices, and to focus on the inner negotiations that consumers experience when dealing with their objects. This presentation proposal is based on sixty interviews with individuals seeking to make their objects last, as well as a follow-up of eight households over six months. Using an approach inspired by the theory of practices and the research on prosumption, I will describe the consumer labour required by longevity practices, which are sometimes demanding. I will also emphasise the moments when, despite the fact that the interviewees generally seek to make their objects last, they become discouraged and give up these practices. Individuals are often caught up in negotiations with themselves, between the desire to make things last and the desire to be as efficient as possible. They must therefore establish new routines and train themselves to change their representations, in order to make their objects last despite the constraints.