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Constructing Sustainable Consumption

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  • Douglas B. Holt

Abstract

Twenty years of major policy and activist interventions that seek to promote sustainable consumption have been guided by what I term the ethical values paradigm , despite that this paradigm has significant conceptual flaws and has not produced impressive results. This article critiques the ethical values paradigm and proposes an alternative by adapting the market constructionist paradigm. The author analyzes the development of the American market for bottled water and demonstrates that this unsustainable consumption is an unintended consequence of the construction of a consumption ideology that is specific to the bottled water market, what the author terms ideological lock-in . This model explains why activist interventions have not worked and points the way toward more effective strategies. The author argues that we should reallocate the vast government, NGO, and foundation sustainability investments from promoting consumer value transformations toward a federation of market-focused social movements aimed at leapfrogging the ideological lock-in in key unsustainable markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Douglas B. Holt, 2012. "Constructing Sustainable Consumption," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 644(1), pages 236-255, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:644:y:2012:i:1:p:236-255
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716212453260
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Holt, Douglas B, 1997. "Poststructuralist Lifestyle Analysis: Conceptualizing the Social Patterning of Consumption in Postmodernity," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 23(4), pages 326-350, March.
    2. Holt, Douglas B, 2002. "Why Do Brands Cause Trouble? A Dialectical Theory of Consumer Culture and Branding," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 29(1), pages 70-90, June.
    3. Thompson, Craig J & Troester, Maura, 2002. "Consumer Value Systems in the Age of Postmodern Fragmentation: The Case of the Natural Health Microculture," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 28(4), pages 550-571, March.
    4. Princen, Thomas, 1997. "The shading and distancing of commerce: When internalization is not enough," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 235-253, March.
    5. Craig J. Thompson & Gokcen Coskuner-Balli, 2007. "Countervailing Market Responses to Corporate Co-optation and the Ideological Recruitment of Consumption Communities," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 34(2), pages 135-152, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Giovanna del Gobbo, 2020. "I professionisti dell?educazione alla sostenibilit? ambientale," QUADERNI DI ECONOMIA DEL LAVORO, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2020(112), pages 83-102.

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