Anticonsumption as Tactical Response to Institutionalized Subordination: The Case of Materially Deprived Anticonsumers

Abstract

Whereas most anticonsumption research focuses on middle-to upper-class consumers who reduce, avoid, or control consumption, this study analyzes anticonsumption among materially deprived consumers. Such an anticonsumption focus runs contrary to the conventional subordination of homeless people to the status of inferior and deficient, whose survival is dependent on social housing support and food charities. Findings from an ethnographic study in Australia show that materially deprived consumers avoid social housing and food charities as a tactical response against institutionalized subordination, which specialized homeless services reinforce. In this context, anticonsumption is thus not about projecting a self-affirming identity or generating a collective force to change consumer culture. Rather, anticonsumption among materially deprived consumers aims at overcoming institutionalized subordination and represents tactics of survival rather than strategies for illusionary emancipation.

What we know about anticonsumption: An attempt to nail jelly to the wall

“…Figure shows the largest clusters of theoretical and empirical interest that scholars subsume under the umbrella of anticonsumption. The most prominent cluster focuses on consumer resistance (i.e., Amine & Gicquel, ; Chalamon, ; Izberk‐Bilgin, ; Nepomuceno & Laroche, ), followed by green/sustainable consumption (e.g., Black, ; Black & Cherrier, ; Garcia‐de‐Frutos & Ortega‐Egea, ), boycotts/consumer activism (e.g., Makarem & Jae, ), voluntary simplicity (i.e., Craig‐Lees & Hill, ; Shaw & Newholm, ), brand/product/product category avoidance (e.g., Cherrier & Hill, ; Lee et al, 2009), ethical/moral consumption (e.g., Eckhardt et al, ; Sudbury‐Riley & Kohlbacher, ; Thompson, ), alternative consumption (e.g., Anderson, Hamilton, & Tonner, ; Ozanne & Ballantine, ), and symbolic consumption (e.g., Hogg, Banister, & Stephenson, ).…”

Sense of Power: Policy Insights for Encouraging Consumers’ Healthy Food Choice

“…Ample research has shown that having or lacking power influences a wide range of measures of consumer well-being, including perceptions of price unfairness (Jin, He, and Zhang 2014), choice of health care treatments and providers (Anderson et al 2016), anticonsumption activities (Cherrier and Hill 2018), and saving behaviors (Garbinsky, Klesse, and Aaker 2014) (for a review, see Rucker, Galinsky, and Dubois [2012]). However, limited research has examined whether and how consumers’ sense of power influences their food purchase decisions and food choices.…”

Identity Management as a Coping Strategy for Stigmatization: The Case of Indian Sex Workers in a Libidinal Market

“…In many of the discussions with researchers, and in their actions, these homeless men tried to differentiate themselves from other poor people who relied on public or private welfare systems. This work was followed by research into homeless living such as Cherrier and Hill (2018), who took a distinct path recognizing how women and men suffering from this condition used an anticonsumption response to institutions that provided support while simultaneously subordinating them. In both scenarios, it was clear that homelessness carried a stigma that resulted in self-talk and behaviors that eschewed this label.…”