Conceptualising ethical consumption within theories of practice

Abstract

Since the turn of the century, sociological consumer research has had a strong focus on ordinary, routinised consumption, especially within the sustainability context. This approach has been a welcome alternative when understanding sustainable consumption compared with relying on individualistic psychological or identity-communicative approaches. However, with the shift towards a practice theoretical approach, there has been a tendency to ignore variation in consumer practices. Specifically, questions regarding the extent to which ethical concern can explain variance have not yet been included. Important questions, such as whether and how ethics takes part in changing practices in more sustainable directions, have similarly been neglected. This theoretically based article intends to contribute to further developing theories of practice by bringing together three discussions: how variation in carrying and performing practices can be conceptualised, how different approaches to consumption have conceptualised ethics and how ethics of care and the concept of general understandings can be used to conceptualise ethical aspects of consumption within theories of practice. The article concludes by summarising the findings from these discussions and raising questions of further empirical and theoretical concern.

Care, Gender, and Change in the Study of Sustainable Consumption: A Critical Review of the Literature

“…The literature on sustainable consumption has, for a large part, proved ill-equipped in tackling inequalities and power relationships within and outside the home, a weakness we seek to address by throwing light on the centrality of care in household consumption practices. That being said, questions of gender, inequalities and care in sustainable consumption have been gaining momentum in the last year or so, with several publications on this topic coming out in a short time span, among them the work of Fathallah and Pyakurel (2020), Hargreaves and Middlemiss (2020), Johnson (2020), Lane et al (2020), Mechlenborg and Gram-Hanssen (2020), or Gram-Hanssen (2021).…”

Ethical Pro-Environmental Self-Identity Practice: The Case of Second-Hand Products

“…The digital platform Facebook was selected, and the theoretical perspective of social practice theory was applied (SPT) [25]. According to Gram-Hanssen [26] (pp. 433-434), SPT is a suitable theory for discussing daily consumption.…”

“…Gram-Hanssen (2021) [26]; Gregory-Smith et al (2017) [35] Frugal consumption Customer prefers less materialistic purchases, repairs and reuses products, extending product life Socially conscious consumption behavior Equal consideration of environmental issues (e.g., using second-hand products), health (e.g., building a waste-less community), and social issues (e.g., donating unused products).…”

Mundane normativity and the everyday handling of contested food consumption

“…Most such studies use an explicit starting point in practice theories (Reckwitz, 2002;Schatzki, 2002). The empirical studies tend to investigate the organisation and performance of consumption as part of practices in different areas of everyday life, including normative processes (Sahakian, 2022;Plessz and Wahlen, 2022;Welch, 2020;Castelo et al, 2021;Fuentes et al, 2021;Gram-Hanssen, 2021;Halkier and Holm, 2021). This body of research is key to providing knowledge about the mundane dynamics of consumption.…”