1 - Hanna Rocha de Arruda UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO CEARÁ (UFC) - PPAC
2 - Cláudia Buhamra Abreu Romero UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO CEARÁ (UFC) - Faculdade de Economia, Administração, Atuária e Contabilidade
Reumo
Materialism is a recurring theme in consumption, and it presents a complex and multifaceted concept that permeates several fields of study. Research developed from the traditional constructs of consumer behavior mainly address the construct’s negative impacts on individuals, society, and the environment. Despite studies on materialism in consumption being strongly consolidated, recently, given the context of intensifying digitalization, collaborative consumption, sharing-economy, sustainability and reduced consumption, the construct is being modified, providing new avenues of studies.
Under the guiding question - how materialism, in the optics of consumption, has been modified by new contexts and perceived by science - this essay reflects on the works of different scholars of materialism, in an attempt to broaden the academic vision around the changes occurred in individuals’ experiences and materialism’s theoretical constructions in the literature.
Traditional materialism in consumption (Belk, 1994; Richins & Dawson, 1992) is changing. The manifestations of materialism vary with the political, economical and socio cultural contexts and are modified over time (Inglehart, 1977, 2016). New materialism criticize the anthropocentric perspective and focus on human interdependency to matter (Tuin & Dolphijn, 2012; Kramarczyk & Oliver, 2022). The sustainable materialism is suggested by observation of political-activist practices of pro-environmental and pro-social groups (Schlosberg, 2019; Schlosberg & Coles, 2016).
The new materialism perspective opened the way for studies on sustainable materialism, which are still incipient and emerged from the fields of politics and activism (Schlosberg, 2019; Schlosberg & Coles, 2016). Thus, when it comes to consumption in the individual sphere, sustainable materialism can be a source of psychological tensions and conflicts in people, despite the social- environmental gains.
In this sense, there is an observable need to rethink traditional materialism in light of contextual changes, not to revolutionize the concept of materialism, but to understand how human relationship to material goods changes as society changes.
Belk (1994), Richins and Dawson (1992), Inglehart (1977, 2016), Tuin and Dolphijn (2012), Kramarczyk and Oliver (2022), Schlosberg (2019), Schlosberg and Coles (2016).