Anti-Consumption Discourses and Consumer Resistant-Identities

Abstract

This article presents the analysis of two dominant anti-consumption discourses (the voluntary simplicity discourse and the culture jammer discourse) to show the importance of anti-consumption practices in the construction of consumer identities. Specifically, two consumer-resistant identities are presented: a hero identity and a project identity. Each resistant identity is produced by, and produces, overreaching cultural discourses against consumer culture, namely resistance to exploitative consumption and resistance to positional consumption. In addition, each identity expresses resistance either in terms of political consumption for an outer change or in terms of creative consumption directed toward an inner change. By stressing the importance of hero resistant identities and project resistant identities, this article offers the concept of identity formation as central rather than peripheral to the development of consumer resistance.

Full text

Anti-consumption discourses and consumer-resistant identities
Hélène Cherrier ⁎
H69 —Economics and Business Building, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Received 1 June 2007; received in revised form 1 November 2007; accepted 1 January 2008
Abstract
This article presents the analysis of two dominant anti-consumption discourses (the voluntary simplicity discourse and the culture jammer
discourse) to show the importance of anti-consumption practices in the construction of consumer identities. Specifically, two consumer-resistant
identities are presented: a hero identity and a project identity. Each resistant identity is produced by, and produces, overreaching cultural discourses
against consumer culture, namely resistance to exploitative consumption and resistance to positional consumption. In addition, each identity
expresses resistance either in terms of political consumption for an outer change or in terms of creative consumption directed toward an inner
change. By stressing the importance of hero resistant identities and project resistant identities, this article offers the concept of identity formation
as central rather than peripheral to the development of consumer resistance.
© 2008 Published by Elsevier Inc.
Keywords: Consumer resistance; Identity; Voluntary simplicity; Culture jamming
1. Introduction and objectives
The Journal of Business Research special issue dedicated to
anti-consumption brings forward a diversity of researches on
consumer rebellion (Dobscha, 1998), consumer resistance
(Fischer, 2001; Fournier, 1998; Penaloza and Price, 2003;
Ritson et al., 1991; Zavestoski, 2002a,b), boycotting (Herrman,
1993; Kozinets and Handelman, 1998, 2004), counter-cultural
movements (Victoria, 2002; Zavestoski, 2002a,b), ethical
consumption (Shaw and Newholm, 2002), non-consumption
(Stammerjohan and Webster, 2002), or emancipated consump-
tion (Holt, 2002). Common to each of these anti-consumption
manifestations is the expression of an aim “to withstand the
force or affect of”consumer culture (Penaloza and Price, 2003,
p. 123) at the level of the marketplace as a whole, the marketing
activities, and/or the brand/product (Fournier, 1998). Zavestoski
affiliates anti-consumption with “a resistance to, distaste of, or
even resentment of consumption”in general (Zavestoski,
2002a,b, p. 121) and Penaloza and Price refer to a “resistance
against a culture of consumption and the marketing of mass-
produced meanings”(Penaloza and Price, 2003, p. 123). These
descriptions implicitly relate anti-consumption to a resistance
that is both an activity and an attitude. It is an activity of refusal
that can range from the polite “I would prefer not to buy”to the
explicit 1968 French slogan “Soyons realists, demandons
l'impossible”(translated: be realistic, demand the impossible).
It is also an attitude that declines to give resignation to the
ideology of progress and material growth (Kozinets and
Handelman, 2004; Schor, 2000).
As a heretical attitude, resistance to consumption is not easy
to adopt and refusing to purchase certain items can often be
emotionally and financially costly (Cherrier and Murray, 2007).
Furthermore, consuming provides comfort, satisfies physical
needs, and ultimately contributes to the construction of one's
self and the communication of it to others (Ewen, 1988). The
increasing diversity of products or services to choose from
offers consumers the possibility to creatively pursue individ-
uated identities (Firat and Venkatesh, 1995; Holt, 2004). In
addition, the development of virtual marketing permits con-
sumers to actively re-shape the meaning of their loved brands
(Cova and Pace, 2006). Together, the development of marketing
and retail systems and the global diffusion of consumer culture
facilitate self-expression and creativity (Firat and Venkatesh,
A
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⁎Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 2 9036 6420; fax: +61 2 9351 6732.
E-mail address: h.cherrier@econ.usyd.edu.au.
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1995). Hence, a key question arises: why do some people resist
the dominant culture that sustains a capitalist economy based on
materialism and consumer expenditures?
To this question, Nietzsche would respond that resistance
comes from encountering constraints against freedom (Dudley,
2002). For him, resistance can either be a resistance to domi-
nation in the name of emancipation or a domination's resistance
to emancipatory efforts (Hoy, 2004). Here, domination and
resistance are in opposition. Domination takes a negative posi-
tion and resistance is a reaction against it. This dualist approach
mirrors Marx's basic division between the bourgeoisie and the
proletariat, both similarly related to the means of production.
For Marx, production contains many possibilities, including the
possibility for freedom and the possibility for domination. On
the one hand, the possibility for domination through production
indicates that one group can illegitimately monopolize re-
sources or desired goods at the expense of another group's
freedom (Giddens, 1991). On the other hand, the possibility
of freedom through production shows that, due to incessant
exploitation, workers can develop a class consciousness, thus
developing actions in order to promote their own interests
(Panichas, 1985). Marx's view emphasizes that resistance
occurs when oppressed people are able to seize power from the
group that dominate them.
In addition to Marx's understanding of domination in
connection with class, production and exploitation, Weberstresses
the market, consumption and distribution. Consumer culture, as
Weber argues, represents a rational planning of needs and a
calculation for progress that serves as a system of domination
(Slater et al., 1997). For Weber, resistance to domination is
performed by heroic individuals who elect whether or not they
want to be part of the system. Resistance is a mind process against
domination. Together, Weber and Marx claim that resistance oc-
curs in opposition to a constraining system that uses methodolo-
gical calculation to dominate others. Such a view clearly
accentuates the existence of a demarcation between the dominated
and the dominant.
Considering resistance as existing in opposition to domina-
tion in the name of emancipation has left a lasting mark on
consumer research. Erich Fromm, for instance, describes a
mode of being in opposition to a mode of having. Under a being
mode of existence, individuals negate the dominating system of
having (Fromm, 1979). Similarly, Kozinets and Handelman
(1998) looked at consumer resistance toward specific corpora-
tions and Dobscha (1998) considered how consumers rebelled
against marketing in general. In both studies, consumers “chose
to define themselves in opposition to the dominant consumer
culture”(Dobscha, 1998, p. 91). They rebel against or oppose a
dominating system located outside of their control, which hap-
pens to be consumer culture.
But is this dualistic model of resistance/domination adequate
to understand the complex set of anti-consumption discourses?
The genealogical theorists, who argue for a co-constitutive
process between resistance and domination, offer some help. In
the works of Michel Foucault, domination is inscribed in the
power operating in modern discourses, always provoking resis-
tance (Foucault, 1988; Foucault et al., 2000; Shankar et al.,
2006). In the first volume of his History of Sexuality he states:
“Where there is power, there is resistance, and yet, or rather
consequently, this resistance is never in a position of exteriority
in relation to power”(Foucault, 1988, p. 94). What Foucault's
definition presupposes is that resistance and domination show
that a power exists and that, to exist, domination needs resis-
tance. Resistance occurs as both a reaction against domination
and as a production of domination. Domination can be resisted
but this resistance is then taken over and exploited in such way
as to increase domination. In terms of the possibility for resis-
tance, Foucault uses the French phrase ‘dépendre de soi-meme.’
This expression reflects an orientation toward the self: “freeing
oneself from oneself”and/or “detaching oneself from oneself”
(Hoy, 2004, p.90). This Foucauldian view of resistance as a
resistance against one's self is offered in Bourdieu's writings.
For Bourdieu, resistance occurs when the dominated retrench
from the system that has led to their domination. Resistance
is conceptualized as a resistance to one's own domination
(Bourdieu, 1984). Resistance to one's domination is performed
by individuals who foster autonomous creation. Resistance is
not a process of gaining power over the dominant but rather an
inner process of self-reflection and self-expression. It is char-
acterized by heterogeneity, rather than by a set of common
beliefs. Yet, as Bourdieu (1984) and Foucault (1988) indicate,
resistance to one's own domination is ultimately incorporated
by the cultural producers as to increase domination (Feath-
erstone, 1995). This is the paradox of the resistant consumer:
their “necessary dependence on, yet dislike of or desire for
independence from, the market”(Featherstone 1995, p. 23).
Although a dualistic model of resistance against domination is
traditionally used to study anti-consumption attitudes and prac-
tices, the present research considers both the dualistic and the co-
constructive models. Furthermore, in order to analyze whether the
motivations to resist consumer culture depend upon a specific
type of manifestation, this study considers two subcultures of
consumer resistance, the voluntary simplicity movement and the
culture jammer movement. A discursive analysis is performed to
analyze whether these movements follow a dualistic or a co-
productive approach to resistance.
2. The study
This study sheds light on consumer resistance. Based on a
dualistic and a co-constructive conceptualization of resistance,
the analysis focuses on the voluntary simplicity and the culture
jammer discourses. Under the light of socio-linguistic theorists,
discourse refers to language use as a social practice. As a social
practice, language is a mode of action, which is simultaneously
socially constructed by, and socially constructs, our social
world. By this account, analyzing anti-consumption practices
requires studying the diverse linguistic markets and social fields
where anti-consumption is identified and learned. The analysis
of voluntary simplicity and culture jammer discourses is opera-
tionalized using three levels of discursive analysis: the written
text, the discursive context, and the textual torrent. Each of
these facets respectively corresponds to a discursive analytical
framework commonly used in linguistics and sociological
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studies, namely analyzing the written or spoken text, the dis-
cursive practice, and the social practice (Chilton and Wodak,
2005; Coulthard and Caldas-Coulthard, 1996; Widdowson,
2004; Wodak and Meyer, 2001). Each text is perceived as a
“container”of data used to better understand consumer
resistance.
The written texts are respectively, Duane Elgin's book,
“Voluntary Simplicity, Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly
Simple, Inwardly Rich,”first edited in 1981 and revised in 1993
(Elgin, 1981), and Kalle Lasn's book, “Culture Jam, How to
reverse America's Suicidal Consumer Binge –And Why We
Must,”edited in 1999 (Lasn, 1999). The selection of these two
texts is based on their impact on the development and dis-
semination of the voluntary simplicity movement and the cul-
ture jammer movement, in consumer culture. Within these texts,
the plots, characters, metaphors, and language use are con-
sidered. The rhetorical analytical framework is based on
Aristotle's triangle: Logos, Pathos, and Ethos. Logos refers to
the logic of the text in its overall structure. Pathos represents the
emotional references of the text and draws on resonant analogy.
Ethos looks at the credibility of the text and how the text draws
on other discourses and other texts. Finally, the analysis of the
textual torrent concentrates on how the text has been used in
other texts and how the meaning of the text has evolved. Three
areas are considered: the scientific, the public, and the political
arenas. The analysis gradually expands to the voluntary sim-
plicity movement and the culture jammer movement discourses.
The discursive context includes two voluntary simplicity
websites (The Simple Living Network and Awakening Earth
and the Millennium Project, directed by Duane Elgin) and one
culture jammer website (Adbusters Culture Jammers Head-
quarters). For the analysis, particular attention is given to the
inter-discursivity or how the texts draw on other discourses and
inter-textuality, or how the texts draw on other texts. Each
textual reference is codified as “good guys,”“bad guys,”and
neutral.
Finally, the textual torrent brings in other narratives relevant to
the voluntary simplicity movement and the culture jammer
movement. For this study, six in-depth interviews with voluntary
simplifiers and five in-depth interviews with culture jammers
were performed and analyzed using a hermeneutic endeavor
(Thompson, 1997). Existential phenomenological interviewing
was used to attain voluntary simplifiers and culture jammers' first-
person descriptions of their everyday experience with consumer
culture and consumer resistance. In 1989, Thompson, Locander,
and Pollio's article introduced existential phenomenology inter-
viewing within interpretive consumer research (Thompson et al.,
1989). Throughout their article, Thompson et al. (1989) em-
phasize that narrative reflects individuals' lived experience and
that each narrative story is intertwined with a specific context. The
interviews took place in a Western consumer culture context. The
six voluntary simplifiers were selected through their affiliation
with voluntary simplicity and the five culture jammers were
selected through their subscription to Adbuster magazine and/or
their participation in Buy Nothing Day events (see Tabl e 1). For
an accurate understanding of resistance to consumer culture, the
audio-taped interview took place in a comfortable and quiet
environment in which detailed descriptions could last between
2 and 3 h. Each informant was given a pseudonym and was
assured of anonymity and confidentiality. The eleven interviews
resulted in 437 double pages of transcribed text. The interpreta-
tion of the text followed a hermeneutic analysis. Hermeneutic
methodology helped articulate the meanings that specific vol-
untary simplifiers/culture jammers' stories have in relationship
to the broader narrative of resistance to consumer culture
(Thompson, 1997).
The analysis of the texts (books, websites, and interviews)
and a review of the social and cultural field reveal that the
discourses on resistance to consumer culture embody two main
themes: living in an uncontrollable world which emphasizes
current ecological issues and social inequalities, and emotional
solitude which relates to consumption addiction and anonymity.
Each theme draws two cultural discourses: exploitative con-
sumption and positional consumption. Exploitative consump-
tion represents consumption as exploitation of natural resources
and social inequalities. Positional consumption refers to con-
suming for social integration.
3. Results
3.1. Themes
3.1.1. Living in an uncontrollable world
Both the voluntary simplicity and the culture jammer dis-
courses highlight ecological uncertainty as a claim against
consumer culture. Drawing on discourses of living at the edge
of the world (Kroker and Kroker, 1997), crises of the fin de siècle
(Davis, 1999), the end of history (Fukuyama, 1993), and global
risk society (Beck, 2000, 1999; Beck and Ritter, 1992), anti-
consumer culture discourses present the consumption-driven
society in terms of a “detachment from nature”(Lasn, 1999,p.4)
and an exploitation of the universe for our own ends (Elgin, 1991,
p. 38). In regard to ecological uncertainty, books such as Rachel
Carson's bestseller “Silent Spring”(Carson, 1963), Carolyn
Merchant's “The Death of Nature”(Merchant, 1980)are
represented. The following excerpts from a voluntary simplifier
clearly exemplify how ecological degradation is a consequence of
consumer culture. Tendra, 25 years old, daughter of two teachers,
grew up in an environmentally conscious community. Her aware-
ness of the environmental impact of “extravagance”and
Table 1
Informants
Gender Age
Tendra Voluntary simplifier Female 25
Cora Culture jammer Female 24
Kendal Voluntary simplifier Male 31
John Culture jammer Male 28
Jacques Voluntary simplifier Male 40
Dan Voluntary simplifier Male 27
Sarah Culture jammer Female 24
Asley Culture jammer Female 22
Holly Culture jammer Female 25
Laura Voluntary simplifier Female 43
Ruann Voluntary simplifier Female 55
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“wastefulness”consumption makes her feel uncomfortable
toward consumer culture. Tendra's uneasiness with consumer
culture is reflected in her recurrent nightmares on a deep fear of
running out of non-renewable resources such as gas, aluminum
cans, plastic, and synthetic fiber.
I remember a dream where we wanted to get something to
drink. I can't remember if it was soda or what. Lemonade or
something. And the dispensing machine in my dream was
giving it to us in paper cups because there wasn't any more
plastic. […] I had a dream about really needing feminine
hygiene products really bad in class, of course, and going
around holding my books down. But there weren't any more
because we'd run out of plastic and all those synthetic fibers
that make them. So just that whole concept of running out of
things, knowing that there is going to be a point eventually
that we do because there are a lot of things that aren't
renewable. (Tendra)
Tendra's narrative is deeply embedded in the discourse of
global risk society developed by Beck (1992, 1999). She
understands the world as “one small planet”and fears “the fact
that we've only got one of them and we have no idea of how to go
to another one or where we would get another one if this one
became unlivable.”She is bothered and scared that people
consume without considering the impact of consumption on our
ecological environment. In order to limit her ecological footprint,
she consciously resists any “extravagant”and “completely
pointless”consumption practices promoted by consumer culture.
It's a really big planet compared to us, but it's not infinite
and just the changes that I've watched in my life as how
we're actually able to affect the planet and what's happening
on it. And it's a lot of concern to me because a lot of people
don't seem to notice it. And really what bothers me is how
many people go around not at all aware of how small a
planet it really is compared to everything else out there. […]
And so much of what we're asked to consume isn't
renewable at all, and that's really scary to me. (Tendra)
Beck's concept of global risk society was evident in both
voluntary simplicity and culture jamming narratives. For Beck
(1992, 1999), our current stage of history reflects a world of
risk, hazard, and danger. He points out that the risks of industrial
overproduction, such as polluted water, environmental pollu-
tion, and the greenhouse effect are more prevalent now than
ever before. Within discourses of voluntary simplicity and
culture jamming, environmental risks are shown in the sense
that they concern everyone; they are global, local and personal.
We live, as the culture jammer Cora mentions, in a “connected
and interrelated”world.
Getting older and reading and hearing about things, and
environmental problems that have to do with consumption
and workers in other countries and stuff like that. The more I
became aware of the world and how things are connected
and interrelated, it just became more and more obvious to
me that the kind of consumptive lifestyle that everybody
lives almost is just really bad for our future. I think the U.N.
calls it “intergenerational prejudice.”(Cora)
In addition to the idea of living the risks of unpredictable and
incalculable dangers, the anti-consumption discourses claim that
global consumerism creates social inequalities, destroys cul-
tures, and gradually reduces all values to those of a global
hamburger/Coca-Cola society. The “local”consumer is por-
trayed as massified and serialized, subject to the power and
domination of uncontrollable “global”producers. This distinc-
tion between the local and the global is vibrant in Kendal's
narrative. For Kendal, the global corporations are taking over the
local shops, serializing consumers for easy profit.
The big corporations are like they don't care because hey, as
soon as you walk out, there'll be three more walking in. It's
like the customers have been a waste product now. Get them
in, use them up for what they can and then get them out so
more can come in. And with, their marketing, you've got to
have the box that it comes in. Then you've got the bag
inside for freshness. Then you've got a freaking toy in the
bottom. When's it stop? And the box is just riddled with
extraneous information that you don't need. But it's all there
to catch your eye and Buy me! Buy me! (Kendal)
Although Kendal identifies himself as a voluntary simplifier,
his discourse is drastically similar to the culture jamming
discourse. For instance, John, a subscriber of Adbuster
magazines, Utne Reader, and Harper's magazine, describes
the food industry, the fashion industry and the “whole system”
of global capitalist corporations in terms of social abuse and
injustices. For John, the whole corporate American lifestyle of
eating out in chain restaurants, buying fashion clothes, and mass
consuming contributes to the disappearance of local stores and
the loss of authenticity, bringing New York to the level of “a
surface-oriented kind of place”and the United States to a
“culture that can no longer appreciate art.”In sum, the theme
living in an uncontrollable world shows consumer culture in
terms of environmental degradation and social injustice.
3.1.2. Emotional solitude
In addition to living in an uncontrollable world, the analysis of
the voluntary simplicity and culture jammer discourses shows that
the development of consumer culture comes at the expense of
meaningful lives. Each discourse blames consumer culture for
obsessive consumption behaviors that are related to a feeling of
emotional solitude. For instance Lasn notes how “people have
intense, sometimes obsessive relationships with their cars”(Lasn,
1999, p.80) and Elgin directly states that one goal of voluntary
simplicity is “to affirm that our happiness cannot be purchased, no
matter how desperately the advertiser may want us to believe the
fiction that we will never be happy or adequate without his or her
product”(Elgin, 1981, p.150). The idea of advertisers promoting
unnecessary consumption is voiced in Jacques's narrative:
“I think of marketing –have different strategies to get people to
buy –most of that is just things that people do not need.”
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Acquiring “unnecessary”(Tendra) material objects that
“people do not need”(Jacques) is described by one of the
informants as an “addictive”(Dan) behavior. During the inter-
view, Dan explained being “scared”of “uncontrolled consump-
tion.”He defines his mother's material accumulation as an
addictive consumption behavior that leads to a burdensome life
and unhappiness.
I think it was watching the way that she lived her life and
feeling like she was unhappy; she was burdened by these
things. […] She was looking for a document that she had to
take to a meeting that night and couldn't find it because it
was buried in stuff. And I guess I felt anxiety and didn't feel
like her life was as good as it could be. (Dan)
The notion of addictive or unnecessary consumption is
present in all informants' narratives. In the following excerpt,
Dan notes that addiction to material accumulation exists in most
individuals' lifestyle, even in his best friend's.
She [Dan's best friend] lives in Dallas, and she has a tendency
to accumulate things and we talked about it. And I see a
similar effect to what I witnessed with my mother that her life,
her quality of life is lessened because of this desire to
accumulate things. And I think there's, I guess people want to
have these things because they offer them comfort, something
tactile in a scary, empty world. But she tries to understand my
view point and come to terms with her sometimes irrational
desire to have things, but I see her, she has money problems.
She can't afford her habit. She'll go to a thrift store, she'll get
to a music store and buy compact disks or shoes or clothes or
something that she doesn't need. She owns a car that is brand
new. It's like an addiction to stuff. (Dan)
For the informants, addiction to consumption is a response to
living in an “empty world”(Dan). Living in an empty world,
consumers desperately “consume stuff that they do not need in an
attempt to feel better, to feel happy”(Jacques), even when it is
accompanied with “money problems”(Dan's best friend, Tendra),
“burden”(Dan's mother), emotional distortions with loved ones
(Sarah), meaningless lives (Jacques), or unhealthy behaviors
(Sarah). In the following excerpt, Tendra defines consuming for
“comfort”using the term “emotional medication.”
The shopping was almost an emotional medication to feel
better. Well, I won't feel alone if I have enough furniture in
the house. There's not that empty spot where the big easy
chair used to be. Maybe I won't feel so abandoned. (Tendra)
The idea that consumer society creates an “empty”world in
which consumers use material objects for “comfort”(Dan) or
“emotional medication”(Tendra) mirrors what Duane Elgin
calls emotional solitude (Elgin, 1981) or what Paul Wachtel
defines as living in exile with strangers (Wachtel, 1983). One of
the culture jammer informants well exemplifies consumer
culture in terms of emotional solitude. During college, Sarah
recalls her desire to wear the “better clothing”that the “cool kids
were wearing,”“wearing consumer's clothing, wearing the
Tommy Hilfiger —practicing all these things they do in the
movie, all popular, popular, popular.”Yet, Sarah's mother could
not afford buying branded clothes for her daughter. Faced with
the impossibility to look like the cool people, Sarah argued with
her mother and criticized her for being an “unloving mother.”
Throughout the interview, Sarah strongly blames consumer
culture for making her feel different and lonely at school, for
causing arguments with her mother that led to a long-lasting
emotional distance, and for turning her into an addictive person
who heavily consumed cigarettes, drugs, alcohol, and experi-
enced bulimia. Sarah's narrative depicts consumer culture as a
struggle to be socially included. In sum, emotional solitude
shows a lack of meaningful relationships relevant to consumer
culture, which is accompanied by a sense of emptiness.
3.2. Cultural discourses
The themes identified in the voluntary simplicity discourse
and the culture jammer discourse draw on two specific cultural
discourses: exploitative consumption and positional consump-
tion. Both discourses emphasize different types of resistant
identities: hero identities and project identities (Table 2).
3.2.1. Exploitative consumption
The theme living in an uncontrollable world accentuates the
idea of consumer culture in terms of exploitative consumption.
Exploitative consumption refers to the manipulation of social
inequalities and the exhaustion of natural resources. Here, the
critique of consumption is driven toward producers and busi-
nesses more so than toward consumers. Manufacturers and busi-
nesses are viewed as cost minimalists and production optimizers,
using available natural and social resources without environ-
mental concern or social consciousness. Along with the exploi-
tation of natural and social resources for wealthy productioncome
environmental risks and social inequalities (Beck and Ritter,
1992; Glassner, 1999). For example, the sites of consumption
such as department stores or shopping centers are presented as
entities that waste natural resource, exhaust the excess of
production, and foster social inequalities. For Sarah, refusing to
buy any new products, especially when they are sold at the mall is
a matter of self-esteem and respect for the natural environment:
“Buying a dress in the mall, then I start getting into self esteem
issues because then I start thinking I'm a dirty, wasting American
who just kind of wants to soil the earth with cotton and use up the
rainforests.”
In regard to social inequalities, not everyone can enjoy all
sites of consumption. Some are excluded and cannot access the
Table 2
Two types of resistant identities
Identity type Hero identity Project identities
Themes Living in an uncontrollable world Emotional solitude
Discourse Exploitative consumption Positional consumption
Resistance Political consumption Creative consumption
Goals Outer change Inner change
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pleasure to consume what they wish for. Sites of consumption
create social privileges and social exclusion, which encompass
inequalities and polarization. For John, most chain retailers are
“making money until no one in the lower classes has any money
any more.”
The lower class is getting larger and the upper class is
getting smaller, but the upper class is getting exceedingly
wealthy and I see big corporations and chains are what's
pushing that trend. Like Wal-Mart forcing people to work
overtime but they only hire them for 38 hours a week, so
they don't have to give them full-time benefits. And mean-
while, they're like five of the top 10 richest people in the
United States, and they're doing that by basically cracking
the whip over people that really need a job and don't have a
choice. (John)
3.2.1.1. Responses to exploitative consumption: political
consumption. The view that consumer culture is a significant
cause of global ecological uncertainties and social inequalities
compels voluntary simplifiers and culture jammers to political
consumption practices (Elgin, 1981, 2001; Lasn, 1999, 2006).
Here, political consumption is an alternative lifestyle or “sub-
genres”(Sarah) on the fringe or margins of consumer culture that
resist exploitative consumption: “I think really that, strangely
enough, rebellion in a sense gets thrown a lot to sub-genres. I
guess I'm part of a sub-genre. Like punk and industrial and goth.
I see them being drawn to anti-consumerism a lot more than just
mainstream society.”
Political consumption addresses issues of exploitation, in-
equality, and oppression produced by consumer society. These
issues are all connected to the perception of global risk society
(Beck, 1999). Political consumption criticizes the ideologies of
unlimited progress and growth that emphasize technological
optimism. It is a conscious choice. As Tendra describes, political
consumption entails self-education, personal research and learn-
ing: “I started self-educating myself on it. So I know what
materials are recyclable before I buy them.”
3.2.1.2. Goals of political consumption: an external change.
The goal of political consumption is to break the illusion that
individual actions have no impact on the social and natural
environment. As a reactive change against exploitative consump-
tion, political consumption expresses the idea that each in-
dividual's action can influence the world in which we live. For
example, Kendal wrote several letters to influence environmental
preservation.
I've gone so far as to write them and say, “Please change
your packaging. You could serve the same purpose and put
it in a plastic bottle instead of the metal aerosol cans that we
can't recycle. That's doing two things. One we can't recycle
the metal out of the cans, and two, the PCPs destroy the
ozone. So there's no reason for you all to use this product
when you could put it in a pump plastic bottle. So why do
you all do this? (Kendal)
For Kendal, writing letters to manufacturers and retailers is a
way to bring environmental awareness to the marketplace. The
desire to create, diffuse and “teach”(Holly) environmental and
social awareness is one of the primary goals of political con-
sumption. This was the case with Holly: “I found environmental
activism as being the truth and wanted to share that with
everyone…So I was just a perfect activist because I wanted to
convert everyone. I wanted to teach everybody the light and the
truth, so as soon as I got turned on to this stuff, I was just all over
the place.”
The idea of diffusing awareness models Paul Ricoeur's view
of political participation. For him, political actions do not
necessarily aim at influencing governments; they mostly strive
to affect the collective understanding of human interactions
(Ricoeur, 1975). The notion of collective awareness is well
represented in Laura's dedication to make cycling a communal
priority.
We are a coalition of bicycle-friendly folks and organiza-
tions creating a unified voice for a more bicycle-friendly
community. The BCO will achieve this goal through bicycle
safety education, advocating for basic bicycle-friendly in-
frastructure like wide turn lanes or trails, and creating
awareness of an often overlooked –I mean, awareness is
half the battle –of an often overlooked superior form of
transportation and recreation. And I —there has been so
much happening in this town since this group started, and
people have come to understand that there is an advocacy
group and they call on us to put input onto trails plans and
stuff. It's become, it's been worthwhile. It's a burden too.
(Laura)
As described by Laura in the above excerpt, political
consumption is a “battle,”which often creates “burdens”and
demands strong “dedication”and “life-long commitment.”The
political consumer is one that fights against a dominant power.
Engaging in political consumption practices is an expression of
resistance against the power of “mass consumerism”(Holly) or
“giant corporations”(John). It entails commitment, consistency
and a sense of duty. These values reflect Weberian's ideal of
‘Hero Ethics’or ‘Genuine Idealism’(Featherstone, 1995;
Weber, 1948). For Weber, individuals who commit to an
ultimate value and organize their lifestyle accordingly have a
greater sense of self-worth. The prospect of developing an
individual personality by following hero ethics occurs in
opposition to the rationalization and methodological calculation
of material progress and the commodification of life (Weber,
1948).
3.2.1.3. Political consumers: hero identity. Political consu-
mers re-shape and re-structure their everyday life according to a
discursive choice against the ideology of unlimited mass-
production and mass-consumption. They re-articulate the mean-
ings of consumption toward justice, equality, and participation.
For example, Sarah considers eating meat an act of animal
cruelty, buying “untested”brands a careless behavior and ac-
quiring new things an unnecessary act.
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I've been a vegetarian probably since I was 13 or 14, and an
animal rights activist since a really long time. I was involved
in PETA and Animal Liberation Front. Always pretty anti-
consumer. I don't buy brands usually unless they've proven
themselves through time. To me personally, I usually buy
thrift store clothes or like second-hand clothes my friends
give me. (Sarah)
The self-sacrifice and commitments to a consumption lifestyle
dedicated to environmental preservation and/or social justice are
important themes in Weberian's heroic life. Just as Kendal
mentioned during his interview, “I am a solo individual …on my
own against people who do not want to recycle,”political
consumers act according to their personal belief on how others
and the world should consume. Incorporated in their actions is the
desire to influence consumers' awareness and consumption
lifestyles. The construction of political identity is marked by
individual perceptions of risk society and its political dynamic.
This perception is lived as being the truth and clearly delineates
the dominated from the dominants. The political consumer rep-
resents a heroic being who can, consciously and rationally,
distinguish between doing the wrong and doing the right in
society.
3.2.2. Positional consumption
The theme emotional solitude relates to cultural discourses on
positional consumption. The voluntary simplicity discourse and
the culture jammer discourse both describe the triumph of
conspicuous consumption under the cult of material positioning
and the elevation of what Lasch calls ‘narcissistic individualism’
(Lasch, 1991). The notion of conspicuous consumption was
invented by Thorstein Veblen in his 1899 book The Theory of the
Leisure Class (Veb le n , 1 96 5 ) to describe consumption patterns
that are prompted by increased social status rather than being
justified by concrete needs (Ve b l e n , 1 8 9 9). The struggle to
acquire positional goods and status visibility pushes everybody to
compete with one another (Binswanger, 2006), all thriving
narcissistically for upward mobility and adulation (Lasch, 1991).
Under this conception, the practice of consuming is mainly
structural; it results from a system of codes that systematically
dictates consumers' lives (Cherrier and Murray, 2004). Along
with the idea of conspicuous consumption, positional consump-
tion intensifies the concept of narcissistic behavior. Consumer
culture, with its marketization of glamour and excitement, directs
consumers toward narcissistic dreams of fame and glory (Ries-
man et al., 1970). Consumer society asks the common person to
want, to expect, and to dream of an ever higher and more pres-
tigious life, because, according to Loreal cosmetics, “I am worth
it!”
1
By setting up a dreamed-for or “pre-packaged”(Tendra)
consumption lifestyle, the average person attempts to copy others
who are more glorified or more respected. These idealized others
are present in any ordinary aspect of life. Recall, for example,
Sarah who wanted to join the “cool”group of friends by
consuming and displaying branded clothes. Her desire for
consumption was based upon the principle of differentiation
and separateness. Wearing branded clothes bought in a trendy
store is a symbol of coolness and outgoing personality. The
material object helps differentiate the trendy individuals from the
non-trendy. This principle is linked to what Bourdieu calls
situational objects (Bourdieu, 1984; Bourdieu and Johnson,
1993). Entry to the ‘trendy’reference group depends upon one's
access and one's knowledge of the “cool”goods, their social and
cultural values, and how one uses them. Consumers seek their
identity through consumption, appearance and social perfor-
mance (Sennett, 1977). They accept social expectations and
conform to the visible cultural categories created by the media,
fashion, and advertising authorities.As Sarah could not afford the
“cool”material goods, she felt differentiated and associated with
‘unfashionable’people. Thus, positional consumption responds
to the ideology that consuming and displaying material objects
provide a sense of self that others recognize and accept. Both the
voluntary simplicity and the culture jammer discourses emphasize
that copying others' consumption lifestyle does not provide a
lasting sense of self; it only provides the illusion of escaping the
anonymity of life. It does not provide admiration or glory, and the
feeling of being alone persists; “because there's really no meaning
in that”(Jacques).
3.2.2.1. Responses to positional consumption: creative con-
sumption. The development of creative consumption pro-
ceeds as a reaction against unreachable social accomplishments.
When practicing creative consumption, consumers no longer
acquire, consume and dispose of material objects in response to
others' expectations. They consume according to their indivi-
dual values and concerns. For example, Jacques constructed his
own solar house. For him, building his house in the woods with
protovoltaic electric solar systems and composting toilets is an
endless project that reflects his environmental values. On his
land, Jacques grows his vegetables, hand-makes his furniture
and pottery, and resists “just buying stuff.”As Jacques posits,
creating “is much more, much better than just buying stuff;”it
leads to happiness and community.
Creative consumption does not directly negate consumer
culture. Rather, the development and the practice of creative
consumption draw on mass culture and social structuring for the
pursuit of individuality (Holt and Thompson, 2004). Here, the
message of consumer culture is no longer unitary but
heterogeneous, subjected to constant processes of individuali-
zation. For example, rather than throwing away junk mail or
complaining about flyers, Laura uses the paper to write letters to
her friends and family.
I would use the back of junk paper, flyers that have
something on the back to write a letter on. But it could be —
just anything. We have tons of papers like this, advertising.
But not necessarily colorful. Just anything that gives you a
little bit of view of life in my area. (Laura)
For Laura, writing on the back of carefully chosen junk
papers is not only a way to recycle but also a personalization of
her written communication, which adds to “the fun of getting a
letter.”The creative consumer is an individual who personalize
1
Slogan from Loreal television commercial, 2002.
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meanings of consumption. Here, the individual is not only a
consumer but also an active producer, reflecting on a wide
social and cultural sphere.
3.2.2.2. Goals of creative consumption: an inner change. In
comparison to political consumers, creative consumers do not
seek to influence others. Creative consumers personalize their
consumption lifestyle so as to express and construct their
identity. As Laura explains, her philosophy and ways of
consuming suit her personality and could not accommodate or
satisfy other consumers.
If everyone believed the way I believe, this would be a
really primitive, agrarian society similar to what we might
find in remote portions of Asia or maybe Africa. Somalia
maybe. And a lot of people would not like it at all. So I
don't think that it's the only way or the right way. I just
know it's what suits me. (Laura)
For the creative consumers, there is no meaning in copying
the consumption lifestyles displayed in the media. Here, the self
is not perceived as a performative self influenced by sign values
and codes of practices, but as a creative self who can
reformulate cultural meanings and practices according to
personal preferences and social history. By practicing creative
consumption, consumers express their evolving identities: “And
I change and yet that clothing doesn't, so I make it”(Sarah). In
Ruann's narrative, driving an old pickup truck is her own
choice; a choice which responds to her current needs.
I mean I drive a black pickup now, and I drove a BMW
convertible for 10 years prior to that. And I think that was
important to me at the time because having things and
looking good and trying to be somebody maybe was more
important to me at that time. (Ruann)
Ruann's narrative is not exhibiting rebellion against
prevailing cultural stereotypes and domination. Rather, her
decision to drive an old pickup truck instead of a BMW
represents her active self-expression outside of social pressures.
In sum, the goal of creative consumption is to favor human
expression at its most fundamental level: it is consuming to be
rather than to display having.
3.2.2.3. Creative consumers: project identities. Practitioners
of creative consumption personalize their ways of consuming as
to fit their values and concerns. For them, the triumph of
consumerism and the cult of individualism have rendered
contemporary lives meaningless. According to Manuel Castell
(1997), a search for meanings in life takes place in the
construction of project identities. These project identities
highlight a retrenchment in the face of meaningless practices
and the making of consumption lifestyles around subjective and
personalized principles. In the following excerpts, Jacques and
Ruann clearly suggest that their project identities are developed
using consumption as an artistic expression of self.
My house is an expression of myself. It's like artwork. It
means —it's a very meaningful thing to me, that house
(Jacques). I think we're just using this house as an artistic
expression of who we are and we're not really trying to do
anything else with it [wisely invest in the cabin to sell it in
the future] I think we'll always keep the cabin; it is such a
reflection of who we are and what we were. (Ruann)
Project identities emerge on the basis of the most immediate
sources of self-recognition and autonomous organizations
(Castell, 1997). A rejection of imposed cultural codes and a
process of careful selection of the meanings of consuming are
necessary for this to happen. This process includes a rejection of
commercial exposure. For example, Jacques associates televi-
sion commercials to being an “insult”to his intelligence.
TV for the most part is an insult to my intelligence, I think.
Mostly commercials really bother me. The messages you get
from your TV telling you to consume, telling about
violence, getting very slanted view of news and stuff about
the world —also you're just sitting on your butt, not
exercising. Just think if you took one hour a day and
practiced the guitar for one hour every day, you'd become a
really good musician. (Jacques)
Commercials are portrayed as a poison spreading in the
public's brain and in all media of communication. Conversely,
informants' exclusion from commercial exposure frees them
from the existing mechanism of social control and consumption
representations. This negation of commercial invasion allows
for the construction of personalized meanings of consumption.
The personalization of consumption practices is marked by
one central axis: consuming as a path for being. Judith Cherni
notes that identity can be understood as either having a sense of
personal experience —‘I know myself therefore I am’or seen
as a social constructs in which others know me —‘others know
me, therefore I am’(Cherni, 2001). The construction of a project
identity is primarily a reflexive action that uses consumption to
communicate: —‘I know myself therefore I am.’
4. Discussion and conclusion
Susan Fournier (1998) shows consumer resistance using a
continuum that ranges from avoidance behaviors to minimiza-
tion behaviors (coping-strategies, downshifting) to active
rebellion (complaining, boycotting, dropping out). Categorizing
consumer resistance using particular types of manifestations is
supported by Ritson and Dobscha (1999) who classify con-
sumer resistance under ‘not futile’and ‘futile’groupings. For
them, the ‘not futile resistance’groups individuals who reject
particular aspects of marketing; their manifestations are public
and include complaining to sponsoring organizations, boycot-
ting a specific manufacturer or retailer, or creating anti-brands
and practicing acts of anti-brand categories. In contrast, the
‘futile resistance’includes individuals who choose not to act
against the system; their manifestations are private, take place
within the practices of everyday lives and involve controlling
consumption. In addition to Fournier's (1998) consumer-resis-
tance continuum (active rebellion to minimization behaviors)
and to Ritson and Dobscha's (1999) typology (not futile versus
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futile resistance), this study points to a new approach of
consumer resistance; it calls for studying consumer resistance
using the concept of resistant identity.
This study notes two types of resistant consumer identities:
the hero identity and the project identity. Each resistant identity
is produced by, and produces, overreaching cultural discourses
against consumer culture, namely resistance to exploitative
consumption and resistance to positional consumption. In addi-
tion, each identity expresses resistance either in terms of poli-
tical consumption for an outer change or in terms of creative
consumption directed toward an inner change. The difference
between each anti-consumption narrative is based on one's
resistant identity rather than on the type of manifestation.
The hero identity relates to discourses against exploitative
consumption. These discourses are in opposition to the ideology
of economic progress and unrestrained productivity. Max Weber
noted that in capitalist societies, individuals are the instruments of
the economics ofthe market. They are possessed by the economic
system. Voluntary simplifiers and culture jammers who draw on
discourses against exploitative consumption to construct their
identity are concerned with social and environmental threats. The
development of their identity is directed against a well-defined
system of domination. A hero identity is invested with values that
express an alternative to the existing society. It is oriented toward
an outer change. For those who reject the dominating ideology in
society, such positions promote the ordering of a new system of
power, regime of truth, and ideology. Interestingly, the heroic
ideal is also a prominent theme within consumer culture, which
advertises heroic values using figures such as Superman, Tarzan,
or Rambo.
In contrast, a project identity draws on discourses against
positional consumption. Here, resistance is not in opposition to
domination. Rather, project identity results from a process of
“freeing oneself from oneself”and/or “detaching oneself from
oneself”(Hoy, 2005, p. 90). Developing a project identity enables
consumers to reposition themselves in society. It represents
making a space for oneself, of finding one's place. Creating one's
place means resisting one's own domination and developing a
space perceived as more authentic or more one's own, where
issues of inclusion and exclusion are not culturally determined. It
is interesting to note that, as a creative act, a project identity
largely observes the rules of consumer culture, even if its objec-
tive is to undermine them. Hence, project identities are not strictly
negating the principle of material position but are rather con-
stitutive of it, creating new cultural codes, practices, and alter-
native market structures.
By stressing the importance of hero resistant identities and
project resistant identities, this article offers the concept of
identity formation as central rather than peripheral to the
development of consumer resistance. Like consumption beha-
vior, anti-consumption practices take place alongside the
construction of consumer identity. The conceptualization of
resistant identities acknowledges that whether anti-consumption
is a resistance to dominant powers or a resistance to one's own
domination, anti-consumption depends on a sense of identity
grounded in social positions, empowerment, and a vision of
society. This approach calls for further examination of anti-
consumption practices in terms of identity construction rather
than in terms of group manifestations.
On a managerial note, this study provides evidence for
rethinking the way anti-consumption lobbying go about inform-
ing consumers and changing the marketplace. Although a
communication campaign on environmental devastation and
social exploitation plays a major role in creating consumer
awareness, it mainly appeals to hero resistant identities. As shown
in this analysis, consumer resistance also includes individuals
who express a project identity. They resist positional and respond
to discourses of self-expression and self-realization. The forma-
tion of project resistant identities emerge from various practices
and values in which individuals negotiate for themselves what is
valuable, right, wrong, deviant, normal, ethical and so on. That
process is located within everyday life, within the routine prac-
tices of consumers. Under this perspective, consumer resistance
does not emerge from promoting an objective truth on envi-
ronmental degradation or social inequalities but from promoting
discursive fields in everyday life as a source for self-reflection and
self-expression. Therefore, it is important for anti-consumption
lobbying to consider how and why individuals resist particular
consumption practices, who those individuals are, and the
meanings they give to their participation. Is it about a concern
for social change, or is it about self-discovery? Studies on identity
construction suggest considering consumption practices as both
an expression of independent, personal and unique identities,
distinct from that of others and a facilitation for connectedness,
harmony with certain others, and group affiliation (Cherrier and
Murray, 2007). Further research could use this dialectical
perspective self/other to study consumer resistance. In addition,
questioning the impact of one's cultural context in the develop-
ment of consumer-resistance identities could shed light on the
diversity of consumer-resistant manifestations around the globe.
For example, are project resistant identities more prevalent in
collectivistic cultures rather than in individualistic cultures? Also,
are project identities expressed in all types of consumer-resistance
manifestations? For example, consumer boycotts, which used to
be understood in terms of political consumption “forcing
functional and structural change”(Herrman, 1993, p.133), are
also recognized as a creative consumption practice, also termed
“expressive boycotts”(Friedman, 1999). Are “expressive boy-
cotts”an expression of project resistant identity more so than an
expression of hero resistant identity? Similarly, are Kozinets and
Handelman speaking about project identities when they note that
consumer boycott can be understood as an “expression of
individual uniqueness”(p. 476) “allowing moral self-expression”
(p. 479) (Kozinets and Handelman, 1998). Clearly, understanding
the relationship between identity and consumer resistance can
help shed light on a diversity of movements including environ-
mental preservation, animal rights, vegetarianism, anti-nuclear
stances and alternative consumption lifestyles.
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Please cite this article as: Cherrier H, Anti-consumption discourses and consumer-resistant identities, J Bus Res (2008), doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2008.01.025