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Towards a Theory of Minimalism and Wellbeing

DOI:10.1007/s41042-020-00030-y
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Kasey Lloyd
Kasey Lloyd
Kasey Lloyd
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Abstract and Figures

Minimalism is an increasingly popular low-consumption lifestyle whereby people deliberately live with fewer possessions. Proponents of minimalism claim the lifestyle offers a myriad of wellbeing benefits, including happiness, life satisfaction, meaning, and improved personal relationships, however, to date there has been no scientific study examining these claims. The current study aims to take a step towards rectifying this, by exploring the experiences of people living a minimalistic lifestyle. Ten people who identify as minimalists participated in semi-structured interviews to discuss their experience of minimalism and wellbeing. The data was collected and analysed using grounded theory methods. All participants reported that minimalism provided various wellbeing benefits. Five key themes were identified in the study: autonomy, competence, mental space, awareness, and positive emotions. Findings align with previous research examining voluntary simplicity, pro-ecological behaviours, and materialism, and offer new insights into the benefits of low-consumption lifestyles. The results have multidisciplinary implications, from positive psychology to education, business, marketing, economics, conservation and sustainability, with the potential to impact future research, policy, and practice.
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RESEARCH PAPER
Towards a Theory of Minimalism and Wellbeing
Kasey Lloyd
1
&William Pennington
1
Accepted: 30 January 2020
#Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract
Minimalism is an increasingly popular low-consumption lifestyle whereby people
deliberately live with fewer possessions. Proponents of minimalism claim the lifestyle
offers a myriad of wellbeing benefits, including happiness, life satisfaction, meaning,
and improved personal relationships, however, to date there has been no scientific study
examining these claims. The current study aims to take a step towards rectifying this,
by exploring the experiences of people living a minimalistic lifestyle. Ten people who
identify as minimalists participated in semi-structured interviews to discuss their
experience of minimalism and wellbeing. The data was collected and analysed using
grounded theory methods. All participants reported that minimalism provided various
wellbeing benefits. Five key themes were identified in the study: autonomy, compe-
tence, mental space, awareness, and positive emotions. Findings align with previous
research examining voluntary simplicity, pro-ecological behaviours, and materialism,
and offer new insights into the benefits of low-consumption lifestyles. The results have
multidisciplinary implications, from positive psychology to education, business, mar-
keting, economics, conservation and sustainability, with the potential to impact future
research, policy, and practice.
Keywords Minimalism .Wellbeing .Low-consumption lifestyle .Vo l u n t a r y s i m p l i c i t y .
Self-determination theory
Consumerism and materialistic values have potentially negative repercussions for
individuals and for society (Kasser 2002). Studies have shown a connection between
materialism and a lack of concern about the environment (Hurst et al. 2013), higher
financial debt (Gardarsdóttir and Dittmar 2012), and most pertinent to this study, lower
levels of personal wellbeing (Dittmar et al. 2014). Low-consumption lifestyles have
surged in popularity over the past decade, as people attempt to compensate for the
above. One such lifestyle is minimalism, which is characterised by anti-consumerist
https://doi.org/10.1007/s41042-020-00030-y
*Kasey Lloyd
hello@kaseylloyd.com
1
University of East London, London, UK
International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology (2020) 5:121–136
/Published online: 16 February 2020
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... Sebagai respon, beberapa tahun terakhir telah muncul suatu gaya hidup alternatif yang disebut sebagai minimalisme (Lloyd & Pennington, 2020). Gaya hidup tersebut segera mendapatkan momentum dan menjadi tren di banyak tempat. ...
... Pertama, minimalisme memperkuat otonomi pada diri individu (Lloyd & Pennington, 2020). Menjadi minimalis memberi sensasi 'membebaskan' diri dari tekanan sosial dan komersial untuk membeli segala sesuatu. ...
... Bahwa pola hidup minimalis akan menghasilkan kesehatan mental yang signifikan ketimbang mereka yang tidak menjalani hidup minimalis. Terakhir, dan yang paling penting adalah bahwa hal ini didukung oleh cukup banyak penelitian empiris yang diproduksi oleh berbagai peneliti di berbagai belahan dunia dalam satu dekade terakhir (Hook et al., 2021;Lloyd & Pennington, 2020). ...
Minimalisme dan zuhud: Perbandingan gaya hidup barat dan islam serta manfaatnya bagi kesehatan mental
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Materialist lifestyle produces consumptive behavior which ultimately has a broad impact on a person. The most dangerous impact is on mental health where individuals are more susceptible to depression when they do not feel they have enough. Responding to this condition, modern western society has created minimalist lifestyle. This lifestyle is characterized by a deliberate restriction of ownership of things. As for Islam, there is the concept of zuhud which means turning a Muslim away from all worldly things. Although by naked eye, minimalist behavior has similarities with zuhud, there are fundamental differences between the two. The purpose of this study was to identify the differences between minimalism and zuhud and their effect on mental health. Using the literature review method, this study reveals that zuhud guarantees a more stable and authentic mental health, especially for Muslims. The greater positive influence is caused by the reference point of the performer of zuhud in the hereafter rather than the world, and zuhud having an integrative-interconnective relationship with other rites in Islam. Keywords: islamic psychology, mental health, minimalism, zuhud
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... However, Lloyd and Pennington [21] is contradicted point of view. The objective of the study is examining the experiences of people living a minimalistic lifestyle. ...
... As complex and non-liquid assets is difficult to convert into cash and it might take time to sell and difficult to convert into cash. Hence, stress and worrying about their life will increase the negative emotions and affect well-being [21]. ...
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... The minimalist lifestyle is known as an alternative lifestyle that has recently been popularly recognized by many people who offer a unique approach to achieving happiness. Based on a research conducted by Dopierala, individuals who follow a minimalist lifestyle try to gain happiness by reducing their attentions from the materialist things and changing them to other aspects of life [7], such as spending more time with family, playing social media, or get rid of their possessions, so their times can be used optimally [8]. ...
... In addition to the presence of positive emotions, the minimalist lifestyle's subjects also experience full involvement in the activities as implied in how they share their emotions naturally and can enjoy the simple moments in life. These findings are in line with previous researches, such as in a research conducted by Lloyd & Pennington, in which the subjects of the minimalist lifestyle get many benefits for their lives after adopting this lifestyle [7]. ...
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... A minimalist lifestyle illustrates the "less is more" principle by focusing on "reducing consumption and lessening, limiting and maintaining the number of possessions owned to a bare minimum" [3]. The origins of the minimalist phenomenon are traced in Asia, but its pervasiveness became global after the 2008 financial crisis, with significant appeal in Western societies (US, Europe) as a new mode of consumption [4] or a low-consumption lifestyle [5]. Empirical research examining what determines people to embrace minimalism provides a multi-level view [6]. ...
... The attitude towards minimalism (ATT), thus, the favorable or unfavorable evaluation of minimalism, is shaped by the role played by consumption and possession in one's life. If needs such as autonomy and competence are mainly satisfied through material consumption, minimalism will probably not be perceived favorably [5], at least not from an emotional point of view [44]. In a similar vein, the cognitive dimension of attitudes, determined in this case by the information available about the consequences associated with minimalism, has an equally relevant role in predicting behavioral intention. ...
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... Minimalism includes conscious and critical consumption [73] [74] [75] [76]. Given that sustainable consumption can take several forms, it is possible to tie it to this reduction strategy. ...
... The potential of minimalism as a way of life and its high standards are pushing manufacturers toward more environmentally friendly production methods. Conversely, research suggests a link between materialism and a lack of interest in environmental issues [76] [77]. The majority of cited research link minimalism to particular characteristics, advantages, or values. ...
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... Individuals can define their beliefs and match their activities following minimalism. Consequently, individuals will participate in more environmentally conscious behaviors and consume more sustainable and ethical products (Lloyd and Pennington, 2020). Zalewska and Cobel-Tokarska (2016) suggested that many consumers consider minimalism ethical consumption as opposed to merely a rejection or elimination of belongings. ...
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In the 1987 film 'Wall Street', apart from telling the world that "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.", Gordon Gekko, portrayed by Michael Douglas, notably remarked, "I create nothing. I own." As a result, the last part of the millennium was given to excess and the never-ending pursuit of wealth and material possessions. However, recent years have seen an alternate mindset take shape. From the 'KonMari' method to Dorothy Breininger's 'five-point scale', we are now being urged to discard, declutter, and refrain from purchasing. But there are questions about why such a 'minimalist' lifestyle resonates with so many consumers worldwide. Building upon self-determination theory, the objective of the current research is to reveal the motivational goal (what), intrinsic (why) and extrinsic (when) motives that underlie minimalistic consumption. Our study examines the relationship between minimalism and perceived transcendence, along with the mediating and moderating roles of moral identity and descriptive norms, respectively. Findings from a cross-sectional sample of 529 shoppers show that minimalistic value enables consumers to fulfill their aspiration for transcendence, and that moral identity and descriptive norms explain why and when, respectively, consumers are motivated to reach this aspiration. Our study signifies the importance of cultivating the value of minimalism that helps navigate human well-being since its development provides us with a better understanding of our self-awareness as a membership in a universal unity of being, thereby expanding moral identity from self to all. We also provide theoretical and practical implications for consumers, marketers, and policymakers and shed light on further research in this emerging research domain. "It is a preoccupation with possession, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly"-Bertrand Russell.
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... Consequently, wherever the field is to be understood in terms of meaning, identity and their manifestation in action, research methods derived from grounded theory might be more adequate than approaches trying to find "objective" evidence. Grounded theory has indeed been explicitly employed in studies oriented towards a sociological understanding rather than marketing practice (Goulding et al., 2005;O zçag lar-Toulouse, 2009;Walther and Sandlin, 2013;Nazarian et al., 2019;Lloyd and Pennington, 2020;Sandikci, 2020). ...
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