Journal
JOURNAL OF CONSUMER CULTURE
Volume 22, Issue 4, Pages 1012-1031Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
DOI: 10.1177/14695405211039608
Keywords
minimalism; limited consumption; considered consumption; sustainable consumption; voluntary simplicity
Categories
Funding
- Royal Geographical Society
- IBG Small Research Grant
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Minimalism is a popular lifestyle movement in western economies that involves voluntarily reducing consumption, limiting possessions, and practicing intentional, considered, and sometimes ethical consumption to make space for important things that add meaning and value to life. This article highlights how minimalists in the UK practice sustainable (non)consumption through actively buying less, using and maintaining what they own, and acquiring objects with intentionality, consideration, and ethics.
Minimalism is an increasingly popular lifestyle movement in western economies (predominantly in the USA, Japan and Europe) that involves voluntarily reducing consumption and limiting one's possessions to a bare minimum. This is with the intention of making space for the 'important' (potentially immaterial) things that are seen to add meaning and value to one's life. Drawing on interviews with minimalists in the UK, this article reveals that minimalists practice sustainable (non)consumption via limiting their consumption. This is achieved by actively buying less, using up and maintaining what is owned, and, when objects are acquired, only practising highly intentional, considered and (sometimes) ethical consumption. For some, such practices are predominantly based on strong ethical and environmental motivations or are seen as a positive 'by-product' of their minimalist lifestyles. Whilst for others, their motivations are primarily aligned to personal well-being. The article subsequently argues that the limited and considered practices of minimalist consumption can be seen as sustainable practices in outcome, if not always in intent.
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