This forward-looking volume examines the role of social influence--including social media--in creating and fostering sustainable consumer behavior. Using the concepts behind social influence theory as a launching point, it describes humans' need for social networks and identifies the core components of buying, such as consumer goals and the gathering of opinions. From here, chapters examine ways social influence can encourage and support sustainable consumption, from buying green products to recycling packaging materials to supporting environmentally responsible brands. Real-world examples, critical thinking questions, a breakdown of strategies for influencing behavior, and pertinent references give the book extra dimensions of value. Among the featured topics: Social influence: why it matters. Values, attitudes, opinions, goals, and motivation. What we buy and who we listen to: the science and art of consumption. Decision making and problem solving. Households: productivity and consumption. Sustainably managing resources in the built environment. Between its nuanced understanding of social connections and its up-to-date lens on technology, Social Influence and Sustainable Consumption is must reading for researchers in the fields of consumer psychology, consumer behavior, and consumer sustainability.

The book provides an overview of socially responsible consumption and marketing, as well as a collection of teaching cases that discuss and emphasize how 21st-century organizations, both for-profit and non-profit, are addressing socially responsible consumers and meeting their changing needs while remaining profitable. Consumers, governments, academics, and practitioners are becoming more interested in promoting positive social changes through consumption. As a result, this book aims to understand the practice of marketing in bringing about positive social change through real-life case studies. Consumption by socially responsible consumers who care about the social good is unique, not only because of its inter-disciplinary and substantive subject matter but also because it presents challenges and pushes organizations to make significant changes in the ways they have been accomplishing organizational activities in the twenty-first century, from procurement to production to sales and services. The book goes beyond individual consumers and their lifestyles to promote the scope of discussing marketing strategies. It seeks to comprehend how people consume and how socially responsible consumption is conceived. The case studies present and pursue integrated solutions for more sustainable consumption. This is a must-read for marketers who want to reach out to socially responsible consumers.

With growing awareness of environmental deterioration, atmospheric pollution and resource depletion, the last several decades have brought increased attention and scrutiny to global consumption levels. However, there are significant and well documented limitations associated with current efforts to encourage more sustainable consumption patterns, ranging from informational and time constraints to the highly individualizing effect of market-based participation. This volume, featuring essays solicited from experts engaged in sustainable consumption research from around the world, presents empirical and theoretical illustrations of the various means through which politics and power influence (un)sustainable consumption practices, policies and perspectives. With chapters on compelling topics including collective action, behaviour-change and the transition movement, the authors discuss why current efforts have largely failed to meet environmental targets and explore promising directions for research, policy and practice. Featuring contributions that will help the reader open up politics and power in ways that are accessible and productive and bridge the gaps with current approaches to sustainable consumption, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of sustainable consumption and the politics of sustainability.

The meaning of things is a study of the significance of material possessions in contemporary urban life, and of the ways people carve meaning out of their domestic environment. Drawing on a survey of eighty families in Chicago who were interviewed on the subject of their feelings about common household objects, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Eugene Rochberg-Halton provide a unique perspective on materialism, American culture, and the self. They begin by reviewing what social scientists and philosophers have said about the transactions between people and things. In the model of 'personhood' that the authors develop, goal-directed action and the cultivation of meaning through signs assume central importance. They then relate theoretical issues to the results of their survey. An important finding is the distinction between objects valued for action and those valued for contemplation. The authors compare families who have warm emotional attachments to their homes with those in which a common set of positive meanings is lacking, and interpret the different patterns of involvement. They then trace the cultivation of meaning in case studies of four families. Finally, the authors address what they describe as the current crisis of environmental and material exploitation, and suggest that human capacities for the creation and redirection of meaning offer the only hope for survival. A wide range of scholars - urban and family sociologists, clinical, developmental and environmental psychologists, cultural anthropologists and philosophers, and many general readers - will find this book stimulating and compelling.

This text empirically examines key theoretical debates underpinning the social sciences at the beginning of the 21st century. These include: the relations between production and consumption; and the escalation of choice and the emergence of differentiation in service provision and lifestyle orientation.

It is well-understood that the consumption of goods plays an important, symbolic role in the way human beings communicate, create identity, and establish relationships. What is less well-known is that the pattern of their flow shapes society in fundamental ways. In this book the renowned anthropologist Mary Douglas and economist Baron Isherwood overturn arguments about consumption that rely on received economic and psychological explanations. They ask new questions about why people save, why they spend, what they buy, and why they sometimes-but not always-make fine distinctions about quality. Instead of regarding consumption as a private means of satisfying one’s preferences, they show how goods are a vital information system, used by human beings to fulfill their intentions towards one another. They also consider the implications of the social role of goods for a new vision for social policy, arguing that poverty is caused as much by the erosion of local communities and networks as it is by lack of possessions, and contrast small-scale with large-scale consumption in the household. A radical rethinking of consumerism, inequality and social capital, The World of Goods is a classic of economic anthropology whose insights remain compelling and urgent. This Routledge Classics edition includes a new foreword by Richard Wilk. "Forget that commodities are good for eating, clothing, and shelter; forget their usefulness and try instead the idea that commodities are good for thinking." – Mary Douglas and Baron Isherwood

Colorful bracelets, funky brooches, and beautiful handmade beads: young crafters learn to make all these and much more with this fantastic step-by-step guide. In 12 exciting projects with simple steps and detailed instructions, budding fashionistas create their own stylish accessories to give as gifts or add a touch of personal flair to any ensemble. Following the successful "Art Smart" series, "Craft Smart" presents a fresh, fun approach to four creative skills: knitting, jewelry-making, papercrafting, and crafting with recycled objects. Each book contains 12 original projects to make, using a range of readily available materials. There are projects for boys and girls, carefully chosen to appeal to readers of all abilities. A special "techniques and materials" section encourages young crafters to try out their own ideas while learning valuable practical skills.

Consumption Corridors: Living a Good Life within Sustainable Limits explores how to enhance peoples’ chances to live a good life in a world of ecological and social limits. Rejecting familiar recitations of problems of ecological decline and planetary boundaries, this compact book instead offers a spirited explication of what everyone desires: a good life. Fundamental concepts of the good life are explained and explored, as are forces that threaten the good life for all. The remedy, says the book’s seven international authors, lies with the concept of consumption corridors, enabled by mechanisms of citizen engagement and deliberative democracy. Across five concise chapters, readers are invited into conversation about how wellbeing can be enriched by social change that joins "needs satisfaction" with consumerist restraint, social justice, and environmental sustainability. In this endeavour, lower limits of consumption that ensure minimal needs satisfaction for all are important, and enjoy ample precedent. But upper limits to consumption, argue the authors, are equally essential, and attainable, especially in those domains where limits enhance rather than undermine essential freedoms. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars in the social sciences and humanities, and environmental and sustainability studies, as well as to community activists and the general public.

This contributed volume discusses how consumer awareness of textile sustainability can lead to a more sustainable textile supply chain. From the initial purchase of a textile to its care and longevity, consumer behaviors are at the core of consumption associated with the textile industry. Making consumers aware of the environmental impacts of the clothing products they buy help them to choose the best alternative which has the lowers footprints and also enable them to help the entire textile sector to become sustainable. In addition, making them aware of environmental footprints of textile products from cradle to grave, make them aware of how best they can take care of their products during use and disposal phases and how they can help to preserve the planet with their earnest efforts to reduce the environmental impacts in their boundary, i.e. the use and disposal phases.

Examining the psychological and social drivers of unsustainable and sustainable consumption, this Concise Introduction provides an insightful overview of the causes of unsustainable consumer behaviour and the instruments and interventions needed to create a sustainable consumption pattern.