Downshifting Consumer = Upshifting Citizen? An Examination of a Local Freecycle Community

Michelle R. Nelson, Mark A. Rademacher and Hye-Jin Paek
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Michelle R. Nelson: Department of Advertising at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Mark A. Rademacher: School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
Hye-Jin Paek: Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2007, vol. 611, issue 1, 141-156

Abstract: Critics suggest that contemporary consumer culture creates overworked and overshopped consumers who no longer engage in civic life. The authors challenge this conventional criticism against consumption within an individualistic lifestyle and argue instead that consumers who are “downshifting†do engage in civic life. In particular, this research examines downshifting attitudes among members of freecycle.org, a grassroots “gift economy†community. Results of an online survey show that downshifting consumers are indeed less materialistic and brand-conscious. They also tend to practice political consumption (e.g., boycotts, buycotts). Most important, they tend to engage in a digital form, but not a traditional form, of civic and political participation. The authors contend that alternative forms of consumption might be a new form of civic engagement.

Keywords: downshifting; Web community; civic engagement; political consumption; materialism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:611:y:2007:i:1:p:141-156

DOI: 10.1177/0002716206298727

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