What Do We Really Need? Questioning Consumption Through Sufficiency

Hélène Gorge (), Maud Herbert (), Nil Özçağlar-Toulouse and Isabelle Robert
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Hélène Gorge: LUMEN - Lille University Management Lab - ULR 4999 - Université de Lille
Maud Herbert: IMMD - Institut du Marketing et du Management de la Distribution
Isabelle Robert: IMMD - Institut du Marketing et du Management de la Distribution

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Abstract: This article introduces the concept of sufficiency, its specific dual nature (voluntary and obligatory), and its collective implications to the literature on sustainability. Sufficiency implies a reorganization of consumption priorities and is introduced by a discussion of consumerism and the dominant social paradigm. Long interviews with sufficient people show the complexity of the construct, which creates semantic oppositions around the notion of having (everything vs. nothing and not nothing vs. not everything). After a semiotic analysis of people's interpretation of sufficiency, we propose a reflection about the use of macromarketing tools to better enhance and enact sufficiency in a collective way.

Date: 2015-03
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Published in Journal of Macromarketing, 2015, 35 (1), pp.11-22. ⟨10.1177/0276146714553935⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04213034

DOI: 10.1177/0276146714553935

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