What Do We Really Need? Questioning Consumption Through Sufficiency. (March 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gorge, Hélène; Herbert, Maud; Özçağlar-Toulouse, Nil; Robert, Isabelle
• Other Names: Prothero Andrea guest-editor.; McDonagh Pierre guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Journal of macromarketing. Volume 35:Number 1(2015)
• Page Start: 11
• Page End: 22
• Publication Date: 2015-03
• Subjects: sufficiency -- sustainability -- dominant social paradigm -- frugality -- downshifting -- needs -- macromarketing; Marketing -- Periodicals; Marketing -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 658.802
• DOI: 10.1177/0276146714553935
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0276-1467

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.