Consume Less and Be Happy? Consume Less to Be Happy! An Introduction to the Special Issue on Anti‐Consumption and Consumer Well‐Being

Abstract

In the last two decades of the new millennium, we have seen consumer well-being affected in two vastly opposing ways. On one hand, we see an ever-increasing conglomeration of corporations, leading to larger, more ubiquitous, and hegemonic companies--often resulting in a reduction of consumer On the other hand, with the advent of Web 2.0, ever-improving mobile technology, the increasing use and proliferation of social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and numerous consumer advocacy and review websites, we see an augmentation of consumers' abilities to fight back, and in many cases, increase their These two diametrically opposing developments (larger and more powerful companies versus increasingly empowered and connected consumers) are in a constant battle, and consumer well-being is the issue at the core. BACKGROUND In this special issue of the Journal of Consumer Affairs, we suggest as one lens by which scholars, practitioners, and policymakers can look at these current and ongoing events. Anti-consumption centers on the reasons against consumption (Chatzidakis and Lee 2012; Lee et al. 2011); relevant topics include, but are not limited to: boycotting, consumer resistance, activism, culture jamming, dissatisfaction, complaining behavior, undesired self, organizational disidentification, voluntary simplification, and brand avoidance. When consumer well-being is negatively impacted by markets, corporations, or brands, may occur as one consequence. Likewise, when instances of occur, researchers should look at the possible causes from the consumers' points of view. To provide a forum for researchers to discuss the relationship between consumer well-being and anti-consumption, the 5th ICAR (International Centre of Anti-Consumption Research) Symposium was hosted by the University of Kiel, Germany, on July 4-5, 2014 with the theme of anti-consumption and consumer well-being. A number of the papers in this special issue were first presented and discussed at this lively and stimulating meeting. It is heartening to see that they were improved by the subsequent double-blind review process and are now published in the Journal of Consumer Affairs, the premier journal devoted to peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary research on the interests of consumers in the marketplace. A CATEGORIZING FRAMEWORK The papers included in this special issue cover a wide spectrum of specific research questions centered on the relationship between and consumer It is apparent that there are several dominant perspectives. While some papers put a special focus on one or many forms of anti-consumption, other papers contrast practices with aspects of excessive consumption, over-consumption, and materialism. With regard to well-being, the second major concept in this special issue, some papers focus on well-being on a micro level (including happiness, life satisfaction, and subjective and objective well-being), others focus on well-being on a macro level (including societal, environmental, and political issues), and others yet focus on both. Therefore, we categorize the papers in this issue according to (anti- vs. over)consumption and (micro vs. macro) well-being (Figure 1). For example, Cherrier's article contrasts the micromotivations of nudists against the macroexcessive consumption of fashion by mainstream society, while Amos et al.'s paper contrasts the macrolevel of environmentalists with the macrolevel motivations for anti-environmentalism. In contrast, Cova and D'Antone's paper explores the tensions that occur when consumers love a brand at the micro level, but due to macrolevel of the same environmentally damaging brand, they begin to hate that brand from their own microperspective. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] As will become apparent when reading this special issue, there is a multitude of ways in which and well-being can be combined and interrelated. …