Geographies of Consumption

Abstract

The 1980s through the early 21st century saw a relative explosion in consumption research within geography. Geographers have explored how different spaces of consumption are produced and exist in relation to each other at scales from the global to the body. They have examined sites such as homes, gardens, spaces of first- and secondhand retailing, places of work, the Internet, and consumption in rural, urban, and First- and Third-World contexts with a particular focus on consumption as it is manifest in geographies and practices of everyday life. Efforts to understand the spatiality, sociality, and subjectivities associated with consumption have been informed by a range of theoretical perspectives and approaches, including research deriving from other disciplines such as cultural and feminist studies, political ecology, anthropology, and sociology. More recently, research has been informed by post-structural, nonrepresentational, and postcolonial practice and assemblage theories and approaches. In the late 20th century, many consumption geographers sought to overcome dichotomous constructions of production and consumption and culture and economy by attending to the connections between these spheres. Research on commodity chains and networks, sustainability, and the transnational constitution of consumption as well as on the relationship between the material and non-representational aspects of practice have further eroded such binaries. Some of these approaches have centered on following the social and spatial lives of commodities while others have focused on the identity/subjective/affective functions of consumption, including an examination of race, gender, sexuality, age, social and familial relationships, and bodies and mobilities. The socialities associated with consuming have long been studied, but, more recently, consumption has been understood in the context of wider social and/or commodity practices, such as household provisioning, work, or gifting. Commodity studies of food and apparel have been predominant, but music, health services, consumer durables, drugs, and alcohol also feature. Over time, the focus of research on consumer practices has broadened the scope of consumption research from purchase and acquisition to considering the appropriation, use, and reuse of commodities to matters of disposal and wasting. Discussions of the politics and effects of consumption on environmental/climate change have highlighted the possibilities and limitation of current consumption practices for communities, places, and the environment. A concern with these issues has meant geographers are well placed to contribute to debates on the governance and implementation of more sustainable futures.