“One Less Car”

Abstract

This article examines a counter-hegemonic movement in a developing economy and its participants’ meanings, beliefs, and practices related to consumer resistance and sustainable consumption. The authors first discuss how participants share meanings connected to urban mobility, the intrinsic connection of objects such as bicycles to their identities, and the symbolic nature of these objects. The authors then discuss the participants’ beliefs regarding ideologies of consumption and consumerism as well as their political and social demands and criticism. Finally, their consumption habits are examined and explained at the individual and collective levels. Sustainability is the main influence on their cycling activities and is symbolized in the bicycle as an object. The hedonic side of sustainable consumption is expressed in their shared practices, and their actions are already affecting the city’s policy-making and sustainability initiatives.