Rethinking material cultures of sustainability: Commodity consumption, cultural biographies and following the thing

David M Evans

doi:10.1111/tran.12206

Abstract

This paper advances geographical perspectives on household sustainability by extending the range of insights from consumption scholarship that are brought to bear on the issue. Research that links consumption to the dynamics of variously sustainable practices currently dominate, resulting in a particular and partial reading of material culture. I suggest that geographical approaches to the social life of things may yield new insights into materiality and household sustainability. Specifically, I argue that “following the thing” – which is typically focused on commodity chains – could usefully be extended into people's homes. This is not introduced as a way to acknowledge the connections between points in a network, rather, it is positioned as a set of theoretical and methodological resources that can be utilised to explore the movement and placing of things as they move through a critical juncture – in this case the household. To illustrate, I present material drawn from two empirical studies of households in the UK. The first is an ethnographically‐informed study of how food becomes waste; the second is a quantitative survey of laundry habits. Attention is paid to the ways in which the ongoing categorisation and valuation of things shape their trajectories and move them in directions that give rise to (adverse) environmental impacts. To conclude I sketch out an agenda for future studies, consider how a focus on households can yield more comprehensive biographies of things, and address the implications of this analysis both for consumption scholarship and for engagement with sustainability research and policy beyond human geography.

Highlights

Activities that are associated with the patterning and experience of everyday life – such as cooking and eating, heating and cooling our homes, cleaning our bodies and clothing, and commuting to work – are well understood to carry significant environmental burdens
This paper brings together two strands of research – namely ‘following the thing’ and accounts of consumption that derive from theories of practice – in order to propose and illustrate a research agenda that extends geographical perspectives on household sustainability
Taking a cue from the approach developed in the food waste study, the research that informs this analysis looked beyond the washing machine in order to focus on clothing and other items and to follow their trajectories as they move through domestic spaces and regimes of value

Summary

Introduction

Activities that are associated with the patterning and experience of everyday life – such as cooking and eating, heating and cooling our homes, cleaning our bodies and clothing, and commuting to work – are well understood to carry significant environmental burdens. Taking a cue from the approach developed in the food waste study, the research that informs this analysis looked beyond the washing machine in order to focus on clothing and other items (rather than persons or energy services) and to follow their trajectories as they move through domestic spaces and regimes of value This involved an online quantitative survey of household laundry habits in the UK in 2013 in which respondents (n=1502) were asked questions about their ownership and use of different products and machines, the separation of laundry items, how and when these different items are laundered, the various tasks associated with doing the laundry, and perceptions of dirt and cleanliness. She quickly corrects him by pointing out that he ‘only puts it in the machine and presses the button’, whereas she does everything else

Findings

Discussion

Concluding remarks