The “Fake It Till We Make It” Path to a Shared, Sustainable Society

Abstract

This chapter provides the conceptual foundations, and focuses on the contributions and limitations of prior work on sharing, contamination, re-acquisition and shared self that underpin the proposed conceptual model of circular consumption. Distinguishing between sharing within interpersonal networks and sharing with strangers is important to our discussion of shaping a more sustainable society. Sharing is the non-reciprocal, pro-social distribution of resources given without expectation of reciprocity. Contamination is the intentional or unintentional transfer of essence by a source to a recipient through actual or perceived contact. It is important to note that sharing and the resultant perceptions of contamination vary across cultures and can reflect cultural differences. Re-acquisition refers to acquiring an object that has been discarded by another. People tend to attribute additional commonalities to a shared self and to place increased trust in those with whom they share commonalities.