Rethinking structure in modalities of consumption: case of an alternative model in south India
Student name: Mr Sahil Patni
Guide: Dr L N Venkataraman
Year of completion: 2017
Host Organisation: earth&us, Auroville
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Mr Minhaj Ameen
Abstract: Collaborative consumption is a contested term (Belk, 2010) that fits seemingly well
within two spheres of human cooperation. One is based in a self-interested
economistic exchange, most often found in marketplace transactions. The other
concerns fairness, reciprocity and deeply rooted individual values, most often found
in family exchanges. The sharing economy discourse is split across these two
spheres, which implicates future pathways for new models such as the Library of
Things (LoT). In an attempt to understand how certain practices align with family-
like exchanges as opposed to ones in the market, Schwartz’s Theory of Individual
Values (Schwartz, 1992) 1 is leveraged within Social Practice Theory to understand
the role of values in shaping the self-ish/less nature of practices. The research
explores the value-shifts in the dimension of human agency by studying how
engagement in collaborative consumption practices (CCP) contrasts between family
and non-family exchanges. Using qualitative approach, the Study evaluates the
interaction between an individual’s power-resources value and the collaborative
practices they engage in. As this is exploratory in nature, it examines the potential
role of value in enriching collaborative experiences among people. The Study
highlights three key areas of concern in replicating the ideal type of family sharing,
outside the family. One, conceptualization of the ‘self’ as extended would increase
the individual’s access to resources for intermittent use, thereby increasing their
sphere of self-sufficiency. Two, the notion of consumption is mediated by
in/convenience experienced while using alternative modalities of consumption, such
as borrowing. Three, characteristics of things such as their financial value, appears
to trump matters of values or convenience. These findings are assessed against the
market-structured option of sole-ownership, which often equated to the rhetoric of
hyper-consumption. This Study posits that understanding how human agency
interacts within alternative structures of collaborative consumption, can highlight
possibilities for sustainable modalities of consumption.
Keywords: Collaborative consumption; sharing economy; library of things;
sustainable consumption; individual values.
