From Conspicuous Consumption to Solidarity Consumption: Literature Review

Abstract

In high consumption societies, the so-called “traditional” consumption model is in crisis. It advocates ownership at the detriment of use and sharing, and it does not correlate with the specificity of the present time: major ecological challenges, unprecedented health, socio-economic crisis, and the rise of resistance to “mass consumption." This article attempts to analyze the decline of the “traditional” consumption model through consumption history, and it highlights different perspectives in the existing body of the literature with respect to the origin of solidarity consumption, and its genesis more particularly in the outbreak of COVID-19. The present article also analyzes the role of collaborative consumption in this process.