Paddy Dolan
Journal of Macromarketing 2002 22: 170
DOI: 10.1177/0276146702238220
The online version of this article can be found at: http://jmk.sagepub.com/content/22/2/170 Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com On behalf of:
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JOURNAL OF MACROMARKETING
DECEMBER 2002
GLOBAL POLICY AND ENVIRONMENT
The Sustainability of “Sustainable Consumption”
Paddy Dolan
This article examines the limitations of the concept of sustainable consumption in terms of the inadequate attention given to the social, cultural, and historical contextualization of consumption. The author argues that macromarketing should adopt modes of inquiry that fully engage with this contextualization. The implicit assumptions of sustainable consumption center on the rational individual and his or her needs and wants, and neglect the significance of consumption practices as embodying the relations between individuals.
Acts of consumption are not in opposition to, and prior to, macro structures and processes; they are macro processes at work. Consumer practices are cultural and social practices that have historically developed and are manifestations of local and global linkages of social interdependencies. To continually look at the consumer as the cause of the ecological problem effectively decontextualizes consumption from such
Citations: http://jmk.sagepub.com/content/22/2/170.refs.html >> Version of Record - Dec 1, 2002 What is This? Downloaded from jmk.sagepub.com at Freie Universitaet Berlin on March 4, 2014 Downloaded from jmk.sagepub.com at Freie Universitaet Berlin on March 4, 2014 JOURNAL OF MACROMARKETING