Daily practices, consumption and citizenship

An Acad Bras Cienc. 2011 Dec;83(4):1481-92. doi: 10.1590/s0001-37652011005000043. Epub 2011 Oct 21.

Abstract

This paper promotes a reflection on the relationship between daily practices and consumption. Understanding how conflicts, resistance and consensus are generated from daily consumption practices opens up possibilities for reflecting on the construction of sustainability in the context of diversity, one of the landmarks of the globalized world. Within this socio-cultural context, the central issue is: can consumption generate citizenship practices? The concepts of subject and agent help one think about collective action and subjectivation processes and their interferences on the collective consuming behavior. Based on empirical data from a research carried out in the municipality of Estrela in 2007, in the Taquari Valley - Rio Grande do Sul (Southern Brazil) on local reality consumption practices, it was possible to conclude that various reasoning mechanisms and values underlie the daily consumption practices. Citizenship construction, based on consumption practices, depends on the subject's reflection capacity on his/her daily practices or on what goes through the circulation of environmental information based on sociability spaces.

MeSH terms

  • Attitude*
  • Brazil
  • Commerce*
  • Concept Formation*
  • Cultural Characteristics
  • Environment*
  • Humans
  • Social Behavior*