Moving Into the Woods: Finding Meanings Through Sacrifice

The informants for this study shifted from living and consuming the urban life to living in remote places where consumer culture is not as prevalent. In the process, they have reduced their consumption to a bare minimum, aiming toward a simple and sustainable lifestyle. The analysis shows that reducing consumption can be conceptualized as a sacrifice which 1) offers the means for cleansing the sacrifier of his/her guilt and 2) can lead to a meaningful existence when experienced with others. Additionally, this study notes that the challenges, conflicts and comprises experienced in altering consumption lifestyle are mostly expressed in terms of weak social ties and feelings of loneliness. The research lends support for three observations: sacrifice can be liberating and emancipating, individual and private emancipatory practices are temporary, and one can reject only by embracing something greater (Kozinets 2002; Kozinets & Handelman 2004).

Citation:

Helene Cherrier (2011) ,"Moving Into the Woods: Finding Meanings Through Sacrifice", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Alan Bradshaw, Chris Hackley, and Pauline Maclaran, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 1.