Applying the concept of ‘reflexivity’ to sociology of consumption: some proposals

Abstract

A growing number of studies on consumption patterns call to count on qualitative categories of analysis to look into the meaning of consumers’ actions and decisions, not only in their objective dimension but also in its subjective aspects. This article presents the concept of «reflexivity» as a property of individual human beings. It mediates between the subjective and objective aspects of the practices in which life styles are expressed. The individuals are reflexive when —and according to the way in which— they consider their motives and projects in relation to the sociocultural context in which they take action. Same sociocultural conditions give rise to diverse responses according to the type of reflexivity of each social agent. The paper reviews the typology of reflexive agents proposed by Archer (2007) and discusses its utility for the elaboration of a typology of consumers as social agents. This proposal is built on the conclusions of recent qualitative studies and it is compared with other theories on the meaning of consumption practices.