ABSTRACT
The purposes of this chapter are to consider the effects of the ideology of consumption on our environment and offer a research agenda for Transformative Consumer Research (TCR) to address the impact of consumption on the environment. While we generally accept that consumer behaviors reflect attitudes, preferences, and experiences, there is a deeper, more fundamental driver of behavior as well: consumption as a cultural imperative, or what we will call the ideology of consumption (see also Mick, 2003). In many ways, consumption ideology—our beliefs about the necessity of consumption in our lives and our culture—affects when, where, how consciously and mindfully, and (most importantly) how much we consume, just as attitudes and preferences affect our choices among alternatives. What distinguishes attitudes from these deeper convictions is that while the attitudes vary among individuals, consumption ideology is held collectively. These deeper convictions constitute the dominant social paradigm (DSP; Kilbourne, McDonagh, & Prothero, 1997; McDonagh, Dobscha, & Prothero, Chapter 13 of this volume) that sets the tone and context for consumption. If TCR is to make a difference in the long-term sustainability of the environment, it must address the antecedents and consequences of consumption as a cultural orientation, just as it addresses other important issues of consumer welfare. As such, it must, at this level at least, adopt a critical stance in exposing the ideology as ideology, which is one of the critical foci of TCR.
