ABSTRACT
With the rise of individualism and modernism, a strict divide appeared between consumption and production so that individuals ended up confined to passive consumer roles. Concomitantly, postmodernism and a renewed sense of community fostered by digital channels such as websites, apps, platforms and social media blurred that distinction. With hybridized forms of exchange intertwining consumption and production/distribution, individuals reclaimed a more active stance that is also more meaningful. This chapter delves deeper into that process and its implications for sustainability. The text opens with an introduction outlining the historical evolution from modernism to postmodernism and the changes incurred by marketing over that period. After discussing the modernism-postmodernism divide, the text introduces the opposition between individualism and collective approaches to life and consumption. This serves as conceptual foundations to the subsequent discussion on the collaborative economy and its counterpart collaborative consumption. Both approaches are then connected to the broader concept of the circular economy (or circularity in the economy) to demonstrate the relevant link between renewed forms of consumption and sustainability. With the acknowledgement of consumers’ greater diversity of roles, the last section outlines the rise of the creator economy and creative consumption before wrapping up with a conclusion.
