Learning to consume less: Can experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic trigger lifestyle transformation?

The project will explore insights and learning experiences gained by citizen-consumers from the involuntary disruption of many consumer practices caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The point of departure is the claim that humanity exceeds several of the planetary boundaries, and that excess consumption is part of this problem.

Although some citizens voluntarily try to develop new lifestyles with less consumption as goal, the prevailing social norm and practice is to reproduce patterns of mass and excess consumption. The Covid-19 crisis offers a unique opportunity to study transformative potentials triggered by the disruption.

The purpose is to contribute knowledge about new experiences and insights that people gained from an involuntary disruption from certain consumer practices, with a particular focus on the transformative possibilities to reduce excess and high climate impact consumption. What is the long-term transformative learning potential in relation to temporarily altered consumer practices?

This key research question is specified into a set of research questions connected to five themes (1) Desired objects, (2) Confirming social relations by non- or alternative consumption, (3) Temporal and spatial aspects, (4) de-normalization of mass consumption, and (5) new competences and social support.

The study has two parts: (1) a literature review including early documentation of consumer experiences (no geographic delimitation), 2) an interview study of Swedish consumers.