Le lien plus que le bien. Rebondissement ou mutation du système de consommation

Social Links Rather Than Solitary Consumption. A Rebound or Mutation of Consumerism
The slowing down of household consumption – if not de-consumption – is not the result of economic conditions alone, says Bernard Cova. It could be explained more fundamentally as a swing of the social pendulum, as a spirit of rebellion against the consumer society and the accumulation of objects which isolate the individual, as the emergence of a demand for social links rather than material goods.
Should we conclude that the dynamic of consumerism is definitively broken? That is not the opinion of the author. Cova shows on the contrary that the consumerism which was initially conceived as a response to the rise of individualism has been turned to the re-weaving of social links, recreating spaces of solidarity and founding new communities of exchange.
The analysis of Bernard Cova extends the work of Robert Rochefort, showing that “to consume, in a rich country, is to both satisfy a need and to give oneself pleasure”. The search for social links is far from an outright condemnation of consumerism. It contributes a new motivation and a new discriminating factor among goods, accompanied by a strong relational dimension.