Escape from Burdens of Ownership to Freedom of Access: A Conceptual Framework for Liquid Consumption
Tuğba ÖzbölükSahipliğin Sıkıcılığından Erişimin Özgürlüğüne Kaçış: Akışkan Tüketime İlişkin Kavramsal Bir Çerçeve
Tuğba ÖzbölükConditions which were valid in solid modernity like consuming more as a means for becoming superior to others, and possessing more as a means to conspicuous consumption are gradually disappearing in liquid modern times. Today consumption has become more communal, collaborative and depends more on accessing goods and services. The idea of having possessions has left its place to access with liquid consumption. In liquid consumption instead of buying or possessing, consumers pay for their access to things as accessing to goods and services becomes more common than owning them. Access which plays an important part in the everyday life of consumers, is a kind of consumption in which an increasing number of consumers prefer to temporarily use the products and services for a certain period instead of purchasing them. Although access becomes widespread all over the world, liquid consumption has received relatively little attention from researchers. Therefore, the liquid consumption concept will be more understandable as the research in this area increases in quality and quantity.
Accordingly, this paper evaluates liquid consumption in terms of the changes in consumer behavior in liquid modern times. The study consists of four chapters not including the introduction and conclusion sections. The introduction section associates the liquid consumption with liquid modernity. It is argued that with liquid modernity, the consumer becomes the individual who avoids developing permanent and solid social ties that require responsibility. The consumer seeks happiness in a constantly changing liquid culture where solidity gave its place to flexibility, and certainty gave its place to relativity and uncertainty. It is also argued that consumers develop more ephemeral relations with consumption objects rather than attaching them. Developing ephemeral relationships with objects makes it possible to constantly access and consume new objects in liquid consumption. Thus, the search for status of the consumer can no longer be achieved by having a product or a brand, but rather with more ephemeral and situational experiences. This means, consumers identify themselves with their temporary consumption experiences rather than their possessions.
Following the introduction, the first chapter focuses on the theoretical background of liquid consumption by examining Bauman’s liquid modernity theory in terms of instrumentality, individuality, risk and uncertainty, and fragmentation of social life and identity. The second chapter offers a broader understanding of liquid consumption by redefining the notion of consumption in liquid modern times. The chapter argues that immateriality of consumption, and more access-based and ephemeral relationships with objects all provide a basis for liquid consumption. The transition from ownership to access, and the spread of access all over the world shows that consumers attach more importance to accessing things than having possessions. Moreover, liquid consumption is also characterized with immateriality that is a feature of the digital environment in which consumer can freely move from one identity to another. The chapter also argues that immaterial experiences gradually become more important for consumers than consuming material goods.
The third chapter introduces dimensions of consumption as liquid and solid. In this chapter, solid consumption and liquid consumption is compared in the product and consumption practices level. The chapter argues that in liquid modern world that is dominated with ephemerality and flexibility, a more liquid/fluid form of consumption has emerged. This liquid form of consumption represents a consumption orientation around values of flexibility, mobility and detachment which provides an alternative to solid consumption that is enduring, ownership based and materialist.
The fourth chapter revisits identity and consumption relation in liquid modernity. Liquid consumption has also some implications for researching consumer identity. However, consumer identity under liquid conditions has not been adequately researched. Therefore, this chapter attempts to answer how consumer identity is transformed with liquid consumption in liquid modern conditions. The chapter argues that in liquid modern times, consumer identity has become more liquid as the objects that consumers value are not long-lasting and constantly changing. This makes attachment to possessions more problematic with liquid identity projects. Thus, contrary to ownership where solid relationships are developed with possessions, access becomes a more temporary form of consumption that provides flexibility and adaptability to liquid consumer identity.
The conclusion section evaluates liquid consumption by offering a deeper understanding of consumer object relationships in liquid modernity. In this section, it is pointed out that liquid consumption has dramatically altered the consumer behavior. In last decade consumers who were identifying themselves with the consumption objects they own, now express their identity through accessing, sharing or collaborating with almost no possessions. This means, what we experience is becoming more important than what we have in defining ourselves in a world where ownership is no longer the ultimate expression of consumer desire. This may also implicate that there may be an increase in the consumption of access-based goods and services in the near future.
