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Not Just for Christmas

Advent Calendar Frank Trentmann Part 1

"There are many ways to have an ethical, green, or sustainable Christmas. If there was one thing you would want people to do every day as well, what would it be?"

"There are many ways to have an ethical, green, or sustainable Christmas. If there was one thing you would want people to do every day as well, what would it be?"

Frank Trentmann is professor of history at Birkbeck College, in the University of London. He was director of the Cultures of Consumption research programme 2002-2007, AHRC and ESRC, and is the author of Free Trade Nation: Commerce, Consumption and Civil Society in Modern Britain (OUP, 2008). Back to the NJfC Advent Calendar	"As with charity, an ethical Christmas starts at home -- but it should extend beyond one's own family and community. Similarly in everyday life, it is unhelpful to treat ethics and virtue as a local affair. This is especially important in hard times like our current situation, where it is tempting to look after one's own and forget about our reciprocal ties to those far away. So, in practical terms what does this mean. Should we stop shopping? Should we just give hand-made gifts and enter the new year with the promise of a more frugal lifestyle? The recession has prompted many commentators to attack our consuming lifestyles as responsible for a materialist spirit, environmental degradation, and a rise in unhappiness. The environmental consquences of our resource-intensive lifestyle should be worrying. But the social and ethical realities of consumption are far less selfish or unethical than many writers tend to think. We know from a lot of research how deeply consumption is implicated in building and maintaining social relations and identities. This is even true for people entering a department store. More importantly, consuming is not just or even mainly about the act of purchase. It involves making use of things. And this taps into our social imagination and makes for social actions. Of course, not all forms of consumption are equally sociable or equally ethical. Still, it is often ignored just how much of our life involves creative acts of consumption: cooking and eating together, gardening, home improvement, cuddling up with the children in front of the television, and also going shopping together. We are increasingly recognising the importance of time (as well as money) in the way we consume. In the spirit of Christmas, I would recommend taking consumption much more seriously as a practice than we sometimes do. This means for families to spend time together and to learn to enjoy processes of consumption -- such as playing a game, preparing a meal together, or to enjoy a whole film or music programme together."

Frank Trentmann is professor of history at Birkbeck College, in the University of London. He was director of the Cultures of Consumption research programme 2002-2007, AHRC and ESRC, and is the author of Free Trade Nation: Commerce, Consumption and Civil Society in Modern Britain (OUP, 2008).

Back to the NJfC Advent
Calendar

"As with charity, an ethical Christmas starts at home -- but it should extend beyond one's own family and community. Similarly in everyday life, it is unhelpful to treat ethics and virtue as a local affair. This is especially important in hard times like our current situation, where it is tempting to look after one's own and forget about our reciprocal ties to those far away.

So, in practical terms what does this mean. Should we stop shopping? Should we just give hand-made gifts and enter the new year with the promise of a more frugal lifestyle?

The recession has prompted many commentators to attack our consuming lifestyles as responsible for a materialist spirit, environmental degradation, and a rise in unhappiness. The environmental consquences of our resource-intensive lifestyle should be worrying. But the social and ethical realities of consumption are far less selfish or unethical than many writers tend to think.

We know from a lot of research how deeply consumption is implicated in building and maintaining social relations and identities. This is even true for people entering a department store. More importantly, consuming is not just or even mainly about the act of purchase. It involves making use of things. And this taps into our social imagination and makes for social actions. Of course, not all forms of consumption are equally sociable or equally ethical. Still, it is often ignored just how much of our life involves creative acts of consumption: cooking and eating together, gardening, home improvement, cuddling up with the children in front of the television, and also going shopping together.

We are increasingly recognising the importance of time (as well as money) in the way we consume. In the spirit of Christmas, I would recommend taking consumption much more seriously as a practice than we sometimes do. This means for families to spend time together and to learn to enjoy processes of consumption -- such as playing a game, preparing a meal together, or to enjoy a whole film or music programme together."

DamianSutton	Latest page update: made by DamianSutton , Dec 19 2008, 5:15 PM EST (about this update About This Update Moved from: Not Just for Christmas - DamianSutton No content added or deleted. - complete history)
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