Weddings as Waste
ISBN: 978-1-78190-810-5, eISBN: 978-1-78190-811-2
Publication date: 11 August 2014
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter builds on Georges Bataille’s analysis of waste as a constitutive element of social life. We argue that two separate but intertwined dimensions included in the idea of waste, waste as sacrifice and waste as competition, can enhance our understanding of the role of the lavish wedding in contemporary consumer society. We suggest four categories of waste as constitutive of the meanings of the wedding universe: pure waste, lavish waste, simulated waste and anti-waste.
Methodology
We use a combination of netnography and long interviews to explore notions of waste in Danish weddings. The netnography was conducted in a Danish wedding forum, where informants for the long interviews were also recruited among the members.
Findings
We find that the four dimensions of waste suggested in our theorization are indeed found in the way consumers plan and enact their weddings. In particular, the notion of sacrificial expenditure – what we call “pure waste” in our context – is indeed present in contemporary weddings.
Research limitations/implications
This research is undertaken in a Danish context, which represents a particular historical and cultural framing of the wedding ceremony and its types of expenditure. We encourage research in other cultural contexts to elaborate on our findings.
Originality/value of chapter
Without denying the fundamental symbolic character of consumption activities, we argue that, more generally, a Bataillean perspective on consumption and waste can further our understanding of the limits of the symbolic character in consumer research, since it underlines the more corporeal experience of certain consumption rituals.
Keywords
Citation
Strandby, K. and Askegaard, S. (2014), "Weddings as Waste", Consumer Culture Theory (Research in Consumer Behavior, Vol. 15), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 145-165. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0885-2111(2013)0000015010
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2013 Emerald Group Publishing Limited