The hedonic delights of frugality

Pound store shopping in austere times

Bibliographic Data

ID12698233
AuthorsAlison Hulme (0000-0002-2651-3520, University of Northampton, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume19
Issue4
Pages551-566
Publication date2019-09-16
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Consumer Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1469-5405 • E-ISSN: 1741-2900
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1469540519872068
OpenAlexW2974868437
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited12

This article explores the attitudes of pound store shoppers in the United Kingdom and the ways in which ‘consumptive thrift’ (spending to save) has become embedded in popular culture. Through an analysis of ethnography carried out in low-income urban areas with regular pound store shoppers, it argues that a culture of bargain seeking exists, which is unique to the current era. While in previous eras hedonic pleasures were acknowledged, including those of spontaneity and disposability, they were not dialectically linked to economic motivations in the same way as they now are. Factors such as frugality and ‘saving’ have made bargain stores a crucial feature in an economic climate that requires consumer spending but preaches individual economic responsibility. The bargain seeker’s hedonic pleasures are therefore utilized by the State as part of strategic economic pathways through straightened times

Advertising · Business · Economics · Economy · Ethnography · Frugality · Political science · Pound (networking · Sociology · Consumer Retail Behavior Studies · Law · Marketing

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