A Sociology of Reuse
Deconstructing the Milk Bottle
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4445665 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Paul Vaughan (Cranfield University), Matthew Cook (0000-0003-2373-2127, Cranfield University), Paul Trawick (Cranfield University) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 120-134 |
| Publication date | 2007-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sociologia Ruralis (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0038-0199 • E-ISSN: 1467-9523 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-9523.2007.00432.x |
| OpenAlex | W2145993948 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 11 |
| References cited | 22 |
This article investigates the practice of reuse, the relation between individuals and objects, using as a case study the refillable glass milk bottle. Based on interviews with 22 individuals in mainly rural settings, the study aims to understand what the milk bottle means today to the many people who still use it, and what the socioeconomic and other structures are that sustain this kind of product reuse. The discussion exposes the way that reuse is about both consumption and disposal and is maintained by a web of household practices, revealing the milk bottle as both a site of resistance to supermarkets and a site for the construction of collective and individual identities. We also expose the way that the materiality of the bottle enables myth and trust to be articulated. We conclude that this reuse practice is a form of non-market mediated exchange, marking reciprocal relations of care and trust
Aesthetics · Art · Bottle · Business · Consumption (sociology) · Materiality (auditing) · Mythology · Product (mathematics) · Reciprocal · Reuse · Social science · Sociology · Waste management · Crafts, Textile, and Design · Engineering · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Marketing · Mathematics · Organic Food and Agriculture
The social life of packaging
Bottlenecks to glass return and refill in the United Kingdom
On Materiality and Meaning
Knitting an action net to reduce plastic waste
Milk in Motion
Understanding national variations in reusable packaging
The diversity of divestment in Singapore
In Goodness We Trust. The Role of Trust and Institutions Underpinning Trust in the Organic Food Market
Economy of production
The Package as an Actor in Organic Shops
Still good life
The Social Meaning of Money
The cultural biography of things
Culture and Consumption
Purity and Power
Introduction
Modernity and Self-Identity
Reassembling the Social
Sustainable Consumption
Risking the rural
Second time around
Reconciling economic and cultural explanations for participation in alternative consumption spaces
Why Do People Use Alternative Retail Channels? Some Case-study Evidence from Two English Cities
From Stilton to Vimto
Commodified Meanings, Meaningful Commodities
Fattening children or fattening farmers? School milk in Britain, 1921-19411
L'intermédiation du marché de l'occasion Échange marchand, confiance et interactions sociales
Money and the Morality of the Exchange
Money and the Morality of Exchange
Performance and Possession
Disposability and Dispossession in the Twentieth Century
Reconstructing Humants
| Unique citing works | 11 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,79 |
| Citation span | 2012 - 2025 (14) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |