Frugality is the quality of being frugal, sparing, thrifty, prudent, or economical in the consumption of resources such as food, time or money, and avoiding waste, lavishness or extravagance. [2]
In behavioral science, frugality has been defined as the tendency to acquire goods and services in a restrained manner, and resourceful use of already-owned economic goods and services, to achieve a longer term goal. [3]
Common techniques of frugality include reduction of waste, curbing costly habits, suppressing instant gratification by means of fiscal self-restraint, seeking efficiency, avoiding traps, defying expensive social norms, detecting and avoiding manipulative advertising, embracing cost-free options, using barter, and staying well-informed about local circumstances and both market and product/service realities.
Frugality may contribute to health by leading people to avoid products that are both expensive and unhealthy when used to excess. [4] Frugal living is practiced by those who aim to cut expenses, have more money, and get the most they possibly can from their money. [5]
American Colonial Period (17th and 18th centuries): Frugality was intertwined with moral and religious values among the population of Puritan and Quaker settlers in American society. [6] [7] They emphasized the virtues of productive work for the benefit of society and frowned upon unnecessary consumption. [6] Laws were enacted in colonies like Massachusetts and Pennsylvania to regulate extravagant spending, [8] reflecting the religious belief that individuals should not indulge in luxurious living. [9] The Great Awakening religious revival of the 1730s emphasized the virtues of simple living, and further reinforced the importance of frugality. [10] A shift towards consumerism began to emerge as the century progressed. [9] Colonists began acquiring imported luxury goods and amassing debts with the British. [9] This can be considered the start of consumerist desire in America, and lead to the gradual departure from frugality.
Antebellum Period (early 19th century): The United States experienced significant economic growth and social change during the Antebellum Period, [11] which influenced frugality discourses in various ways. [9] Middle-class women played an increasingly active role in making household purchases. [12] [9] Figures like Lyman Beecher preached the conservative and moralistic messages of Christian simplicity which mirrored Puritan ideals of frugality. [13] [9] Concerns about materialism undermining social order were widespread including ministers' sermon's warnings against luxury and excess. [14] [9] Retailers like Alexander Turney Stewart experimented with the concept of department stores [15] and larger-scale merchandising formats began to emerge. [9] Consumer culture started growing as distribution methods improved and advertising became more advanced. [9] The Antebellum Period was a transitional phase in American consumer culture, where traditional values of frugality coexisted with consumerism.
During the Gilded Age (in the late 19th century), a notable critique emerged of excessive consumption and the glaring wealth disparity prevalent in society. [16] In the Gilded Age, characterized by industrialization and urbanization, consumer culture flourished with aggressive advertising and the feminization of shopping spaces. Thorstein Veblen's critique in "Theory of the Leisure Class" highlighted conspicuous consumption as a means of social distinction, while authors like Edith Wharton and Charles Wagner advocated for a simplified life amidst growing materialism. John Wanamaker's embrace of simplicity, despite his wealth, exemplified the paradox of promoting frugality while profiting from consumerism in ornate department stores. [9]
In World War I (the early 20th century), the ethos of conservation and thrift gained further traction, especially during World War I (Hauerwas, "War and the American Difference: Theological Reflections on Violence and National Identity"). [17] Government s and organization s promoted these values as essential for supporting the war effort and ensuring resources were allocated efficiently. Citizens were encouraged to practice frugality through rationing programs and voluntary austerity measures to conserve supplies for troop s abroad. [18] In the early 20th century, frugality gained prominence in the U.S, spurred by events like World War I and the Great Depression. Figures like Stuart Chase promoted thrift as a patriotic duty, leading to the National Thrift Movement. The 1930s saw a populist backlash against excess, with media and advertising promoting controlled consumption amid economic hardship. Despite fears of consumerism's collapse, ingrained habits persisted, reflecting the enduring tension between aspiration and austerity in American society. [9]
During World War II (September, 1 1939 - September 2, 1945), the United States government launched poster campaigns which promoted frugality to American consumers, which included advocations for thrifty behavior, recycling, adherence to price controls and rationing laws, and more. Posters promoted conservation efforts such as saving gasoline and automobile tires and encouraged Americans to recycle materials such as tin cans and waste fats for ammunition and explosives. [19] Commercial advertising at this time also incorporated frugality appeals. Companies such as Texaco, the American Gas Association, and the Bell Telephone System encouraged responsible consumption and energy-saving behavior. Newspapers, magazines, and private companies were also promoting frugal consumption, encouraging Americans to practice behaviors to conserve food such as meal planning and home canning. [20] As a result of the promotion of conservation efforts, Americans responded by recycling 538 million pounds of waste fats, 23 million tons of paper, 800 million pounds of tin, and planting 50 million victory gardens. [21] Due to increased military spending, consumers faced shortages and restrictions on goods as a result of resource redirection for raw materials and production. [9] Frugality became a major topic in public discourse during this period of time. Most Americans accepted the limitations placed on private consumption during World War II. Following the war, there was a rapid transition from frugal consumption to consumerism as a result of economic barriers disappearing, leading to economic expansion.
Late 20th century (1970s): The rapid change of technology during this time changed the way consumerism was perceived. [22] With the emergence of new products the realm of luxury items changed from handbags and luxury cars to electronics, computers, the internet and social media. [22] Consumers began to reimagine society through an environmental lens when the National Science and Technology Policy Organization and Priorities Act of 1976 was passed, it pushed for the frugal use of resources for the future development of technologies. [23] Consumers changed the way they searched for products by implementing the concept of thrifting, through this expression environmental movements were able to gain momentum. [23] The economic shift from mainstream items to thrifting gave consumers a place to separate from the pressure of social stratification. [22] The thrift industry during the late 20th century emphasized the need of systemic savings and mutual savings across social classes. [23] In 1987 the concept of thrifting began to slowly decline as the consumer market began too slowly evolve with the creation of new technologies. [23] Frugality within the American society declined as a result, with the concepts of energy frugal and material frugalness being the only to be adapted into our society. [23] The reshaping of consumerism was driven by the advancement of technology. [24]
In the context of some belief systems, frugality is a philosophy in which one does not trust (or is deeply wary of) "expert" knowledge from commercial markets or corporate cultures, claiming to know what is in the best economic, material, or spiritual interests of the individual. [25]
Different spiritual communities consider frugality to be a virtue or a spiritual discipline. [26] The Religious Society of Friends and the Puritans are examples of such groups. [27] The philosophy behind this is that people ought to save money in order to allocate it to more charitable purposes, such as helping others in need. [28]
Benjamin Franklin paired frugality with industry as the key virtues for financial security: "[W]aste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both. Without industry and frugality nothing will do, and with them everything." [29] Cicero agreed, arguing that "men don’t understand how great a revenue sparingness is." [30]
There are also environmentalists who consider frugality to be a virtue [31] through which humans can make use of their ancestral skills as hunter-gatherers, carrying little and needing little, and finding meaning in nature instead of man-made conventions or religion. Henry David Thoreau expressed a similar philosophy in Walden , with his zest for self-reliance and minimal possessions while living simply in the woods. [32] Degrowth movement advocates use the term "frugal abundance" to denote the enjoyment of a simple, yet culturally, emotionally and spiritually rich, life through which one’s necessities are achieved through collective sufficiency respecting the Earth’s limits. [33]
Frugality has been adopted as a strategic imperative by large enterprises as a means of cost reduction through engendering a philosophy of careful spending amongst the workforce. [34] Cost reduction is often perceived negatively, be it within a corporate organisation or in society, so inviting each employee to embrace frugality transfers the burden of cost reduction from management to the employee. In doing so, corporations introduce a moral obligation to cost cutting, proposing that careful management of costs is in the company, shareholder, and employee's best interests. [35]
Thorstein Bunde Veblen was an American economist and sociologist who, during his lifetime, emerged as a well-known critic of capitalism.
Consumerism is a social and economic order in which the aspirations of many individuals include the acquisition of goods and services beyond those necessary for survival or traditional displays of status. It emerged in Western Europe before the Industrial Revolution and became widespread around 1900. In economics, consumerism refers to policies that emphasize consumption. It is the consideration that the free choice of consumers should strongly orient the choice by manufacturers of what is produced and how, and therefore orient the economic organization of a society. Consumerism has been criticized by both individuals who choose other ways of participating in the economy and environmentalists concerned about its impact on the planet. Experts often assert that consumerism has physical limits, such as growth imperative and overconsumption, which have larger impacts on the environment. This includes direct effects like overexploitation of natural resources or large amounts of waste from disposable goods and significant effects like climate change. Similarly, some research and criticism focuses on the sociological effects of consumerism, such as reinforcement of class barriers and creation of inequalities.
In sociology and in economics, the term conspicuous consumption describes and explains the consumer practice of buying and using goods of a higher quality, price, or in greater quantity than practical. In 1899, the sociologist Thorstein Veblen coined the term conspicuous consumption to explain the spending of money on and the acquiring of luxury commodities specifically as a public display of economic power—the income and the accumulated wealth—of the buyer. To the conspicuous consumer, the public display of discretionary income is an economic means of either attaining or of maintaining a given social status.
Overconsumption describes a situation where a consumer overuses their available goods and services to where they can't, or don't want to, replenish or reuse them. In microeconomics, this may be described as the point where the marginal cost of a consumer is greater than their marginal utility. The term overconsumption is quite controversial in use and does not necessarily have a single unifying definition. When used to refer to natural resources to the point where the environment is negatively affected, it is synonymous with the term overexploitation. However, when used in the broader economic sense, overconsumption can refer to all types of goods and services, including manmade ones, e.g. "the overconsumption of alcohol can lead to alcohol poisoning". Overconsumption is driven by several factors of the current global economy, including forces like consumerism, planned obsolescence, economic materialism, and other unsustainable business models and can be contrasted with sustainable consumption.
A Veblen good is a type of luxury good, named after American economist Thorstein Veblen, for which the demand increases as the price increases, in apparent contradiction of the law of demand, resulting in an upward-sloping demand curve. The higher prices of Veblen goods may make them desirable as a status symbol in the practices of conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure. A product may be a Veblen good because it is a positional good, something few others can own.
Ethical consumerism is a type of consumer activism based on the concept of dollar voting. People practice it by buying ethically made products that support small-scale manufacturers or local artisans and protect animals and the environment, while boycotting products that exploit children as workers, are tested on animals, or damage the environment.
The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions (1899), by Thorstein Veblen, is a treatise of economics and sociology, and a critique of conspicuous consumption as a function of social class and of consumerism, which are social activities derived from the social stratification of people and the division of labor; the social institutions of the feudal period that have continued to the modern era.
Underconsumption is a theory in economics that recessions and stagnation arise from an inadequate consumer demand, relative to the amount produced. In other words, there is a problem of overproduction and overinvestment during a demand crisis. The theory formed the basis for the development of Keynesian economics and the theory of aggregate demand after the 1930s.
The throw-away society is a generalised description of human social concept strongly influenced by consumerism, whereby the society tends to use items once only, from disposable packaging, and consumer products are not designed for reuse or lifetime use. The term describes a critical view of overconsumption and excessive production of short-lived or disposable items over durable goods that can be repaired, but at its origins, it was viewed as a positive attribute.
In the field of consumer behavior, an impulse purchase or impulse buying is an unplanned decision by a consumer to buy a product or service, made just before a purchase. One who tends to make such purchases is referred to as an impulse purchaser, impulse buyer, or compulsive buyer. Research findings suggest that emotions, feelings, and attitudes play a decisive role in purchasing, triggered by seeing the product or upon exposure to a well crafted promotional message.
Vintage clothing is a generic term for garments originating from a previous era, as recent as the 1990s. The term can also be applied in reference to second-hand retail outlets, e.g. in vintage clothing store. While the concept originated during World War I as a response to textile shortages, vintage dressing encompasses choosing accessories, mixing vintage garments with new, as well as creating an ensemble of various styles and periods. Vintage clothes typically sell at low prices for high-end name brands.
Anti-consumerism is a sociopolitical ideology that is opposed to consumerism, the continual buying and consuming of material possessions. Anti-consumerism is concerned with the private actions of business corporations in pursuit of financial and economic goals at the expense of the public welfare, especially in matters of environmental protection, social stratification, and ethics in the governing of a society. In politics, anti-consumerism overlaps with environmental activism, anti-globalization, and animal-rights activism; moreover, a conceptual variation of anti-consumerism is post-consumerism, living in a material way that transcends consumerism.
Sustainability advertising is communications geared towards promoting social, economic and environmental benefits (sustainability) of products, services or actions through paid advertising in media in order to encourage responsible behavior of consumers.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the human self:
A brand community is a concept in marketing and consumer research which postulates that human beings form communities on the basis of attachment to a brand or marque. A brand community refers to structured social relationships in which participants share admiration and connection of a brand that they experience through shared rituals, traditions and a sense of responsibility towards other members. The term often refers to the intersection between brand, individual identity and culture.
Sustainable consumption is the use of products and services in ways that minimizes impacts on the environment.
Consumer socialization is the process by which young people acquire skills, knowledge and attitudes relevant to their functioning as consumers in the marketplace. It has been argued, however, that consumer socialization occurs in the adult years as well. This field of study is a subdivision of consumer behavior as its main focus is on how childhood and adolescent experiences affect future consumer behavior. It attempts to understand how factors such as peers, mass media, family, gender, race, and culture play an influence in developing customer behavior.
Consumer culture theory (CCT) is the study of consumption from a social and cultural point of view, as opposed to an economic or psychological one.
Theories of consumption have been a part of the field of sociology since its earliest days, dating back, at least implicitly, to the work of Karl Marx in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. Sociologists view consumption as central to everyday life, identity and social order. Many sociologists associate it with social class, identity, group membership, age and stratification as it plays a huge part in modernity. Thorstein Veblen's (1899) The Theory of the Leisure Class is generally seen as the first major theoretical work to take consumption as its primary focus. Despite these early roots, research on consumption began in earnest in the second half of the twentieth century in Europe, especially Great Britain. Interest in the topic among mainstream US sociologists was much slower to develop and it is still not a focal concern of many American sociologists. Efforts are currently underway to form a section in the American Sociological Association devoted to the study of consumption.
Thomas O’Guinn is an American marketing professor and an expert in the area of branding and the sociology of consumer behavior, including how viewers create distorted views of consumption behavior and other consumers through media viewing. He co-founded the work on compulsive buying with Ronald J. Faber. He and Robin Tanner and Aerum Maeng were the first to demonstrate that consumers infer social class, income, and the worth of an object for sale simply by the level of crowding or social density in a store. He is the, Irwin Maier Distinguished Chair in Business and Professor of Marketing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also has an appointment in sociology at UW.
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