Re-imagining CCT for crisis times: Theorizing collaborative consumer culture

Abstract Consumer culture theory (CCT) is a pluralistic framework for understanding how consumption practices and consumer identities are embedded in socio-cultural and market systems. While CCT research has illuminated the myriad complexities of consumer culture in ways that have informed theory and practice, its anthropocentric ontology tacitly aligns with a set of institutional conditions that we term as Capitalocene consumer culture . The Capitalocene is characterized by a metaphysical belief that humanity has dominion over nature; an ideological commitment to perpetual economic growth; and an economic dependence on cheap resources. These institutional conditions are deeply implicated in our current ecological and socio-economic crises. To more effectively redress these systemic problems, we propose a parallel research trajectory that builds upon CCT’s theoretical emphasis on the contextualized interlinkages and interdependencies among culture, market logics, and consumption practices: collaborative consumer culture theory . Drawing from CCT research on alternative market systems and related interdisciplinary insights, we outline three models of resource circulation that offer conceptual tools for theorizing these collaborative (and more resilient) market-mediated relationships. We then outline some future research directions that ensue from this re-imagining of CCT and further relate it to the performative function of theory in shaping consumers’ and marketers’ practices.