Abstract
Minimalism has become a lifestyle choice for consumers from various cultural backgrounds who are deliberately rejecting the consumerist narratives that drive market-driven lifestyles. This chapter aims to provide a comprehensive review of growing trends in minimalism, emphasizing the defining traits of minimalists, the historical origins of minimalism, and the potential risks it poses to deindustrialization. A bibliographic review method is used to address the interconnected concepts within the specified objectives. The study illuminates the global shift in consumer behaviour by examining the increasing embrace of minimalism in different consumer sectors of the economy. The authors highlight the disruptive capacity of minimalism in various industries and recommend further research to plan a systematic degrowth of unsustainable products and match it with the emerging demand for a minimalism-driven lifestyle. In summary, this chapter emphasizes the potential connections among minimalism, health and wellbeing, and environmental sustainability.
TopMinimalism And Minimalists
Minimalism means “embracing the simple life.” It is not something new but prevalent in different nations for centuries, rather, it has gained attention only when it began as an art movement in Western countries. It has transitioned from an art movement to a consumption lifestyle. As the number of minimalists are increasing worldwide, it has garnered the attention of academic researchers. The globalization has connected the nations like never before. So, even if there were a small number of minimalists in one country, they can connect to others in different countries through the Internet, and social media. Moreover, minimalists are not just limited to themselves they influence others through sharing blogpost, organizing webinars to cause awareness among the masses (Wilsonm, 2020). This lifestyle movement has the potential to become global community movement in future that may change the way industries are working today. Minimalists prefer quality over quantity. Eco-Minimalists share the concern for the planet and restrict purchases to goods not harming the planet in any way. So, the industries now need to respond to these changes. They may turn this as an opportunity by aligning their products and business models as per the values of minimalism. Otherwise, they may fail in the long run. So, we tried to explore if minimalism has the potential to become an emergent force behind deindustrialization.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Deindustrialization: The process by which the economy of a nation or region, through the elimination or reduction of industrial capacity or activity, especially heavy industry or manufacturing, causes social and economic change.
Industrialization: The process by which the economy of a nation or region shifts from a focus primarily on agricultural production to mass-produced, technologically advanced goods and services.
Voluntary Simplicity: The lifestyle that rejects high consumer culture, discards a materialistic lifestyle, and minimizes the pursuit of wealth for its own sake in favour of practices that promote simplicity in lifestyle. Voluntary simplicity practices include reducing the number of possessions one owns, relying less on technology and services, and spending less money.
Consumerism: The lifestyle guided by a growing propensity to consume, generally superfluous goods or services, due to their symbolic meaning.
Counter-Consumerism: Opposed to consumerism, it advocates the reduction of excessive and continuous purchase and consumption of material goods.
Well-Being Orientation: Orientation that promotes the state of being healthy, happy, and comfortable, both physically and mentally.
Minimalism: The lifestyle that requires the possession of fewer material goods. Individuals with this lifestyle intentionally live with fewer possessions, focus only on those they need, and avoid the acquire, consume, buy mentality that more is better.