Beyond households: discovering the collective consumer

Panel: Panel 6. Dynamics of consumption

Author:
Corinna Fischer, Forschungsstelle für Umweltpolitik

Abstract

Discussion about the consumer's role in creating a sustainable energy future has mostly centred around the individual or, at best, the household. This paper will shed some light on the role of collective action, focusing on electricity consumption.

Collective action is defined as “all activity involving two or more individuals contributing to a collective effort on the basis of mutual interests and the possibility of benefits from co-ordinated action.” Defined like this, it can be performed by a rather heterogeneous set of actors, among them groups of individuals, municipalities, companies, NGOs, or even social movements.

Collective consumer action may have important systemic effects. First, electricity saving or substitution efforts by such actors are potentially highly visible. Thus, they may help to increase awareness in the general public and serve as models. Secondly, electricity conservation or substitution in collective actors involves internal discussion processes, which may trigger learning processes among their individual participants. Thirdly, actions especially by public and political actors may help to create a legal, political and technical framework that in turn facilitates electricity conservation for individuals.

However, conditions for collective action are different from conditions for individual action. Co-ordination and the settlement of conflicts are required. Characteristics of the implementation process play a role, as well as the general political, legal, and economic setting.

The paper presents an heuristic framework for examining the potentials and barriers of collective consumer action. It is based on a typology of actors and actions, a literature review of factors influencing success or failure, and a discussion of distinctive features of electricity consumption as compared to other commodities. A brief analysis of an empirical example demonstrates the applicability of the framework.