Peeking behind the mask of the prosumer

Abstract

This article aims to contribute to long-standing debates on a dialectical relation between consumption and production. Whilst previous literature suggests an intermingling of consumption with production within economic spheres, individuals, firm–consumer interactions and consumer cultural processes, the discussion remains relatively stagnant when it comes to theorizing how the relationship between consumption and production is organized. In this article, I use a practice–theoretical perspective to reorient the discussion of the interplay between consumption and production to the level of practice performances. Complementing previous work on consumption as a moment in practice, this article theorizes consumption and production as alternate moments within practices of everyday living and unfolds how the relation between consumptive and productive moments is inscribed in a specific teleoaffective structure named facilitation. This advances an alternative view on craftsmanship, craft consumption and prosumption. Empirical material collected through interviews, observations, diaries and netnography within guitar playing and gardening systematically illustrates the theoretical proposals.