Conclusion: The Contribution of the SoP Approach

Abstract

The SoP approach views consumption as attached to vertical chains of provisioning linked to the materiality of specific goods or services, shaped by the context and the agents associated with the system. This chapter locates the SoP approach within the wider body of systems-based consumption literature such as ‘consumption as practice’, highlighting the distinctive contribution offered. The chapter documents some of the empirical research that has applied the SoP approach often in combination with other theoretical perspectives on consumption. The chapter shows how the SoP approach can contribute to our understandings of some of the gravest threats facing society including climate change and inequality. The chapter concludes with reference to emerging global crises from finance through obesity to the pandemic of Covid-19, and shows how the SoP approach offers significant promise for future academic research and policymaking in these areas and beyond.