Secondhand Practice

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The purpose of this chapter is to provide a fundamental knowledge of the prior studies that are related with the dissertation topic. The following literature addresses the main issue, which observes on why consumers departed from mass-consumption and getting more involve in secondhand practice. Furthermore it will analyze the prior stigma of secondhand practice and how is it gradually accepted among contemporary consumers. 2.1 The fall of mass-consumption and rise of secondhand consumption 2.1.1 Departing from mass-consumption At the present time, where consumers are constantly demanding for more goods and services, manufacturers are still relying on the mass-production system, which is able to produce a massive quantity of goods in…show more content…
According to Staffan Appelgren and Anna Bohlin, secondhand consumption is favored among the lower class, which makes the practice to be associated with a sign of poverty and poor living condition (4). Furthermore, David S Ackerman and Jing Hu argue that consumers still have the contamination fear and disgust toward secondhand objects, due to the accessibility in getting the information that addresses the product as secondhand and its previous owners (233). In this case, many believe that the contamination from previous owners might contribute either a negative or positive power to the objects and affect the new possessors (Ackerman and Hu, 234). Despite its negative stigma, Louis Crewe and Nicky Gregson found that secondhand practice started to gain its popularity among the westerns around 1970 to 1980, where society created several standards and criteria for secondhand practice to be socially accepted. (qtd in Marzella,…show more content…
These secondhand products are predominantly designers’ goods such as, electronics, apparel and furniture (Marzella, 107). Furthermore, majority of people also adopt the term “retro and vintage shopping”; which is currently become the trend, to eliminate the negative connotation and contamination fear in secondhand products (Marzella, 116). Therefore, this phenomenon influences consumers’ perceptions towards secondhand objects and affects them to involve more in the

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