Publication (142 pages).

ecoming substitutions for human interaction comes increased
attachment to those goods. Instead of interacting with other
humans,we interact with objects. This means many of our affections
and emotions become tied up in material items, making
them harder to discard. These types of relationships are encouraged
in a consumer culture, and thus the inability to discard
is a part of the social structure we currently live in. It is the
process of increasing accumulation paired with more difficulties
in discarding that creates higher levels of accumulation. Consumer
society plays a major role in accumulation by advocating
for increasing spending and acquisition of goods; however it
also alters the meaning of objects and increases our interactions
with material goods to the point where a lack of discard occurs
resulting in accumulation. The link between consumer society
and accumulation becomes clearer when encouraged acquisition
and decreasing ability to discard are examined. From here
it is clear to see how it is that social structures in society contribute
to individual behaviours such as hoarding. If accumulation
and inability to discard are promoted and encouraged through
everyday consumer society, then it is clear see from where the
objective conditions of hoarding derive.Consumer society may
aid in accounting for the social structures that affect hoarding
behaviours; accumulation and discard practices in consumer society
parallel those found in hoarding situations. This analysis is
incomplete however because it aids in understanding where the
objective conditions of hoarding stem from but not why or how
they occur. The subjective aspect of my analysis looks at hoarding
within Bauman’s concept of liquid modernity. The changing
concepts of space and time in current society help to explain the
increasing occurrence of hoarding behaviours.
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