Publication (142 pages).

these approaches, however, frame the problem very narrowly, focusing on the individual
as the sole perpetrator of the behaviour. Thus, the problem has never been considered
within the context of changing social structures. This publication focuses on looking into
the ‘objective conditions’ of hoarding behaviour alongside a subjective interpretation of
what constitutes the ‘problem’ of hoarding. Actions of accumulation and the inability to
discard reflect changing aspects of the consumption of objects. In attempting to understand
these behaviours, consumer culture becomes an important frame because current
culture is greatly influenced by consumerism. For this reason I choose to examine various
consumer theories that aid in the explanation of the objective conditions of hoarding. I
also advocate however for the positioning of hoarding behaviour within a liquid modern
framework. This allows for a different interpretation of hoarding as a problem that
examines the changes in space and time that may affect how people manage their daily
interactions with objects.
The various approaches to hoarding behaviour that currently exist require a form of organization
to understand how and why they have become accepted in society. Social problem
construction theory works well to disassemble the different components of the two
current presentations of hoarding, medical and moral, and then to provide a path to the
creation of a new perspective of hoarding behaviour that accounts for social structures.
Throughout these analyses I emphasize the objective conditions of hoarding behaviour,
accumulation and a lack of discard, alongside the subjective conditions that create the
differing perspectives. The final construction of hoarding presents the behaviour alongside
that of consumer society and liquid modernity. I use these concepts to aid in a new
perspective because they focus on social structures as opposed to individual actions. This
construction leads me to question the classification of hoarding as a problematic behaviour,
and opens up a new approach to the study of hoarding.
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