Discursive Confusion over Sustainable Consumption: A Discursive Perspective on the Perplexity of Marketplace Knowledge

This paper works towards a discursive, practice-based perspective on explaining the “knowledge-to-action” gap observed in the consumer policy literature on sustainable consumption. Based on an empirical study that focuses on fashion and clothing markets, the objective is to elaborate on the nature and implications of the discursive polyphony that consumers face when striving for more sustainable consumption practices. Overall, it is concluded that part of the gap can be attributed to the discursive confusion that arises from a simultaneous existence of multiple, continuously changing and partly clashing discourses of sustainable consumption as well as the associated discursive struggle that consumers need to deal with when trying to make sense of their roles and responsibilities in sustainable development.