The crossing of physical boundaries: de-materialization and the move towards de-collecting

ABSTRACT

The tension between materiality and liquidity in society provides a promising opportunity to elucidate how de-materialization influences the iconic transfer of meaning from a singularized physical object into alternative formats of experiential consumption. We conducted in-depth unstructured existential-phenomenological interviews with physical book de-collectors. We investigated the role of imagination in maintaining a connection to the de-materialized collection and its impact on the person–object relationship. When consumers de-materialize a collection of physical books, they confront their values related to materiality and emotional physical attachment while opening the possibility of sharing and undergoing new experiences that can transform their relationship with singularized objects and with other human beings. De-collecting represents a way in which consumers can maintain indexical connections to singularized objects’ meaning while letting the physical item go.

KEYWORDS:

• De-materialization
• indexical connection
• digital virtual consumption
• person–object relationship
• books

Acknowledgements

We thank the guest editors and the three anonymous reviewers of this special issue for the support and contribution during the whole revision process. We also thank Professor Russell Belk for his valuable comments on early versions of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Adriana G. Arcuri holds a master's degree at FGV EAESP. She is a practitioner with 19 years experience in marketing, managing leading brands in Brazil. She has been researching digital consumption, dematerialization and social entrepreneurship. Her main research interest focus is consumer culture theory (CCT).

Tânia Modesto Veludo-de-Oliveira is Associate Professor of Marketing at FGV EAESP, where she teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She has been researching and publishing on donation, consumer well-being, and digital consumption. Her main research interest focuses on transformative consumer research (TCR).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) [grant number 133326/2015-2].