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| (c) Image courtesy of http://www.customerservice.ae/ |
In the early days - say the 1600s - prosumerism was alive and kicking. People would often grow their own vegetables and fruits, rear their own animals and toil their own land. People would consume what they would produce - their own goods and services (Kotler, P, 1986), all in the name of survival - the true nature of prosumer.
Then the Industrial revolution happened. Then Mao, Stalin and nearly every other left wing dictator changed it all (well partly...). The revolution(s) saw a divide occur between producers and consumers - though not effectively seperating the two (Ritzer, G, 2010, p. 17). The collectivisation of agriculture by Stalin in 1925 saw farms mass producing grains, fruit and vegetables for factory workers during one of his five year plans.
But how, in 2013, am I prosumer?
Two weeks ago I woke up to a wet, overcast, traditional Melbourne morning. I got in my car and drove an hour and a half into the outskirts of Melbourne to a pine forest to go forage for Saffron milk-cap mushrooms, otherwise known as pine mushrooms.
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| (c) Image courtesy of Flickr |
Retail price = $80/90 per kilo. Prosumer price = free.
A prosumer is anybody who produces, and consumes, any of their own goods or services. Although, sure I didn't plant the spores to grow the wild mushrooms, I did indeed cut out the middle man - my aggrieved vegetable supplier - to get them. I did however grow the garlic I sauteed with them!
My love of foraging and food is just one avenue in which i am an prosumer. Web 2.0 has turned even those recluse/never left their own house/surviving off of delivery pizza and on the dole type people into prosumers as well. All through orchestrating an online identity through Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or commenting on this here blog, you too will be prosuming like myself - consuming my work and producing a comment of your own.
Thanks for reading! Till next time....
Reference List:
Jurgenson, N & Ritzer, G 2010, 'Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The nature of capitalism in the age of the digital 'prosumer'', Journal of Consumer Culture, Vol. 10, Issue 1, pp. 13-36.
Kotler, P 1986, 'The Prosumer Movement: A new challenge for marketers', Advances In Consumer Research, Vol. 13, Issue 1, pp. 510-513, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 26 August 2013.
The New Economy and Prosumption 2010, YouTube, exposedlie, April 2, retrieved 26 August 2013, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV4Ir-2UrN8>
Hi Michael,
ReplyDeleteI found your discussion into today's prosumer society to be very interesting. Your blog structure, use of images, links and video and appropriate references make this post very easy to read and understand. I liked how you begun this post, with a short introduction into the many ways we can be considered prosumers today, from using an ATM to washing our cars, I found this to be an effective introduction as it demonstrates to readers how easily we can be conned into working for producers, whilst still facing a charge at the end, e.g; ATM fees. I also enjoyed your example of 'cutting out the middle man' and in many ways I feel this introduces the question of whether or not consumers and prosumers are best kept seperate. Overall, a great piece!
Hi Michael,
ReplyDeleteJust after reading the first paragraph, you already intrigued me to look forward to your next sentences. That shows that you have a good understanding and knowledge to attract your readers to your blogs. The quotes from your references that you used summarise very well and related to the topic. The way you used your own experiences as an example was an icing on the cake. Good read! Thanks.
Rio