Applying a Systems of Provision approach: moral economies and consumption work

Abstract

The System of Provision (SoP) approach has provided an important analytical lens for exploring how consumption is shaped by varied systems of production, distribution and exchange. The approach offers an important corrective to economic accounts which view individual consumer choice as the key mechanism that regulates markets in predictable and homogenous ways and some sociological/anthropological accounts which pay attention to communicative aspects of consumer culture and their performance by diverse social groups. The SoP approach calls for a wide-angle focus which draws together economic and sociological perspectives to explore the ways structures, agents, processes, relations and material cultures interact within distinctive systems tied to specific products or sectors.