DISSERTATIONS 2021

AS LIGHT AS THE AIR: MINIMALISM AS A REACTION TO THE CONSUMER SOCIETY

Rubem Mandelbaum Pugliesi

Advisor: Prof. Dr. Denise Gimenez Ramos
Keywords:Minimalism. Lifestyle. Consumer Society. Analytical psychology. Voluntary simplicity. Consumerism

Abstract: This work aimed to understand the meanings concerning the adoption of a minimalist lifestyle. The literature review demonstrated the scarcity of published fieldworks concerning the lifestyle, moreover the insufficient study of minimalism among Brazilians. Hence, this work, of qualitative design, had a convenience sample of 40 Brazilians, aged 18 and above, who identified themselves as followers of the minimalista lifestyle. The participation consisted in answering a questionnaire available through a digital platform. The main results were grouped in eight thematic categories, namely:“The discovery of minimalism”, “The influence of environmental and social factors concerning the adoption of minimalism”, “Discontents with the prior life”, “Finances: from debt to savings”, “Time: from wastage to optimization”, “Living with enough”, “The search of the good life”, and “Minimalism as a process”. It was observed that the participants manifested dissatisfaction with the consumer society: at the same time that they reported being frustrated with the narrative that through consumption a happy and meaningful life could be achieved, they also reported that maintaining a consumerist life brought anxiety, stress, debt and lack of time. After adopting the minimalist lifestyle, 90% of the interviewed minimalists reported that life changed: They became happier, learned how to manage both time and money better, and feel that life became more meaningful and lighter.