“Bayliss and Fine’s book on the theory and application of the “systems of provision” approach is a social science tour-de-force, reconnecting production and consumption well beyond the over simplistic supply and demand of neoclassical economics. In our time of climate crisis, the insights arising from systems of provision are not just illuminating: they may prove crucial to spur the necessary transformation of our economies.” (Julia Steinberger, Professor of Political Ecology, University of Leeds)“The climate crisis has now arrived, and it will require radical changes in consumption patterns, especially in a context of steady erosion of public goods and services. These changes in consumption cannot be understood with mainstream models of supply and demand; instead, they involve complex interactions all along supply chains, whilst practices of consumption involve not only market signals but cultural understandings. In this path breaking book, Kate Bayliss and Ben Fine draw from decades of rich empirical case studies to synthesize lessons into a comprehensive method for understanding consumption. Their concept of ‘systems of provision’ breaks new theoretical ground, offering social scientists and policymakers a way forward for comprehensively understanding and better shaping systems of provision in contemporary capitalism. Social policy experts and scholars in particular now have a powerful analytical key to new insights into who wins and who loses from the (re-)commodifcation of the sphere of social reproduction.” (Lena Lavinas, Professor of Welfare Economics, Institute of Economics, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro)
“Consumption is too important a topic to be left to economists, but can the other social sciences come up with something as all-embracing and coherent? The Systems of Provision approach claims to provide this alternative framework. Consumption in all its complexity can only be understood in a disaggregated way: the energy system differs from the fashion system, the food system from transport, the hospitality system from health care. This book provides a rich application of these ideas and a guide to policy making and activism, all the more important as runaway consumption in the rich world threatens all our futures.” (Ian Gough, Visiting Professor, London School of Economics and Emeritus Professor, University of Bath)
“Who consumes how much of what, and why? This is not really about “individual preferences”, but rather is critically determined by how goods and services are provided, and how integrated chains of provisioning are intertwined with material cultures. This important book will revolutionise how you think about the consumption of items as disparate as food, consumer durables, or education.” (Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)
“This is a must-read for anyone interested in consumption studies. Empirically based and theoretically rigorous, it provides a comprehensive but accessible account of the SOP approach—which has established itself as the most truly interdisciplinary approach to understanding consumption in all its diverse and complex contexts.” (Desmond McNeill, Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo)
“Bayliss and Fine’s systems of provision (SoP) approach offers a useful grand framework for the social analysis of consumption. They go beyond what is consumed and provided to recognize various rationales for consumption. These include norms, incorporating socially and culturally determined propensities to consume, and the spectrum of provisioning, ranging from public goods to private suppliers. As their book includes both theorization and wide-ranging case studies, the approach offers alternative economic theory and analysis of consumption, besides informing related analyses.” (Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Visiting Senior Fellow at Khazanah Research Institute, Visiting Fellow at the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, Columbia University, and Adjunct Professor at the International Islamic University in Malaysia)
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