Sociology of Consumers and Households

The study of consumers and households is approached from the core discipline of sociology as well as from the related disciplines of social demography and anthropology. The household, however varied in form and composition, is seen as a universal social institution: the 'arena of everyday life'.

Education In the teaching of the group the household is taken as the level of analysis. Users of goods and services, consumers and clients, are placed in the domestic context. This context is seen as embedded in larger social structures and networks, which are subject to social and cultural change. At the same time, there is attention for dynamics within households, such as those generated by the (gendered) division of domestic labour and unequal access to resources. Research The research of the group includes the following topics: • The sociological study of the development of household activities and strategies, food security and livelihood security in rural area and developing countries • The sociological study of caring arrangements within and between households • Processes of change and modernisation and the impact on lifestyles, consumers and products, families and other households • Gender, households and families, in rural areas and agrarian family businesses »  more Education