THE BARGAIN, THE KNOWLEDGE, AND THE SPECTACLE - MAKING SENSE OF CONSUMPTION IN THE SPACE OF THE CAR-BOOT SALE

Authors
Citation
N. Gregson et L. Crewe, THE BARGAIN, THE KNOWLEDGE, AND THE SPECTACLE - MAKING SENSE OF CONSUMPTION IN THE SPACE OF THE CAR-BOOT SALE, Environment and planning. D. Society & Space, 15(1), 1997, pp. 87-112
Citations number
68
Categorie Soggetti
Environmental Studies",Geografhy
ISSN journal
02637758
Volume
15
Issue
1
Year of publication
1997
Pages
87 - 112
Database
ISI
SICI code
0263-7758(1997)15:1<87:TBTKAT>2.0.ZU;2-9
Abstract
We are concerned with making sense of the car-boot sale as an empirica l and theoretical phenomenon. The paper is based on participant-observ ation field research, in-depth interviews, and site surveys and we sta rt by challenging two of the most commonly held myths about car-boot s ales; that these events are all about 'shady rogues' disposing of volu mes of dodgy gear onto an unsuspecting public, and that a preponderanc e of cheap goods means that car-boot sales are dominated by 'tatt' and disadvantaged sectors of society. Having examined patterns of purchas ing within the car-boot sale, we consider how car-boot-sale goers them selves construct and participate within the space of the boot sale. At one level, this construction is shown to involve the use both of accu mulated and of local knowledge and to be open to interpretation as ill ustrative of competitive individualism. Another reading of the car-boo t sale, however, and one central to understanding the enduring popular ity of this phenomenon, is its transgressive nature. The space of the car-boot sale is argued to be one where people come to play, where the conventions of retailing are suspended, and where participants come t o engage in and produce theatre, performance, spectacle, and laughter. We go on to examine the connections between the car-boot sale and the Bakhtinian notion of carnival, arguing that the car-boot sale needs t o be read in multifarious ways: as a liminal space which encapsulates the carnivalesque, the festive, and the popular, which subverts conven tion and yet which, through its celebration of the free market and the unshackled individual, embraces facets of the dominant order. We then move on to comment on the broader significance of the car-boot-sale p henomenon for studies of consumption.