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
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.