Systems of Provision

Systems of provision is an approach to the study of consumption that recognizes the social and economic organization of the delivery of goods and services. Essentially, it is a holistic approach that situates the analysis of consumption in relation to processes of production, distribution, and retail. Moreover, it places consumption in historical context and so provides a useful way of thinking through changes in patterns of consumption and, more broadly, socio-economic change. It is most readily associated with the work of Ben Fine and was initially developed in The World of Consumption (1993), written in conjunction with Ellen Leopold. The systems of provision approach emerged as a critique of so-called horizontal approaches to consumption in which individual academic disciplines develop their explanatory accounts of consumption ...