Freegans: features and possibilities of research

Abstract

The article presents a historical background to the formation of such a social phenomenon as freeganism, its ideology and positioning of the freegans themselves relative to the consumer society. The authors have studied and systematized the worldviews of freegans about what the refusal of their own purchases of certain goods is related to, whether it is a desire to overcome total overconsumption and move to rational spending of available resources, and whether it is possible to develop freeganism into a broad and full-fledged ecological movement. As a result of generalization of opinions and approaches in the characterization of freeganism as a social phenomenon as an object of observation and research, various positions have been identified. Its essence is reduced to the interpretation of freeganism as a subculture, as an alternative, as a current, and as a movement. At the same time, it becomes clear that there are no full-fledged observations and developments of the subject and no approaches and methods systematized. Moreover, the fact that there are no observations characterizing the number, prevalence and consequences of freeganism is one of the key problems.