Abstract
Consumer society has been discussed for a long time in the theoretical framework of a dichotomy between consumerism and anti-consumerism. Consumerism can be defined as personal mentalities and/or social trends actively pursuing quantitative expansion or qualitative sophistication of consumption activities. Now the existence of the third stance for consumption is pointed out theoretically. It is called non-consumerism, which is characterized by having the social effect to stabilize consumer lifestyle. The aim of this paper is to empirically demonstrate that cleanliness has some stabilizing effects on consumer lifestyle through estrangement from purchasing activities. So, in this regard, cleanliness can be viewed as one of the key factors carrying non-consumerism effects. The data from a survey of consumer life in the 21th century, which was conducted in the Tokyo area in 2016, was used for both a multiple regression analysis and a logistic regression analysis. The both analyses use two cleanliness scales called “organizing cleanliness” and “averting cleanliness” as explanatory variables. The result of analyses suggests that organizing cleanliness has certain, albeit limited, effects in stabilizing consumer lifestyle.
