Collecting: An Unruly Passion, Psychological Perspectives

Gamwell, Lynn

doi:10.1177/000306519604400117

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Literature has undertaken various perspectives on collecting, including a psychoanalytical viewpoint as an infantile response to emotional loss (Freud, 1908, cited in Gamwell, 1996), economic assessments as a special form of investment (Kleine et al., 2019), cultural studies classifying collecting as a routine human activity (Dillon, 2019), and health researchers recognising the close relationship to mental illness (Nordsletten et al., 2013). Taking a marketing perspective, the purposes of the present study lie in examining collecting as a form of consumption.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consumer collecting behaviour: A systematic review and future research agenda

Lee

Brennan

Wyllie

2021

Int J Consumer Studies

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Consumer interest in collecting is surging globally, with the behaviour prevalent as a hobby and for investment. Additionally, collecting is technologically advancing and continues to infiltrate regular shopping as a potent sales promotion tool, presenting marketing and ethical implications. Despite collecting's burgeoning popularity in practice, research is lagging. To address this limitation, the present study conducts a systematic review, consolidating over 30 years of research into the motivations that drive consumer collecting. Following the format of a domain‐based structured systematic literature review, the study provides scholars theoretical, methodological, and thematic guidance. Our analysis of the 51 journal articles reveals a set of six motivations driving the consumption of collectibles, including Achievement through Collecting Goals; Social Membership; Cooperation and Competition; Societal and Personal Memories; Legacy; and Financial Value. The findings from the review also illuminate several shortcomings in the literature and the complexity associated with the theoretical grounding of consumer collecting research and of its associated behaviours (i.e., acquisition through disposal). Future research propositions are presented in the Theory, Context, and Methodology framework that provides direction for the scholarly community and aids further theory development in consumer collecting research.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consumer collecting behaviour: A systematic review and future research agenda

Lee

Brennan

Wyllie

2021

Int J Consumer Studies

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A Psychoanalyst’s Gift: Lillian Malcove as Collector

O’Neil¹

2018

American Imago

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On the psychodynamics of collecting

Subkowski¹

2006

The International Journal of Psychoanalysis

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The urge to collect is a ubiquitous phenomenon which has anthropological, sociobiological and individual psychodynamic roots, but occurs far more frequently among men than women. The author examines the reasons for this gender difference and defines systematic collecting to distinguish it from addictive, obsessive and messy collecting, and from related phenomena such as perversion. The mode of collecting and choice of object are important indicators as to the unconscious psychodynamics of a collector and offer opportunity to describe his structural level. Collecting ranges across a broad spectrum, from an ego-syntonic integrated mode, i.e. sublimation, to a neurotic defence against pre-oedipal or oedipal traumas and conflicts. Alongside this drive-theoretical approach, object and Kleinian theory are also applied to the understanding of collecting. Collecting represents a specific form of object relating and way of handling primary loss trauma, which is different from addiction, compulsion, or perversion. Under certain circumstances collecting can also result in a successful Gestalt or way of life. The paper concludes with a case study showing how collecting develops from a pre-oedipal to a more integrated oedipal mode during the course of the analysis, which is reflected in changes in the transference.

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Collecting: An Unruly Passion, Psychological Perspectives

Cited by 3 publications

References 1 publication

Consumer collecting behaviour: A systematic review and future research agenda

Consumer collecting behaviour: A systematic review and future research agenda

A Psychoanalyst’s Gift: Lillian Malcove as Collector

On the psychodynamics of collecting

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