Consumption for good, or good for consumption? A critical sociology of the UK charity shop

This conceptual chapter examines the charity shop as a complex, often overlooked example of how people engage with charity on both a local and global level. It examines the historical evolution of charity shops in the UK and how they developed alongside global socioeconomic change, highlighting the various complexities inherent in their coalescence of consumer culture and charitable action. The chapter argues that the ethos of ‘consumption for good’ that surrounds charity shops obscures and stymies opportunities for global systemic change. Drawing on data from charity reports and academic literature, it considers how charity shops are ‘good for consumption’, because they offer a handy conduit for ethical disposal, rejuvenation, and recycling in an era of overconsumption. What emerges is a critical analysis of the ambivalent role charity shops have played in extending the contradictions and harms of capitalism and neo-colonialism.