ABSTRACT

Minimalism is a growing consumerist approach based on deliberate detachment from one’s material needs and acquisitions. The aim of this paper is to examine a singular case of minimalism which has developed in the sports sector, based on the stylization by detachment of the practice of hiking: ultralight or lightweight backpacking. While the sports market is traditionally characterized by the accumulation and renewal of equipment, this sport subculture aims the radical reduction of equipment weight and is promoted in France by an online community of practice. Lightening one’s equipment implies adopting an original material culture of detachment (mostly by innovation through withdrawal) which goes hand in hand with an alternative subjectivation of practitioners based on a form of voluntary simplicity and asceticism. This enculturation has political consequences, contributing to reconfiguring behaviors, norms and consumer values in the light of alternative markets, partly detaching oneself from “consumer society.”

摘要

极简主义是一种日益增长的消费主义方法，其基础是有意脱离个人的物质需求和获得。本文的目的是研究在体育领域发展起来的极简主义的一个单一案例，其基础是远足实践的分离：超轻型或轻型背包。虽然体育市场传统上以设备的积累和更新为特征，但这种运动亚文化旨在彻底减轻设备重量，并在法国由在线实践社区推广。减轻一个人的设备意味着采用一种原始的超然物质文化（主要是通过退出创新），这与基于自愿简单和禁欲主义形式的从业者的另一种主观化密切相关。