Określenie trudności w identyfikacji cech konsumenta zrównoważonego na podstawie rozważań o modelu homo oeconomicus i homo sustinens
Difficulties in identification of characteristics of sustainable consumer in the light of considerations about models of homo oeconomicus and homo sustinens

Summary/Abstract: The problem of sustainable development in a discussion of modern economics includes a lot of issues which are impossible to be clearly and exhaustively presented. It is connected with doubts about sustainable development being a concept raising a lot of doubts, especially concerning its implementation. On the other hand, in the face of global changes and the vision of socio-economic global crisis, the concept of sustainable development is the one of instruments to brake the contemporary world and change its development direction. The main responsible area for a global situation is consumption, which in modern reflection is the omnipresent culture of consumptionism and generated by it negative results. One of the proposals to change this situation is sustainable consumption, which is defined as reflection of sustainable development in consumption. In spite of wider functioning of sustainable consumption for years, it is immpossible to say that the consumers behaviour has become sustainable. It is determined by a lot of variuos factors. One of them is not fully theoretically explained term of sustainable consumption. Thus regarding the needs of identification of sustainable consumer and understanding his/her decisions, it is necessary to refer to economics. Therefore, the aim of this article is to present the difficulties in the identification of the main characteristics of sustainable consumer considering sustainable development, classic economics and neoclassic economics on the ground of the theory of economics referring to the following models: homo sustinens and homo oeconomicus. At the stages of realizing this aim, there are a lot of doubts: can homo sustiens model be a direct reference to sustainable consumer, is the combination of homo sustinens and homo oeconomicus models right and defining what desirable and what not desirable attitudes and patterns of consumption are, if the neoclassical economics approach to the modern world is primarily responsible for the contemporary shape of the world. In the final conlusions the author suggests that sustainable consumption is a promising area for further research, especially when creating the model of sustainble consumer. An attempt made in the article to refer models of homo oeconomicus and homo sustinens to sustainable consumer shows that this issue is not free from problems. It is impossible to state explicitly that the main characteristics of sustainable consumer are the same in the model of homo sustinens. Similarly, the main characteristics of homo oeconomicus model are in opposition to sustainable consumer. It is not possible to state either that homo oeconomicus model is the explanation of modern world crisis assuming that there is such, and it is not possible to define the model of homo sustinens as the best solution to fight with this crisis.

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