Making things last. Practices and resources in the art of de-consuming

Maison Suger is pleased to host the seventh session of the seminar organised by GRETS: "Making things last. Practices and resources in the art of de-consuming", with Julie Madon, independent sociologist and associate researcher at CS0, Sciences Po Paris. The session will be introduced by Jérémy Bouillet - EDF R&D.

The seminar will be held in French.

Within a social contract that presupposes a form of material abundance and encourages the replacement of objects (planned obsolescence, social norms of consumption, etc.), why do individuals, even when they have the means to buy new items, contribute to making their household goods last longer? The issue of “making things last” is rarely highlighted, even though environmental concerns may require forms of sustainability or strategies for maintaining items over time.

Individuals engage in these practices to varying degrees (from the most active to the most passive), in different ways (from sustainable purchasing to maintenance, repair, or resale), and for a variety of reasons (environmental or otherwise). How do they come to be “longevity advocates”? What challenges do they face in an economy that emphasizes “small gestures”?
Based on some 60 sociological interviews and a typology of profiles, this research seeks to understand the resources available to individuals who make their objects last, but also the obstacles they encounter. In particular, individuals have to deal with two sets of contradictory prescriptions within the commercial world and their personal environment. Individuals then negotiate these constraints through a set of “tricks” and justifications.

• Julie Madon is a sociologist, consultant, and associate researcher at the Center for Organizational Sociology (CSO) at Sciences Po Paris. Her thesis on longevity led to the publication of a book, Faire durer les objets (Making Objects Last), by Presses de Sciences Po (2024). She is now a consultant specializing in environmental practices and sustainable consumption. She is also a songwriter under the name Nora Aurée, and a writer: her first novel, Ce qu'il reste de la Grineraie (What Remains of La Grineraie), was published in January 2026 by Eyrolles.

• Madon Julie. (2024), Faire durer les objets. Pratiques et ressources dans l’art de déconsommer,. Presses de Sciences Po.
• Ginsburger Maël., et Julie Madon. (2023), Faire durer ses objets, une pratique distinctive ? Consommation et frontières de classe chez les ménages aisés. Sociologie , 14 (1), 29 48.
• Madon Julie. (2022). “Tu peux être écolo sans être extrémiste”. Les écologistes entre engagement par le mode de vie et évitement du stigmate. Politix , 35 (139), 95-116.
• Madon Julie. (2021), Free Repair against the Consumer Society: How Repair Cafés Socialize People to a New Relationship to Objects. Journal of Consumer Culture, 22 (2), 534-550.