Ambivalences of the dishwasher in voluntary modest households
| Autoři | |
|---|---|
| Rok publikování | 2025 |
| Druh | Další prezentace na konferencích |
| Fakulta / Pracoviště MU | |
| Citace | |
| Popis | Washing the dishes represents one of the most mundane, taken-for-granted activities done in almost all homes, and many gladly delegate the wet, dirty and never-ending work to a machine. The current academic reflections on dishwashers are limited to studies of their efficiency, mostly in the context of debates on sustainability and the environmental impact of domestic energy and material consumption. We want to develop these debates by focusing on how the possession and use of the dishwasher are imagined, deliberated and reflected by members of the Czech environmentally friendly households. Drawing on the conceptual tools outlined by Shove, Southerton and Hand in their studies on freezing, washing or cooking, we present its transformative potential and ambivalences. In interviews, of all domestic items, the dishwasher sparked the most heated debates reflecting the household members´ relations, roles or values. The dishwasher can be ecological, but only under certain circumstances and with scripts of use that must be “correctly” incorporated into daily routines. It saves time, but compared to a hand wash, it captures and holds the dishes for much longer. The dishwasher can do well the work delegated to it, but by doing so, it steals the easy yet formative work from some household members. It occupies space but, on the other hand, provides legitimate storage for polluted items and brings dirt out of sight. It cleans but is often seen as contaminating, by detergents or germs cultivated in its inner environment. As one of our participants puts it: “The dishwasher sucks“. |
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