{{Short description|Person who consumes and produces a product}} {{hatnote|This article is about consumers who also produce. The term may also refer to prosumer equipment.}} A '''prosumer''' is an individual who both consumes and produces. The term is a portmanteau of the words ''producer'' and ''consumer''. Research has identified six types of prosumers: DIY prosumers, self-service prosumers, customizing prosumers, collaborative prosumers, monetised prosumers, and economic prosumers.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Lang|first1=Bodo|last2=Dolan|first2=Rebecca|last3=Kemper|first3=Joya|last4=Northey|first4=Gavin|date=2020-01-01|title=Prosumers in times of crisis: definition, archetypes and implications|url=https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-05-2020-0155|journal=Journal of Service Management|volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=176–189 |doi=10.1108/JOSM-05-2020-0155|hdl=10092/104713 |s2cid=225379767 |issn=1757-5818|hdl-access=free|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ertz |first1=Myriam |last2=Cao |first2=Xinyuan |last3=Barragán Maravilla |first3=José Maria |title=The Prosumer |journal=Encyclopedia |date=2024 |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=1263–1278 |doi=10.3390/encyclopedia4030082 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Esposti |first1=Piergiorgio Degli |last2=Tirabassi |first2=Laura |title=Prosumer |encyclopedia=The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology |date=2024 |pages=1–3 |doi=10.1002/9781405165518.wbeosp132.pub3 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9781405165518}}</ref>
==Definitions and contexts== [[File:Alvin Toffler 02.jpg|thumb|Alvin Toffler, coiner of the term "prosumer"]]
Alvin Toffler coined the phrase "prosumption" to describe the practice of people producing their own goods and services in the digital age, thereby functioning as both the producer and the consumer.<ref name=":022">{{Cite book |last=Han |first=Rongbin |title=Make China Great Again: Online Alt-History Fiction and Popular Authoritarianism |date=2026 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-22054-5 |location=New York}}</ref>{{Reference page|page=103}} For example, the prosumption of internet literature is often community-based, where members of the community both participate as readers, provide feedback for writers, and write themselves, as in the instance of ''Morning Star of Lingao''.<ref name=":022" />{{Reference page|page=104}}
In the field of renewable energy, prosumers are households or organisations which at times produce surplus fuel or energy and feed it into a national (or local) distribution network; whilst at other times (when their fuel or energy requirements outstrip their own production of it) they consume that same fuel or energy from that grid. This is widely done by households by means of PV panels on their roofs generating electricity. Such households may additionally make use of battery storage to increase their share of self-consumed PV electricity, referred to as prosumage in the literature.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Schill|first1=Wolf-Peter|last2=Zerrahn|first2=Alexander|last3=Kunz|first3=Friedrich|date=2017-06-01|title=Prosumage of solar electricity: pros, cons, and the system perspective|url=http://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.552031.de/dp1637.pdf|journal=Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy|language=en|volume=6|issue=1|doi=10.5547/2160-5890.6.1.wsch|issn=2160-5882|hdl=10419/149900}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Green Iain Staffell|first=Richard|date=2017-06-01|title='Prosumage' and the British Electricity Market|journal=Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy|language=en|volume=6|issue=1|doi=10.5547/2160-5890.6.1.rgre|issn=2160-5882|doi-access=free|hdl=10044/1/44270|hdl-access=free}}</ref>
The sharing economy is another context where individuals can act as prosumers. For example, in the sharing economy, individuals can be providers (e.g., Airbnb hosts, Uber drivers) and consumers (e.g., Airbnb guests, and Uber passengers). Prosumers are one avenue to grow the sharing economy.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lang|first1=Bodo|last2=Botha|first2=Elsamari|last3=Robertson|first3=Jeandri|last4=Kemper|first4=Joya A.|last5=Dolan|first5=Rebecca|last6=Kietzmann|first6=Jan|date=2020-06-21|title=How to grow the sharing economy? Create Prosumers!|journal=Australasian Marketing Journal|volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=58–66 |language=en|doi=10.1016/j.ausmj.2020.06.012|issn=1441-3582|doi-access=free}}</ref>
Scholars have connected prosumer culture to the concept of McDonaldization, as advanced by sociologist George Ritzer. Referring to the business model of McDonald's, which has emphasized efficiency for management while getting customers to invest more effort and time themselves (such as by cleaning up after themselves in restaurants), McDonaldization gets prosumers to perform more work without paying them for their labor.<ref>{{Citation|last1=Chen|first1=Chih-Chin|title=McDonaldization|date=2015-03-24|url=http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/9781118989463.wbeccs167|encyclopedia=The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Consumption and Consumer Studies|pages=1–3|editor-last=Cook|editor-first=Daniel Thomas|place=Oxford, UK|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd|language=en|doi=10.1002/9781118989463.wbeccs167|isbn=978-1-118-98946-3|access-date=2021-04-19|last2=Ritzer|first2=George|editor2-last=Ryan|editor2-first=J Michael|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
== Origins and development == To reach a high degree of customization, consumers would have to take part in the production process especially in specifying design requirements. In a sense, this is merely an extension or broadening of the kind of relationship that many affluent clients have had with professionals like architects for many decades. However, in many cases architectural clients are not the only or even primary end-consumers.<ref>Lorimer, A. 'Prosumption Architecture: The Decentralization of Architectural Agency as an Economic Imperative', H+ Magazine, 2014, [online] http://hplusmagazine.com/2014/01/13/prosumption-architecture-the-decentralisation-of-architectural-agency-as-an-economic-imperative/ [04/02/14]</ref>
Toffler has extended these and many other ideas well into the 21st century. Along with more recently published works such as ''Revolutionary Wealth'' (2006), one can recognize and assess both the concept and fact of the ''prosumer'' as it is seen and felt on a worldwide scale. That these concepts are having a global impact and reach, however, can be measured in part by noting in particular, Toffler's popularity in China. Discussing some of these issues with Newt Gingrich on C-SPAN's ''After Words'' program in June 2006, Toffler mentioned that ''The Third Wave'' is the second ranked bestseller of all time in China, just behind a work by Mao Zedong.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.trumix.com/podshows/521309 |title= C-SPAN - After Words created. Toffler interviewed by Gingrich Episode |publisher = C-SPAN |date = June 6, 2006 |access-date = December 5, 2008 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090126051635/http://www.trumix.com/podshows/521309 |archive-date = January 26, 2009 }}</ref>
Toffler's Prosumption was well described and expanded in economic terms by Philip Kotler, who saw them as a new challenge for marketers.<ref>Kotler, Philip. (1986). Prosumers: A New Type of Customer. Futurist(September–October), 24-28.</ref> Kotler anticipated that people will also want to play larger role in designing certain goods and services they consume, furthermore modern computers will permit them to do it. He also described several forces that would lead to more prosumption like activities, and to more sustainable lifestyles, that topic was further developed by Tomasz Szymusiak in 2013 and 2015 in two marketing books.<ref>Szymusiak T., (2013). Social and economic benefits of Prosumption and Lead User Phenomenon in Germany - Lessons for Poland [in:] Sustainability Innovation, Research Commercialization and Sustainability Marketing, Sustainability Solutions, München. {{ISBN|978-83-936843-1-1}}</ref><ref>Szymusiak T., (2015). Prosumer – Prosumption – Prosumerism, OmniScriptum GmbH & Co. KG, Düsseldorf. {{ISBN|978-3-639-89210-9}}</ref>
In July 2020, an academic description reported on the nature and rise of the "robot prosumer", derived from modern-day technology and related participatory culture, that, in turn, was substantially predicted earlier by science fiction writers.<ref name="EA-20200724">{{cite news |author=Lancaster University |author-link=Lancaster University |title=Sci-fi foretold social media, Uber and Augmented Reality, offers insights into the future - Science fiction authors can help predict future consumer patterns. |url=https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-07/lu-sfs072420.php |date=24 July 2020 |work=EurekAlert! |access-date=26 July 2020 }}</ref><ref name="JCC-20200723">{{cite journal |last=Ryder |first=M.J. |title=Lessons from science fiction: Frederik Pohl and the robot prosumer |date=23 July 2020 |journal=Journal of Consumer Culture |volume=22 |pages=246–263 |doi=10.1177/1469540520944228 |url=https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/138821/1/FINAL_Frederik_Pohl_and_the_robot_prosumer.pdf |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="LU-20200726">{{cite journal |last=Ryder |first=Mike |title=Citizen robots:biopolitics, the computer, and the Vietnam period |url=https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/141870/ |date=26 July 2020 |journal=Lancaster University |access-date=26 July 2020 }}</ref>
== Criticism == Prosumer capitalism has been criticized as promoting "new forms of exploitation through unpaid work gamified as fun".<ref name="JemielniakPrzegalinska20202">{{cite book|author1=Dariusz Jemielniak|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yLDMDwAAQBAJ|title=Collaborative Society|author2=Aleksandra Przegalinska|date=18 February 2020|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0-262-35645-9}}</ref>{{Rp|57}}
==See also==
{{Columns-list|
*{{annotated link|Cost the limit of price}} *{{annotated link|Creative consumer}} *{{annotated link|Electronics industry}} *{{annotated link|Participatory culture}} *{{annotated link|Power user}} *{{annotated link|Produsage}} *{{annotated link|Read/write culture}}
}}
==Notes== {{Reflist|30em}}
==References== * {{cite journal|doi=10.1177/0002764211429362 |title=Artistic Prosumption |date=2012 |last1=Chen |first1=Katherine K. |journal=American Behavioral Scientist |volume=56 |issue=4 |pages=570–595 }} * Kotler, Philip. (1986). Prosumers: A New Type of Customer. Futurist(September–October), 24–28. * Kotler, Philip. (1986). The Prosumer Movement. A New Challenge for Marketers. Advances in Consumer Research, 13, 510–513. * Lui, K.M. and Chan, K.C.C. (2008) Software Development Rhythms: Harmonizing Agile Practices for Synergy, John Wiley and Sons, {{ISBN|978-0-470-07386-5}} * Michel, Stefan. (1997). Prosuming-Marketing. Konzeption und Anwendung. Bern; Stuttgart;Wien: Haupt. * Nakajima, Seio. (April 2012). "[http://abs.sagepub.com/content/56/4/550.short Prosumption in Art]." ''American Behavioral Scientist'' Vol. 56, No. 4, 550–569. * Ritzer, G. & Jurgenson, N., 2010. Production, Consumption, Prosumption. Journal of Consumer Culture, 10 (1), pp. 13 –36. * Toffler, Alvin. (1980). The third wave: The classic study of tomorrow. New York, NY: Bantam. * Xie, Chunyan, & Bagozzi, Richard P. (2008). Trying to Prosume: Toward a Theory of Consumers as Co-Creators of Value. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36 (1), 109–122. * Szymusiak T., (2013). Social and economic benefits of Prosumption and Lead User Phenomenon in Germany - Lessons for Poland [in:] Sustainability Innovation, Research Commercialization and Sustainability Marketing, Sustainability Solutions, München. {{ISBN|978-83-936843-1-1}} * Szymusiak T., (2015). Prosumer – Prosumption – Prosumerism, OmniScriptum GmbH & Co. KG, Düsseldorf. {{ISBN|978-3-639-89210-9}}
==External links== {{wiktionary}} * [http://www.worldwidewords.org/turnsofphrase/tp-pro4.htm Turns of Phrase: Prosumer] - business-oriented definitions of producer/professional and consumer
Category:Market (economics) Category:Consumer behaviour Category:1980 neologisms