Jul 17, 2018 19:00:00

Why are people angry at the fact that a plastic shopping bag for only a few yen has been charged?

By

Regan Walsh

With the growing awareness of environmental issues, there are many cases where shopping bags such as supermarkets are charged. It seems that there is no choice but to get angry feelings about this change, 'Why did you get it for free until now?', But in fact, there is a psychological factor in that feeling. It is said that there is.

Why plastic bag bans triggered such a huge reaction
https://theconversation.com/why-plastic-bag-bans-triggered-such-a-huge-reaction-99935

'Paying shopping bags' is an event that has become a hot topic in countries around the world. Especially in countries that are said to be highly conscious of the environment, active efforts are being made, and it seems that people's dissatisfaction is increasing as a reaction. BBC Scotland expresses such a situation in the following satirical movie. In the movie, a 'seller' who sells plastic shopping bags on the street corner is arrested by the police when he tries to sell plastic shopping bags to the citizens, which is like a drug trade.

・ 2021/07/16 postscript: The embedded video cannot be played, but you can watch the movie from here.

The feeling of anger at the charge for plastic shopping bags can be explained by a concept called a psychological contract. Psychological contract is a concept mainly used to express the employment relationship between a company and employees, and refers to the state in which the relationship between the two is established as an 'implicit understanding' rather than in writing. From here, you can think of the state that 'if you go to the supermarket and shop, you can get a plastic shopping bag for free' is a kind of psychological contract.

The change that the plastic shopping bag that had been given for free until then had to be obtained by paying money at a certain point in time was forcibly modified in the content of this 'psychological contract'. Will end up. Moreover, this 'contract content' is not documented, but only consists of a tacit understanding, so even if the contract content is modified, there is basically nothing for the customer to do. It is believed that this situation is causing people's anger.

By gracelinks

Furthermore, it seems that there are situations in which people's anger increases in some areas. Even if plastic shopping bags are charged in areas where distribution of plastic shopping bags is prohibited by law or ordinance, residents living in the area must accept it as 'it can't be helped'. However, if a supermarket in an area without such regulations suddenly announces that 'plastic shopping bags will be charged from next month to protect the environment,' a person who can be convinced of the measure and 'actually an excuse' It may be unavoidable in a sense that some people have feelings of suspicion and anger, saying, 'I think they are trying to make a plastic shopping bag and pass it on to customers!'

It has also been found that reducing the number of disposable shopping bags has a positive impact on the environment, as shown in the report below. It seems that it is important for each other to approach each other toward solving environmental problems, such as the store side explaining concretely the efforts to tackle environmental problems and the customer side showing an understanding of the activities.

Doing away with plastic shopping bags international patterns of norm emergence and policy implementation
(PDF) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09644010902823717