Cocooning

Trend researchers in particular describe a tendency to withdraw more and more from civil society and the public and into private domestic life as cocooning (“ pupate ”) . The term is also used to distinguish it from so-called clanning (search for group membership).

term

The term from English actually describes the pupation of insects, which weave themselves into a cocoon for the transition stage between the larva and the sexually mature imago . It was first used by American trend researcher Faith Popcorn in the late 1980s. Such an attitude towards life had previously been discussed under the term cozy home .

In 1995, the sociologist Holger Rust was critical of the term: "Cocooning was invented at the beginning of the eighties and became one of the most successful terms among journalistic prayer wheels."

Particularly in the confusing world that is perceived as threatening, such as in times of crisis or after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 , such a tendency can be found increasingly in the mainstream . Business and trade offer a variety of products that are intended to support consumers with cocooning .

The Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation defined the term cocooning as "retreating into your own four walls, the trend towards tucking away with home service". If the outside world has become too complicated, stressful and uninteresting for you, you can withdraw into your small, manageable circle of life like a cocoon. Overall, 'cocooning' channels many trends: It stands for “people's dwindling desire to discover new territory, as well as the shrinking of their own horizon of responsibility and a certain indifference that is rampant in a highly individualized society”.

See also

• Bionade-Biedermeier
• Homing
• Hikikomori

Web links

• Egonet - gain distance
• Jochen Bölsche: Cocooning. Living instead of living , Der Spiegel 5/1997

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See e.g. B. Clanning and Spirituality
2. ↑ Andreas Haslauer: Cocooning: It's best at home. In: focus.de , February 18, 2009, accessed on May 13, 2013
3. ↑ Holger Rust: Trend prophets and the media construction of the yuppies . At: single-generation.de
4. ↑ Trend research "Cocooning" ( Memento from May 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive )