Possessions: How We Think about Our Stuff, and Ourselves, as We Own Less and Use More

by Carey Morewedge

"A fascinating look at what we give up when we rent, subscribe, and borrow instead of buying. Carey Morewedge is one of the world's preeminent experts on the psychology of ownership, and he makes a compelling case that we shouldn't be too quick to shed our belongings."

—Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of VIBE and THINK AGAIN, and host of the podcast  

A Publishers' Weekly Top 10 Business and Economics Book (Fall 2026)

"You'll own nothing. And you'll be happy. Whatever you want you'll rent." That was the World Economic Forum's number one prediction for 2030, made back in 2016. The timing might be slightly off, but it's undeniable that ownership is in significant decline. We're in the midst of a tectonic shift from a society of owners to a society of users, renters, and streamers.
 
As a result, we're trading ownership for access, purchases for subscriptions, and possessions for the rights to digital copies stored in data centers. Homeowners are giving way to forever renters, and some have even embraced the life of a digital nomad.

This shift is more than just an economic one; it's a profound challenge to centuries of using ownership to form and express our identity. In fundamental, human ways, we are what we own. So what are we if we don't own much?

In Possessions, Carey Morewedge, a leading researcher and powerful voice in behavioral science, marketing, and consumer behavior, leads us on a journey to answer that question. He takes us on a fascinating tour of the rapidly shifting landscape, from a life of creating ownership in which you possess things—to a life of "liquid consumption"—life-as-a-service, in which all you possess are your experiences and your brand (and probably a phone). From Delaware goat farms to Australian housing tracts to a Quebec City ice hotel; from an artist in London to a former economist who lived for a time with only his devices and what he could carry on his back, you'll visit places and meet people that show just how complicated and compelling the idea of ownership is, why you value your things so much, and what happens when you can't (or decide not to) own something.

As the economy continues to shift closer towards the reality forecasted by the World Economic Forum for 2030, Possessions will help you understand that shift and what it means to all of us—as we own less and use more.

Kindle Edition

Expected publication January 19, 2027

Reviews

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Possessions: How We Think about Our Stuff, and Ourselves, as We Own Less and Use More
Author: Carey Morewedge

I was really hoping for tips on how to move more towards owning less. So, that’s on me.

This is a book about the psychology of ownership (Marketing 101) and why it makes us feel good and how we become connected to certain things. Carey Morewedge does address the trend of subscriptions. So much easier but also how subscriptions are more expensive than actual ownership.

Our possessions tell the story of who we are. However, stealing does not give one the same relationship with an object. Putin stealing the Super Bowl ring from the Patriots’ owner doesn’t give him the same connection to the ring as those who are part of the Patriots organization.

[Scott Ward · Rating 2.75 out of 5]

Morewedge points out the trends of ownership in houses, clothes, books, music, art, vehicles, etc. where many things have become products/experiences-as-a-service. He describes how we value our possessions more than we may value “the same thing” sitting on the shelf because it’s now “mine.” Rightly pointing out that the cost of ownership is greater for goods that we infrequently use, e.g. vehicles are not utilized 98% of the time. While the author suggests ownership is part of our identity and it changes us—in our valuation of those things, how we feel about ourselves—he limits his perspective on why we own only to the psychology or the economics of possession. He failed to consider a broader expanse of decision elements, options and comparisons.

Besides the economics of owning vs renting, including whether tax credits to one class or another are available, home ownership may be more valuable to: pet owners; parents who want their kids to complete their schooling in the same district or school system; security of knowing the rate of occupancy is fairly fixed for decades. These are the intangible decision elements that aren’t covered by identity or self-esteem.

In one example, he suggests that throwing out three shirts is not three times as painful as throwing out one—similar to the diminishing returns of having more pleasurable items/experiences, plateauing at some hypothetical maximum of pleasure. The curve may not plateau with more loss, remaining in the “pain” side of the axis; the curve may be parabolic in that the more we discard the happier we are because we’ve created more capacity and opportunity for more new products/services/experiences. Instead of only replacing one five-year-old shirt and getting one more trendy shirt, within some budget, I can replace more of my out-of-fashion wardrobe and upscale my personal brand. (See Part 3.)

His comparisons, for example, of the declining sales of physical music products (albums, CDs, tapes) over the past decades while streaming has eclipsed those sales is too narrow. People have recognized that we pay for services one way or the other. Remember the 21st century adage: if the product is free, you’re paying for it in another way—such as being inundated with ads. Streaming may cost less than owning thousands of music “records,” as the author once did, but it comes with ads perhaps, less cost of storage and so on. Even if our access to particular songs or artists go away, streaming may be less like owning records and more like listening to the radio, in which we had no control over “access” or variety. At least with streaming we pay for the privilege of an expansive library of global music, whether we choose to sample them or not; they are mostly there. Likewise, we pay to stream shows, movies and sports because on-demand has value compared to broadcasting schedules or limited stacks of VHS tapes, DVDs, etc.

While the comparisons may be incomplete in his book, the author does not look at second-home ownership vs short-term rentals, like Vrbo, given a growing population. Has the number of second-, third- or fourth-homes decreased, or just the percentage of people owning more than one home? How does this relate to the past decade’s K-shaped recovery—where the top tier net worth people are getting richer while the middle- and bottom-tiers are getting poorer?

Vehicles sales may have decreased because of a reconsideration of ownership and/or because cars are more durable and being kept longer and thus, the turnover rate has decreased. Additionally, as urban areas continue to grow, vehicle storage becomes more costly. Perhaps a fairer comparison, which the author ignores, is the rate of ownership of vehicles in exurban and rural areas, where rideshare is less prevalent. Vehicle ownership overall is less with the under-50 urban demographic, but is that true in rural areas?

Morewedge then tries to project what possessions will change—but into a service?—in Part 3: smartphones; our personal brand with its breadth/depth of social networking; valuing experiences more than possessions and becoming more nomadic. Smartphones have changed us; we spend more money and time on them…because their utility is far greater than other communication and pocket research devices. There’s just no comparison. The only reason Steve Jobs agreed to the iPhone project wasn’t because he loved cell phones (he hated them) but because it was described as a computer in the pocket. And its interface was better than BlackBerry’s and Nokia’s—two companies that dominated the cell phone markets and barely exist today. Personal branding socially may be important but personal branding in the sense of credibility, competency, trustworthiness and capacity are important for earning what you need to do the rest. The author seems to take this for granted and has forgotten that employment in the traditional sense has declined and more are involved in the gig economy: freelance, fractional, contractual work. And that’s work that needs to be “re-sold, re-marketed, rebranded” for every “encounter.” Your personal brand in hyperdrive.

And most people don’t have the luxury of flexible schedules for maximizing experiences over possessions. We have jobs, families, volunteer work, friends to see (even if it’s only 15 in a given month), aging parents, etc.

Morewedge focused on the psychology of possessions but that’s like saying clothes only provide color to our flesh. Clothes have much more function than adornment. Likewise, our possessions do much more for us than make us feel good or bad about ourselves and others. Our circumstances (and our family background and early learnings in our nuclear family) shape how we view ownership, its utility and its perils (obsolescence, risk of loss, cost of maintenance). A comparison book may be considered here: “The Psychology of Money” by Morgan Housel. Housel considers far more aspects of possession, ambition, investment and the roots of how we adopted and developed our core beliefs about money and things. This book’s perspective is too narrow.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mullet Of A Book. Got your attention with that review title, eh? Here's what I mean by it: The first part of this book, where Morewedge is explaining the actual psychological research of attachment to possessions itself, is genuinely strong and will actively teach you something, perhaps even if you happen to be a similar level professor as he is. The later parts of the book... are more Morewedge using the research to push for his own preferred ideas and outcomes, and your mileage will absolutely vary here based on how closely you agree with his desires. Thus, like the "business in the front, party in the back" hairstyle, ultimately this is a book of personal preference rather than more objective level truth.

It could be argued as perhaps a touch ticky-tack, but one star is deducted for bibliography that is *just* on the short side, clocking in at 14% when I generally expect (even these days, with a more relaxed standard) 15% or more, and with the Sagan Standard (extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence) absolutely applying, particularly in the back two thirds or so of this text in the application and recommendation/ prediction areas, I feel justified here in demanding a bigger bibliography.

The other star is deducted for the myopic and dogmatic back two thirds of the book, where Morewedge fails to consider alternatives to his views and in fact could be argued to have the cart before the horse: Do possessions and experiences *create* the reputation, as he argues, or do they potentially flow *from* the reputation instead? Morewedge never considers this second question here at all, and ultimately the book suffers for not at least having a chapter discussing why he thinks one way and not the other.

Overall though, this is an informative enough book - particularly in Part I - that someone seeking to have a more well rounded knowledge of the psychology of possessions could well benefit from reading it... and then seeking out other books in this space, perhaps with competing thoughts, to compare its discussion to.

Recommended.