Consumer Culture Theory

Taste Regimes and Market-Mediated Practice

by Zeynep Arsel

Co-authored with Jonathan Bean. Forthcoming in Feb 2013.

Taste has been conceptualized as a boundary making mechanism, yet there is limited theory on how it enters into daily... more Taste has been conceptualized as a boundary making mechanism, yet there is limited theory on how it enters into daily practice. In this paper, we develop a practice-based framework of taste through qualitative and quantitative analysis of a popular home design blog, interviews with blog participants, and participant observation. First, we define a taste regime as a discursively constructed normative system that orchestrates practice in an aesthetically oriented culture of consumption. Taste regimes are perpetuated by marketplace institutions such as magazines, web sites and transmedia brands. Second, we show how a taste regime regulates practice through continuous engagement. By integrating three dispersed practices—problematization, ritualization, and instrumentalization—a taste regime shapes preferences for objects, the doings performed with objects, and what meanings are associated with objects. This study demonstrates how aesthetics is linked to practical knowledge and becomes materialized through everyday consumption.

Covert distinction: how hipsters practice food-based resistance strategies in the production of identity

by James M. Cronin

Co-authored with PhD supervisors Dr. Mary McCarthy & Dr. Alan Collins, published in Consumption, Markets & Culture

This paper reveals the processes by which food is used to express resistance to the mainstream and perform identity... more This paper reveals the processes by which food is used to express resistance to the mainstream and perform identity work within the hipster community of consumption. Based on the findings of a qualitative investigation, several resistance strategies involving food emerged: Vegetarian choices; Brand choices and avoidances; and Decommodification practices. We discuss how these strategies are framed by hipsters' discursive distaste for the commercial food marketing system but are, in practice, operationalised as subtle ways to achieve proper representation of their collective identity within the marketplace. Mundane consumption emerges as motor-force in allowing these consumers to surreptitiously maintain distinction and to protect their within-group identity from mainstream co-optation. We conclude by suggesting that the inconspicuous nature of mundane consumables such as food and alcohol products allows for idiosyncratic shared community performances that are covert and difficult for broader social currents to detect and co-opt.

CONSUMER CULTURE AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE – THE ROLE OF THE INSTITUTION OF MARKETING

by Brendan Sheehan

A post-modernist view of global capitalism sees it divided into three systems. They are the system of scarcity... more A post-modernist view of global capitalism sees it divided into three systems. They are the system of scarcity populated by the people of poverty, the system of sufficiency experienced by those with just enough to make do, and the system of abundance experienced by, what Potter calls, the people of plenty.
This paper focuses on the system of abundance. The dominant economic problem in this system is not one of production or distribution but of demand. It is how to persuade the most affluent consumers of the globe – the people of plenty – to keep spending at ever higher levels.
The system of abundance spontaneously generates an institution of marketing that works to solve this problem. The mass messaging of the institution creates a consumer culture in which the people of plenty increasingly perceive themselves as consumer citizens with a shared morality of indulgence and a shared customer mindset. The institution is also the dominant driver of cultural change. The institution creates a “hot” culture of perpetual change to persuade affluent consumers to spend more.
When the work of the institution is successful is promoting ever higher consumer spending the performance of the system of abundance is good, and when it is less successful, as now, its performance is dire.

The golden ties that bind: boundary crossing in diasporic Hindu wedding ritual

by Ekant Veer

The interpretive research in this article goes beyond considering how diasporic consumers cross borders between home... more The interpretive research in this article goes beyond considering how diasporic consumers cross borders between home and host cultures, to examine how they cross boundaries within their home culture. In keeping with ethno-consumerism, the authors utilize Hindu meaning categories of sacredness, purity, and auspiciousness to examine the wedding ritual among diasporic Hindus. The authors unpack the transformation of outsider fiancées into insider daughters to show how gold is employed to separate, link, and cross boundaries in extended families. This article demonstrates the agency of the relationships between the gold and its givers, in collectively co-creating an aesthetic subject who is a visual representation of a daughter embedded into the collective self of the extended family. In doing so, the authors demonstrate how diasporic Hindus utilize the cultural code of gold to shape and reaffirm collective identity.

Approaching non-western consumer cultures from a historical perspective: The case of early modern Ottoman consumer culture

by Eminegül Karababa

Early view in Marketing Theory

A very common but futile practice in scientific research investigating non-western consumer cultures and markets is... more A very common but futile practice in scientific research investigating non-western consumer cultures and markets is the imposition of concepts that are derived from a single historical trajectory of western modernization. This paper aims to show that there are alternative historical trajectories in the early modern period which have formed today’s multiple modern consumer cultures. The particularities of the Ottoman context, which shaped the development of an alternative early modern consumer culture, are examined as an example. Islamic ethics, fluid social structure, wakf institutions, the negotiability of market institutions, and a public sphere formed by aesthetic, emotional, and playful communicative action are among the particularities discussed in this study.

Motorcycling edgework: A practice theory perspective

by Stephen Murphy

Journal of Marketing Management , Co-author Maurice Patterson

In an effort to elucidate a deep understanding of the experience of dangerous motorcycling behaviour we... more

In an effort to elucidate a deep understanding of the experience of dangerous motorcycling behaviour we employ a practice theory perspective; drawing out connections between the practice, the consumption of objects, and the meanings surrounding both. Using the Biographical Narrative Interpretive Method (BNIM), we offer possible explanations as to why, in the face of troubling accident statistics, some motorcyclists continue to drive at excessive speeds. Narrative accounts portray dangerous motorcycling practice as autotelic, impulsive edgework, incorporating a strong connection between rider and machine, and embedded with symbolic, emotional values that cannot be accounted for by traditional rational choice models. Our findings allow for the potential of policy makers to address such motorcycling practice in ways more meaningful to those engaged in it.

Green Retailing: A socio-material analysis - Christian Fuentes

by Christian Fuentes

Goddesses of Consumerism: An Interpretivist Study of Young Female Consumers in Contemporary India

by Anoop Bhogal

'Meat, mask, burden': Probing the contours of the branded self

by Alison Hearn

Consumer Roles in Brand Culture and Value Co-Creation in Virtual Communities

by Jason C. Healy

Co-authored with McDonagh, P., Journal of Business Research, forthcoming, in-press.

    Using a Netnographic Grounded Theory approach to an online fan forum, a Virtual Community (VC), this... more     Using a Netnographic Grounded Theory approach to an online fan forum, a Virtual Community (VC), this article considers brand culture and value co-creation. The research site is a VC containing football fans who are viewed as stakeholders of the organisation Liverpool Football Club. Following a service-dominant logic (SDL) and consumer culture theory (CCT) approaches, analysis is conducted on fan consumer behaviour leading to the submission of a Typology of Seven Consumer Community Cultural Co-creative Roles. The authors reflect on existing theoretical consumer responses to market offerings of exit, voice, loyalty, and twist, found in extant literature; adopting these as four co-creative roles. This study contributes three new consumer co-creative roles of entry, re-entry, and non-entry. Managerial implications of the typology are discussed.

Discursive Confusion over Sustainable Consumption: A Discursive Perspective on the Perplexity of Marketplace Knowledge

by Johanna Moisander

Co-authored with Annu Markkula, accepted for publication in Journal of Consumer Policy special issue "From Knowledge to Action -­New Paths towards Sustainable Consumption", edited by John Thøgersen and Ulf Schrader.

This paper works towards a discursive, practice-based perspective on explaining the “knowledge-to-action”–gap observed... more This paper works towards a discursive, practice-based perspective on explaining the “knowledge-to-action”–gap observed in the consumer policy–literature on sustainable consumption. Based on an empirical study that focuses on fashion and clothing markets, the objective is to elaborate on the nature and implications of the discursive polyphony that consumers face when striving for more sustainable consumption practices. Overall, it is concluded that part of the gap can be attributed to the discursive confusion that arises from a simultaneous existence of multiple, continuously changing and partly clashing discourses of sustainable consumption as well as the associated discursive struggle that consumers need to deal with when trying to make sense of their roles and responsibilities in sustainable development.

Happy Festivus! Parody as playful consumer resistance

by Ilona Mikkonen

Accepted for publication in Consumption Markets and Culture.
Please do not cite without permission.

Drawing upon literary theory, play and consumer resistance literature, we
conceptualize consumer parodic... more Drawing upon literary theory, play and consumer resistance literature, we
conceptualize consumer parodic resistance, a resistant form of play that
critically refunctions dominant consumption discourses and marketplace
ideologies. We explore parodic resistance empirically by analyzing
Festivus, a parody of Christmas. Festivus is found to be primarily
constructed as a playful rejection of the established grand narratives and
conventions of Christmas. In contrast to dominant Christmas ideology,
Festivus promotes a grand narrative of 'meaningful nothingness', wherein
Festivus celebration is presented a viable means of circumventing the
oppressiveness of Christmas (i.e., 'meaningful') through erasing the
higher goals and conventions if Christmas (i.e., 'nothingness'). Our
contribution is three-fold: 1) we demonstrate the role of parody in
consumer resistance, 2) we outline the subversively playful nature of
parodic consumer resistance, 3) we empirically demonstrate how parodic
holiday celebration unsettles dominant discourses and conventions.

Fast Food and Fast Games: An ethnographic exploration of food consumption complexity among the videogames subculture

by James M. Cronin

Co-authored with Dr. Mary McCarthy, published in the British Food Journal

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand how food is used to create identity and community for gamers... more Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand how food is used to create identity and community for gamers during core rituals. These meanings are to be explored within the broader context of subcultural experience in an investigation of the motives and the self-concept dynamics underlying this symbolic consumer behaviour.

Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses an interpretive research strategy and adopts a multi-method ethnographic approach that includes: netnography: multiple, in-depth, ethnographic interviews; and prolonged participant observation. Interview informants are young Irish subcultural members aged between 18 and 23. Data analysis proceeds according to a constant comparative method.

Findings – The findings suggest that the social gaming ritual, when intersected with food, is closely linked to issues of identity, community, fantasy and escape, gustatory rebellion and prolonged hedonism. Commensality during the core social gaming ritual contributes to a sense of communitas, while the “junk” nature of the shared food products helps to manufacture the hedonism of the event. The social ritual then is sovereign and bound by its own subcultural parameters, which oppose mainstream culture's norms and dietary regulations. From its role in helping to create a Utopian and rebellious experience, food is then leveraged as part of the gamers' collective identity. Practitioner implications of the results are discussed.

Originality/value – This paper investigates contemporary food consumption behaviour within a postmodern community. The main contribution pertains to providing an insight into a previously neglected group of food consumers.

Cordelier B., «Consumer Culture Theory et Marketing, Une ouverture pour les SIC?», Communication & Organisation, n°37, Bordeaux, Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux, 2010, pp. 165-177.

by Benoit Cordelier

Interpretive Marketing Research: Using Ethnography In Strategic Market Development

by Johanna Moisander

Co-authored with Anu Valtonen. Please note that this is a so-called personal version (author’s manuscript as accepted for publishing after the review process but prior to final layout and copyediting) of the article: Moisander, Johanna & Anu Valtonen: Interpretive Marketing Research. In Penaloza, Lisa, Luca Visconti & Nil Ozcaglar-Toulouse (2011) Marketing Management: A Cultural Approach. London: Routledge, 246-260.
http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415606820/

Please use the official publication in references!

This chapter focuses on interpretive research in marketing. Interpretive research is argued to be particularly well... more This chapter focuses on interpretive research in marketing. Interpretive research is argued to be particularly well suited for gaining consumer market insight and for developing customer-oriented strategies. Being a data-driven approach, it enables marketing practitioners to keep up with and anticipate the continuous change that is taking place in the market environment, thereby inviting them to make sense of marketing activity in new ways. The chapter starts by discussing the general goals, principles and practices of interpretive research, comparing it with the more traditional approaches to marketing research. Then, the chapter turns to exemplify the interpretive perspective by discussing how ethnography – a key methodology in the interpretive research paradigm – might be fruitfully employed in the context of strategic market development, branding and coolhunting in particular. To conclude, the chapter outlines some challenges that marketing managers face when buying and evaluating interpretive research.

Ethical issues of global marketing: avoiding bad faith in visual representation

by Janet L. Borgerson

Investigating early modern Ottoman consumer culture in the light of Bursa probate inventories

by Eminegül Karababa

This study investigates the development of early modern Ottoman consumer culture. In particular, the democratization... more This study investigates the development of early modern Ottoman consumer culture. In particular, the democratization of consumption, which is a significant indicator of the development of western consumer cultures, is examined in relation to Ottoman society. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century probate inventories of the town of Bursa combined with literary and official sources are used in order to identify democratization of consumption and the macro conditions shaping this development. Findings demonstrate that commercialization, international trade, urbanization which created a fluid social structure, and the ability of the state to negotiate with guilds were possible contextual specificities which encouraged the democratization of consumption in the Bursa context.

Early Modern Ottoman Coffeehouse Culture and the Formation of the Consumer Subject

by Eminegül Karababa

Co-authored with Güliz Ger

We examine the sociohistorical formation of the consumer subject during the development of consumer culture in the... more We examine the sociohistorical formation of the consumer subject during the development of consumer culture in the context of leisure consumption. Specifically, we investigate how an active consumer was forming while a coffeehouse culture was taking shape during early modern Ottoman society. Utilizing multiple historical data sources and analysis techniques, we focus on the discursive negotiations and the practices of the consumers, the marketers, the state, and the religious institution as relevant stakeholders. Our findings demonstrate that multiparty resistance, enacted by consumers and marketers, first challenged the authority of the state and religion and then changed them. Simultaneously and at interplay with various institutional transformations, a public sphere, a coffeehouse culture, and a consumer subject constructing his self-ethics were developed, normalized, and legalized. We discuss the implications of the centrality of transgressive hedonism in this process, as well as the existence of an active consumer in an early modern context.

Qualitative Marketing Research: A Cultural Approach

by Johanna Moisander

For sale at:
http://www.uk.sagepub.com/books/Book227142
http://www.amazon.com/Qualitative-Marketing-Research-Cultural-Introducing/dp/1412903815

Sage Research Methods Online:
http://www.srmo.sagepub.com/view/qualitative-marketing-research-moisander/d3.xml

Qualitative Marketing Research unpacks the emerging cultural approach in the field of marketing and consumer research... more Qualitative Marketing Research unpacks the emerging cultural approach in the field of marketing and consumer research and provides an interesting and informed study for anyone interested in cultural approaches to economic and social theory. 

Cynical Identity Projects as Consumer Resistance—the Scrooge as a social critic?

by Johanna Moisander

coauthored with Ilona Mikkonen and A. Fuat Firat, published in Consumption, Markets & Culture, 14 (1), 77–94.

The paper focuses on consumer cynicism in online environments, using the anti- Christmas sites of the Internet as an... more The paper focuses on consumer cynicism in online environments, using the anti- Christmas sites of the Internet as an empirical case. Drawing on the discursive power model of consumer resistance, critical management studies on organizational cynicism, and Foucauldian ideas of political struggle as ‘politics of self’, it is argued that consumer cynicism, in online environments, may represent a form of resistance against markets and the marketing institution, which is brought about through the problematization and partial rejection of the normalized forms of consumer subjectivity that are offered in the marketplace. The paper illustrates how consumers employ a cynical rhetoric and discursive strategy, creatively drawing from the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, to problematize the received, highly commercialized ways of celebrating Christmas and to work on a cynical identity project, the scrooge, which represents an alternative form of consumer subjectivity, disillusioned and critical towards the market and the marketing institution.