Sociology of consumption

Something for all, so that none may escape: reworking the critique of consumption (2012)

by Christian Garland

Something for all, so that none may escape: reworking the critique of consumption in Fast Capitalism 8:2

Por uma teoria da publicização: transformações no processo publicitário

by Vander Casaqui

This article focuses on the analysis of changes in the advertising process, influenced by the current scenario, which... more This article focuses on the analysis of changes in the advertising process, influenced by the current scenario, which combines new technicities, sociabilities, ritualities and institucionalities — configured in meeting points between consumers, producers, goods and communication flows. The structure of our thinking is based on the map of mediations proposed by Martín-Barbero: we start from the discussion about the cultural matrices of advertising to reach the issues of communication contracts updated by contemporary forms of communication linked to consumption. This theoretical approach aims to delimit the focus of interest in studies of publicization — a concept that covers the mutations of the strategies involving persuasive communication of the corporations, brands and goods.

Cigarettes and Domination in Chinese Business Networks: Institutional Change in Market Transition

by David Wank

In The Consumer Revolution in Urban China. Edited by Deborah S. Davis, pp. 268-286. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.

Espacialidades, consumo e trabalho pelos olhos de Mr. Hulot: uma análise de Playtime, de Jacques Tati

by Vander Casaqui

This paper develops an analysis of the Jacques Tati’s movie picture Playtime (1967), from which are discussed matters... more This paper develops an analysis of the Jacques Tati’s movie picture Playtime (1967), from which are discussed matters related to consumption, work environment and human communication, mediated by contemporary architecture and technological disposals. The theoretic frame is based on Walter Benjamin’s studies about Paris and the Universal Expositions, as well as on Beatriz Sarlos’s thoughts on consumption spatiality and Wolfgang Fritz Haug’s construction about the work environment’s esthetical strategies within its spaces.

Domestication of Small-Scale Renewable Energy Systems: A Case Study of Air Heat Pumps, Residential Micro Wind Stations and Solar Thermal Collectors in Finland,

by Jouni Juntunen

EcoDesign2011: 7th International Symposium on Environmentally Conscious Design and Inverse Manufacturing, Kyoto, Japan.

A thorough understanding of the user is crucial in technological design and development. The domestication framework... more A thorough understanding of the user is crucial in technological design and development. The domestication framework has been used in sociology of consumption to open up technology adaptation processes where technology becomes part of the everyday life of people. This study applies domestication
framework for air heat pumps, solar thermal collectors and micro-wind generator technologies. An experimental case study is based on semi-structured interviews and observation of residential household and summer cottages in Finland. Trialing of technology and incremental increase of usage and further
investing demonstrate users to aim for smooth evolutionary approach in energy technology adaptation. Modularity, extendibility, interoperability with other energy systems are key design requirements to enhance adaptation.

'How to make an iconic commodity. The Case of Penfolds' Grange Wine'

by Ian Woodward

A chapter written with David Ellison, now published in the new book on iconography, visuality and materiality, 'Iconic Power', edited by Jeffrey C. Alexander, Dominik Bartmanski & Bernhard Giesen.

New approaches to iconicity in cultural sociology link the aesthetic surface of an object with the depths of its... more New approaches to iconicity in cultural sociology link the aesthetic surface of an object with the depths of its cultural meanings. Linking pragmatics and haptics with symbolism and mythology, such innovations offer a way of understanding how the aesthetic surface features of an object or image attract and enroll human interest by way of physical engagements. In addition, these approaches promise cultural analysts new resources to identify how such objects frame, and ultimately concretize in aesthetic form, complex culture structures of myth and narrative. By using the case study of a much-lauded wine, this chapter considers the conditions under which an object assumes iconic form, as well as the uses and understandings made available by this transfigured state. For our purposes, we have selected Penfolds’ Grange, widely regarded in the popular imagination as Australia’s premier wine. Because of its expense, Grange is tasted relatively rarely, and even then it is only engaged directly by a small group. Yet, while it is not widely circulated amongst the population at large, Grange is nevertheless generally perceived as a landmark Australian wine. More than this, it draws on a cache of national myths and powerful cultural stories that both elevate and continue to authorize its status as an iconic Australian wine. Thus, like any cultural icon, this wine not only stands as an exemplar of the Australian wine industry, but refers to cherished and valued national stories. Therefore—confirming its iconic status—as much as it valued for being a premier wine, the wine thus also distinguishes and stands for the history of Australia’s wine industry while simultaneously drawing on, and giving tangible expression to, archetypes, narratives, and coded symbols of important national myths.

Reclaiming The Sacred: A Festival Experience as a Response to Globalisation

by Karin Mackay

published in Journal for the Study of Religion, vol 24, No 2, 2011

Pressures of globalisation such as the focus on the growth of productive economies, consumerism, and long work-hours... more Pressures of globalisation such as the focus on the growth of productive economies, consumerism, and long work-hours have fragmented cultural beliefs and practices worldwide. Devaluation of deeply held soulful, creative, and nature-based practices in the dominant neoliberal capitalist discourse has challenged the way cultural and spiritual wellbeing are lived. Instead of being completely subsumed into the neoliberal global discourse, local responses incorporating global themes are emerging in the form of the “neo-tribal” festival experience. Although festivals have primarily been seen as places of consumption, this misunderstands the drive to participate in a festival experience. This article investigates a women’s arts and ecology festival held in The Blue Mountains, Australia, where members of the local community celebrate the return of spring. Findings suggest that this festival was a site for reclaiming a localized sense of connectedness, where participants reclaimed what was sacred to them. I will argue that consumerism is secondary to the desire for a sacred synergy of connectedness at this festival where critical creative action challenges the neoliberal and patriarchal discourses in the negotiation of global culture.

Following Ships of rubbish value: A photographic essay

by Michael Crang

This essay is based on the following articles: Gregson N, Crang M, Ahamed F, Akter N & Ferdous R (2010) Following things of rubbish value: end-of-life ships, ‘chock-chocky’ furniture and the bangladesh middle class consumer, Geoforum 41: 846 - 54
Gregson N, Crang M, Ahamed F, Akter N, Ferdous R, Foisal, S & Hudson R (2012) territorial agglomeration and industrial symbiosis: sitakunda-bhatiary as a secondary processing complex, Economic Geography 88 (1): 37–58

Corporate power and the market: Automotive performance and the automobile industry

by Alan Listiak

El consumo como rito y la emergencia de una nueva sociabilidad

by Antonio Caro

Publicado en el nº 4 de Ariel, revista electrónica editada por Red Filosófica del Uruguay, Montevideo, marzo 2010, pp. 56-64. ISSN: 1688-6658

Women, Children and Hospitable Spaces

by Peter Lugosi

A shorter version of this paper was published as Lugosi, P., 2010. Women, Children and Hospitable Spaces. Hospitality Review, 12 (1), pp. 31-38.

This paper argues that the patronage of women with children has been largely ignored by hospitality academics. It... more This paper argues that the patronage of women with children has been largely ignored by hospitality academics. It establishes the context for the study of the subject as well as helping to set the research agenda by reviewing existing literature, identifying relevant bodies of literature which may underpin the future study of the subject, and pointing to gaps in current knowledge. The paper discusses the organisational challenges and opportunities in targeting or hosting these consumer segments. It focuses on venue design, facilities and the spatial strategies for accommodating women with children in venues. The paper also discusses issues concerning emotional labour and consumer co-creation, and it argues that studies of consumer experience in hospitality need to shift emphasis from dyadic relationships, involving hosts and guests, to considering triadic relationships, involving hosts, guests and others, including other guests and consumers not directly involved in the consumption experience.

Queer Consumption and Commercial Hospitality: Communitas, Myths and the Production of Liminoid Space

by Peter Lugosi

This is the accepted version. The final version was published as Lugosi, P., 2007. Queer consumption and commercial hospitality: communitas, myths and the production of liminoid space. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 27 (3/4), pp. 163-174. DOI: 10.1108/01443330710741093. Please consult the published version if citing.

Purpose – This paper develops a conceptual framework for understanding the relationship between sexual dissidence,... more Purpose – This paper develops a conceptual framework for understanding the relationship between sexual dissidence, gender transgression and commercial hospitality. It is argued that this can be used to examine how ideological assumptions about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) consumers are mobilised in the production and consumption of hospitality spaces.

Approach – The paper synthesises three theoretical strands: first, Turner’s concepts of the liminoid and communitas; second, anthropological and socio-political conceptions of myth and myth-making; and third, Lefebvre’s spatial dialectic in the production of material, abstract and symbolic space. It is argued that, when considered together, these theoretical approaches help to understand the consumer experience, the ideological assumptions that underpin the experience, and the processes through which the experience is constructed.

Research implications – The application of this framework in empirical research can enhance our understanding of the role of commercial hospitality spaces in reproducing and challenging particular ideological assumptions about LGBT consumers. It can inform the operational strategies of commercial organisations. Furthermore, it can underpin a critical perspective on management, which encourages practitioners to develop a sense of social responsibility towards the communities of consumers they target.

Originality/value – The holistic nature of this approach helps to analyse the relationship between consumption and community ideologies at the micro level of personal interaction, the meso level of group and organisational norms, and the macro level of societal structures and agencies. Applying this framework to empirical research will also help to understand the nature of consumption and production within commercial hospitality. 

Divergent narratives in the imagining of the home amongst middle-class consumers

by Ian Woodward

The production of hospitable space: Commercial propositions and consumer co-creation in a bar operation

by Peter Lugosi

This is the accepted post-review version, published in Space and Culture 2009 Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 396-411. DOI:10.1177/1206331209348083

This paper examines the processes through which a commercial bar is transformed into a hospitable space. Drawing on a... more This paper examines the processes through which a commercial bar is transformed into a hospitable space. Drawing on a study of a venue patronized by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual/transgender consumers, it considers how social and commercial forms of hospitality are mobilized. The paper argues that hospitable space has an ideological, normative and situational dimension. More specifically, it suggests the bar’s operation is tied to a set of ideological conceptions, which become the potential basis of association and disassociation among consumers. It examines the forces and processes that shape who participates in the production and consumption of hospitality and how. Finally, it considers the situational, emergent nature of hospitality and the discontinuous production of hospitable space. Rather than focusing exclusively on host-guest or provider-customer relations, which dominates existing work on hospitality, the paper examines how consumers’ perceptions, actions and interactions shape the production of hospitality. By doing so the paper offers an alternative approach to understanding queer spaces, bar operation as well as hospitality.

'Rock Music for Myself and Justice to the World!': Musical Identity, Values, and Music Preferences

by Alexandros Baltzis

Gardikiotis, Antonis; Baltzis, Alexandros
Psychology of Music, 40(2): 143-163, Published: 2012, DOI: 10.1177/0305735610386836

The present study examined the relationship between music preferences, values and musical identities in a sample of... more The present study examined the relationship between music preferences, values and musical identities in a sample of 606 Greek college students in the three institutes for higher education in Thessaloniki (Greece). Students indicated the importance of their music preferences in defining and evaluating themselves and their values on an abbreviated version of the Schwartz Value Survey (1992). The questionnaire included 26 musical genres resulted from an exploratory research.

The factor analysis revealed a typology of music preferences with five items: Sophisticated and Complex (e.g. jazz), Native-Greek Traditional (e.g. 'rembetika'), Sentimental and Sensational (e.g. pop), Established Rebellious (e.g. rock), and Non-mainstream Dissonant (e.g. punk).

Hierarchical regression analyses showed that values and perceived importance of music to self-definition (i.e. musical identities) contribute differentially in predicting the music preference structures (e.g. self-transcendence predicts Established Rebellious, conservation Sentimental and Sensational etc.).

The findings are discussed and interpreted in a social psychological framework as well as from the point of view of the sociology of music that has a long tradition in studying the musical taste and the factors that may have some influence on it. The chosen approach and point of view are based on the fact that during the last years it becomes more and more difficult to explain cultural consumption based on the "classical" demographic factors. As a result, there is an increasing interest to explore the common grounds between the omnivorousness hypothesis, developed by R. Peterson, and the homology argument, formulated by H. Gans and elaborated by P. Bourdieu.

This is the first study of this kind carried out in Greece, while the analysis of the relation between values and musical taste is not very common in the literature.

Influence of Social Values and Music Preferences on the Use of Music Distribution Channels: An Exploratory Study

by Alexandros Baltzis

Baltzis, Alexandros; Gardikiotis, Antonis
E-Proceedings of the conference: "Arts, Culture and Public Sphere. Expressive and Instrumental Values in Economic and Sociological Perspectives", Pages: 29, Published: 2008

Objective: An empirical research is presented that focuses on music acquisition patterns among students in a major... more Objective: An empirical research is presented that focuses on music acquisition patterns among students in a major urban centre (Thessaloniki, Greece). Main objective of this study is to test whether there is any relation between the use of various music distribution channels on the one hand, and music preferences, social values, and demographic factors, on the other.

Methods: 456 students from the three institutes for higher education in the city were asked to indicate the frequency of use of various music distribution channels. Respondents were also asked to indicate their preferences for 24 musical genres and the importance of 24 values in their personal lives. Standard demographic data were also collected (gender, education and occupations of parents, geographical origin, annual family income) and a scale of socioeconomic status was constructed. The ratio of the use of each channel to the total use of all music distribution channels by each respondent was then calculated to obtain the music acquisition patterns. In addition, channels were grouped in formal and informal as well as in free and pay channels.

To explore the relation between the patterns of distribution channel use on the one hand, and the education of parents, the geographical origin, the socioeconomic status and the annual family income, on the other, one-way analyses of variance were conducted. Independent-samples T-tests were also employed to detect differences between males and females on the patterns of music acquisition. Finally, hierarchical multiple regression analyses were carried out to explore whether music preferences and social values may predict the patterns of music acquisition.

Findings: Music preferences, gender, and cultural background, are better predictors for the patterns of music acquisition compared to social values, geographical origin, family income and socioeconomic status. Findings contradict the rhetoric of the (major) recording industry that employs a simplistic representation of the users of informal and free distribution channels, ascribing exclusively negative instrumental values to them.

The literature review revealed that the major paradigms used in the sociology of music and in sociology of the arts to interpret patterns of cultural consumption (homology theory, omnivorousness hypothesis, the scenes perspective) do not get into the details and particularities of the ways in which the various forms of cultural capital are objectified. A theoretically significant outcome of this research is the indication that in the case of music - unlike preferences - the acquisition patterns do not correlate with the lifestyles of any particular strata. This finding - if confirmed by further research - might contribute to the improvement and refinement of the theory and to a better understanding of the functions of the arts in contemporary societies.

One conclusion is that further research needs to be done to understand better the ways in which music acquisition patterns are constructed and examine whether they constitute forms of symbolic resistance or conformity, disdain of the artistic activities or awareness of their speculative uses in the market. A better understanding of these patterns may shed some light to cultural practices in everyday life and finally to contribute to a more efficient and productive policy than repression.

The findings rather support the argument that perhaps it would be more fruitful and beneficial for the recording industry (and its audiences) to invest in serious research for alternative policies rather than in litigation of questionable efficiency in defense of an outdated policy that ignores the complexities of cultural consumption. This might improve its public image as well, as it is the only industry fighting its own consumers.

Conversation analysis

by Christian Greiffenhagen

Greiffenhagen, C. Conversation analysis. Forthcoming in D. Southerton (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Consumer Culture. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Standing on the Shoulders of Galbraith: From Managed Markets to Corporate-Guided Markets

by Brendan Sheehan

Paper Presented to the European Sociological Association Conference in Geneva 7th to 10th September 2011

This paper builds upon the audacious insights of J.K. Galbraith (1972; 1998) with respect to managed markets and the... more This paper builds upon the audacious insights of J.K. Galbraith (1972; 1998) with respect to managed markets and the management of specific demand. The paper begins by dividing the global economy into three identifiable, though inter-connected sub-systems – the systems of scarcity, sufficiency and abundance. The dominant threat to the system of abundance is under-consumption by the people of plenty; the institution of marketing spontaneously emerges to counter this threat (Sheehan, 2010). Next the paper sets out Galbraith’s analysis of managed markets, which is applicable to the system of abundance. Galbraith’s approach marks a distinct break with the idea of the invisible hand; though his analysis has it has some important limitations. Finally, the paper introduces Sheehan’s new concept of corporate-guided markets for branded products. This is the general market form in the system of abundance. The concept of a corporate-guided market seeks to refine and develop Galbraith’s analysis; most importantly it fully incorporates the role played by the institution of marketing. Put another way, the insights contained in this paper are the result of standing on the shoulders of an economic giant – J.K. Galbraith.

Making Italian Espresso, Making Espresso Italian

by Jonathan Morris

Food & History, vol. 8, n° 2 (2010), pp. 155-184 doi: 10.1484/J.FOOD.1.102222

Espresso coffee has become synonymous with Italy, as have
those beverages which employ this as a base such as... more Espresso coffee has become synonymous with Italy, as have
those beverages which employ this as a base such as cappuccino and caffè latte. This article examines the processes by which espresso became “Itallan” over the course of the twentieth century by investigating the way that the taste of Italian coffee has evolved, along with the taste for coffee amongst the Italians. In addition it discusses the ways in which the serving styles of these beverages have been adjusted to make them more palatable to coffee-drinking cultures outside Italy. By focussing on the sensory qualities of the coffee itself, it aims to produce a material history of espresso that can be read alongside that of the socio-cultural conditions that have occasioned its success.

Living Room vs. Concert Hall: Patterns of Music Consumption in Flanders

by Henk Roose