Ela Veresiu

Creating the responsible consumer: : moralistic governance regimes and consumer subjectivity

Responsible consumption conventionally stems from an increased awareness of the impact of consumption decisions on the environment, on consumer health, and on society in general. We theorize the influence of moralistic governance regimes on consumer subjectivity to make the opposite case: responsible consumption requires the active creation and management of consumers as moral subjects. Building on the sociology of governmentality, we introduce four processes of consumer responsibilization that, together, comprise the P.A.C.T. routine (personalization, authorization, capabilization, and transformation). After that, we draw on a longitudinal analysis of problem-solving initiatives at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to explore the role of P.A.C.T. in the creation of four, now commonplace, responsible consumer subjects: the bottom-of-the-pyramid consumer, the green consumer, the health-conscious consumer, and the financially literate consumer. Our analysis informs extant macro-level theorizations of market and consumption systems. We also contribute to prior accounts of responsibilization, marketplace mythologies, consumer subjectivity, and transformative consumer research.

Introducing a spatial perspective to analyze market dynamics

Grounded in work on geography and markets, this article offers a conceptual framework to study the dynamics of markets through a spatial lens. The characteristics of four key spatial dimensions (place, territory, scale, and network) are explained and leveraged to provide distinct analytical vantage points and to conceptualize how various types of spaces matter differently in market dynamics. Findings from a qualitative meta-analysis identify 12 unique mechanisms tied to the four proposed spatial dimensions, which offer alternative theoretical avenues for unpacking market phenomena. These four spatial dimensions are then combined with 12 space-based mechanisms to offer novel research avenues for marketing scholars interested in market system dynamics.

The consumer acculturative effect of state-subsidized spaces: spatial segregation, cultural integration, and consumer contestation

ABSTRACT Although extant consumer acculturation research has investigated the acculturative effect of various ideological and institutional contexts, it has devoted minimal attention to how spatial structural conditions, in particular state-subsidized spaces, affect the consumer acculturation experiences of poor immigrants. This study builds on spatial governmentality theory to investigate the creation and consumption of a racialized gated community in Italy. Specifically, it reveals three state-sponsored spatial governmentality strategies (race-restrictive zoning, domestic space standardizing, and technological self-surveilling) used to transform perceived norm-breaking Roma immigrants (derogatorily referred to as “Gypsies”) into acculturating consumers to regional sedentary norms, as well as the accompanying Roma consumer resistance responses (community-protective insulating, domestic space rearranging, and behavioral boundary testing) used to partly contest the imposed consumer acculturation and preserve some of the minority’s nomadic culture. The article concludes with implications for research on consumer acculturation, consumer resistance, and spatial governmentality.