Helene Cherrier

Consumer empowerment: a Foucauldian interpretation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to question the taken for granted assumptions that underpin a liberal or lay view of consumer empowerment implicit to this special edition. In particular, the idea that it benefits consumers to have more choice is questioned.Design/methodology/approach – The key constructs of Michel Foucault – disciplinary power, governmentality and technologies of self – are used to argue that people can never escape from the operation of power. Rather it is shown how power operates to produce consumers.Findings – The liberal view of the empowerment of consumers through choice is questioned. Rather we suggest the opposite; that choice is a disciplinary power and that more and more choice can lead to choice paralysis. The contemporary phenomenon known as blogging is described as a Foucauldian technology of self. Managerial implications are discussed.Originality/value – The value of a Foucauldian inspired theory of empowerment is that it represents a more sophisticated understanding o...

Intentional Non-consumption for Sustainability: Consumer Resistance and/or Anti-Consumption?

Purpose – This paper aims to contribute to the special issue theme by analysing intentional non‐consumption through anti‐consumption and consumer resistance lenses.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 16 in‐depth interviews with women who intentionally practise non‐consumption for sustainability were completed.Findings – Two major themes where identified: I versus them: the careless consumers, and The objective/subjective dialectic in mundane practices.Originality/value – While it is tempting to delineate one concept from another, in practice, both anti‐consumption and consumer resistance intersect and represent complementary frameworks in studying non‐consumption.

Framing social marketing as a system of interaction: A neo-institutional approach to alcohol abstinence

Abstract We employ Giddens’ structuration theory to gain insights into the interaction between upstream/midstream and downstream social marketing perspectives. This is conducted through thirteen phenomenological interviews with informants who stand outside of the practice of alcohol consumption through their voluntary engagement in one month of sobriety. Our study identifies the ‘modalities’ located at the intersection between individual actions and the institutions of alcohol. By identifying these ‘modalities’, we conceptualise social marketing in interaction, which incorporates the institutional orders of domination, signification and legitimation, and the individual actions of power, communication and sanction. Specific domains of interventions are identified, namely marketplace offerings and promotional techniques, social grouping and positional status and rituals and traditions, through which social marketers can enact social change.

Reacquiring consumer waste: treasure in our trash?

The reacquisition of discarded objects reshapes linear consumption into a cycle, simultaneously reducing new resources consumed and reducing consumer waste. In this article, the authors examine sustainable consumption behavior in the context of the annual inorganic collection in Auckland, New Zealand. Depth interviews and observations revealed that the recognition that treasure can be found in trash was pivotal in motivating collectors to collect for themselves and others, prolonging the useful life of objects. Contrary to the “future-for-others” framing of sustainable consumption that is often evident in public discourse, collectors initially had a “present-for-us” perspective. However, being confronted with excessive waste made this negative consequence of consumerism more proximate, motivating subsequent sustainable consumption behavior. The authors suggest how public policy makers can take advantage of the finding that the desire to consume sustainably is both a motivator and a consequence of sustainable consumption.

Barriers to downward carbon emission: Exploring sustainable consumption in the face of the glass floor

Abstract The present study explores the constraining forces to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions (GHG) via alternative and/or reduced consumption. The analysis of introspection, netnography, ethnographic work, and 18 interviews demonstrates that needs are not innate human requirements and that consumers are not free and autonomous agents able to incorporate reduce or alternative consumption within their lifestyles. Specifically, our analysis shows the existence of barriers to downward carbon emission. These barriers, which we combined under the concept of the glass floor, represent sociocultural standards preventing our informants from achieving their goal of reducing their carbon footprint. Our findings are presented around two main themes: the social construction of needs and the social imaginary.

Queering beauty: fatshionistas in the fatosphere

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the representations and experiences of beauty amongst fat women to understand how females located outside of the normative ideal consume, express, challenge and resist “straight” beauty.Design/methodology/approach – A netnographic approach is taken to analyse 922 blog posts written by five female “fatshionistas” who play a significant role in the Australian fat activism movement.Findings – The research findings illustrate that fatshionistas (re)negotiate cultural notions of beauty through three performative acts – coming out as fat, mobilising fat citizenship and flaunting fat.Research limitations/implications – The study demonstrates how beauty is negotiated as a mode of praxis, a performance in the interaction of day‐to‐day life, whereby the possibilities for multiple and provisional beauties are highlighted.Practical implications – Given the active participation of those outside of the idealised form in “mainstream” beauty consumption, practitioners sho...

Custodian behavior: A material expression of anti‐consumerism

Custodian behavior is an everyday practice that certain consumers consciously perform in order to rescue and safeguard material objects from being thrown away or wasted. An analysis of nine in‐depth interviews with self‐identified custodian consumers shows custodian behavior to be a form of anti‐consumerism that resists the wastefulness of consumer culture. This study broadens the area examined by anti‐consumerism research by considering wider forms of cultural practices and expression. Although they do not consciously attack global consumer culture, custodian consumer practices illustrate the diverse ways of countering the expansion of a throwaway culture, and are a testament to consumer reflexivity.

Anticonsumption Choices Performed in a Drinking Culture: Normative Struggles and Repairs

This article explores the normative barriers to anti-consumption practices and highlights that not-for-profit organizations have an important role to play in facilitating the rejection of consumption. The study is based on thirteen phenomenological interviews with individuals who engaged in one month of alcohol abstinence and illustrates three cultural barriers to rejecting alcohol consumption, namely: the collective obligation to participate in entrenched sharing practices, the collective expectation to reciprocate in gift-giving practices of alcoholic commodities, and the identification of abstinence as deviant nonconformity. The study also discusses the role of nonprofits as change agents within society, emphasizing their ability to mobilize disenfranchised groups, give voice to unpopular causes and facilitate community building that breeds trust and cooperation.This article explores the normative barriers to anti-consumption practices and highlights that not-for-profit organizations have an important role to play in facilitating the rejection of consumption. The study is based on thirteen phenomenological interviews with individuals who engaged in one month of alcohol abstinence and illustrates three cultural barriers to rejecting alcohol consumption, namely: the collective obligation to participate in entrenched sharing practices, the collective expectation to reciprocate in gift-giving practices of alcoholic commodities, and the identification of abstinence as deviant nonconformity. The study also discusses the role of nonprofits as change agents within society, emphasizing their ability to mobilize disenfranchised groups, give voice to unpopular causes and facilitate community building that breeds trust and cooperation.

Corporate environmentalism and top management identity negotiation

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to examine the narratives of acceptance and resistance to the introduction of corporate environmentalism. Despite recognition that managers and senior executives play a primary role in corporate environmentalism, relatively few researchers have examined how top management supports, accepts, negotiates, disregards, or rejects the implementation of corporate environmentalism within their organization. By considering how members of a top management team reflect on corporate environmentalism the aim is to examine potential identity management conflicts that arise during the implementation of environmentally sustainable initiatives within organizations.Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative approach was adopted to address the research aims. By taking this approach the paper examines the lived experience of the participants as they internalized corporate environmentalism as part of their identity and as part of the organizational identity. Data collection involved 15 semi...

Can Sentiment Toward Advertising Explain Materialism and Vanity in the Globalization Era? Evidence From Dubai

ABSTRACT This report presents the first study to address sentiment toward advertising, materialism, and vanity in the globalized city of Dubai. A conceptual model is developed and subsequent hypotheses are tested via structural equation modeling. The main research findings suggest that consumers in Dubai exhibit positive perceptions of advertising as well as higher levels of materialism and vanity. Sentiment toward advertising is found to positively influence materialism levels, while materialism strongly influences views, concern for physical appearance, and personal achievement. Sentiment toward advertising, however, has no direct effect on any vanity trait, suggesting that vanity is more an internal personal trait.