Melanie Wallendorf

“My Favorite Things”: A Cross-Cultural Inquiry into Object Attachment, Possessiveness, and Social Linkage

We explore the meaning and histories of favorite objects in two cultures using surveys and photographs. Favorite object attachment is differentiated from the possessiveness component of materialism and from attachment to other people. Meanings of favorite objects derive more from personal memories in the U.S. and from social status in Niger than from object characteristics. Since favorite objects serve as storehouses of personal meanings, gender, age, and culture reflect differences in object selected as well as reasons for selection. In the U.S., photographs show greater proximity to objects that are symbols of others or experiences than to objects enjoyed for their own attributes.

A Naturalistic Inquiry into Buyer and Seller Behavior at a Swap Meet

Naturalistic inquiry as an ethnographic approach is explained and utilized for exploring emergent themes in buyer and seller behavior at a swap meet. Components of the method used include purposive sampling, triangulation across researchers, emergent theme analysis, autodriving, memoing, member checks, and auditing. Four emergent dialectical substantive themes are discussed: freedom versus rules, boundaries versus transitions, competition versus cooperation, and sacred versus profane.

“We Gather Together”: Consumption Rituals of Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day is a collective ritual that celebrates material abundance enacted through feasting. Thanksgiving Day both marks and proves to participants their ability to meet basic needs abundantly through consumption. So certain is material plenty for most U.S. citizens that this annual celebration is taken for granted by participants. Not just a moment of bounty but a culture of enduring abundance is celebrated. This article draws on ten data sets compiled over a five-year period. We interpret the consumption rituals of Thanksgiving Day as a discourse among consumers about the categories and principles that underlie American consumer culture. That is, Thanksgiving Day is read as an enacted document orchestrated symbolically and semiotically through consumption. The cultural discourse of Thanksgiving Day negotiates meanings and issues in both the domestic and national arenas that are difficult for many to acknowledge, articulate, and debate verbally. Through the use of multiple perspectives and sources of data, we attempt to elucidate both the emic and etic meanings of this holiday.

Ethnic Migration, Assimilation, and Consumption

The cultural assimilation of Mexican-Americans in the Southwest is assessed by comparing their food consumption patterns with those of income-matched Anglos living in the same region and those of income-matched Mexicans living in Mexico City. Rather than relying on self-report data as indicators of consumption patterns data concerning the contents of the garbage of these three types of households are used. The results suggest that contrary to predictions based on the traditional model of assimilation Mexican-American consumption patterns are not a simple blending of Mexican and Anglo patterns. Rather Mexican-American consumption patterns suggest the emergence of a unique cultural style. (authors)

The Role of Normative Political Ideology in Consumer Behavior

This study of African-American consumers living in a large racially segregated midwestern city adds to extant theory on ideology in consumer behavior by considering the role of normative political ideology in provisioning. The specific roles of traditional black liberal and black nationalist political ideologies are discussed. We conclude that normative political ideology is central to understanding shopping as an expression of social and political relations between households confronting attenuated access to goods and services, ranging from housing to food, in a setting stratified by gender, race, and class. Beyond the specifics of this demographic group and setting, we suggest that contemporary consumption in the United States is a primary arena in which political ideology is expressed and constructed.

The sacred meanings of money

Abstract Contemporary money retains sacred meanings, as suggested in expressions such as ‘the almighty dollar’ and ‘the filthy lucre’. Drawing on ethnographic data, the authors find that the interpretation of money as either sacred or profane depends on its sources and uses and that traversing the boundaries between the sacred and the profane is possible only with attention to proper context and ritual. In order to better understand peoples use of money, it is necessary to consider the non-economic sacred functions that money may well have originally served and often continues to serve in modern economies. The thesis that modern money can be sacred and that it is sacralized by certain processes offers insight into some of the more puzzling ways in which people behave toward money.

Materialism, status signaling, and product satisfaction

The consumer satisfaction literature has not, for the mos part, integrated individual values into the product evaluation process. Yet a comprehensive understanding of consumer satisfaction can best be attained by including both consumer and product factors. To demonstrate the usefulness of including individual values, this research focuses on one consumer value, namely, materialism. The authors empirically explore how this individual value is linked to consumers’ evaluations of products they have purchased. Using surveys, the authors collected data from a sample of college students (n=211) and a sample of adults (n=270). Across these two studies, using divergent samples and products, they find consistent evidence that materialism is negatively related to product satisfaction in product categories with high potential for status signaling, but unrelated to product satisfaction in product categories with lower potential for status signaling. The consumption goals that produce these product evaluations are empirically addressed

A Comparison of Group Differences in Food Consumption Using Household Refuse

Five explanations of group differences in food consumption (national identity, ethnicity, region, income, and minority status) are tested. Data on consumption of 38 food items come from household refuse analysis for 11 social groups. Differences are best explained by regional proximity, followed by minority status. Income was least powerful, although still statistically significant.

Motives Underlying Marketing Information Acquisition and Knowledge Transfer

Abstract An examination of the literature on marketing information acquisition and knowledge transfer raises the issue of what motivates consumers to participate in these processes. A model which is presented incorporates possible motives such as novelty seeking, desires for social mobility, reciprocity, and proselytization. This model indicates why consumers choose to acquire and transfer information relevant to solving current consumption problems as well as that which is not currently relevant. Propositions incorporating these motives are developed and hypotheses relevant to the field of advertising are discussed. Motives underlying the processes of marketing information acquisition and knowledge transfer may have important implications for the measurement of advertising effectiveness, media utilization patterns, and the establishment of continuing interpersonal channels of communication.

Some Implications of Variety Seeking for Advertising and Advertisers

Abstract Empirical research and various behavioral theories support the proposition that some people seek variety in the stimulation they receive. Sources of stimulation may include products, advertisements, mass media and so forth. This paper discusses some of the major implications of variety seeking for advertisers. It is believed that variety seeking by consumers can affect several aspects of advertising, including consumer brand loyalty, the willingness of consumers to try new products they may learn about through advertising and the time period required for advertising campaign wearout. These potential effects of variety seeking can be incorporated into strategic planning by advertisers to minimize negative consequences and maximize positive consequences of variety seeking behaviors by consumers.