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The new work ethics of consumption and the paradox of mundane brand resistance

Ulver, Sofia LU ; Askegaard, S. and Kristensen, D. B. (2011) In Journal of Consumer Culture 11(2). p.215-238
Abstract
In terms of consumer resistance and marketplace ideologies, consumer researchers have called for a more nuanced conceptualization of consumption moralism in order to avoid the simplistic trope of inside/outside the marketplace (e.g. Arnould, 2007; Luedicke et al., 2010; Penaloza and Price, 1993; Thompson, 2004). With the aim of contributing to this quest, this article brings together two originally separate ethnographic studies on food consumption and brands in Scandinavia in order to provide new insights regarding the increasingly complex arena of consumer morality. Instead of focusing on highly pronounced consumer resistance - such as activist communities or specific brand antagonists or protagonists - we focus on ordinary Scandinavian... (More)
In terms of consumer resistance and marketplace ideologies, consumer researchers have called for a more nuanced conceptualization of consumption moralism in order to avoid the simplistic trope of inside/outside the marketplace (e.g. Arnould, 2007; Luedicke et al., 2010; Penaloza and Price, 1993; Thompson, 2004). With the aim of contributing to this quest, this article brings together two originally separate ethnographic studies on food consumption and brands in Scandinavia in order to provide new insights regarding the increasingly complex arena of consumer morality. Instead of focusing on highly pronounced consumer resistance - such as activist communities or specific brand antagonists or protagonists - we focus on ordinary Scandinavian consumers whose identities are not centered around resisting the marketplace. Through a pluri-methodological combination of field observations, interviews, symbol elicitation, photo diaries and artefact collections, we propose an empirically informed model illustrating the paradox of ordinary consumers' brand resistance: embracing myths of craftsmanship. We show how ordinary middle-class consumers bridge 'bad' with 'good' brand consumption in various ways to legitimize the former, and how they make the evaluations according to traditional work ethics rather than (post) modern consumption ethics. (Less)
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
ideoscape, brands, morality, work ethics, consumer resistance, marketplace ideologies
in
Journal of Consumer Culture
volume
11
issue
2
pages
215 - 238
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • wos:000292701500005
  • scopus:79960779925
ISSN
1741-2900
DOI
10.1177/1469540511402447
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
cbe5fac9-e472-4672-9f19-677ed603c0ed (old id 2300039)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:14:24
date last changed
2022-04-20 00:03:26
@article{cbe5fac9-e472-4672-9f19-677ed603c0ed,
  abstract     = {{In terms of consumer resistance and marketplace ideologies, consumer researchers have called for a more nuanced conceptualization of consumption moralism in order to avoid the simplistic trope of inside/outside the marketplace (e.g. Arnould, 2007; Luedicke et al., 2010; Penaloza and Price, 1993; Thompson, 2004). With the aim of contributing to this quest, this article brings together two originally separate ethnographic studies on food consumption and brands in Scandinavia in order to provide new insights regarding the increasingly complex arena of consumer morality. Instead of focusing on highly pronounced consumer resistance - such as activist communities or specific brand antagonists or protagonists - we focus on ordinary Scandinavian consumers whose identities are not centered around resisting the marketplace. Through a pluri-methodological combination of field observations, interviews, symbol elicitation, photo diaries and artefact collections, we propose an empirically informed model illustrating the paradox of ordinary consumers' brand resistance: embracing myths of craftsmanship. We show how ordinary middle-class consumers bridge 'bad' with 'good' brand consumption in various ways to legitimize the former, and how they make the evaluations according to traditional work ethics rather than (post) modern consumption ethics.}},
  author       = {{Ulver, Sofia and Askegaard, S. and Kristensen, D. B.}},
  issn         = {{1741-2900}},
  keywords     = {{ideoscape; brands; morality; work ethics; consumer resistance; marketplace ideologies}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{215--238}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Journal of Consumer Culture}},
  title        = {{The new work ethics of consumption and the paradox of mundane brand resistance}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1469540511402447}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/1469540511402447}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}