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Inclusionary labor: Theorizing the relationship between consumers’ inclusion and exclusion in the marketplace

Shahriar, Hossain LU orcid and Ulver, Sofia LU (2025) In Marketing Theory p.1-1
Abstract
Marketing and consumer research predominantly conceptualize inclusion and exclusion as dichotomous or merely coexisting, leaving their relationship undertheorized. This paper explores their dialectical interplay in market interactions through the experiences of migrant consumers. Drawing on Relational Dialectics Theory, we employ a contrapuntal methodological approach that integrates a semantic network analysis of the interpretive marketing and consumer research literature with a hermeneutic analysis of interviews with Bangladeshi immigrants in Sweden. Our findings identify four competing discourses that structure four key relational dimensions, generating corresponding experiences of inclusion and exclusion. These tensions persist as... (More)
Marketing and consumer research predominantly conceptualize inclusion and exclusion as dichotomous or merely coexisting, leaving their relationship undertheorized. This paper explores their dialectical interplay in market interactions through the experiences of migrant consumers. Drawing on Relational Dialectics Theory, we employ a contrapuntal methodological approach that integrates a semantic network analysis of the interpretive marketing and consumer research literature with a hermeneutic analysis of interviews with Bangladeshi immigrants in Sweden. Our findings identify four competing discourses that structure four key relational dimensions, generating corresponding experiences of inclusion and exclusion. These tensions persist as self-sustaining dynamics in which moments of inclusion and exclusion are relationally co-produced through ongoing discursive struggle. We conceptualize “inclusionary labor” as the disproportionate work that ethnically marginalized consumers undertake to be included. The study theorizes marketplace inclusion and exclusion as dialectically co-constitutive and reframes migrant consumer vulnerability as a relational condition that is often outsourced by markets to marginalized consumers. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
keywords
marketplace inclusion, marketplace exclusion, relational dialectics, migrant consumers, inclusionary labor, competing discourses, consumer vulnerability, ethnic marginalization
in
Marketing Theory
article number
14705931251406915
pages
28 pages
publisher
SAGE Publications
ISSN
1741-301X
DOI
10.1177/14705931251406915
project
Exploring Retail Marketplaces as Spaces for Social Inclusion and Exclusion
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
c227dfa4-7101-4a85-8249-5fdf28484a2e
date added to LUP
2025-12-16 11:30:46
date last changed
2025-12-16 13:47:37
@article{c227dfa4-7101-4a85-8249-5fdf28484a2e,
  abstract     = {{Marketing and consumer research predominantly conceptualize inclusion and exclusion as dichotomous or merely coexisting, leaving their relationship undertheorized. This paper explores their dialectical interplay in market interactions through the experiences of migrant consumers. Drawing on Relational Dialectics Theory, we employ a contrapuntal methodological approach that integrates a semantic network analysis of the interpretive marketing and consumer research literature with a hermeneutic analysis of interviews with Bangladeshi immigrants in Sweden. Our findings identify four competing discourses that structure four key relational dimensions, generating corresponding experiences of inclusion and exclusion. These tensions persist as self-sustaining dynamics in which moments of inclusion and exclusion are relationally co-produced through ongoing discursive struggle. We conceptualize “inclusionary labor” as the disproportionate work that ethnically marginalized consumers undertake to be included. The study theorizes marketplace inclusion and exclusion as dialectically co-constitutive and reframes migrant consumer vulnerability as a relational condition that is often outsourced by markets to marginalized consumers.}},
  author       = {{Shahriar, Hossain and Ulver, Sofia}},
  issn         = {{1741-301X}},
  keywords     = {{marketplace inclusion; marketplace exclusion; relational dialectics; migrant consumers; inclusionary labor; competing discourses; consumer vulnerability; ethnic marginalization}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  pages        = {{1--1}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Marketing Theory}},
  title        = {{Inclusionary labor: Theorizing the relationship between consumers’ inclusion and exclusion in the marketplace}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/14705931251406915}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/14705931251406915}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}