Morris B. Holbrook: an historical autoethnographic subjective personal introspection

Abstract

Purpose This paper describes the personal history and intellectual development of Morris B. Holbrook (MBH), a participant in the field of marketing academics in general and consumer research in particular. Design/methodology/approach The paper pursues an approach characterized by historical autoethnographic subjective personal introspection or HASPI. Findings The paper reports the personal history of MBH and – via HASPI – interprets various aspects of key participants and major themes that emerged over the course of his career. Research limitations/implications The main implication is that every scholar in the field of marketing pursues a different light, follows a unique path, plays by idiosyncratic rules, and deserves individual attention, consideration, and respect … like a cat that carries its own leash. Originality/value In the case of MBH, like (say) a jazz musician, whatever value he might have depends on his originality.

Guest editorial

“…Perhaps, like Belk (2017), long hours are important; the same can be said of co-authors. Shaw (2019, this volume), Belk (2017), Holbrook (2017), Hunt (2019, this volume), MacInnis (2019, this volume), Fischer (2019 and to a lesser extent, Witkowski (2019, this volume) have all engaged with numerous co-authors subsequently increasing their intellectual outputs. Eileen Fischer, as a case in point, indicates how highly motivated co-authors helped forward her research agenda, maximize publications, and encouraged her to think in new and novel ways.…”

“…to Gettysburg National Military Park) and our personal passions. Those looking to see quite how significant these can be need only consult Terry’s paper or Morris Holbrook’s (2017) autobiography which firmly pressed home the centrality of musical appreciation to his career and publishing production line.…”

What’s the story, allegory?

“…Also known as autoethnography, me-search and SPI (Brown and Patterson 2021), introspection has been burgeoning since the beginning of the millennium, not least on account of its close affinity to netnography in general and auto-netnography in particular (Kozinets 2020;Shankar 2000;Wohlfeil 2018). Increasingly embraced by adjacent academic disciplines including geography, sociology and gender studies, "autoethnographic introspection" (Holbrook 2017) is now an established tool of the consumer research trade (Hackley 2016(Hackley , 2020Patterson 2010;Villegas 2018).…”

Modern pioneers in marketing: autobiographical sketches by leading scholars

“…In addition, he references his large number of honorary degrees and his competitiveness with prominent economists). Both stress their "very ordinariness" (Belk, 2017) and "modest ability" (Holbrook, 2017). Belk points out that he often does not feel like the smartest cookie in the room when attending seminars or other events.…”

“…Although he only gestures to it in his manuscript, Sidney Levy has reflected upon his personal life in much greater detail in other places and his narrative will strike an emotional chord in all but the hardest-hearted reader (Levy, 2016). While touching upon very different issues to Levy's recall of unexpected early bereavement, Holbrook's (2017) paper traces the double edge of family power relations, highlighting that our personal relationships are not entirely unproblematic. They can shape us and not in a positive fashion sometimes.…”