Theorizing Reactive Reflexivity: Lifestyle Displacement and Discordant Performances of Taste

Thompson, Craig J.; Henry, Paul; Bardhi, Fleura

doi:10.1093/jcr/ucy018

Cited by 29 publications

(66 citation statements)

References 118 publications

(144 reference statements)

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“…The basis of distinction is more ephemeral and fast changing, and consumers can gain and lose distinction over the course of their lifetime (Price et al, 2017). The middle class is especially forced to become reflexive about its class position and is engaging more frequently in upward or downward social mobility (Mendez, 2008; Standing, 2011; Thompson et al, 2018). In this section, we explore what the new determinants of social hierarchy look like.…”

Section: New Determinants Of Social Hierarchiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent consumer research has started to highlight shifts in status-related consumption. Some scholars examine the precarity of social status and class positions among the middle-class consumers in the West (Price et al, 2017; Thompson et al, 2018). Others have started to map out the new elites and the dynamics of status games in developing countries, such as the emergence of the luxury consumer in China (Dion and Borraz, 2017), the entrepreneurial elite of Indian’s rural areas (Vikas et al, 2015), and the Islamic middle class in Turkey (Kravets and Sandikci, 2014).…”

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confidence: 99%

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New dynamics of social status and distinction

Eckhardt

Bardhi

2019

Marketing Theory

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We explore emerging dynamics of social status and distinction in liquid consumption. The new logic of distinction is having the flexibility to embrace and adopt new identity positions, projects, and possibilities and the ability to attract attention. The importance of flexibility and attention as resources emerged from the social sciences literature in the domains of digital, access based, and urban consumption as being the most important for achieving distinction in the contemporary marketplace. We then conceptually reexamine conspicuous consumption and taste and show that status signaling now relies upon inconspicuousness, non-ownership including experiences, and authenticity based on knowledge and craftsmanship, all of which are difficult to emulate. Our contribution lies in integrating disparate literature on social status and consumption within one conceptual space. We also build upon the concept of liquid consumption by outlining exactly how liquidity affects status and distinction, an area which has not been explored to date.

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Section: New Determinants Of Social Hierarchiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

New dynamics of social status and distinction

Eckhardt

Bardhi

2019

Marketing Theory

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“…We believe that the field of consumer research is uniquely positioned to shed light on questions related to responses to threats, including those that have arisen due to current circumstances. Our field has a long history of examining and explicating consumer response to threats ranging from threats to physical health ( Botti, Orfali, and Iyengar 2009 ; Mittal and Griskevicius 2016 ; Pavia and Mason 2004 ), financial health ( Mittal and Griskevicius 2016 ), social lives and personal identities ( Lee, Kim, and Vohs 2011 ; Thompson, Henry, and Bardhi 2018 ; Weinberger and Wallendorf 2012 ), daily routines and practices ( Phipps and Ozanne 2017 ), and general well-being ( De Mello, MacInnis, and Stewart 2007 ). Notwithstanding, we argue that much more can be done in examining the processes underlying how consumers respond to threats as well as the effects of threats, particularly large-scale ones, on consumer behavior.…”

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confidence: 99%

In Times of Trouble: A Framework for Understanding Consumers’ Responses to Threats

Campbell

Inman

Kirmani

et al. 2020

Journal of Consumer Research

210

176

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Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying economic downturn have dramatically impacted the lives of consumers around the world. From a conceptual perspective, such health and economic threats can severely disrupt consumers’ sense of ontological security and elicit adaptive responses by both consumers and marketers. Given the opportune timing, this issue of the Journal of Consumer Research is focused on articles that address questions of consumers’ responses to external threats. The purpose of this introduction is to provide an organizing “conceptual tapestry” to connect the articles appearing in the issue. This framework is provided as a tool to help researchers structure their particular projects within the broader landscape of consumer threat response and to present some potential directions for future research. In conjunction with these articles, we hope that this conceptual framework will provide a point of departure for researchers seeking to enhance understanding of how consumers and markets collectively respond over the short term and long term to threats that disrupt consumers’ routines, lives, or even the fabric of society.

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“…Family break-up often entails loss of family home, furniture and fittings. Self-blame and overriding concern for their children acts as a powerful motivator to regain a facsimile of stable family life that includes solid goods such as dwellings, furniture and stable routines and practices (Thompson et al, 2018). Under these circumstances, we see great emphasis placed on re-equipping with material goods deemed necessary for performance of family and deemphasis on more ethereal spending to help pay for those solid goods.…”

Section: Incorporating Family Life Cycle and Mythical Role Preferencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The continuing significance of social structure in liquid modernity

Caldwell

Henry

2020

Marketing Theory

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Bauman’s liquid modernity has been influential among consumer culture theorists in recent times. A key element of this thinking is that old social structures have broken down, consumers being less encumbered by their structural origins and freer to pursue more diverse lifestyles. The ensuing three commentaries critically examine the claim that old social structures have become less relevant. Caldwell and Henry detail some of the critiques of Bauman and point out that consumers’ management of liquidity versus solidity can be usefully understood using a Bourdieusian lens. Their arguments are informed by contemporary literature focusing on social class, family life cycle and mythical role preferences. Thompson and Kumar argue that inconspicuous consumption masks social class-based differences in the distribution of resources that act to maintain structural inequalities. Parsons and Cappellini explore how conditions of liquidity mean that some people can accrue value much more easily than others. These authors argue that the enabling capacities that prevail under conditions of liquidity (e.g. flexibility, idiosyncratic taste) are not new but rather have long been known to act as enablers of success among advantaged classes.

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Theorizing Reactive Reflexivity: Lifestyle Displacement and Discordant Performances of Taste

Cited by 29 publications

References 118 publications

New dynamics of social status and distinction

New dynamics of social status and distinction

In Times of Trouble: A Framework for Understanding Consumers’ Responses to Threats

The continuing significance of social structure in liquid modernity

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