Subcultures of consumption: an ethnography of the new bikers

Article Abstract:

This article introduces the subculture of consumption as an analytic category through which to better understand consumers and the manner in which they organize their lives and identities. Recognizing that consumption activities, product categories, or even brands may serve as the basis for interaction and social cohesion, the concept of the subculture of consumption solves many problems inherent in the use of ascribed social categories as devices for understanding consumer behavior. This article is absed on three years of ethnographic fieldwork with Harley-Davidson motorcycle owners. A key feature of the fieldwork was a process of progressive contextualization of the researchers from outsiders to insiders situated within the subculture. Analysis of the social structure, dominant values, and revealing symbolic behaviors of this distinct, consumption-oriented subculture have led to the advancement of a theoretical framework that situates subcultures of consumption in the context of modern consumer culture and discusses, among other implications, a symbiosis between such subcultures and marketing institutions. Transferability of the principal findings of this research to other subcultures of consumption is established through comparisons with ethnographies of other self-selecting, consumption-oriented subcultures. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Social aspects, Motorcyclists, Subculture, Harley-Davidson (Motorcycle)

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Selves in transition: symbolic consumption in personal rites of passage and identity reconstruction

Article Abstract:

The consumption of aesthetic plastic surgery is examined within the broader context of daily life in an investigation of the motives and the self-concept dynamics underlying this symbolic consumer behavior. Data were collected in multiple, in-depth, ethnographic interviews, and analyzed by a constant comparative method revealing insight into both a priori and emergent themes. A priori themes regarding body image, impression management, symbolic self-completion, and possible selves are developed through a literature review and discussed briefly in light of the findings. Emergent themes, including role transitions, sexual selves and romantic fantasies, control and efficacy, and identity play are developed and embedded in a discussion of identity reconstruction and personal rites of passage. It is concluded that consumption activities are important to both the maintenance and the development of a stable, harmonious self-concept. Directions for future research are discussed. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Psychological aspects, Surgery, Plastic, Plastic surgery, Self-perception, Self perception

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The dimensionality of consumption emotion patterns and consumer satisfaction

Article Abstract:

Although both consumption emotion and satisfaction judgments occur in the post-purchase period, little is known about their correspondence. This article investigates the interrelationships between the two constructs by way of taxonomic and dimensional analyses to identify patterns of emotional response to product experiences. Five discriminate patterns of affective experience were uncovered, which were based on three independent affective dimensions of hostility, pleasant surprise, and interest. The results extend prior findings of a simple bidimensional affective-response space and reveal that satisfaction measures vary in their ability to represent the affective content of consumption experience. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Economic aspects, Consumer confidence, Emotions

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