Escaping the Gift Economy
Jean-S�bastien Marcoux
Researchers have analyzed the dark side of the gift, but they have remained blind to what it implies about the market. Drawing on the experiences of a group of informants who participated in an ethnographical study of house moving in Montreal, Canada, this article provides significant evidence that the unattractiveness of the gift economy can incite people to turn to the market as an escape. It examines how people use the market to free themselves from the straitjacket of social expectations-from the sense of indebtedness and emotional oppression-which constrains them in their reciprocity relations inside the gift economy. The standard views of CCT researchers concerning the valorization of the gift economy are challenged, as well as the axiology that implicitly informs their research. As a result, it is necessary to discuss the inversion of this axiology.
Volume 36, Number 4, December 2009, DOI: 10.1086/600485
Selected Media Mentions
The Wall Street Journal When Times Are Tough, Why Do We Avoid Asking For Help?
Medical News Today The Dark Side Of Gifts: Feeling Indebted May Drive People To The Marketplace
EurekAlert! The Dark Side Of Gifts: Feeling Indebted May Drive People To The Marketplace
Science Daily The Dark Side Of Gifts: Feeling Indebted May Drive People To The Marketplace
PhysOrg.com The Dark Side Of Gifts: Feeling Indebted May Drive People To The Marketplace
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Promotional Bundles and Consumers' Price Judgments: When the Best Things in Life Are Not Free
Michael A. Kamins Valerie S. Folkes Alexander Fedorikhin
A series of experiments examined the amount that consumers were willing to pay for products bundled together in a promotion. Describing one of the disparate products in the bundle as "free" decreased the price consumers were willing to pay for each product when sold individually. However, a "freebie" offer did not influence the overall price for the bundle of disparate products, a finding robust across two different settings and populations. The differential effect of freebies is explained by varying judgment difficulty, with the price being easier to arrive at for just a single product than for the combination. Consistent with this explanation, factors that influence judgment difficulty (the salience of the company's motive for offering the freebie and time pressure to make a judgment) moderated the effects of a free offer on the amount consumers were willing to pay.
Volume 36, Number 4, December 2009, DOI: 10.1086/599806
Selected Media Mentions
Fox Business Are Promotional Bundles a Good Idea?
United Press International People skeptical about 'free' products
Medical News Today The Freebie Dilemma: Consumers Are Skeptical About 'Free' Products
Innovations Report The freebie dilemma: Consumers are skeptical about 'free' products
PR Newswire Are Promotional Bundles a Good Idea?
PR-Canada.net Are Promotional Bundles a Good Idea?
EurekAlert! The freebie dilemma: Consumers are skeptical about 'free' products
Science Daily The Freebie Dilemma: Consumers Are Skeptical About 'Free' Products
PhysOrg.com The Freebie Dilemma: Consumers Are Skeptical About 'Free' Products
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Distinctive Roles of Lead Users and Opinion Leaders in the Social Networks of Schoolchildren
Jan Kratzer Christopher Lettl
Prior
research has shown that both lead users and opinion leaders may
propel the diffusion of innovation. This raises the question of whether
lead users and opinion leaders are positioned similarly in social
networks, which we address using a sample of 23 school classes
consisting of 537 children. Research among children is very scarce in
this particular domain. The statistical analyses based on hierarchical
linear modeling reveal two general results: first, lead users among
children appear to possess a variety of links between clusters; second,
opinion leaders are locally positioned within clusters of children and
have many direct links.
Volume 36, Number 4, December 2009, DOI: 10.1086/599324
Selected Media Mentions
United Press International 'Lead users' use new products first
CBC News Pay attention to social networks when identifying cool kids: study
EurekAlert! Following the leader: Social networks of schoolchildren
Science Daily Following the leader: Social networks of schoolchildren
PhysOrg.com Following The Leader: Social Networks Of Schoolchildren
RedOrbit Social Networks Of Schoolchildren
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Nationalism and Ideology in an Anticonsumption Movement
Rohit Varman Russell W. Belk
In this
research the authors examine the role of the nationalist ideology of
swadeshi in a contemporary anticonsumption movement and show that its
deployment is linked to the experiences of colonialism, modernity, and
globalization in India. Specifically, they offer a postcolonial
understanding of reflexivity and nationalism in an anticonsumption
movement opposing Coca-Cola in India. The authors offer an
interpretation of this consumer movement involving spatial politics,
temporal heterogeneity, appropriation of existing ideology, the use of
consumption in ideology, and attempts to bring together a disparate set
of actors in the movement.
Volume 36, Number 4, December 2009, DOI: 10.1086/600486
Selected Media Mentions
United Press International Why some rebel against global brands
EurekAlert! The anti-consumption movement: Researchers examine resistance to global brands
Science Daily The Anti-Consumption Movement: Researchers Examine Resistance To Global Brands
PhysOrg.com The Anti-Consumption Movement: Researchers Examine Resistance To Global Brands
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Effects of Temporal Distance and Memory on Consumer Judgments
Yeung-Jo Kim Jongwon Park Robert S. Wyer Jr.
Once a product has been evaluated for use, the circumstances can change and it must be reevaluated for use at a different time. Four experiments investigated processes underlying these reevaluations. Participants received information about a product that had implications for both desirability and the feasibility of using it, while anticipating either its immediate or future use. They were later asked to reevaluate the product for use at either the same or a different point in time. Participants who reevaluated the product for future use based their judgments on desirability considerations regardless of when they had considered using it initially. However, participants who reevaluated the product for immediate use also based their judgments on desirability considerations unless they had initially considered immediate use as well. These results were consistent with a conceptualization of consumer judgment processes that incorporated implications of research on construal level theory and on person memory and judgments.
Volume 36, Number 4, December 2009, DOI: 10.1086/599765
Selected Media Mentions
EurekAlert! Now or later? Consumer product evaluation depends on purchase timing
PhysOrg.com Now or later? Consumer product evaluation depends on purchase timing
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