Ethnicity, Gender

1
Ethnicity, Gender ConsumptionCulture
Consumption 17.10.07

• Ethnicity consumption - black consumption
  studies
• four approaches
• social membership image transformation
• Gender consumption
• gender differences in holiday wants
• underwear and female identity construction
• Social vs. inner psychic identity

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Black consumption studies (Lamont Molnár 2001)

• Three established approaches one
• Alienationist
• Consumption repressive, individual identity
  formation impossible
• Resistance
• Consumers can resist dominant consumption
  narratives
• Discrimination
• The negative cultural impact of the marketing
  industry
• Social identity (LMs contribution)
• Interaction bxt. individuals self-understanding
  external definition by marketers / society at
  large

3
Findings

• Blacks use consumption to gain social membership
  (equality, respect, status)
• buy more premium brands / luxury items, go to
  more speciality shops
• black women spend more on personal care
• consumption means of acquiring status, more
  than education church membership
• Black marketers transform images of blacks
• black expressive culture as superior to low-key
  white culture ---- blacks as trend-setters
• Cultural distintiveness shown through slightly
  different products usage of products than
  whites

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Questions to consider.

• Would a study on blacks consumption have
  generated the same results in a European context?
• Are the findings particular to this ethnic group
  or would they apply to other ethnic groups
  (Asian-Americans, Hispanics)?

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Gender differences in holiday wants

• I brought along my running outfit last time we
  went on holiday, and I never run when I am not on
  holiday, but I guess I had a feeling that it
  could become boring at some stage there is a
  lot of screaming and shouting with a bunch of
  children like this (Danish father).
• Ich bin halt nun ja ein Typ, der den ganzen Tag
  am Strand liegt, eigentlich am liebsten
  ununterbrochen die the father and the child
  gehen halt immer so auf Tour weil er ist nicht
  der Typ, der den ganzen Tag am Strand liegt, dann
  sitt er mit ihr im Wasser und baut dann
  irgendwannIch guck halt immer zu, pass auf dass
  alles richtig läuft (German mother).

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Gender differences in holiday wants

• Women
• Relaxation
• Sun-bathing
• Shopping
• Wellness
• Reading
• Being together with their children

• Men
• Relaxation
• More physical activities (jogging, kite flying,
  building sand castles)
• Less sun and less doing nothing
• Playing with their children

(Gram Therkelsen 2003)
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Role distribution in families in relation to
decision-making
The husband has also lost influence in all
stages of decisions regarding vacations, while
the wife has gained substantial influence in
all of these decision-making stages (Belch
Willis 2002, p.120).
(Brassington Pettitt, 2003 p.126)
within households women may be the gatekeepers
to the tourism product (Mottiar Quinn 2004 p.
158)
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Gender specific involvement in products the
case of underwear

• How consumption of lingerie contributes to
  affirming feminine identity (Jantzen et al. 2006)
• social level following social rules
• intra-psychological level private sensation
• Interesting to do a comparative study of mens
  relationship to their underwear a vehicle for
  identity formation???

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Underwear
Negative valorization
Positive valorization
weekdays
feast
housewife-type
harlot-type
non-public
public
intimate
too practical
too sensual
practical
presentable
sensual
Scheme of classification Jantzen et al. 2006
p.190
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The case of underwear..

• Intra-psychological level
• Using lingerie to feel good
• Used for exploring experimenting with ones
  identity pep up ordinary weekdays
• Produce a sensual experience feeling feminine
• Conclusion
• Underwear a tool of identity construction
• Who one is/wants to be in public (social
  identity)
• Generates feelings of pleasure
  self-actualisation (inner psychic identity)