Meat:historicizing an icon through marketplace contestations

Meat is both a loved and hated everyday consumption object across cultures and has become an icon throughout history. This article traces meat’s trajectory in the Global North and identifies four periods that contribute to its iconicity. Meat’s iconic status has been shaped by discourses on health, morality, ecology, class, science, and gender. It has been central to colonialism, wars, the Industrial Revolution, and scientific developments. We pinpoint the role of marketplace actors – from butchers to slaughterhouses to political institutions to corporations and scientists – in making meat a contested object and a marketplace icon. We conclude the article with a call for more research outside the Global North. We also invite researchers and policymakers to consider existing scholarly work that acknowledges a view of nature that is grounded in interspecies reciprocity, which can resolve enduring moral tensions that rely on rigid binary oppositions between humans and animals.<br/

The shaping of marketplace moral sentiments

Existing research shows how morality and markets intersect. However, there are two oversights: 1) how morality is attributed to some markets and not others, and 2) how moral attributions on some markets change spatiotemporally. We conduct a meta-synthesis of 101 papers to develop a framework for how moral attributions on markets are shaped. First, we define the concept of marketplace moral sentiment. Next, we unpack the work of marketplace actors that destabilize, re-stabilize, and change marketplace moral sentiments. Through this, four distinct types of moral sentiments can form: harmonized, divided, dispersed, and enforced. We contribute to the literature on morality and markets by showing how markets are enacted and reconfigured through moral contestations. We also offer theoretical extensions related to organizational heterogeneity, a market’s susceptibility to moral contestation, and the role of non-human actors in shaping marketplace moral sentiments. Finally, we discuss the managerial and policy implications of our work.<br/

The shaping of marketplace moral sentiments

Existing research shows how morality and markets intersect. However, there are two oversights: 1) how morality is attributed to some markets and not others, and 2) how moral attributions on some markets change spatiotemporally. We conduct a meta-synthesis of 101 papers to develop a framework for how moral attributions on markets are shaped. First, we define the concept of marketplace moral sentiment. Next, we unpack the work of marketplace actors that destabilize, re-stabilize, and change marketplace moral sentiments. Through this, four distinct types of moral sentiments can form: harmonized, divided, dispersed, and enforced. We contribute to the literature on morality and markets by showing how markets are enacted and reconfigured through moral contestations. We also offer theoretical extensions related to organizational heterogeneity, a market’s susceptibility to moral contestation, and the role of non-human actors in shaping marketplace moral sentiments. Finally, we discuss the managerial and policy implications of our work.<br/

Meat:historicizing an icon through marketplace contestations

Meat is both a loved and hated everyday consumption object across cultures and has become an icon throughout history. This article traces meat’s trajectory in the Global North and identifies four periods that contribute to its iconicity. Meat’s iconic status has been shaped by discourses on health, morality, ecology, class, science, and gender. It has been central to colonialism, wars, the Industrial Revolution, and scientific developments. We pinpoint the role of marketplace actors – from butchers to slaughterhouses to political institutions to corporations and scientists – in making meat a contested object and a marketplace icon. We conclude the article with a call for more research outside the Global North. We also invite researchers and policymakers to consider existing scholarly work that acknowledges a view of nature that is grounded in interspecies reciprocity, which can resolve enduring moral tensions that rely on rigid binary oppositions between humans and animals.<br/

Two Essays on Morality and Consumption

Morality in consumption practices do not necessarily follow a clear script but rather evolve as they are practiced. Individuals attain specific values and beliefs through their primary socialization, which can change through their adult lives. In addition, moral values are not essentialized but contextually relevant. Morality is of interest to academics, marketers, and policymakers, given the existence of multiple, and at times contradictory, moral ideologies shaping consumption. In addition, moral forms in consumption are negotiated among the various marketplace actors. However, the literature has rather been uninvolved with such dynamics. To put forward this nature of morality, my dissertation investigates the role of morality in shaping consumption practices and the interwoven dynamics of the social and the marketplace. The first essay provides a meta-synthesis on the literature in marketing, sociology, and psychology on morality. The paper aims at remedying the current drawbacks in the study of morality in consumption. I offer a new reconceptualization that advocates for a dynamic, adaptable, relational, and contextual judgment on the morality of consumption objects, practices, or fields. Guided by the re-conceptualization, I put forward a typology of moralized domains composed of five types: harmonized, divided, dispersed, breached, and debated. Finally, the essay provides diverse theoretical implications and substantive areas of empirical application. The second essay investigates the influence of acquisition of new moral value on practice(s) and the role of the social circle and the market in the performance of the new practice. Through an empirical study of vegans, I theorize the journey of moralized practice transformation. My findings show a two-phase process of transformation. The first phase involves changes in the primary practice(s) and takes place over four stages: awakening, destabilization, reconfiguration, and re-habituation. Second, the changes in the primary practice(s) extend to other connected practices, eventually leading to their transformation. The paper adds to practice theory and provides managers with recommendations for appealing to consumers during the various stages of practice transformation

Passing the Buck vs. Sharing Responsibility:The Roles of Government, Firms and Consumers in Marketplace Risks during COVID-19

COVID-19 brought a high degree of disruption for society, firms, and consumers. Retail, grocery, and food services have been particularly affected as they were expected to maintain their operations while mitigating market-place risks. Furthermore, epistemic uncertainty arising from the frequent and shifting scientific and lay knowledge on the virus required agile responsibilization of market actors. Using Canadian policy-maker, firm, and consumer communication data, our article maps the unfolding of the risk perceptions in the marketplace and highlights the strategies implemented by policy makers and firms in responsibilizing different market actors against risk. Our work contributes to the responsibilization literature and provides insights for managers and policy makers regarding compliance with health and safety guidelines

Passing the Buck vs. Sharing Responsibility:The Roles of Government, Firms and Consumers in Marketplace Risks during COVID-19

COVID-19 brought a high degree of disruption for society, firms, and consumers. Retail, grocery, and food services have been particularly affected as they were expected to maintain their operations while mitigating market-place risks. Furthermore, epistemic uncertainty arising from the frequent and shifting scientific and lay knowledge on the virus required agile responsibilization of market actors. Using Canadian policy-maker, firm, and consumer communication data, our article maps the unfolding of the risk perceptions in the marketplace and highlights the strategies implemented by policy makers and firms in responsibilizing different market actors against risk. Our work contributes to the responsibilization literature and provides insights for managers and policy makers regarding compliance with health and safety guidelines