The spatial aspects of musical taste:conceptualising consumers' place-dependent identity investments

Consumer research has largely left implicit the interrelationships of space and place with taste. This multi-sited ethnographic study explores how consumers enact, perform, and further develop their musical tastes via their aesthetic experiences in popular (indie) and classical music places. Our findings suggest that consumers create place-dependent identity investments, which unfold via a tripartite experiential process of manifesting habitus, undertaking habitation, and expressing idiolocality. Our study contributes to diverse streams of consumer research such as consumer behaviour, consumer culture theory, and experiential marketing, and opens up avenues for future research focused on the intersections of place with taste

Identity refusal: distancing from non-drinking in a drinking culture

Following Scott’s (2018) sociology of nothing, we focus on the process of non-identification, wherein young adults seek to manage the risk of being marked by their non-participation in an important cultural practice. Drawing on qualitative interviews with undergraduate students we develop two overall identity refusal positions (resistance and othering), through which informants seek to disengage with the collective identity of the non-drinker. These positions are underlined by four categories of identity talk: denial and temporal talk (distancing through resistance), and disconnect and concealment talk (distancing through othering), which are used to repudiate non-drinking as culturally and personally meaningful respectively. We contribute understandings of how identities can be performed through active omission, developing Scott’s conceptualization and demonstrating how this can be a potentially planful process, depending on the extent to which individuals credit a particular object or activity with being a ‘something’

Identity Refusal and the Non-Drinking Self

We examine the identity refusal work of non-drinking university students who contest the collective 'non-drinker' identity by employing a range of identity refusal positions. We outline these positions and contribute to theoretical development in the CCT identity projects stream. This identity refusal risks providing support for the stigmatized non-drinker identity

A typology of consumers based on money attitudes after major recession

Since the Great Recession, not all US consumers have felt the financial benefits of the sustained period of macroeconomic expansion. While some research demonstrates renewed consumer confidence and financial security among households, other studies highlight economic vulnerability and higher levels of distress relative to before the 2007/09 crisis. This study examines empirically the heterogeneity of consumers’ money attitudes in the post-recession economy. Based on a nationally representative sample of US consumers (n=1202), we identify four post-recession consumer types, distinguished by important attitudinal and behavioral differences: “Flourishing Frugal”; “Comfortable Cautious”; “Financial Middle”; and, “Financially Distressed”. While the prior studies offer broad strategic advice, this study indicates that marketers need differentiated strategies to target most effectively and deliver value to different consumer clusters

Glimpses of Change? UK fathers navigating work and care within the context of Shared Parental Leave

This study focuses on the lived experiences of 25 professionally employed UK fathers who are first-wave beneficiaries of Shared Parental Leave (SPL), which facilitated a period of leave from work during their child's first year. Using exploratory qualitative interviews, we investigate the ways in which family relations, organizational initiatives, and public policy collaborate to disrupt or transform what have hitherto been traditional gendered expectations around early infant care. Our understanding is framed using Giddens' democratic family and notions of “undoing gender”. Our longitudinal design allows us to capture fathers' lived experiences at two points, firstly pre/during their period of SPL and secondly following their return to work. In seeking glimpses of change, we first explore this at the level of men's disruption of generational biographies, then how fathers navigate SPL policy within a contested gendered context, and finally their subsequent transformations in work/care practices. We discuss the implications for policy, recognizing shortcomings in the current design of UK leave offerings

Army Wives’ Consumer Vulnerability and Communities of Coping

Purpose The spouses or partners of serving members of the UK Armed Forces are often subject to similar constraints to those of enlisted personnel. This paper aims to examine the experiences and wellbeing of a group of army wives. In particular, it focuses on their shared experiences of consumer vulnerability and related challenges, exploring the extent to which membership of military wives’ communities can help them to cope. Design/methodology/approach Using an interpretivist approach, data were collected through four focus group discussions involving 30 army wives, and seven individual in-depth interviews. Findings The paper highlights shared experiences of consumer vulnerability and demonstrates how army wives’ approaches to coping incorporate both individual and community-based approaches. It proposes that communities of coping develop within the army wives community, providing women with both practical and emotional support. Research limitations/implications The paper acknowledges that there is a range of factors that will impact military spouses’ experiences of consumer vulnerability and strategies for coping. This heterogeneity was difficult to capture within a small exploratory study. Practical implications The UK Government should consider their duties towards military spouses and children. This would entail a significant cultural shift and recognition of military personnel’s caring responsibilities. Originality/value This research contributes to understandings regarding the potentially shared nature of both consumer vulnerability and coping strategies. The study introduces the relevance of communities of coping to consumer contexts, highlighting how members can benefit from both practical and emotional support

Parenting agendas:an empirical study of intensive mothering and infant cognitive development

Intensive parenting debates reflect the critical importance of a child’s early years, and parents’ roles in determining later developmental outcomes. Mothers are usually assigned primary responsibility for facilitating their infants’ cognitive development through adequate and appropriate sensory stimulation. Drawing on Foucault’s technologies of the self we explore how new mothers shape their mothering practices in order to provide appropriately stimulating interactions. Using findings from 64 interviews (31 women were interviewed twice, 2 women were interviewed only once) we identify three main positions whereby mothers function in relation to their infants’ development; mother as committed facilitator, creative provider and careful/caring monitor. We consider the perceived normative nature of these positions and the impact they can have on middle-class women’s subjectivities as new mothers. Our study of parental agendas and infant cognitive development suggests that a continued focus on the mother’s role within early infant development reflects and upholds ideologies of child-centred, intensive mothering, which risks precluding ‘alternative’ maternal subjectivities and promotes conservative feminine identities

Spatial Authenticity and Extraordinary Experiences:Music Festivals and the Everyday Nature of Tourism Destinations

Research taking into account the everyday nature of tourism destinations and its impact upon authenticity and attendees’ resulting extraordinary experiences is limited. Drawing upon a three-year ethnography (including fieldnotes, photos/videos, artefact material) and interviews with festival attendees, we explore the interrelationships between authenticity and extraordinary experiences in the context of Primavera Sound music festival. Our emergent thematic categories – the festival’s indie music character, its urban and quotidian configuration, and the instrumental orientation of the festival experience – suggest the festival is firmly positioned within the structures of the indie music industry, while also being located within the confines of day-to-day urban life. Attendees seek to achieve a sense of spatial authenticity by engaging with the features of tourism destinations. We contribute to discussions about authenticity and extraordinary experiences by unpacking the everyday nature of tourism destinations, demonstrating that not all music festivals need to be “extraordinary” muddy camping events

Experiential marketing and the changing nature of extraordinary experiences in post-postmodern consumer culture

Prior experiential marketing research suggests that extraordinary consumption experiences take place within antistructural frames, i.e. outside the realms of everyday life. This paper challenges that notion, through an ethnographic study of consumers attending the Primavera Sound music festival in Barcelona, Spain. We demonstrate that festival attendees perceive their experiences to be extraordinary, despite these occurring within ‘everyday’ structural frames. Consumers’ extraordinary experiences unfold through their negotiation of a series of structural and antistructural marketplace tensions, including commercialism/authenticity, ordinary/escapist, and immersion/communing. We outline the theoretical implications of our research for the changing nature of extraordinary consumption experiences, in light of post-postmodern consumer culture. We conclude with managerial implications and provide suggested avenues for future research

Spatial taste formation as a place marketing tool:The case of live music consumption

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to explore how spatial taste formation and the interrelationships between place and taste can inform the development of contemporary place marketing and/or place management strategies. Design/methodology/approach - The paper draws on previous research conducted within the context of live music consumption and, in particular, within live musical spaces such as festivals and concert halls. Findings - Our study illustrates how spatial taste formation can inform the development of topographies of taste which focus on the creation of field-specific experiences. It also offers insights for understanding the phenomenological uniqueness of various places and the role of place users and other stakeholders in the creation of place marketing and branding value. Originality/value - We elaborate upon the potential usefulness of spatial taste formation for place management and marketing research practice and draw out implications for future research. We advance a holistic and phenomenological understanding of place which illustrates how users’ perceptions of place are shaped by their experiences in various places and by the interplay of these experiences with their individual tastes and vice versa