Poverty and socioeconomic injustice in Muslim geographies

This chapter critiques the extant literature’s lack of attention to poverty and socioeconomic injustice in Muslim geographies and offers a research agenda to critically examine these phenomena in the context of Islamic consumptionscapes. The authors locate the recent interest in understanding the connections between Islam, consumption and markets within the neoliberal political economy and argue that the subject of the existing research has mostly been the relatively wealthy, educated and urban Muslim consumers. Noting that a significant portion of Muslim geographies are characterized by poverty, underdevelopment and socioeconomic inequality, the authors advocate a critical research perspective on poor Muslim consumers

The stigma turbine:A theoretical framework for conceptualizing and contextualizing marketplace stigma

Stigmas, or discredited personal attributes, emanate from social perceptions of physical characteristics, aspects of character, and “tribal” associations (e.g., race; Goffman 1963). Extant research emphasizes the perspective of the stigma target, with some scholars exploring how social institutions shape stigma. Yet the ways stakeholders within the socio-commercial sphere create, perpetuate, or resist stigma remain overlooked. We introduce and define marketplace stigma as the labeling, stereotyping, and devaluation by and of commercial stakeholders (consumers, companies and their employees, stockholders, institutions) and their offerings (products, services, experiences). We offer the Stigma Turbine (ST) as a unifying conceptual framework that locates marketplace stigma within the broader sociocultural context, and illuminates its relationship to forces that exacerbate or blunt stigma. In unpacking the ST, we reveal the critical role market stakeholders can play in (de)stigmatization, explore implications for marketing practice and public policy, and offer a research agenda to further our understanding of marketplace stigma and stakeholder welfare

Poverty and intersectionality: a multidimensional look into the lives of the impoverished

Due to copyright restrictions, the access to the full text of this article is only available via subscription.Subsistence consumers are disadvantaged and marginalized on many levels, including financial deprivation, poor health, lack of access to resources, and social stigmatization. The disadvantages experienced by subsistence consumers are interconnected and co-constitutive; being disadvantaged in one domain often intersects with other disadvantages, contributing to an overall vulnerability within the market system. Drawing from the intersectionality paradigm, the authors examine an overlooked low-income community that shares elements of subsistence contexts. The findings reveal multiple ways in which a trailer park community residents experience and manage intertwined disadvantages. Several overlapping identity categories (i.e., socio-economic status, health status, and type of housing) vis-à-vis structural and relational dynamics are fleshed out. Implications for research on subsistence marketplaces and the usefulness of the intersectionality approach for macromarketing research are discussed.ACR/Sheth Foundation Dissertation Grant Award ; AMA Marketing and Society Dissertation Awar

An intersectionality framework for transformative services research

Due to copyright restrictions, the access to the full text of this article is only available via subscription.The authors introduce the theory of intersectionality which refers to the interactivity of social identities such as race, class, and gender in shaping individuals’ experiences. Intersectionality is explored using cases and examples from healthcare services, which involve high contact encounters with consumers who may possess multiple disadvantages (e.g. low income, illness, immigrant status) and therefore make for interesting contexts for intersectional analyses. Intersectionality is proposed as a framework that can shed light on the experiences of consumers who belong to multiple disadvantaged social groups, such as being black and low income, immigrant, and in poor health. Detailed guidelines for conducting intersectionality-driven services research are provided, which take into account the interconnected nature of multiple disadvantages. The authors emphasize that intersectionality offers a holistic look at the co-created nature of services and it can be instrumental in designing tailored and fair services to improve consumer and societal well-being

A critical spatial approach to marketplace exclusion and inclusion

Due to copyright restrictions, the access to the full text of this article is only available via subscription.The authors apply insights from critical spatial theory to explore how space can be reimagined to be more inclusive. The meaning of spaces includes (1) objective physical space, (2) subjective imagined space, and (3) lived space used by consumers. The authors discuss several cases in which different social actors (i.e., consumers, marketers, businesses, and policy makers) exert various forms of agency to achieve power and control in the social space and maximize different goals. They also highlight how critical spatial theories can be extended by marketing researchers. Businesses sometimes have more diverse interests than merely profit maximization and can consider a wider array of other stakeholders' interests to ensure the long-term survival of the firm. Finally, the authors examine implications for public policy. They point out the usefulness of a critical spatial perspective in such areas as affordable housing, inclusive and democratic retail space development, spatial segregation, and suburban sprawl

Moral habitus and status negotiation in a marginalized working-class neighborhood

Due to copyright restrictions, the access to the full text of this article is only available via subscription.Examinations of the moral and ethical dimensions in identity construction are scant in consumer research. This ethnography of a trailer-park neighborhood investigates how different moral dispositions shape low-income, working-class residents’ consumption practices and status negotiations. Drawing from Bourdieu’s conceptualization of habitus and cultural capital, the authors extend this theory by foregrounding the moral aspects of habitus and demonstrate how morally oriented worldviews are enacted through consumption practices and social evaluations within everyday communities. The study reveals five moral identities that shape the residents’ social construction of status within the microcultural context of a trailer park. These findings point to the multiplicity and richness of social-class-based dispositions as well as the importance of studying micro-level contexts to better understand macrodynamics