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Cited by 350Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and IdentificationSocial and Cultural DynamicsConsumer Perception and Purchasing Behavior

Demythologizing Consumption Practices: How Consumers Protect Their Field-Dependent Identity Investments from Devaluing Marketplace Myths

Arsel, Zeynep, Thompson, Craig J.·2011·Journal of Consumer Research
DOI 10.1086/656389
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Abstract

Marketplace myths are commonly conceptualized as cultural resources that attract consumers to a consumption activity or brand. This theoretical orientation is prone to overstating the extent to which consumers' identity investments in a field of consumption are motivated by an associated marketplace myth. We provide a theoretical corrective to this tendency by investigating consumers who have become vested in a commercially mythologized consumption field through an incremental process of building social connections and cultural capital. For these consumers, the prevailing marketplace myth is experienced as a trivialization of their aesthetic interests, rather than as a source of identity value. In response, they employ demythologizing practices to insulate their acquired field-dependent social and cultural capital from devaluation. Our findings advance theorizations concerning marketplace myths and consumer identity work and explicate the sociocultural forces that deter consumers from abandoning a consumption field that has become culturally associated with undesirable meanings.

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  • International K-pop fans who engage in reforming are not responding to 'outside-in' attacks, as in the case of the Hummer brand community responding to attacks from oppositional groups, gay consumers living with stigmatizing representations, or indie consumers responding to devaluing hipster stereotypes.

    “Importantly, however, international K-pop fans who engage in reforming are not responding to 'outside-in' attacks, as in the case of the Hummer brand community responding to attacks from oppositional groups (Luedicke et al. 2010), gay consumers living with stigmatizing representations (Eichert and Luedicke 2022; Kates 2002), or indie consumers responding to devaluing hipster stereotypes (Arsel and”

    From Between Cultural Appreciation and Cultural Appropriation: Self-Authorizing the Consumption of Cultural Difference (2024) · cites this paper as Arsel and Thompson 2011

  • Restraining resembles previously documented strategies that consumers adopt in response to social conflict, such as Star Trek fans or members of the indie subculture who create safe zones to manage conflict.

    “In some ways, restraining resembles previously documented strategies that consumers adopt in response to social conflict. This strategy is captured, for example, with Star Trek fans (Kozinets 2001) or members of the indie subculture (Arsel and Thompson 2011) who create safe zones to manage conflict.”

    From Between Cultural Appreciation and Cultural Appropriation: Self-Authorizing the Consumption of Cultural Difference (2024) · cites this paper as Arsel and Thompson 2011

  • The marketized pursuit of novel and extraordinary experiences traverses not only ethnic and racialized boundaries but also the boundaries of social class, gender, sexuality, and subculture.

    “The marketized pursuit of novel and extraordinary experiences traverses not only ethnic and racialized boundaries but also the boundaries of social class, gender, sexuality, and subculture (Arsel and Thompson 2011).”

    From Between Cultural Appreciation and Cultural Appropriation: Self-Authorizing the Consumption of Cultural Difference (2024) · cites this paper as Arsel and Thompson 2011

  • Consumer self-authorization strategies do not only recharge the meanings of a consumption practice by linking it with heroic discourses or uncoupling it from culturally devaluing discourses; they also reconfigure the relationship between the consuming self and the others whose cultures are consumed.

    “Importantly, consumer self-authorization strategies do not only recharge the meanings of a consumption practice by linking it with heroic discourses (Luedicke et al. 2010) or uncoupling it from culturally devaluing discourses (Arsel and Thompson 2011); they also reconfigure the relationship between the consuming self and the others whose cultures are consumed.”

    From Between Cultural Appreciation and Cultural Appropriation: Self-Authorizing the Consumption of Cultural Difference (2024) · cites this paper as Arsel and Thompson 2011

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Authors
Arsel, Z., & Thompson, C. J.
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Consumer Research
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2011-02-01
Volume
37
Issue
5
Pages
791-806
ISSN
  • 0093-5301 (ISSN-L)
  • 1537-5277
DOI
10.1086/656389
OpenAlex
W2193734721
Cited by
350
References
62
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 36 · 2018: 25 · 2017: 26 · 2016: 29 · 2015: 31 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 19
FWCI
39.91
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Journal of Consumer Research (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Cultural Dynamics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Consumer Perception and Purchasing Behavior
Keywords
demythologization, cultural capital, social capital, aesthetic interest, currency devaluation

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