The Field of Consumption: Contemporary Dynamics of Status, Capital, and Exchange

Thesis advisor: Paul Gray === This dissertation analyzes the field of consumption to provide an analysis of Bourdieusian cultural capital. Bourdieu introduced cultural capital to express the summed effect of intergenerational and personal institutional credentials on economic structure (1986). The t...

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Main Author: Dubois, Emilie
Format: Others
Language:English
Published: Boston College 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:104234
id ndltd-BOSTON-oai-dlib.bc.edu-bc-ir_104234
record_format oai_dc
collection NDLTD
language English
format Others
sources NDLTD
topic circuit of commerce
consumer
exchange
peer-to-peer
postmodern
precariat
spellingShingle circuit of commerce
consumer
exchange
peer-to-peer
postmodern
precariat
Dubois, Emilie
The Field of Consumption: Contemporary Dynamics of Status, Capital, and Exchange
description Thesis advisor: Paul Gray === This dissertation analyzes the field of consumption to provide an analysis of Bourdieusian cultural capital. Bourdieu introduced cultural capital to express the summed effect of intergenerational and personal institutional credentials on economic structure (1986). The three articles of this dissertation – Imagining Class, Precariat Production, and New Cultures of Connection – take up the study of cultural capital in a contemporary, American context among Millennial consumers (Bourdieu 1984, 1993). These cases analyze producer and consumer experiences within the capital markets for durable goods, labor, and a barter market for services. The experiences under analysis include the design and purchase of luxury clothing, the selling of labor to temporary employers, and the barter of unlike services for a like medium of exchange. The analyses build upon Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital by tracing its role and evolution through producer and consumer exchanges in the “consumer field” (Bourdieu; 1984, 1986, 1993). The analysis of this dissertation relies on semi-structured interview, ethnographic, and survey data. In total, 96 semi-structured interviews were conducted during the data collection for the three articles. Interview data is supported by economic survey and ethnographic data for research participants. Imagining Class melds postmodern and Veblenian consumer theory through informant narratives of the cynical and strategic production of conspicuous consumption enacted by both producers and consumers of the clothing brand Prep Outfitters (Featherstone 1991; Veblen 1899/1994). Upwardly mobile, young consumers believe that performing an elite lifestyle is a condition upon which financial services career success rests. The shared belief is correlated with income increases and results in an environment of aesthetic and lifestyle conformity on Wall Street. Precariat Production analyzes the motivational aspects and economic benefits of collaborative production work within the online platforms of Airbnb, RelayRides, and Taskrabbit and provides insight into the nature of the new working precariat class (Standing 2009). Analysis shows that three central motivational categories drive participation: money, efficiency / environmental, and workplace flexibility. Possession of economic assets prior to beginning work as a collaborative producer is a key characteristic associated with high earning within the precarious, collaborative marketplace, yet cultural capital is not a significant correlate of high income relative to the labor market. Further, those who enjoy the most economic success within the collaborative marketplace as “high earners” are also most likely to express that a motivation of “efficiency environmental” drives their production. The efficiency/environmental motivational finding lend a broader support for the claim of an evolution of high cultural capital expressions of ecohabitus (Bourdieu 1984; Schor et al. 2014). New Cultures of Connection evaluates the exchanges made on an egalitarian barter market through the medium of a local currency, “time dollars.” The study uses Zelizer’s concept of a circuit of commerce (2005) to show that cultural capital limits potential trades available in the time bank and reveals that those with high cultural capital exit the market. Ecohabitus provides one exception to this finding as high cultural capital participants find nonmonetary value in authenticity, localism, environmentalism, holistic wellness and self-reliance. Yet, this new set of high cultural capital preferences does not pair with their exchanges as they demonstrate enduring inclination towards professionalized, market-like services. Disparities in cultural capital challenge the potential of barter networks like the “time bank” to alter the dependence of identities of market practice and success. === Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. === Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. === Discipline: Sociology.
author Dubois, Emilie
author_facet Dubois, Emilie
author_sort Dubois, Emilie
title The Field of Consumption: Contemporary Dynamics of Status, Capital, and Exchange
title_short The Field of Consumption: Contemporary Dynamics of Status, Capital, and Exchange
title_full The Field of Consumption: Contemporary Dynamics of Status, Capital, and Exchange
title_fullStr The Field of Consumption: Contemporary Dynamics of Status, Capital, and Exchange
title_full_unstemmed The Field of Consumption: Contemporary Dynamics of Status, Capital, and Exchange
title_sort field of consumption: contemporary dynamics of status, capital, and exchange
publisher Boston College
publishDate 2015
url http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:104234
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spelling ndltd-BOSTON-oai-dlib.bc.edu-bc-ir_1042342019-05-10T07:36:06Z The Field of Consumption: Contemporary Dynamics of Status, Capital, and Exchange Dubois, Emilie Thesis advisor: Paul Gray Text thesis 2015 Boston College English electronic application/pdf This dissertation analyzes the field of consumption to provide an analysis of Bourdieusian cultural capital. Bourdieu introduced cultural capital to express the summed effect of intergenerational and personal institutional credentials on economic structure (1986). The three articles of this dissertation – Imagining Class, Precariat Production, and New Cultures of Connection – take up the study of cultural capital in a contemporary, American context among Millennial consumers (Bourdieu 1984, 1993). These cases analyze producer and consumer experiences within the capital markets for durable goods, labor, and a barter market for services. The experiences under analysis include the design and purchase of luxury clothing, the selling of labor to temporary employers, and the barter of unlike services for a like medium of exchange. The analyses build upon Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital by tracing its role and evolution through producer and consumer exchanges in the “consumer field” (Bourdieu; 1984, 1986, 1993). The analysis of this dissertation relies on semi-structured interview, ethnographic, and survey data. In total, 96 semi-structured interviews were conducted during the data collection for the three articles. Interview data is supported by economic survey and ethnographic data for research participants. Imagining Class melds postmodern and Veblenian consumer theory through informant narratives of the cynical and strategic production of conspicuous consumption enacted by both producers and consumers of the clothing brand Prep Outfitters (Featherstone 1991; Veblen 1899/1994). Upwardly mobile, young consumers believe that performing an elite lifestyle is a condition upon which financial services career success rests. The shared belief is correlated with income increases and results in an environment of aesthetic and lifestyle conformity on Wall Street. Precariat Production analyzes the motivational aspects and economic benefits of collaborative production work within the online platforms of Airbnb, RelayRides, and Taskrabbit and provides insight into the nature of the new working precariat class (Standing 2009). Analysis shows that three central motivational categories drive participation: money, efficiency / environmental, and workplace flexibility. Possession of economic assets prior to beginning work as a collaborative producer is a key characteristic associated with high earning within the precarious, collaborative marketplace, yet cultural capital is not a significant correlate of high income relative to the labor market. Further, those who enjoy the most economic success within the collaborative marketplace as “high earners” are also most likely to express that a motivation of “efficiency environmental” drives their production. The efficiency/environmental motivational finding lend a broader support for the claim of an evolution of high cultural capital expressions of ecohabitus (Bourdieu 1984; Schor et al. 2014). New Cultures of Connection evaluates the exchanges made on an egalitarian barter market through the medium of a local currency, “time dollars.” The study uses Zelizer’s concept of a circuit of commerce (2005) to show that cultural capital limits potential trades available in the time bank and reveals that those with high cultural capital exit the market. Ecohabitus provides one exception to this finding as high cultural capital participants find nonmonetary value in authenticity, localism, environmentalism, holistic wellness and self-reliance. Yet, this new set of high cultural capital preferences does not pair with their exchanges as they demonstrate enduring inclination towards professionalized, market-like services. Disparities in cultural capital challenge the potential of barter networks like the “time bank” to alter the dependence of identities of market practice and success. circuit of commerce consumer exchange peer-to-peer postmodern precariat Copyright is held by the author. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Discipline: Sociology. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:104234