Consumer Identities
Consumer Identities (Book)
Agency, Media and Digital Culture
Consumer Identities explores the notion of agency by tracing the role and activities of consumers from the pre-Internet age into the possible future. Using an overview of the historical creation of consumer identity, the collection demonstrates that active consumption is not merely a product of the digital age; it has always been a means by which a person can develop identity.
Edition
This edited collection explores the notion of agency by tracing the role and activities of consumers from the pre-Internet age into the possible future. Using an overview of the historical creation of consumer identity, Consumer Identities demonstrates that active consumption is not merely a product of the digital age; it has always been a means by which a person can develop identity. Grounded in the acknowledgement that identity is a constructed and contested space, the authors analyse emerging dynamics in contemporary consumerism, ongoing tensions of structure and agency in consumer identities and the ways in which identity construction could be influenced in the future. By exploring consumer identity through examples in popular culture, the authors have created a scholarly work that will appeal to industry professionals as well as academics.
Candice D. Roberts is an assistant professor and the director of the communication arts program at St. John’s University, New York. She holds a Ph.D. in communication, culture and media from Drexel University. Her work examines cultural narratives and identity in popular media, and she is particularly interested in archetypes, consumer behaviour and sociality around themes of class, sexuality and space/place.
Myles Ethan Lascity is an assistant professor of journalism and director of the fashion media program at Southern Methodist University. He was formerly an assistant professor of communication at Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA. He holds a Ph.D. in communication, culture and media from Drexel University, and his research interests include popular culture and fashion communication.
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Section I
Branding desire: Strategies of consumer affectation in early Classical Hollywood film
The PushmiPullu of fandom
MySpace music’s pivotal role in the digitalisation of music culture
Section II: Emerging dynamics in contemporary consumerism
A qualitative comparison of Mad Men fans in New Zealand and Italy
‘This is so bad, we have to watch it’: Acquiring subcultural capital through oppositional viewing strategies
The cannibals: Consuming celebrity through digital mourning
Brick by brick: De/reconstructing the children’s animated film genre
Section III: Ongoing tensions of structure and agency in consumer identities
I protest! A postcolonial critique of media fan activism in a globalised world
Big data and Twitter: Finding the stepping stones in consumer communications
Ethical consumerism in the emerging EU digital contract legislation
About the contributors
About the editors
