Rights statement: This article is (c)2015 Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here http://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/deconstructing-consumer-discipline(13350018-8ebf-4a3f-8f76-5cf6d1ece604).html. Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Accepted author manuscript, 211 KB, PDF document
Available under license: CC BY: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Deconstructing consumer discipline
T2 - how self-management is experienced in the marketplace
AU - Cronin, James
AU - McCarthy, Mary
AU - Delaney, Mary
N1 - This article is (c)2015 Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here http://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/deconstructing-consumer-discipline(13350018-8ebf-4a3f-8f76-5cf6d1ece604).html. Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
PY - 2015/11/1
Y1 - 2015/11/1
N2 - Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to build an understanding of what we term “consumer discipline” by unpacking the practices and strategies by which people manage and exert control over what they consume. This is facilitated by looking at the context of food, an everyday necessity imbued with sizeable importance in terms of its impact on personal well-being, and how it is experienced by individuals who must manage the constraints of a chronic illness.Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on the Foucauldian concept of governmentality and theories surrounding the social facilitation of self-management, this paper analyses interviews with 17 consumers diagnosed with diabetes or coronary heart disease.Findings – By exploring how the chronically ill generate different strategies in managing what they eat and how they think about it; this paper outlines four analytical areas for which to continue the discussion of how consumption is disciplined and its conceptualisation in marketing and health-related research: “the Individual”, “the Other”, “the Market”, and “the Object”. Practical implications – The results signal to policy makers the aspects of health promotion that can be enhanced in order to improve self-management amongst consumers in the pursuit of well-being.Originality/value – This paper makes two contributions: it conceptualises consumer discipline as a practice that involves self-control but also comprises the capabilities to self-manage one’s identity and relationships through leveraging personal and social strategies across various contexts; and it identifies macro influences such as the market as negotiable powers that can be contested or resisted to help assist in one’s self-management.
AB - Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to build an understanding of what we term “consumer discipline” by unpacking the practices and strategies by which people manage and exert control over what they consume. This is facilitated by looking at the context of food, an everyday necessity imbued with sizeable importance in terms of its impact on personal well-being, and how it is experienced by individuals who must manage the constraints of a chronic illness.Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on the Foucauldian concept of governmentality and theories surrounding the social facilitation of self-management, this paper analyses interviews with 17 consumers diagnosed with diabetes or coronary heart disease.Findings – By exploring how the chronically ill generate different strategies in managing what they eat and how they think about it; this paper outlines four analytical areas for which to continue the discussion of how consumption is disciplined and its conceptualisation in marketing and health-related research: “the Individual”, “the Other”, “the Market”, and “the Object”. Practical implications – The results signal to policy makers the aspects of health promotion that can be enhanced in order to improve self-management amongst consumers in the pursuit of well-being.Originality/value – This paper makes two contributions: it conceptualises consumer discipline as a practice that involves self-control but also comprises the capabilities to self-manage one’s identity and relationships through leveraging personal and social strategies across various contexts; and it identifies macro influences such as the market as negotiable powers that can be contested or resisted to help assist in one’s self-management.
KW - Consumption
KW - Foucault
KW - Discipline
KW - Governmentality
KW - Health
KW - Food
U2 - 10.1108/EJM-06-2014-0404
DO - 10.1108/EJM-06-2014-0404
M3 - Journal article
VL - 49
SP - 1902
EP - 1922
JO - European Journal of Marketing
JF - European Journal of Marketing
SN - 0309-0566
IS - 11-12
ER -