TY - JOUR

T1 - Gender in the making of commercial worlds : creativity, vitalism and the practices of marketing.

AU - Cronin, Anne M.

N1 - "The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Feminist Theory, 9 (3), 2008, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2008 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Feminist Theory page: http://fty.sagepub.com/ on SAGE Journals Online: http://online.sagepub.com/

PY - 2008/12

Y1 - 2008/12

N2 - If capitalism is being increasingly understood as performative and processual, and if these understandings are being folded into capitalism's production of itself, what place does gender have in performing the commercial world? This article argues that the significance of gender as genre or type has been overlooked in the recent literature on the performance of the market or market relations. While the role of economic theories and management practices in making markets has been examined, and the place of women in organizations has been explored, little attention has been paid to how gender as a productive process marks the creation and maintenance of market relations. Using material from a recent ethnographic study of the advertising industry, I examine how advertising practitioners incorporate vitalist understandings of market relations and of knowledge-producing activities into their practices. Framed as `creativity' and `innovation', these discursive practices perform what practitioners understand as a reproductive function in commercial life.

AB - If capitalism is being increasingly understood as performative and processual, and if these understandings are being folded into capitalism's production of itself, what place does gender have in performing the commercial world? This article argues that the significance of gender as genre or type has been overlooked in the recent literature on the performance of the market or market relations. While the role of economic theories and management practices in making markets has been examined, and the place of women in organizations has been explored, little attention has been paid to how gender as a productive process marks the creation and maintenance of market relations. Using material from a recent ethnographic study of the advertising industry, I examine how advertising practitioners incorporate vitalist understandings of market relations and of knowledge-producing activities into their practices. Framed as `creativity' and `innovation', these discursive practices perform what practitioners understand as a reproductive function in commercial life.

KW - advertising • capitalism • commercial autogenesis • creativity • innovation • market • reproduction • vitalism

U2 - 10.1177/1464700108095852

DO - 10.1177/1464700108095852

M3 - Journal article

VL - 9

SP - 293

EP - 312

JO - Feminist Theory

JF - Feminist Theory

SN - 1741-2773

IS - 3

ER -