Aisles of Ideas

Where can we find relevant theories and concepts? After years on the margins of social science, shopping and consumption are now regarded as important areas of study. This is exemplified by the high status that certain studies on shopping and consumption have achieved in a variety of fields or disciplines.

In psychology, Lunt and Livingstone‘s book Mass Consumption and Personal Identity (1992) is a notable landmark. Here, the authors explored the links between the psychological bases of self and the process of consumption (which has shopping at its core). One aspect of this analysis was the role of gender in the shaping and nature of roles within practices of consumption.

Although much research has been done in the decade since Lunt and Livingstone‘s text, it remains an extremely useful example of how academics have attempted to place shopping and consumption as central to personal (and collective) psychological development. Moreover, it provides a resource through which the commercial researcher can contextualise and validate ideas and ’theories’ that may have a more prosaic and ’common sense‘ basis.

Within economics, interest in shopping and consumption has tended to centre on macro economic factors (such as demand) and rational choice thinking (i.e. the quasi-scientific approach to understanding how decisions are made). Perhaps the main exception to this has been the work of Ben Fine, a Professor of Economics at London University.

Fine’s contribution to a more expansive economics has been significant. For example, in his book Consumption in the Age of Affluence (with Heasman and Wright 1993), he attempts to bring together a number of disciplines in order to better understand the modern UK food business. Subjects covered – to name just a few – include the sugar business, the dairy system, food norms, children, food and class and food studies in general.

The inclusion of policy issues makes this work of interest to social researchers as well as those working towards a commercial brief. Undoubtedly, this is ’Big Picture’ stimulus, but worthy of at least a quick investigation by anyone with more than a passing interest in food and drink consumption and shopping.

In sociology, cultural studies and cultural geography, shopping and consumption have never been more important. The sheer scope of the work means that I can only offer the most basic coverage here. However, one could do much worse than take a look at Shopping, Place and Identity (Miller et. al., 1998). The book takes two London shopping centres – Brent Cross and Wood Green – as its backdrop. The authors use these two centres as a ’prop‘ for a much broader discussion of identity and the role of shopping in the formation of identity.

The work is supported by ethnographic research conducted within households in north London. To this extent, the micro worlds of everyday life are paired with the macro-worlds of contemporary shopping centres. The fascination lies in the intersection of historical and contemporary, macro and micro, and the creation (and crossing) of collective and individual identities. This will interest those seeking to stretch their thinking and is likely to provide rich territory for better analysing our own research.
 

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