"We gather together": consumption rituals of Thanksgiving Day
Article Abstract:
Thanksgiving Day is a collective ritual that celebrates material abundance enacted through feasting. Thanksgiving Day both marks and proves to participants their ability to meet basic needs abundantly through consumption. So certain is material plenty for most U.S. citizens that this is annual celebration is taken for granted by participants. Not just a moment of bounty but a culture of enduring abundance is celebrated. This article draws on ten data sets compiled over a five-year period. We interpret the consumption rituals of Thanksgiving Day as a discourse among consumers about the categories and principles than underlie American consumer culture. That is, Thanksgiving Day is read as an enacted document orchestrated symbolically and semiotically through consumption. the cultural discourse of Thanksgiving Day negotiates meanings and issues in both the domestic and national arenas that are difficult for many to acknowledge, articulate, and debate verbally. Through the use of multiple perspectives and sources of data, we attempt to elucidate both the emic and etic meanings of this holiday. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
Publication Name: Journal of Consumer Research
Subject: Social sciences
ISSN: 0093-5301
Year: 1991
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Positivism and paradigm dominance in consumer research: toward a critical pluralism and rapprochement
Article Abstract:
As spirited debate continues on the appropriate philosophical and methodological foundations for consumer research, participants claim the literature has been full of misconceptions, misunderstandings, misrepresentations, and mischaracterizations. Through historical methodology, this article shows that these "misses" stem, at least in part, from the debate's having been historically ill informed about the origins and fundamental beliefs of a group of philosophers called logical positivists. After addressing a fundamental premise of the entire debate (i.e., that contemporary social science and consumer research are dominated by positivism), this article advocates critical pluralism and documents a favorable prognosis for rapprochement. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
Publication Name: Journal of Consumer Research
Subject: Social sciences
ISSN: 0093-5301
Year: 1991
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