ESRC Research Seminar Series: Conclusion Report

 

Title of Seminar Series: ‘Identities and Consumption’ (2004/05 round)

 

 

1.                  Details of the Award                                                  RES-451-25-4062

 

Principal organiser: Prof. Christine Griffin, Psychology, University of Bath.

 

Co-applicants: Prof. Ann Phoenix, Psychology, Open University; Prof. Robert MacDonald, Social Sciences and Law, University of Teesside; Prof. Isabelle Szmigin, Birmingham University Business School; Prof. Beverley Skeggs, Sociology, Goldsmiths College, London.

 

Amount awarded: £14,213

Duration of award: 1st Oct 2005 – 31st July 2007

 

During the summer of 2006, Prof. Griffin’s father was taken ill and died suddenly, so the July 2006 seminar had to be delayed until later in the year, which had a knock-on effect on subsequent seminars. As a consequence, Prof. Griffin requested, and was granted a no-cost extension to the award until 31st October 2007.

 

 

2.                  Aims and Objectives of the Seminar Series

a)      Provide a forum for debate at the cutting edge of current research on identities and consumption, bringing together researchers from diverse theoretical approaches and academic disciplines.

b)      Provide a forum for discussion of diverse aspects of identity and consumption, making links between a range of relevant topic areas.

c)            Enable promising postgraduate research students to present their work to an informed audience.

d)            Link cutting edge academic debates on identity and consumption to relevant social policy and rapidly changing practice in specific areas, in particular health.

e)            Provide a forum for the development of international links in approaches to understanding the relationship between identity and consumption through the participation of invited overseas speakers who are leading researchers in the field.

f)              Forge connections between funded projects, seminar series and research programmes where there is a common interest in issues related to identities and consumption.

 

 

3.   Publicity and Organisation

The series was publicised via an existing email address list compiled by Prof. Griffin with the assistance of the co-applicants, developed from an email list for the previous ESRC Research Seminar Series organised by Prof. Griffin on ‘New Approaches to Inter-disciplinary Youth Research’ (2000 – 2002). The list eventually grew to over 200 names by the end of the Seminar Series, including academic researchers from a range of disciplinary areas, postgraduate research students, postdoctoral researchers, policy makers and practitioners in the UK, Ireland and elsewhere in Europe. The series was also publicised through circulation on specific email lists, such as the BSA Youth Study Group email list, and the Centre for Narrative Research list based at the University of East London.

 

Information about the series was circulated to research teams on two ESRC Research Programmes: Identities and Social Action (Director: Prof. Margaret Wetherell) and Cultures of Consumption (Director: Prof Frank Trentmann). Prof. Griffin and the other applicants also publicised the Series via posters and flyers at relevant academic conferences. The Seminar Series was also publicised via the website (http://staff.bath.ac.uk/psscg) with information on the programme, lists of speakers and participants and abstracts of talks available as the series progressed.

 

The main input from the co-applicants was in helping to plan and organise the seminars in their local areas: at Birmingham Business School (Prof. Szmigin); Goldsmiths College, London (Prof. Skeggs); the Open University (Prof. Phoenix); and the University of Teesside (Prof. MacDonald). Prof. Griffin was primarily responsible for organising the Seminar programme as a whole, administering the budget, and running the first seminar and the conference, both held at the University of Bath.

 

 

4.         Programme of Events (see Appendices for list of speakers, abstracts and participants)

 

(1)  Consumption, cyber-identities and new forms of citizenship                   

                        Half-day seminar          University of Bath         30th January 2006

           

(2)  Branded identities, marketing and the process of commodification     

                        Half-day seminar          University of Birmingham          24th April 2006

 

(3)  The new consumers: Childhood and youth                          

                        Half-day seminar          The Open University, Milton Keynes     11th Sept 2006

 

(4)  Representation, identities and consumption                                                                  

                        Half-day seminar                 Goldsmiths College London           11th Dec 2006

    

(5)  ‘Money’s too tight to mention’: Consumption on the margins     

                        Half-day seminar         University of Teesside, Middlesbrough   23rd April 2007

     

(6)  Disordered consumption: Health, identities and social policies around consumption       

                        1.5 day conference             University of Bath   3rd - 4th September 2007

 

 

5.                  Seminar Participants

The decision to hold an open seminar series aimed to encourage the involvement of postgraduate participants and also practitioners and local participants in different venues.  This proved a successful strategy that was facilitated by the availability of travel bursaries and the encouragement of a supportive atmosphere. The series involved 8 UK-based speakers involved in postgraduate research; 22 UK-based speakers primarily involved in academic youth research; 9 speakers from overseas (2 from Australasia, 2 from Europe, and 4 from the USA); and 3 UK-based speakers from non-academic backgrounds. 

 

In total, 223 people attended the seminars, excluding speakers, an average of 37 participants per seminar, or an average of 44 participants per seminar including the speakers.  Overall, this included 27% postgraduates, 6% practitioners and 67% established academic researchers (excluding speakers), or 23% postgraduates, 5% practitioners and 56% established academic researchers (including speakers).  A number of participants attended more than one seminar, and a higher proportion of practitioners attended the final two-day conference (18% of conference delegates).  Travel bursaries were taken up by 18 postgraduates.  Participants from non-academic areas included those involved in government alcohol policy, drugs education and mental health projects.  The varied location of seminars attracted local researchers, practitioners and postgraduates, some of whom attended subsequent seminars.  A number of speakers also attended several of the seminars.

 

 

6.                  Demand for Participation

Since the seminar series was open to all, there were no restrictions placed on attendance, so it is not possible to comment on demand for attendance.  There was considerable interest in the series from researchers in business schools, including postgraduates, who especially valued the critical and inter-disciplinary perspective of the seminars. 

 

 

7.                  Meeting the Objectives

The Seminar Series was successful in meeting all six objectives, as follows:

 

a)                  Making connections across academic disciplines

Speakers and participants were from a wide range of academic disciplines, in particular marketing and consumer research, sociology and social psychology, as well as geography, criminology, anthropology, cultural studies and education.

 

b)                  Building links between different aspects of consumption and identity

The six events focussed on different topics, namely health and social policy, branding and marketing, child and youth consumption, representation and consumption, marginalized consumers, cyber-identities and new forms of social and political participation. The seminars shared a common concern with the formation of social identities through negotiation with the commercial sphere, and a number of participants attended several events, thereby strengthening these connections.

 

c)                  Providing a forum for postgraduate researchers to present their work

Each of the five half-day seminars included one postgraduate speaker presenting work from their doctoral research, and the final two-day conference involved 3 postgraduate speakers (see Appendix 1).

 

d)                  Linking academic research on consumption, identity and health to policy and practice

The final two-day conference included papers with a focus on national and international policies around alcohol consumption (Casswell; Griffin et al. ‘Young people and Alcohol’ study), and illegal drug use (Blackman; Holt; Measham and Moore); and a panel debate on the UK National Alcohol Strategy between representatives from Alcohol Concern (Shenker) and the government’s Alcohol Strategy Unit (Armstrong): (see Appendix 2).

 

 

 

e)                  Developing international links

Each of the five half-day seminars involved international speakers from the USA (4), Denmark (1) and Sweden (1), and final two-day conference included three international speakers from Australasia (2) and Italy (1). Some of these speakers already had well-established links with the UK in specific disciplinary areas (eg. Casswell, Belk), but others had not presented their work in the UK before (eg. Chin, Cersosimo): (see Appendices 1 and 2).

 

f)                   Forging connections between relevant research programmes

Seminar speakers and participants included researchers who were involved in relevant funded programmes, including an ESRC Research Seminar Series on Critical Marketing (Elliott, Shankar, Goulding, MacLaren), and a substantial number from the ESRC Identities and Social Action programme (Wetherell, Kehily, Skeggs, Phoenix, Hey, Thumin, Griffin et al.): (see Appendix 3).

 

 

8.                  Feedback from Participants

After the final conference, Prof Griffin contacted seminar participants requesting feedback on the seminar series as a whole.  This feedback was overwhelmingly positive, participants valued the supportive atmosphere of debate, which was especially useful for postgraduates, and the dialogue between researchers in different disciplines, practitioners and policy-makers (see Appendix 4 for sample of responses).

 

 

9.                  Activities resulting from Seminar Series

The Seminar series website presents abstracts and some papers from the seminars along with details of all seminar programmes. In addition, Prof. Griffin is due to submit a proposal for an edited book based on the final conference on ‘Disorders of consumption’ to a series published by Palgrave emerging from the ESRC Identities and Social Action programme, edited by Prof. Margaret Wetherell, the Director of the ISA programme.

 

The final conference also served as an End of Award seminar to showcase the research from two related ESRC projects: the ‘Young people and alcohol’ study (Griffin et al.), and the ‘Reverberating Rhythms’ project (Riley et al.). This event provided a unique opportunity to disseminate the findings of these two projects to an international audience of researchers from a range of academic disciplines and to practitioners and policy makers.

 

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APPENDICES

 

Appendix 1: Seminar programme

 

(Dates, venues and speakers are listed below. PG = postgraduate speaker)

 

 

Seminar 1:  Consumption, cyber-identities and new forms of citizenship                   

Half-day seminar          University of Bath                                                        30th January 2006

 

Prof Jim Gee, Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA   

Prof Andrea Press, Sociology, University of Illinois, USA  

Mr Jacob Habgood, LSRI, Nottingham University (PG)           

Dr Monica Whitty, Psychology, Queens University, Belfast 

 

           

Seminar 2:  Branded identities, marketing and the process of commodification     

Half-day seminar                         University of Birmingham                          24th April 2006

 

Prof Russell Belk, Business School, University of Utah, USA (and Visiting Prof, Business School, University of Lancaster, UK)                                                                     

Prof Richard Elliott, Business School, University of Warwick                                              

Ms Yasmin Sekhon, University of Bournemouth Business School (PG)

(NB: Prof Douglas Holt, Said Business School, University of Oxford, was unable to attend the seminar due to his wife’s sudden illness).

 

 

Seminar 3:  The new consumers: Childhood and youth                          

Half-day seminar                The Open University, Milton Keynes                  11th Sept 2006

 

Prof Dannie Kjeldgaard, Business School, University of Southern Denmark

Dr Paul Hewer & Dr Douglas Brownlie, Management, Strathclyde Uni & University of Stirling  

Dr Alice Bartholomew & Dr Stephanie O’Donohoe, Management, The University of Edinburgh

Ms Patricia Gaya Wicks, Business School, University of Exeter (PG)

 

     

Seminar 4:  Representation, identities and consumption                                                                 

Half-day seminar                 Goldsmiths College London                               11th Dec 2006

 

Prof Karin Ekstrom, Business School, University of Goteborg, Sweden                               

Dr Sean Nixon, Sociology, University of Essex                                                                   

Prof Jonathan Schroeder & Dr Janet Borgerson, Business School, University of Exeter              

Ms Claire Barratt, Central St Martin’s College of Art and Design, London (PG)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

Seminar 5:  ‘Money’s too tight to mention’: Consumption on the margins     

Half-day seminar         University of Teesside, Middlesbrough                     23rd April 2007

Prof Elizabeth Chin, Anthropology, Occidental College, LA, USA                                      

 

Dr Tracy Shildrick, Prof Rob MacDonald, Sociology, University of Teesside

& Dr Colin Webster, Sociology, Leeds Metro University                          

Dr Julie Evans, Social Science, University of Plymouth       

Mr Craig Ancrum, Sociology, University of Teesside (PG)

 

     

Seminar 6:  Disordered consumption: Health, identities and social policies around consumption       

Two-day conference             University of Bath                             3rd - 4th September 2007

 

Prof Sally Casswell, SHORE Research Centre, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand

Dr Martin Holt, HIV Social Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia  

Dr Giuseppina Cersosimo, Sociology, University of Salerno, Italy

Mr Peter Thomas, Geography, University of Newcastle (PG)                                                   

Ms Mandi Hodges, Social Science, University of Loughborough (PG)

Ms Fin Cullen, Sociology, Goldsmith’s College, London (PG)

Dr Shane Blackman, Media and Cultural Studies, Christ’s College, Canterbury

Dr Karenza Moore & Dr Fiona Measham, Criminology, University of Lancaster                 

Dr Sarah Riley, Prof Christine Griffin & Dr Yvette Morey, Psychology, University of Bath

Prof Isabelle Szmigin, Business School, University of Birmingham                                        

Dr Willm Mistral, Mental Health R & D Unit, University of Bath 

Mr Don Shenker, Alcohol Concern                                                                                    

Mr Iain Armstrong, National Alcohol Strategy group, Department of Health 

Prof Robert Hollands, Sociology, University of Newcastle                                                  

Prof Chris Hackley, Management, Royal Holloway College, London

Dr Ciaran O’Hagan, Hackney Drug Action Team, London

 


 

Appendix 2: Abstracts

 

(1)  Consumption, cyber-identities and new forms of citizenship                   

            Half-day seminar          University of Bath         30th January 2006

 

Professor James Gee, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Video games, pleasure, learning and identity’

What is the deep pleasure human beings take from video games?   What is the relationship between video games and real life?  In what sense are video games art?  And, finally, what do the answers to these questions have to do with learning?  In addressing these questions, I will restrict myself to only one general type of video game, namely action-oriented games like Half-Life, Deus Ex, Doom III, The Elder Scroll III: Morrowind, Ratchet and Clank, Jade Empire, or Rise of Nations, to name just a few.  I believe that good commercial video games are by no means trivial phenomena.  They are deep technologies for recruiting learning as a form of profound pleasure.  I also believe that video games are a new art form, one largely immune to traditional tools developed for the analysis of literature and film.  As a new art form, one, video games will challenge us to develop new analytical tools.  Finally, I believe that good video games are extensions of life in a quite strict sense, since they recruit and externalize some of the most fundamental features of how human beings orient themselves in and to the real world.  As such, they allow for a range of deep effects that can be harnessed for good or ill.  These are the major themes I will take up in this talk.

 

Professor Andrea Press & Ellen Moore, University of Illinois

‘From the house of worship to the marketplace of consumption: Religion, consumption and political organization in American life’

Many have commented on the important role religious values played in the last American presidential election.   Our qualitative research, which included interviews and a media diary study kept during the election, focused our attention on the role of religion in American politics for our informants. This led us to a series of ethnographic observations in evangelical churches and bible study groups, and an analysis of church websites.  Our studies of religious spaces revealed the salience of American consumer culture in evangelical churches and religious organizations in the U.S.  In this paper we detail the use of media and consumer culture references in churches we have observed.  Specifically, we chronicle the use of popular Hollywood film references, references to popular television shows and commercials, and references to corporate giants like WALMART.  We support the literature which maintains that evangelical churches appropriate the forms of consumer culture such as coffee bars, hair salons, and theaters.  However we refute the argument that the use of secular consumer culture is apolitical, as others have argued. We argue that consumer culture functions as a vehicle in religious contexts for conveying a complex political message, invoking a specific form of collective American identity which is white, male, and politically Conservative. 

 

Mr Jacob Habgood, LSRI, University of Nottingham (PG)

‘Skeletons and broccoli: Designing educational games for video-game consumers’

The past twenty-five years has produced a substantial body of literature highlighting the educational potential of digital games (e.g. Gee, 2003; Malone, 1981). Nonetheless the majority of ‘edutainment’ software over this period has been unable to effectively harness the motivational potential of games for educational use. This failing is often due to the absence of any pedagogical design, but this talk will suggest that gameplay integration and production values also have a key role to play in appealing to modern video game consumers.After a short review of the theory, this talk will go on to describe the Zombie Division project. This project has been designed to empirically investigate the relevance of a more integrated design approach in creating learning games for a demanding consumer audience. Zombie Division is an action-adventure game based around a combat mechanic in which the player must use different attacks to mathematically divide numbered skeletons in hand-to-hand combat. The talk will briefly describe the design and pedagogy behind the game before outlining current and future evaluations.

 

Dr Monica Whitty, Queens University, Belfast

‘Presentation of self on Online dating sites’

Cyberspace can be a liberating space in which individuals can live out their fantasies, find love, and overcome their social anxieties. The cyber-world is a space in which individuals can be creative in their constructions of self, and in so doing can learn more about who they “really” are. Nonetheless, there is also a dark side to interpersonal communication in cyberspace. Creating new personas and living out different selves online is not necessarily a positive experience for the individual re-constructing “self” or the audience(s) of that self. This paper considers how online daters present themselves on online dating sites by drawing from interview data. It demonstrates that online daters enjoyed the opportunity to be more strategic in their presentations of self than they would when meeting someone for the first time offline. Theories of self, such as, 'possible selves', psychoanalytic theory, and Goffman's theory of presentation of self in everyday life are drawn from here to highlight different presentations of self online when compared to face-to-face.

 

 

 

 

(2)  Branded identities, marketing and the process of commodification     

            Half-day seminar          University of Birmingham          24th April 2006

 

Prof Russell Belk, University of Utah, Visiting Professor, Management, Lancaster University ‘Ownership, Ego, Sharing, and Counterfeiting’

What, if anything, is wrong with buying a fake Louis Vuitton wallet?  Should the answer to this question differ for a relatively wealthy European and a relatively poor Asian? Beginning with the premise that counterfeiting is a form of unauthorized sharing of brands, this paper situates itself in the broader possibility of sharing ownership of consumer and corporate property.  After defining sharing, I recognize that sharing, ownership, and possession are culturally determined and learned behaviors with norms attached to them.  I note that sharing can have both positive and negative consequences.  I then move to a discussion of the impediments to sharing in contemporary consumer cultures, focusing on extended self, materialism, and status considerations.  I next consider incentives for sharing, treating intangibles and tangibles separately.  The discussion of sharing tangible goods brings in the concepts of marker goods, brand cults, leveraged lifestyles, heirlooms, institutional sharing, brand piracy, and an emerging movement toward virtual renting.  Academic sharing is offered as a case that illustrates some of the difficulties of sharing intangibles like ideas.  But virtual communities, online gift economies, and counterfeiting each raise interesting questions and possibilities of keeping while giving.  The issues raised by these developments are considered and data from an eight-country interpretive study of consumer attitudes toward counterfeit Louis Vuitton goods are discussed.  Certain parallels are found between intellectual property issues in luxury goods corporations and in academia as well as some important differences.  I conclude with a discussion of the social desirability of sharing and renting (hiring) and sketch out some ideas for future research in these areas.

 

 

 

 

Professor Richard Elliott, University of Warwick Business School

‘Style subcultures and authenticity of identity performance’

Through a focus on style sub-cultures and their consumption of fashion brands and music we can see how identity is performed, how authenticity is communicated and recognised, and how consumers learn how ‘to get it right’ as they move from novices to a respected member of the sub-culture. Authentic identity performances requires more than the materiality of brands: the important role and significance of bodily hexis in communicating identity is explored.

 

Professor Douglas Holt, Said Business School, Worcester College Oxford

‘Jack Daniel’s America (Prof Holt was unable to attend due to his wife’s illness)

 

Ms Yasmin Sekhon, Institute of Business and Law, University of Bournemouth (PG)

The influence of Izatt on identity formation and consumption’

How does Izatt (family honour/respect) affect one’s identity in today’s world?  This study focuses particularly on second generation Punjabis living in the UK.  As British citizens they have to deal with the pressures of two often conflicting cultures (east and west), which in turn shapes their identity, who they feel they are, their belonging and what others’ in their community think of them. Izatt in its broadest sense can be defined as family honour; this family honour is far reaching.  It not only affects life decisions from marriage, choice of partner, behaviour and the following of cultural values but it also influences consumption decisions – what they should or shouldn’t buy. Consumption becomes almost symbolic of who they are and can help or even hinder one’s status/izatt in the Indian community.  With such pressure how do these second generation Punjabis react and deal with the pull from both east and west? Izatt is a powerful part of the participants’ lives, affecting and influencing the first and second generation in their private and public lives, their consumption decisions and how they present themselves to the outside world. 

 

 

 

(3)  The new consumers: Childhood and youth                          

            Half-day seminar          The Open University, Milton Keynes     11th Sept 2006

 

Associate Professor Dannie Kjeldgaard, University of Southern Denmark

‘The meaning of style? Style reflexivity in contemporary youth culture’

In much youth cultural theory style has been said to have moved from being an expression of subcultural class formation to individualized identity projects in neo-tribal sociality. This paper shows how style is practiced among young Danish consumers. The key characteristic of their style practice is the reflexivity they bring to bear on their negotiation of global style expression in local identity projects. This style reflexivity manifests itself in the themes of style switching and style code reflexivity.

 

Dr Paul Hewer & Prof Douglas Brownlie, Strathclyde University & University of Stirling

‘Boys, Bevvies and Bacon Sarnies: Culinary images for thinking young men’

The paper discusses masculinity as a socially constructed gender practice (Bristor & Fischer, 1993), examining images that represent ways to 'think gender' or 'do gender'. Specifically, it explores the narrative content of representations of youthful masculinity as choreographed within a series of photographic print images that seek to position the market appeal of a contemporary lifestyle cookery book by ‘celebrity chef’ Jamie Oliver. In this way we set out to render more concrete discussions of the transformative potential of images of gender relations. We consider how images of young men 'doing masculinity' in gendered spaces are not only channelled into reproducing existing gender hierarchy and compulsory heterosexuality in the service of commercial ends, but also, simultaneously, into disrupting such enduring stereotyping through inciting subtle reframing.

 

Dr Alice Bartholomew and Dr Stephanie O’Donohoe, The University of Edinburgh

‘Childhood transitions, consumption and the gender agenda’

The field of consumer socialization has expanded to incorporate children’s socialization through consumption as well as their socialization as consumers.  Our starting point in this paper is the debate about whether children are human beings or human becomings. Following Johansson (2004), we argue that these two categories are not mutually exclusive, and we explore how children approaching adolescence use consumption to negotiate the process of becoming older. Specifically, we explore how the consumption of products, media and advertising by Scottish 10-12 year-olds was intertwined with their existential concerns about “becoming”. In addition to showing how consumption of things, media and advertising reflected - and were used to reflect on - their shifting selves, the paper explores their use of consumption to negotiate gendered identities and relationships.

        

Ms Patricia Gaya Wicks, University of Exeter (PG)

‘Beckham: Hero, villain or a bit of both? The children's viewpoint’

This paper explores some of the subtle and complex roles which consumption culture may play in the “moral development” of children.  We concentrate on the role of commodified celebrities in children’s understanding of moral questions, taking England soccer hero David Beckham as an example. We address three questions: First, how do children draw on celebrities to shape their understanding of moral issues?  Second, what kind of morality is likely to emerge when iconic celebrities become a site in which children’s relationship to moral issues is developed?  Third, what does this mean for children’s understanding of a global media culture which revolves around a culture of spectacle and commodified celebrity?  Our findings emphasise both the role of consumption culture as a framework within which moral unfolding happens, and children’s ability to construct morally-engaged positions which hold complexity and ambivalence around specific aspects of consumption culture.  We propose that the kind of morality that emerges herein can be characterised as ambivalent, contested, negotiated, located and mediated.

 

 

     

(4)  Representation, identities and consumption                                                    

            Half-day seminar                 Goldsmiths College London           11th Dec 2006

 

Prof Karin Ekstrom, Center for Consumer Science, Goteborg University, Sweden

The collector’s identity’

Collectors are sometimes described by others as anti-social, aggressive, competitive, serious and seeking control. These traits are commonly seen as masculine traits. At the same time, collectors seem to describe their passion to collect as caring, preserving, nurturing and creativity. These traits are commonly seen as feminine traits. In other words, the identity given collectors by other people seem to differ from the identity they give themselves. Also, there are collectors who do not consider themselves as collectors, even though their behavior shows that they are collectors. The purpose with this paper is to discuss the collector's identity. Does such an identity exist? How is it formed in relation to the collector himself/herself and other people? When does a collector receive a collector's identity? The results are mainly based on a study of glass collectors displaying their collections in a museum, but also the author's reflections on being a collector.

 

Dr Sean Nixon, University of Essex, Colchester

‘Provincial parvenus: The subaltern sensibility of London advertising’

No abstract available

 

Dr Janet Borgerson & Prof Jonathan Schroeder, School of Business & Economics, University of Exeter

‘Ethics of representation: Marketing, communication and identity’

In contemporary marketing communications, images claim center stage. The focus on image – over and above function – challenges basic notions of marketing practice, shifts appropriate topics of analysis, and reinforces the visual domain’s centrality. Serving as stimuli, signs, or representations that drive cognition, interpretation, and preference, images influence what we know and believe. Not surprisingly, images constitute much corporate communication about products and services, economic performance, and organizational identity. Representations of people – models, celebrity endorsers, spokespersons, “average” consumers, managers, and employees – make up a large part of marketing imagery. Moreover, images provide resources for, and, hence, shape, our understandings of the world­, including the identities of its people and places.

 

– What theoretical tools are needed to accommodate the visual nature of marketing representation?

– And how do these interact with models of consumer identity construction?

What kind of power does marketing have in the lives of consumers?

– What is the relationship between marketing, consumption and identity?

 

In this project, we investigate marketing communication’s role in “the taken-for-granted political and ethical practices of envisioning others” (Heywood & Sandywell, 1999). Discussions within marketing communication and consumer research generally adopt an information-based model of marketing communication, emphasizing marketing’s role as a strategic conduit of information for consumers, rather than fully acknowledging how marketing also acts as a representational system that produces meaning outside the realm of the promoted product or service. This situation emerges in part because of a failure to confront the theoretical concerns that arise in the wake of the prominence of the image – including advertising images, corporate images, and images of identity – within today’s image economy.

 

Our work in marketing communication does not include criticism of consumption per se, nor do we take a moralistic stance against materialism or marketing’s possible role in promoting materialistic desires – valid as those criticisms may be. Rather, we focus on theoretical and ethical issues pertaining to representations of identity, in that represented identities profess to express something true or essential about those represented. Just as personnel policies have had to accommodate changing norms about hiring and promotion when it comes to women and minorities, marketing managers must be aware of representational practices that may cause harm. Our analysis concerns not only the ethical implications or consequences of representational conventions – customary ways of depicting products, people, and identities – within marketing communications, but emphasizes the ethical context from which such representational conventions emerge. We introduce an ethics of visual representation that sheds light on the relationships between marketing, representation and identity, and provides a useful framework for research.

 

Ms Claire Barratt, Central St Martin’s College of Art and Design, London (PG)

‘Adorned with ashes: Mourning jewellery, consumption and the funeral industry’

Over the past few years in England, a new range of memorial jewellery has become available within the mainstream funeral industry. It transforms cremated human remains into jewellery in various forms, either by integrating ashes into decorative jewellery casings, or by transforming elements from the corpse itself into man-made diamonds. The range apparently draws on much older historical traditions of mourning jewellery in both function (memorialising the dead) and design (the symbolic inclusion of human remains).  This paper suggests that new ‘cremains’ jewellery offers unique representations of death that depart from traditional forms of mourning jewellery. Using an interdisciplinary approach, drawn from design history, cultural studies and sociology, examples of jewellery are situated within wider patterns of consumption and popular death ritual.  The design and use of cremation jewellery embody frequently conflicting aspects of identity, of both the corpse itself and the bereaved, reflecting recent changes within the funeral industry, prevalent attitudes towards bereavement and fashionable trends in jewellery.

 

 

 

(5)  ‘Money’s too tight to mention’: Consumption on the margins     

            Half-day seminar         University of Teesside, Middlesbrough   23rd April 2007

 

Prof Elizabeth Chin, Anthropology, Occidental College, LA, USA

'”Pa Manje Anana, Pa Fume Sigaret” (I don't eat pineapple, I don't smoke cigarettes): Vodou, Poverty and the Global Consumer Economy in Urban Haiti

No abstract available.

 

Dr Tracy Shildrick, Prof Rob MacDonald, Sociology, University of Teesside

& Dr Colin Webster, Sociology, Leeds Metro University

‘Class, consumption and prejudice: Contemporary representations of “the social scum”’

Powerpoint presentation available on Seminar series website

        

Dr Julie Evans, Social Science, University of Plymouth    

“I thought it was sly, ‘cos they’ve got it so early, they can’t afford it and we can’t because my mum says we can’t”: Growing up and fitting in: Children’s experiences of consumption

 Powerpoint presentation available on Seminar series website

 

Mr Craig Ancrum, Sociology, University of Teesside (PG)

'Dealing Drugs or Living like Mugs: Consumerism, Crime and Status in a North East Town'

Powerpoint presentation available on Seminar series website

 

 

     

(6) Disordered consumption: Health, identities & social policies around consumption       

            Two-day conference             University of Bath 3rd - 4th September 2007

 

Prof Sally Casswell, SHORE Research Centre, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand

‘From a public health perspective: Alcohol harms, players and policies.’

No abstract available.

 

Prof Robert Hollands, Sociology, University of Newcastle

‘Putting binge drinking into context: Alcohol consumption, corporatisation and the night-time economy.’

As levels of alcohol consumption have risen amongst young people over the last decade resulting in concerns over 'binge drinking' and anti-social behaviour, far less concern has been given over to the economic and social context of this behaviour in the organisation and growth of the night-time economy. Particularly important in this respect has been the creation of new urban brands organised around the 'entertainment' city as a form of urban regeneration, of which the bar, pub and club industry is an important sector. This paper looks at the rise of the night-time economy in 3 UK cities through changes in the economic ownership of the drinks industry, the subsequent divergence of the commercial 'mainstream' into both mass-market theme bars as well as style venue, and will look at the impact of these changes on the formation of youth drinking groups and drinking behaviours. The presentation will conclude by suggesting that the drinks industry generally plays a central role in providing a context for problematic youthful drinking practices, as well as investigating ways that the night-time economy might 'de-corporatise' and diversify into more creative arenas not solely fuelled by alcohol.

 

Prof Christine Griffin, Dr`Willm Mistral and Dr Andrew Bengry-Howell, University of Bath; Prof Isabelle Szmigin, University of Birmingham; Prof Chris Hackley, Royal Holloway College, London

Presentation on ESRC ‘Young people and alcohol’ study: ‘Re-framing ‘Binge drinking’ as a culture of intoxication.’

a)         The new alcohol order: Young people and the culture of intoxication (CG)

Description of the project, entitled ‘Branded consumption and social identification: Young people and alcohol’, funded by the ESRC as part of the Identities and Social Action research programme, from 2005-2007. Examples of the context of young people’s alcohol consumption

b)         Young adults’ drinking as a group-based social activity (WM)

Presentation of interview data from the project regarding young people’s construction of drinking as a positive and important group-based aspect of their social lives.

c)         ‘Safe, sensible, social’: British government policy on young people’s drinking (IS)

Brief discussion of recent government policy, especially the position of the drinks industry, and the focus on ‘binge drinking’ amongst 18-24 year olds, aiming to combat ‘binge drinking culture’ and encourage ‘sensible drinking’ and individual responsibility.

d)         The ‘Know your limits’ website (ABH)

Discussion of a cornerstone of government policy strategy to encourage sensible drinking amongst young adults in the light of data from the ‘Young people and alcohol’ project, including the ‘Hero to Zero’ campaign.

e)         ‘Alternative creative strategies for social marketing and brand marketing’ (CH)

Brief discussion of recent alcohol campaigns evaluating two dimensions: 1) the sociality of brand advertising Vs the individuality of Government advertising, and 2) the assumption of negotiated reading in brand advertising Vs the assumption of hegemonic reading of social marketing campaigns.

f)          Young people’s perspective on the ‘culture of intoxication’ (CG)

Presentation of interview data from the project exploring young people drinking practices in the context of pervasive point-of-sale promotions in the night-time economy, and the safety strategies they employ to reduce some of the harms associated with drinking to intoxication.

g)         Conclusion: Re-framing ‘Binge Drinking’ as a culture of intoxication (CG)

 

Dr Giuseppina Cersosimo, University of Salerno, Southern Italy

‘L’equilibrio desiderata: Women and alcohol in Southern Italy.’

This research outlines the typologies and symptoms of female alcohol addiction in Southern Italy, pointing out the historical context, the national and international data illustrating the phenomenon, the existing regulation, and the approach of different generations to alcoholic drinks. Among the socially existing dependences, female alcohol addiction has its own autonomy that goes beyond the mere act of drinking. As the results of this research show, women’s drinking, which is often considered deviant, ridiculed (and stereotyped) by society, is instead a form of self-expression, support, achievement and maintenance of identity. Compared to this, the health dimension becomes a variable reflecting the more general reality of women’s existence. On this basis, telling and referring to the lives of women, giving them leave to speak, means being aware of the need of listening continuously to the silent shout of daily life in relation to the consequent social dynamics, keeping in mind the evident individual roots of social crisis, without omitting or removing the social character of feeling ill which concerns all of us.

 

Ms Mandi Hodges, De Montfort University (PG)

‘Talking in ‘addiction-speak’ in calls to an alcohol helpline.’

In his analysis of interviews with drug users and drug ‘addicts’, Davies (1997) identified various ‘discourses’ or different ways of talking which he formulated into a five-stage model.  The third discourse that Davies identified was what he described as an “addicted” type of discourse.  Davies identified key features of this type of talk: “Discourse of this type makes open reference to loss of volition and control.  Any reference to hedonism or enjoyment is lost and is replaced instead by negative statements about the consequences of drug use”… “Drug use will be described as an inevitable outcome of certain physiological or constitutional factors over which the individual has no control, and have existed over a period of time; or as a forced consequence of negative life events and situations which again have a history” (Davies, 1997: 96)

 

The central features then can be summarised as: loss of volition and control; drug use is associated with problems rather than pleasure or positive outcomes; drug use is a consequence of negative life events or underlying factors or problems; and there is an element of progression or history to drug problems and drug use. Davies (1997: 96) also notes that: “Our data suggest that type 3 discourse may in some sense be a prerequisite for agency contact, since those who entered full agency contact during the course of the study were employing type 3 discourse prior to such involvement.” The fundamental point here is “those who entered full agency contact” (my italics); so it is the people who go on to receive treatment that employ this discourse.  The question this raises is, do these people receive treatment because they talk in this way, hence do they use this way of talking in order to get treatment; does it serve that function?  If this is the case, how do potential clients not only learn this discourse, but more importantly, how do they learn that use of this discourse will result in treatment for their problematic substance use.

 

In this presentation I argue that one of the places that people may learn this is through initial agency contact.  Following a close, detailed analysis of telephone calls to an alcohol helpline, I present evidence of Advice Workers potentially ‘training’ callers in each of the above four elements of an ‘addicted discourse’ as identified by Davies.  Extracts of transcribed recordings from actual helpline calls are presented in support of this claim.  I suggest that, at this stage, these are tentative claims, acknowledging that the findings are based on a limited data set. The presentation concludes by considering the implications of this type of research, ending with a number of proposals both for clinical practice and for future research.

 

Dr Fiona Measham and Dr Karenza Moore, Criminology, University of Lancaster

‘Policing pleasure: Official and user constructions of ‘pleasure’ in illicit alcohol and drug use.’

Contemporary British policy on alcohol and drugs, with its broad focus on education prevention, enforcement and treatment, fails to acknowledge the role ‘pleasure’ plays in non-compulsive and non-chaotic consumption, couched as drug policy is in discourses of medicalisation, prohibition, and criminalisation. Recent harm reduction responses to recreational drug use tend to focus on risks, harms and the avoidance of ‘peer pressure’, whilst assuming that the ‘rational’ choice would be to resist temptation.  Focusing on the construction of ‘pleasure’ in alcohol and illicit drug use, both within ‘official’ discourses and in user accounts of their experiences, we explore how explicit recognition of (legal, revenue-generating) ‘pleasure’ in ‘sensible’ drinking and gambling is juxtaposed with the apparent denial or silencing of the ‘pleasures’ of illicit and excessive consumption of drugs and alcohol. An ongoing study of recreational ketamine use – including an online survey, in-depth interviews and participant observation – timed to track the criminalisation of ketamine in 2006 and its aftermath, looks at the relationship between intoxication and prohibition, alongside ketamine users’ own accounts of ‘pleasure’. The criminalisation of ketamine is situated within a broader wave of criminalisation of illicit and excessive intoxication through a barrage of recent legislation and punitive responses to licensed and unlicensed leisure. Finally, we suggest that contemporary policing of illicit ‘pleasures’ falls disproportionately on those committed to the UK’s electronic dance music ‘scenes’, continuing the trend of ‘official’ ambivalence towards youth leisure in general, and rave and club cultures in particular.

 

Dr Martin Holt, HIV Social Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Australia

‘Defined by disorder: Drug treatment clients and the search for normal consumption.’

There continues to be considerable stigma attached to illicit drug use. The apparent ‘normalisation’ of ‘strategic’ drug consumption within particular contexts, such as clubbing or alternative music scenes, has not led to a generic liberalisation of attitudes to all drugs, especially those associated with injecting, such as heroin or amphetamines. Injecting drug users remain the most marginalised of drug users, with intravenous administration seen as beyond the limits of acceptable hedonistic use and a sure sign of disordered consumption. Not all injecting drug users seek treatment, but when they do they are generally thought to have developed out-of-control, dependent or harmful patterns of use, regardless of their reasons for enrolling in treatment. Participating in treatment does not grant an exemption from stigma; despite demonstrating a commitment to improving their health, drug treatment clients may find that attending treatment increases their visibility as failed or addicted consumers. Progress in treatment therefore requires the negotiation of this stigma and the search for ‘normal consumption’; practices and subject positions through which drug treatment clients can find legitimacy as ordinary (or at least recovering) consumers, where their identities are not wholly defined by the mark of addiction.

 

In this paper I will explore how drug treatment clients negotiate being defined as disordered consumers with reference to three areas: clients’ treatment goals and hopes for the future; their experience of methadone maintenance treatment and antidepressants; and their accounts of managing mental health problems through practices of self-care. These areas will be illustrated with interview material from a qualitative study of drug treatment and mental health conducted in four sites across Australia. In presenting this material I will argue that despite being (or perhaps because they are) denied the status of normal health consumers, drug treatment clients often value the idea of becoming ‘normal’ through treatment and their own efforts. Clients’ negotiation of medications and self-care practices demonstrate that they are able to act with agency to promote their own wellbeing, despite (or perhaps because of) their marginalization and the limitations of treatment. These findings are discussed in relation to contemporary drug policies and the regulation of treatment, most notably the contradictions inherent in expecting drug treatment to produce normal, self-regulating citizens while treatment clients are frequently denied the same status as other health consumers.

 

Dr Sarah Riley, Prof Christine Griffin and Dr Yvette Morey, Psychology,University of Bath

Presentation on ESRC study: ‘Reverberating rhythms: Social Identity and Political Participation in Clubland’.

Political engagement has traditionally been thought of as a set of rights and duties that involve formally organised civic and political activities (e.g., voting and joining a political party).  From this perspective there has been a concern over the decline in young people's political engagement, read as evidence of, for example, apathy and alienation.  Alternatively, it has been argued that changes in the social organisation of industrial societies has lead to a rise in alternative forms of ‘everyday’ politics, which while meaningful to the participants, are often unofficial and/or located at the individual level. This paper uses neo-tribal theory to examine social and political identities in electronic dance culture (clubbing, partying, raving). Drawing on interview, focus group and participant observation data we argue that in creating its own spaces in which to enact cultural rituals that are characterised by hedonism, sociality and sovereignty over one's own existence, electronic dance culture is an example of ‘everyday politics’. Theories of neo-liberalism and the Blairite project have argued that individual subjects are increasingly constituted as rational citizens responsible for their own biographical projects, and with restricted sense of the efficacy of representative democracy. Within this context, a shift to ‘everyday politics’ makes sense, since efficacy can only be affected at the personal and informal group level. Our analysis suggests that club nights and parties are used to create temporary counter-cultural spaces and that these spaces enable the production of personal and neo-tribal identities based on efficacy, agency and social participation.

 

Ms Fin Cullen, Sociology, Goldsmith’s College, London (PG)

Where are we gonna go?”: Cotching, respectability and teenage girls’ drinking identities.

A great deal has been written in the past decade by journalists, policy makers and academics about young women’s leisure time pursuits. Much of this has focused around a concern that young women in the UK are drinking more regularly and in greater quantities than ever before. This paper concentrates on teenage girls’ use of outdoor hidden drinking locations (cotches), and how such spaces are gendered and used as a backdrop to perform and negotiate girls’ drinking identities. This paper originates in my wider PhD study into young women’s smoking and drinking practices. I want to explore here how teenage girls in the fieldwork setting used outdoor drinking spaces such as parks, graveyards and riverside to perform and create gendered  and generational personas. The findings suggest that young women in performing ‘respectable’ drinking personas did not necessarily adopt a ‘ladette’ identity, or reject traditional normative femininities, and that the teenage girls in this study highly regulated their own and others’  drinking behaviour in the negotiation of age, sex-gender and friendship hierarchies.

 

Mr Peter Thomas, Geography, University of Newcastle (PG)                  

”I don’t care how I feel tomorrow because it’s worth it. Everybody’s just in a party mood and having a good time with each other, and I don’t see how you could do that sober”: The place of alcohol in producing social spaces at Glastonbury Music Festival.

The spaces of the music festival are highly regulated by the festival organiser. Particular structures are mobilised to produce spaces that are economically profitable. This includes the use of security and surveillance mechanisms to regulate just what the body can do. The consumption practices of festival participants are used to produce different kinds of spaces through the enactment of specifically festival-performances. It is argued in this paper that it is the perseverance of festival participants to control their consumption practices within the festival, despite the best attempts of the festival organiser, that helps produce the rich and varied spaces which makes the festival appealing to festival participants. In this paper I focus specifically on the consumption practices involving alcohol and drugs and how these are used as tools to transform the body into a festival participating body, a body that is attempting to produce festival space on its own terms.

 

 

 

 

Dr Shane Blackman, Media & Cultural Studies, Christ’s College, Canterbury

‘Abstinence on the offensive?’ critical reflections on drug normalisation, youth subultural identities and the new forms of drug prevention, desistance, normative education and the ‘Blueprint.’

The approach of harm reduction is often perceived to be in ascendancy as government policies and frameworks talk about choice, flexibility, community and prevention of harm. The first line on the front page of the government website wiredforhealth.gov.  states: the aim of drug prevention is to “reduce the harm caused by illegal drugs as measured by the Drug Harm Index”.  Recently, we have seen three new developments within drug education focusing on the notion of normative education, the concept of desistance and the development of the ‘Blueprint’ drug policy.  The language of description used by government suggests a new focus emphasising the strengths of harm reduction.  But what I want to argue is that inside the new policy resides the unshakable kernel of abstinence. I want to use the ideas of the philosopher Gilles Deleuze as a means to support the argument that harm reduction is based on social and cultural realism. In contrast, the goals of primary prevention proposed by the United Nations and the British Government are not merely unrealistic, but present an interpretation of drugs in society, which ignores an understanding of people, culture or history.  The aim of drug prevention i.e. a ‘drug free society’ is a political agenda that shows little awareness of how drugs have shaped society, whereas harm reduction fits in with Deleuze’ argument which shows an awareness of how drugs have played different roles in human history. Harm reduction messages are being used to make policies appear progressive and enlightened, but little has changed while the doctrine of abstinence is reasserted at the core of these messages.

 

Dr Ciaran O’Hagan, Hackney Drug Action Team, London

‘A model of contemporary drug use at dance events’

This presentation attempts to move away for the often binary divisions set out between recreational and dependent drug use that still exist within discussions concerning young people's substance use. An alternative model based on ethnographic fieldwork observations will be examined to encourage researchers and practitioners to consider the fluid nature of contemporary dance event drug using practices. Three inter-connected categories consisting of ‘illicit’, ‘legal’ and ‘non-drug’ use will be explored in relation to the creation of minimal, moderate, and excessive poly-drug use repertoires within a continuum of use spectrum. Case studies illustrating ways in which dance culture participants locate and move between these categories as their drug using activities change will be considered. Acknowledging the level of movement that can occur as part of an individual’s involvement with dance culture may aid health professionals in their attempts to encourage and promote the adoption of such strategies within a harm reduction framework.    

 

 

 


Appendix 3: Seminar Participants

 

(1)  Consumption, cyber-identities and new forms of citizenship                   

            Half-day seminar          University of Bath         30th January 2006

          List of participants (* = speaker: PG = postgraduate)

4 speakers: 10 PG participants: 1 non-academic ppt: 15 academic ppts: Total = 26

 

Name                          Institution                                                                   Email

Andrew Bengry-Howell

Psychology, University of Bath

abh20@bath.ac.uk

Danny Beusch

Sociology, University of Warwick

d.beusch@warwick.ac.uk

Mark Brosnan

Psychology, University of Bath

m.j.brosnan@bath.ac.uk

Mathieu Cambier

PG student, Politics, University of Bath

mc251@bath.ac.uk

Peter Clark

School of Business and Management, Queen Mary, University of London

p.a.clark@qmul.ac.uk

Harry Daniels

Education, University of Bath

h.r.j.daniels@bath.ac.uk

Simon Davies

Economics & International Development, University of Bath

sd245@bath.ac.uk

Paul Deacon

European Studies and Modern Languages, University of Bath

mlppfd@bath.ac.uk

Rebecca Edwards

PG student, Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London

rebeccasianedwards@yahoo.co.uk

Jim Gee *

University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

jgee@education.wisc.edu

Lyndsey Grant

Nesta Future Lab, Bristol University

lynsay.grant@nestafuturelab.org

Chris Griffin

Psychology, University of Bath

c.griffin@bath.ac.uk

Monica Guillen

PG student, Social and Policy Sciences, University of Bath

monica.guillen.royo@bath.ac.uk

Jacob Habgood *

LSRI, Nottingham University

mph@cs.nott.ac.uk

James Hardie-Bick

Social and Policy Sciences, University of Bath

jhb20@bath.ac.uk

Terri He

PG student, Centre for Women’s Studies, University of York

tch500@york.ac.uk

Richard Joiner

Psychology, University of Bath

r.joiner@bath.ac.uk

Paul Jones

PG student, University of Exeter

paul2jones@exeter.ac.uk

 

Louise Madden

PG student, Social Science Dept, Cardiff University

madddenl@cardiff.ac.uk

 

Elena Zezlina-Phillips

PG student, Education, Anglia Ruskin University

e.phillips@anglia.ac.uk

Ann Phoenix

Psychology, Open University

a.a.phoenix@open.ac.uk

Andrea Press *

University of Illinois, USA

press@uiuc.edu

Karen Rodham

Psychology, University of Bath

k.rodham@bath.ac.uk

Avi Shankar

School of Business & Economics, University of Exeter (School of Management, University of Bath from May 06)

a.shankar@exeter.ac.uk

Lauren Small

Education and Professional Studies, Kings College, London

lauren.small@kcl.ac.uk

Isabelle Szmigin

Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham

i.t.szmigin@bham.ac.uk

Amandeep Takhar

PG student, De Montfort University

amy-takhar@yahoo.com

Jo Twist

Head of Digital Society & Media Team, Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)

j.twist@ippr.org

Monica Whitty *

Queens University, Belfast

m.whitty@qub.ac.uk

William Xu

PG Student, School of Sport & Education, Brunel University, London

shejiao.xu@brunel.ac.uk

Li Dong Yang

PG student, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol

 

 

 

 

(2)  Branded identities, marketing and the process of commodification     

            Half-day seminar          University of Birmingham          24th April 2006

List of participants (* = speaker: PG = postgraduate)

3 speakers: 14 PG participants: 0 non-academic ppt: 32 academic ppts: Total = 49

 

Name

Institution

Email

Paschal Anosike

PG student, Management Research Centre, University of Wolverhampton, Telford

p.anosike@wlv.ac.uk

Dave Arnott

 

Warwick Business School, University of Warwick

David.arnott@wbs.ac.uk

Susan Auty

Management School, Lancaster University

s.auty@lancaster.ac.uk

Sarah Baker

University of East London

mookieuk@hotmail.com

 

Claire Barratt

PG Student, Central St Martins School of Art & Design, London

c.barratt@csm.arts.ac.uk

Caroline Bekin

Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham

cdm142@bham.ac.uk

Russell Belk *

University of Utah, Visiting Professor at Department of Marketing, Lancaster University School of Management

mktrwb@business.utah.edu

Andrew Bengry-Howell

Department of Psychology, University of Bath

a.bengry-howell@bath.ac.uk

Marylyn Carrigan

Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham

m.carrigan@bham.ac.uk

Aine Carroll

PG Student, Dublin Institute of Technology

Aine.carroll@student.dit.ie

Fiona Cheetham

School of Management, University of Salford

f.cheetham@salford.ac.uk

Dave Clarke

Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham

david@clarke3651.freeserve.co.uk

Andrew Corcoran

Department of Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations, University of Lincoln

acorcoran@lincoln.ac.uk

Fin Cullen

PG student, Sociology Department, Goldsmiths, University of London

Fin.cullen@yahoo.co.uk

Andrea Davies

Management Centre, University of Leicester

a.davies@le.ac.uk

Richard Elliott *

Warwick Business School, University of Warwick

Richard.Elliott@warwick.ac.uk

Jonathan Elms

Management School, Lancaster University

j.r.elms1@lancaster.ac.uk

Jeff Gavin

Department of Psychology, University of Bath

j.gavin@bath.ac.uk

Christina Goulding

University of Wolverhampton Business School

c.goulding@wlv.ac.uk

Christine Griffin

Department of Psychology, University of Bath

C.griffing@bath.ac.uk

Chris Hackley

School of Management, Royal Holloway, University of London

Chris.Hackley@rhul.ac.uk

Wendy Hein

PG student, Management, The University of Edinburgh

w.hein@sms.ed.ac.uk

Mary Ho

PG student, Management, The University of Edinburgh

Mary.ho@ed.ac.uk

Margaret Hogg

Department of Marketing, Lancaster University Management School

m.hogg@lancaster.ac.uk

Hazel Huang

PhD student, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick

hazel.huang04@phd.wbs.ac.uk

Nia Hughes

School of Economic & Management Studies, Keele University

n.hughes@mngt.keele.ac.uk

Aliakbar Jafari

PhD Student, University of Wolverhampton

a.jafari@wlv.ac.uk

Niamh Kirwan

PhD student, Dublin Institute of Technology

Niamh.kirwan@gmail.com

Ros Masterson

Department of Marketing, De Montfort University

rmasterson@dmu.ac.uk

Pauline Maclaran

Department of Marketing, De Montfort University

pmmar@dmu.ac.uk

Morven McEachern

School of Management, University of Salford

M.G.McEachern@salford.ac.uk

Liz Moor

Media, Culture and Communication, Middlesex University

l.moor@mdx.ac.uk

Jonathan Morris

University of Hertfordshire

j.2.morris@herts.ac.uk

 

Agnes Nairn

School of Management, University of Bath

A.C.Nairn@bath.ac.uk

Liz Parsons

School of Economic & Management Studies, Keele University

e.parsons@mngt.keele.ac.uk

Ann Phoenix

Open University, Milton Keynes

a.a.phoenix@open.ac.uk

Maria Piacentini

PhD student, Management School, Lancaster University

m.piacentini@lancaster.ac.uk

Marta Rabikowska

PhD student, School of Social Sciences, Media and Cultural Studies, University of East London

m.rabikowska@uel.ac.uk

Alan Reid

Department of Education, University of Bath

A.D.Reid@bath.ac.uk

Sarah Riley

Department of Psychology, University of Bath

s.riley@bath.ac.uk

Claire Ryder

School of Business, Royal Agricultural College

Claire.ryder@rac.ac.uk

Yasmin Sekhon *

Institute of Business & Law, Bournemouth university

ysekhon@bournemouth.ac.uk

Avi Shankar

School of Business & Economics, University of Exeter

A.Shankar@exeter.ac.uk

Isabelle Szmigin

Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham

i.t.szmigin@bham.ac.uk

Howard Thomas

English Language Centre, University of Bath

mlshht@bath.ac.uk

Louise Weale

Birmingham Business School (UG student on placement from Psychology, University of Bath).

ps3law@bath.ac.uk

Sheena Westwood

Welsh School of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Management, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff

swestwood@uwic.ac.uk

Natalia 

Yannopoulou

PhD Student, Warwick Business School

Natalia.Yannopoulou04@phd.wbs.ac.uk

Catherine Yoon

PhD student, Department of Media & Advertising, University of East London

c.h.yoon@uel.ac.uk

 

 

 

(3)  The new consumers: Childhood and youth                          

            Half-day seminar          The Open University, Milton Keynes     11th Sept 2006

List of participants (* = speaker: PG = postgraduate)

5 speakers: 8 PG participants: 2 non-academic ppts: 23 academic ppts: Total = 38

 

Name

Institution

Email

Tim Jones

Department of Psychology, University of Bath

t.jones@bath.ac.uk

Paul Jones

PhD student, University of Exeter

 

Paul2.Jones@exeter.ac.uk

 

Dot Miell

Psychology, the Open University, Milton Keynes

d.e.miell@open.ac.uk

David Buckingham

Institute of Education University of London

 

D.Buckingham@ioe.ac.uk

 

Julie Evans

School of Society, Environment and Culture, College of St John & St Mark, Plymouth

jevans@marjon.ac.uk

Lara Killick

Dept of Sport & Exercise Science, University of Loughborough

L.Killick@lboro.ac.uk

Hayley Davies

PG student, Business School, University of Warwick

 

Hayley.Davies@warwick.ac.uk

 

Lucy Stone

Institute for Public Policy Research, London

 

L.Stone@ippr.org

 

 

Kevina Cody

Dublin Institute of Technology

Kevina.Cody@dit.ie

 

Amie Kim

Institute of Education University of London

 

laventana@hotmail.com

 

 

Jo Sanderson-Mann

PG student, Faculty of Health & Social Care, the Open University, Milton Keynes

 

J.Sanderson-Mann@open.ac.uk

Fin Cullen

PG student, Sociology Department, Goldsmiths, University of London

Fin.cullen@yahoo.co.uk

Tara Woodyer

Dept of Geography

Royal Holloway College

University of London

T.Woodyer@rhul.ac.uk

Wendy Crane

Management, Open University

 

w.crane@open.ac.uk

 

 

Wayne Oakes

 

Management, Open University

w.oakes@open.ac.uk

Dannie Kjeldgaard*

 

University of Southern Denmark

dkj@sam.sdu.dk

Christine Griffin

 

Psychology, University of Bath

c.griffin@bath.ac.uk 

Stephanie O’Donohoe *

The University of Edinburgh

 

Stephanie.O’Donohoe@ed.ac.uk

 

Paul Hewer *

 

University of Strathclyde (formerly at University of Stirling)

 

p.a.hewer@stir.ac.uk

 

Patricia Gaya Wicks *

The University of Exeter

Patricia.Gaya.Wicks@exeter.ac.uk

Douglas Brownlie*

University of Stirling

 

d.brownlie@stir.ac.uk

 

Margaret Wetherell

Psychology, the Open University, Milton Keynes

 

m.s.wetherell@open.ac.uk

Stephanie Taylor

 Psychology, the Open University, Milton Keynes

 

s.taylor@open.ac.uk

Tricia Jessiman

National Youth Agency, Leicester

Triciaj@nya.org.uk

 

Rebekah Willett

 

PG student, Institute of Education University of London

R.Willett@ioe.ac.uk

Aliakbar Jafari

PG Student, University of Wolverhampton

 

a.jafari@wlv.ac.uk

Peter Redman

Education, the Open University

P.Redman@open.ac.uk

Mary Jane Kehily

 

Education, the Open University

M.J.Kehily@open.ac.uk

Olivia Freeman

 

Dublin Institute of Technology

Olivia.freeman@dit.ie

Jenny Douglas

 

Education, the Open University

J.Douglas@open.ac.uk

Katherine King

University of Brighton

K.H.King@brighton.ac.uk

 

Rosaleen Croghan

The Open University

rosaleencroghan@hotmail.com

 

Agnes Nairn

 

Management, University of Bath

A.C.Nairn@bath.ac.uk

Brian Young

 

Psychology, University of Exeter

B.M.Young@exeter.ac.uk

Ann Phoenix

Psychology, the Open University, Milton Keynes

 

a.a.phoenix@open.ac.uk

Kafia Ayadi

Dept of Psychology, University of Exeter

(visiting PhD student from Caen, France)

 

Kafia.Ayadi@groupe-esc-rouen.fr

Cagri Yalkin

PG student,

Warwick Business School

University of Warwick

 

Cagri.Yalkin04@phd.wbs.ac.uk

Sarah Baker

University of East London

 

Sarah_baker@talktalk.net

 

 

 

 

 

(4)  Representation, identities and consumption                                                    

            Half-day seminar                 Goldsmiths College London           11th Dec 2006

List of participants (* = speaker: PG = postgraduate)

5 speakers: 18 PG participants: 1 non-academic ppt: 25 academic ppts: Total = 49

 

Name

Institution

Email

Tim Jones

Department of Psychology, University of Bath

t.jones@bath.ac.uk

Paul Jones

PG student, University of Exeter

 

Paul2.Jones@exeter.ac.uk

 

Karin Ekstrom *

 

Goteborg University, Sweden

 

Karin.Ekstrom@cfk.gu.se

Jonathan Schroeder *

University of Exeter

 

J.E.Schroeder@exeter.ac.uk

 

Janet Borgerson *

University of Exeter

 

j.l.borgerson@exeter.ac.uk

 

Sean Nixon *

University of Essex

 

snixon@essex.ac.uk

 

Claire Barratt *

PG student, Central St Martins School of Art, London

 

c.barratt@csm.arts.ac.uk

 

Beverley Skeggs

Goldsmiths College, University of London

 

b.skeggs@gold.ac.uk

 

Jane Hattrick

PG student, University of Brighton

 

janehattrick@btinternet.com

 

 

Emily Jeffers

 

Central St Martins School of Art, London

 

Emilyjeffers@yahoo.co.uk

 

 

Ane Lynge-Jorlen

 

London College of Fashion

 

anelynge@mail.dk

 

Torunn Kjolberg

 

University of Brighton

torunnkjolberg@hotmail.com

Onyipreye Ekperi

PG student, University of Manchester Business School

 

Onyipreye.Ekperi@dom01.mbs.ac.uk

Wendy Crane

Management, Open University

 

w.crane@open.ac.uk

 

 

Wayne Oakes

Management, Open University

 

w.oakes@open.ac.uk

Louise Madden

 

PG student,University of Cardiff

 

MaddenL@Cardiff.ac.uk

Christine Griffin

 

Psychology, University of Bath

c.griffin@bath.ac.uk 

Fiona Smyth

Management, The University of Edinburgh

so571247@sms.ed.ac.uk

 

Gordon Hush

 

Glasgow School of Art

 

G.Hush@gsa.ac.uk

Richard Scullion

Business School, Bournemouth University

 

RScullion@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

Lucy Stone

Institute for Public Policy Research

 

L.Stone@ippr.org

 

Kristen Ali Eglinton

 

PG student, Cambridge University

Kristenali@googlemail.com

Janice Denegri-Knoff

 

PG student, Business School, Bournemouth University

JDKnott@bournemouth.ac.uk

Tuba Ustuner

 

PG student, City University

 

T.Ustuner@city.ac.uk

Wokje Abrahamse

 

PG student, University of Surrey

W.Abrahamse@surrey.ac.uk

Sue Eccles

 

Business School, Bournemouth University

seccles@bournemouth.ac.uk

David Evans

 

University of Surrey

 

D.Evans@surrey.ac.uk

Joshie Juggessur

 

Brunel University

 

Joshie.Juggessur@brunel.ac.uk

Pascale Ezan

PG student, University of Rouen, France

 

 

Mike Molesworth

Business School, Bournemouth University

moleswo@bournemouth.ac.uk

George Dawei

PG student, University of Westminster

 

georgedawei@hotmail.com

 

Rosaleen Croghan

The Open University

rosaleencroghan@hotmail.com

 

David James

 

University of West of England

David.James@uwe.ac.uk

Brian Young

 

Dept of Psychology, University of Exeter

B.M.Young@exeter.ac.uk

Dimitrios Tsivikos

PG student, University of Exeter

 

D.Tsivrikos@exeter.ac.uk

Kafia Ayadi

 

PG student, University of Rouen, France

 

Kafia.Ayadi@univ_rouen.fr

Katya Williams

London Metropolitan University

Katya.Williams@londonmet.ac.uk

Liz Moor

Middlesex University

 

L.Moor@mdx.ac.uk

 

Ruth Ponsford

 

PG student, The Open University

R.Ponsford@open.ac.uk

Jason Pelplinski

 

PG student, Psychology, University of Bath

Jp305@bath.ac.uk

Nancy Thumin

 

Goldsmiths College, University of London

n.thumin@gold.ac.uk

Caroline Bekin

University of Birmingham

 

CDM142@bham.ac.uk

 

Yasmin Sekhon

PG student, Bournemouth University

 

YSekhon@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

Nick Cambridge

 

London College of Fashion

 

adamjinsamu@supanet.com

Ivonne Hoeger

University of Exeter

 

I.Hoeger@exeter.ac.uk

Jill Farquar

 

Oxford Brookes Business School

 

jfarquar@brookes.ac.uk

Catherine Hyunsun Yoon

 

PG student, University of East London

 

C.H.Yoon@uel.ac.uk

T.Melawar

 

Brunel University

 

T.C.Melawar@brunel.ac.uk

Kimberley Allen

PG student, Goldsmiths College, University of London

 

Kimallen19@yahoo.co.uk

 

 

 

 

(5)  ‘Money’s too tight to mention’: Consumption on the margins     

            Half-day seminar         University of Teesside, Middlesbrough   23rd April 2007

List of participants (* = speaker: PG = postgraduate)

6 speakers: 4 PG participants: 0 non-academic ppt: 19 academic ppts: Total = 29

 

Name

Institution

Email

Rob MacDonald *

 

University of Teesside

 

R.Macdonald@tees.ac.uk

Tracy Shildrick *

University of Teesside

 

T.A.Shildrick@tees.ac.uk

 

Colin Webster *

 

Leeds Metropolitan Uni

 

 

Elizabeth Chin *

 

Occidental College, Los Angeles, USA

 

ejc@oxy.edu

 

 

Julie Evans *

 

College of St Mark & St John, Uni of Plymouth

 

 

Jevans@marjon.ac.uk

 

 

Craig Ancrum *

 

PG student, University of Teesside

 

c.ancrum@tees.ac.uk

 

 

Pat Allatt

 

University of Teesside

 

c/o peter.allatt@onyxnet.co.uk

 

Robert Hollands

University of Newcastle

 

Robert.hollands@newcastle.ac.uk

 

 

Theeranuch Pusaksrikit

 

PG student, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester

 

 

Theeranuch.Pusaksrikit@dom01.mbs.ac.uk

 

Julia Candy

University of Teesside

 

J.Candy@tees.ac.uk

 

Ruth Ponsford

 

PG student, The Open University

 

R.Ponsford@open.ac.uk

 

Steve Taylor

 

University of Teesside

S.Taylor@tees.ac.uk

Onyipreye Ekperi

 

PG student, University of Manchester Business School

 

Onyipreye.Ekperi@dom01.mbs.ac.uk

Peter Thomas

PG student, Geography, University of Newcastle

 

Peter.Thomas@newcastle.ac.uk

 

Tom Gibbons

 

University of Teesside

 

T.Gibbons@tees.ac.uk

Sarit Carlebach

 

University of Teesside

 

S.Carlebach@tees.ac.uk

Christine Griffin

 

Department of Psychology, University of Bath

 

c.griffin@bath.ac.uk 

Shawn Costello

University of Teesside

 

S.Costello@tees.ac.uk

 

Patrick Alexander

 

St Hughs College, University of  Oxford

 

Patrick.alexander@st-hughs.oxford.ac.uk

Anca Roberts

Northampton University

Anca.Roberts@northampton.ac.uk

 

Valerie Hey

 

Brunel University

 

Valerie.Hey@brunel.ac.uk

Peter Rogers

 

Manchester Metropolitan University

 

P.Rogers@mmu.ac.uk

Kevin Dixon

 

University of Teesside

 

Kevin.Dixon@tees.ac.uk

John Carter

 

University of Teesside

 

 

John.Carter@tees.ac.uk

Georgios Antonoploulos

 

University of Teesside

 

 

G.Antonopoulos@tees.ac.uk

Neil Marley

 

University of Teesside

 

N.Marley@tees.ac.uk

 

Barbara Crosbie

 

 

University of Durham

 

c/o N.Marley@tees.ac.uk

Mark Cieslik

 

University of Teesside

 

 

M.Cieslik@tees.ac.uk

Carrie Singleton

 

University of Teesside

 

C.Singleton@tees.ac.uk

 

Margarita Kominouu

 

 

University of Teesside

 

Margarita.Kominou@tees.ac.uk

 

 

 

(6) Disordered consumption: Health, identities & social policies around consumption       

            Two-day conference             University of Bath 3rd - 4th September 2007

List of participants (* = speaker: PG = postgraduate)

20 speakers: 6 PG participants: 9 non-academic ppt: 36 academic ppts: Total = 71

 

Name

Institution

Email

Andrew Bengry-Howell*

University of Bath

A.Bengry-Howell@bath.ac.uk

 

Shane Blackman*

 

Christ’s College, Canterbury

shane.blackman@canterbury.ac.uk

 

Sally Casswell*

Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand

s.casswell@massey.ac.nz

 

 

Giuseppina Cersosimo*

 

Social Science, University of Salerno, Italy

 

gcersosi@unisa.it

 

Christine Griffin*

Psychology, University of Bath

 

c.griffin@bath.ac.uk 

Fin Cullen*

 

PG student, Sociology, Goldsmith’s College, London

 

 

fincullen@yahoo.co.uk

 

Iain Armstrong*

 

Alcohol Strategy Unit, Department of Health

 

 

clive.henn@dh.gsi.gov.uk

 

Mandi Hodges*

 

PG student, Psychology, De Montfort University

 

 

mhodges@dmu.ac.uk

 

Robert Hollands*

Sociology, University of Newcastle

 

Robert.Hollands@ncl.ac.uk

 

 

Martin Holt*

 

University of New South Wales, Australia

 

 

m.holt@unsw.edu.au

 

Fiona Measham*

 

Criminology, University of Lancaster

 

 

F.Measham@lancaster.ac.uk

 

Willm Mistral*

Mental Health Unit, University of Bath

 

W.Mistral@bath.ac.uk

 

Karenza Moore*

Criminology, University of Lancaster

 

Karenza.moore@lancaster.ac.uk

 

Yvette Morey*

University of Bath

 

Y.Morey@bath.ac.uk

 

Ciaran O’Hagan*

 

Hackney Drug Action Team, London

 

 

ciaran.o’hagan@hackney.gov.uk

 

Sarah Riley*

Psychology, University of Bath

 

s.riley@bath.ac.uk

 

Don Shenker*

Alcohol Concern

dshenker@alcoholconcern.org.uk

 

Isabelle Szmigin*

Business School, University of Birmingham

 

i.t.szmigin@bham.ac.uk

 

Peter Thomas*

PG student, Geography, University of Newcastle

 

peter.thomas@ncl.ac.uk

 

Chris Hackley

Marketing, Royal Holloway College, University of London

 

Chris.hackley@rhul.ac.uk

 

Patrick Alexander

St Hugh’s College, Oxford

 

Patrick.alexander@st-hughs.ox.ac.uk

 

Lin Bailey

UG student, Psychology, Open University

 

linwhitwham@blueyonder.co.uk

 

Avi Shankar

Management, University of Bath

 

A.Shankar@bath.ac.uk 

 

Jane Benanti

Sandwell Mental Health Trust

 

Jane.benanti@smhsct.nhs.uk

 

Elaine Chase

Institute of Education, University of London

 

e.chase@ioe.ac.uk

 

Rosaleen Croghan

Psychology, Open University

 

rosaleencroghan@hotmail.com

 

Marion Demossier

European Studies and Modern Languages, University of Bath

 

M.Demossier@bath.ac.uk

 

 

Jenny Douglas

 

Education, Open University

J.Douglas@open.ac.uk

Susi Winch

Psychology, University of Bath

 

S.Winch@bath.ac.uk

 

 

Fabiana Forni

 

University of Bologna, Italy

 

Fabiana.Forni@comune.bologna.it

 

 

Jeff Gavin

 

Psychology, University of Bath

 

j.gavin@bath.ac.uk

 

John Golding

Alcohol & Drug Advisory Service

 

john.golding@awp.nhs.uk

 

Debra Gray

Psychology, University of the West of England

 

debra.gray@uwe.ac.uk

 

 

Will Haydock

 

PG student, Business School, Bournemouth University

 

whaydock@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

Rosie Herbert

Bristol Specialist Drug and Alcohol Service

 

Rosemary.Herbert@awp.nhs.uk

 

Colette Jones

YWCA England & Wales

 

Colette.jones@ywca.org.uk

 

Patrick Kenny

Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland

 

Pat.Kenny@dit.ie

 

 

Tim Leighton

 

Action on Addiction

 

Tim.leighton@actiononaddicition.org.uk

 

Helen Lucey

Psychology, Open University

 

H.Lucey@open.ac.uk

 

Jay Pelplinski

PG student, Psychology, University of Bath

 

J.Pelplinski@bath.ac.uk

 

Guy Redden

PG student, University of Lincoln

 

gredden@lincoln.ac.uk

 

Jenny Scott

Pharmacy, University of Bath

 

j.a.scott@bath.ac.uk

 

Rachel Seabrook

Institute of Alcohol Studies

 

rseabrook@ias.org.uk

 

Pauline Sewards

Bristol Specialist Drug and Alcohol Service

 

pauline.sewards@awp.nhs.uk

 

Isabella Stefanutti

PG student, University of Bath

 

I.Stefanutti@bath.ac.uk

 

Lorna Templeton

Mental Health Unit, University of Bath

 

L.Templeton@bath.ac.uk

 

Julia Tyte

Psychology, University of Bath

 

J.B.Tyte@bath.ac.uk

 

Richard Velleman

Mental Health Unit, University of Bath

 

R.D.B.Velleman@bath.ac.uk

 

Tony Walter

Social Policy, University of Bath

 

J.A.Walter@bath.ac.uk

 

 

Ian Warwick

 

Institute of Education, University of London

 

 

i.warwick@ioe.ac.uk

 

Elena Minelli (translator)

 

University of Bath

 

mlseam@bath.ac.uk

 

 

 

 

Appendix 3: Sample Feedback from Participants

 

“Congratulations – what a huge achievement and what a gigantic amount of work. I’m thrilled to be involved. Congratulations again – I’m so excited by all the other seminars I just wanted to be there for everything.”           (Elizabeth Chin: overseas speaker)

 

“I enjoyed the conference very much, friendly, intellectual, and some really good critical focus. Fantastic to go to a conference which was exciting!”     (Delegate at final conference)

 

Thanks again for including me in the conference programme – it was an interesting and informative two days!”    (Mandi Hodges, PG speaker)

 

 

 

Id-Cons-semEOAreport