The Discursive Perspective of Market Categorization: Interaction, Power, and Context

Abstract

Scholars have primarily focused on how language represents categories. We move beyond this conception to develop a discursive perspective of market categorization focused on how categories are constructed through communicative exchanges. The discursive perspective points to three under-researched mechanisms of category evolution: (1) the interaction between market participants, (2) the power dynamics among market participants and within the discourse, and (3) the cultural and material context in which categories are constructed. In this theoretical paper, we discuss how each of these mechanisms shed light on different phases of category evolution and the methods that could be used to study them.

Citation

Grodal, S. and Kahl, S.J. (2017), "The Discursive Perspective of Market Categorization: Interaction, Power, and Context", From Categories to Categorization: Studies in Sociology, Organizations and Strategy at the Crossroads (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 51), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 151-184. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20170000051004