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This paper reconsiders the role of critical theory within the field of consumer culture theory.

The paper is documentary evidence of a roundtable held at the 10th annual Consumer Culture Theory conference on the subject. The roundtable uses discussion and conceptual methods.

The author begins with a brief introduction to the use of critical theory in the academy and in CCT more specifically. In the course of the roundtable, it was discovered that the reason we do not talk about critical theory more often may be attributable to its success, rather than failure – indeed, it has inspired so many new academic traditions, that we rarely pause to think of the various critical traditions in one place. Building on this foundation, participants were asked to discuss what critical theory means to them; what theorists they have used; what engagement they have had with critical theory traditions in CCT; and what their vision for critical theory influenced consumer research would be. Participation came from both planned and emergent participants. The final conclusion was the felicitous discovery that critical traditions are alive and well in consumer culture theory, and that there are many pathways to pursue critical consumer research in the future.

The roundtable session and paper are a direct response to the conference theme, which asked conference attendees to reflect on the history of consumer research, and specifically the role of critical theory within it. Moreover, the paper builds upon important debates about the philosophy of science and the role of critical theory within consumer research.

In spite of the emphasis on needs by marketing scholars almost no research efforts directed towards this topic have been reported in the organisational buying behaviour literature. The nature of organisational buying needs is explored, and how various organisational and environmental factors influence and direct recognition of such needs. A model of organisational need recognition is developed, and based on relevant research a set of inter‐related propositions of how various organisational and environmental factors influence organisational need recognition is proposed. Managerial implications are highlighted.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges that have faced and do now face marketing scholars through the lens of one scholar who entered the field in early 1970s and who continues to observe the developments in the world and in the disciplines of marketing and consumer research.

Historical journey through the trials and tribulations of one scholar as well as the developments in marketing and consumer research as experienced from this scholar’s point of view. A story of how this one scholar’s ideas and impressions grew out of his experiences.

Challenges against introduction of new perspectives and ideas have existed in the disciplines of marketing and consumer research, and they continue to exist.

This is only a personal history of experiences one scholar has had in the field.

For marketing and consumer research disciplines to positively contribute to humanity’s growth and search for meaning, how scholars in the field think of their disciplines, their relationship to ideologies and the purposes for their existence as scholars may need a radical change.

Considering the challenges faced and possibility of alternative modes of scholarship and knowledge generation, as well as the recognition of the key positional advantage of marketing and consumer research scholars in contemporary culture for understanding the human condition, will help humanity’s quest for a world with greater peacefulness and harmony.

The paper presents a perspective of disciplinary history not often heard in the mainstream media of the two disciplines.

The purpose of this research is to explore the cultural and branding issues that have gone into the design and development of Nano – a brand name for an Indian automobile – which is a low‐priced passenger vehicle targeted toward the middle‐class Indian consumer in urban settings.

The paper provides a cultural framework for the brand initiative and its execution. Specifically, the paper uses an ethnoconsumerism approach to the issue of cultural branding.

The Nano car was conceived and executed under two narratives: an economical and affordable vehicle, and a brand appeal that would satisfy Indian cultural sensibilities.

Cultural branding is becoming a popular approach in product positioning. This research shows that an ethnoconsumerist framework is ideally suited for examining cultural branding issues.

With the emergence of global markets, new methodologies have to be employed in studying cultural issues pertaining to local conditions. Toward this end, the paper provides an application of the ethnoconsumerism approach for studying branding phenomena.

Focuses on consumption activities in the context of socialization and because of this implications are highlighted. States that socialization encompasses a vast literature, from major disciplines and lists these. Looks also at the consumer and purchases of goods. Posits that social class is a major influence on purchasing, especially regarding technology‐type appliances such as computers, cars and other relative articles.

Purpose: This study explores how the interplay between a passionate consumer and his embeddedness in the lively network of a consumer tribe represents a fertile environment for the emergence of an entrepreneurial venture that is able to combine micro- and macro-level concerns bridging tribe and marketplace needs.

Design/methodology/approach: The research, set within the context of an exemplar consumer’s entrepreneurial project, was conducted following a netnographic methodological approach.

Findings: By fluidly moving from within to outside the tribe in the wider marketplace, the entrepreneur crafts his own new space in the market through a cultural mediation work that effectively combines the affective, immaterial labor characterizing the social glue of the tribe collective ethos with entrepreneurial spirit and sharp marketing and consumer insight abilities. The entrepreneur acts as a resource integrator of traditional firm-driven and emerging consumer-driven marketplace without opposing existing market structures, but rather valorizing them through his intermediation work.

Research limitations: This is a single-case study that, although exemplar, needs to be expanded and consolidated with further empirical evidence.

Originality/value: The study contributes to extant literature on consumer-driven market emergence and new market system dynamics by uncovering the role of consumer entrepreneur as a reconfigurator of the existing market resources.

Purpose: This research explores parental management and use of media, as part of strategies to affirm children’s racial identities, as well as to assist such parenting efforts. It analyzes how parents construct Black children’s engagement with media, as being a counter-cultural coping mechanism, to temper the potential racial and diasporic discordance of their children’s identities.

Methodology/approach: There is analysis of in-depth interviews about the media marketplace experiences of Black women in Britain. The analytic approach is informed by studies of identity and visual consumption, as well as race in the marketplace, which emphasize how identity intersects with consumer culture.

Findings: Findings reveal that intra-racial, inter-racial, and inter-cultural relations influence how and why parents manage media that their Black children engage with, including when trying to reinforce their Black identities. Findings also indicate how online user-generated content enables parents to seek a sense of support as part of their inter-cultural and race-related parenting efforts.

Social implications: Findings at the root of this research point to the need for media producers and marketers to be sensitized to parental concerns about the development of their children’s Black identities.

Originality/value: This work foregrounds under-explored issues concerning parental race-work and processes of consumer biracialization in relation to media representation and spectatorship.

Purpose: The paper makes use of Kuhn’s “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” to explain Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) as a normal scientific tradition. The paper intends to show how a previously marginalized research tradition has now started solidifying its paradigmatic boundaries, and what implications this holds for aspiring CCT scholars.

Method/approach: The paper makes use of literature from the Journal of Consumer Research and Marketing Theory to point out the methodological and practical issues in the discipline that have been pointed out by CCT proponents. These criticisms are discussed as scientific “anomalies.” Furthermore, the paper critically analyzes immigrant acculturation literature produced by CCT researchers in the past 30 years through a Kuhnian lens to show proponents of the fields implicitly addressing different “anomalies,” explaining the tradition to be a normal scientific one.

Findings: An in-depth analysis of immigrant acculturation literature within CCT shows every successive project within the field has addressed “anomalies” by pointing out research gaps, providing a rationale for their respective methodology, and, in turn, adding precision to theoretical frameworks, depicting a normal scientific tradition.

Originality and value: The paper adds value by discussing the probable consequences of this boundary solidification. On one hand, aspiring scholars will have scientific assumptions with which to enter the laboratory (consumer world) and guidelines that can be used toward publishing. On the other, this can also lead to a possible dogmatization of an emerging consumer research paradigm, making it difficult for new scholars to be creative.