Consumer Culture Theory in Asia

History and Contemporary Issues

Yuko Minowa, Russell Belk, Yuko Minowa, Russell Belk

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9781000533767
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

We live in times of increasing world uncertainty. Consumer culture in Asia has embodied such precariousness, with their unprecedented states of both prosperity and vulnerability.

Works in this volume examine the consumer cultures that exist in today's precarious Asia. They do this through culturally oriented, critical consumer research. How deeply has the consumer precariousness in Asia been intertwined with the sociohistorical patterning of consumption including class, gender, and other social categories? How do these problematics affect consumers' identity projects, consumer rituals, and marketplace cultures? How is consumer precariousness aggravated by the governmentality of the superpower? How does the changing landscape of inter-Asian and global popular culture impact consumer culture in these nations? Together, the authors in this volume attempt to answer these questions through consumer research within the paradigm known as consumer culture theory (CCT). Since most CCT inquiry has been in Western contexts, this volume augments the existing knowledge. It presents the most current, critical, historical, and material consumer studies focused on Asia.

This volume will be of interest to seasoned CCT researchers and academics, for anyone new to CCT, and for postgraduate students interested in CCT or writing a consumer culture-related thesis.

1 Introduction

Yuko Minowa and Russell Belk

DOI: 10.4324/9781003111559-1

We live in times of increasing world uncertainty. The Asian tigers of the late 20th century have now been overtaken by the lions of China and India as kings of the jungle in Asia and the world more generally. But China and India have also embodied precariousness, with an unprecedented state of both prosperity and vulnerability. While Asia has emerged as the world’s largest and fastest growing region with its nearly 5 billion people and 2,301 spoken languages in 53 countries, its remarkable economic growth and poverty reduction have mostly worsened gaps between the rich and the poor in terms of income, access to education, health care, employment, and other life-sustaining infrastructure and services. These disparities unduly affect the vulnerable segments of society, including women and the elderly. They also debilitate inclusive growth, hamper social cohesion, and lead to unsustainable consumption patterns. Meanwhile, these vulnerable consumers in Asia are exposed and “bare,” under the surveillance and social control exercised by a clique of sovereignty. A fog of anxiety hangs in precarious Asia.

Works in this volume examine consumer culture in today’s precarious Asia through culturally oriented, critical consumer research. Precariousness may be defined as a human condition that is risky, unpredictable, and uncertain. Consumer culture refers to “a social arrangement in which the relations between lived culture and social resources, between meaningful ways of life and the symbolic and material resources on which they depend, are mediated through markets” (Arnould 2006, 605). Another definition of consumer culture is “a culture in which the majority of consumers avidly desire (and some noticeable portion pursue, acquire and display) goods and services that are valued for non-utilitarian reasons, such as status seeking, envy provocation, and novelty seeking” (Belk 1988b, 105). Consumer research pursuing this paradigm investigates the sociocultural, ideological, symbolic, and experiential aspects of consumption.

How deeply has the consumer precariousness in Asia been intertwined with the sociohistorical patterning of consumption, such as class, ethnicity, gender, and other habituated social categories? How have wars, colonialism, and ideological movements affected current precarity? How are these problematics affecting consumers’ identity projects, consumption practices, rituals, and marketplace activities? How is consumer precariousness assuaged or aggravated by the governmentality of the superpowers? How has the changing landscape of global popular culture, digital media, and technology been positively or negatively impacting the consumer precariousness as they create and shape new consumer cultures?

The authors in this volume attempt to answer these questions through consumer research that is underpinned through roughly the four broad streams of consumer research programs in consumer culture theory (CCT) proposed by Arnould and Thompson (2005). They are consumer identity projects, marketplace cultures, the sociohistorical patterning of consumption, and mass-mediated marketplace ideologies and consumers’ interpretive strategies. Consumer culture theory is heteroglossic and embraces epistemological, ontological, and theoretical diversity (Arnould and Thompson 2007; Thompson, Arnould, and Giesler 2013). Inquiry within CCT has been predominantly in the Western context, with some exceptions (e.g., Arnould 2006). This volume aspires to augment extant knowledge with the most current, critical, historical, material, and experiential consumer studies in the Asian context.

Previous studies of consumer culture in the Asian context include identity formation in Indian branded wellness centers (Annavarapu 2018); Kafkaesque hardships for the poor in India (Belk and Ghoshal 2017); technology consumption at the bottom of the pyramid in India (Bhattacharyya and Belk 2018, 2019); the creation of Asian brands and transregional imagined community (Cayla and Eckhardt 2008); acceptance and rejection of Western brands to claim Chinese national identity (Dong and Tian 2009); the consumer culture of coffee in Japan (Grinshpun 2014); gift-giving and cultural values in Hong Kong (Joy 2001); anti-corruption and middle-class politics affecting consumption in India (Khandekar and Reddy 2015); the role of civil society actors in green food consumption in China (Leggett 2020); identity projects and material lifestyles by Indians and Indian immigrants (Mehta and Belk 1991); romantic gift-giving of mature consumers in Japan (Minowa and Belk 2019); harmonization in Vietnamese wedding rituals (Nguyen and Belk 2013); sociomaterial life and experiential aspects of national and global brands in China (Tran 2016); marketplace tensions in consuming mountain climbing in Nepal (Tumbat and Belk 2011); the impact of media on subaltern groups of consumers in India (Varman and Belk 2008); nationalist ideology in an anticonsumption movement in India (Varman and Belk 2009); vulnerable consumers and the failure of a BOP marketing initiative in India (Varman, Skålén, and Belk 2012); exploitation, coercion, and normative violence in India (Varman, Skålén, Belk, and Chowdhury 2020); the impact of marketization and sharing on destabilizing status hierarchy in India (Vikas, Varman, and Belk 2015); future global dominance of Chinese brands (Wu, Borgerson, and Schroeder 2013); the shaping of authenticity in globalizing handcraft markets in Thailand (Wherry 2006); the reselling of Western luxury by Chinese women as gendered transnational prosumption (Zhang, L. 2017); the role of culture in consumption decision-making strategies in contemporary China (Zhang, W. 2017); the growth of gated communities in India (Chadhuri and Jagadale 2021); and the appropriation of a communist ideology during a period of transition in China (Zhao and Belk 2008). While these works offer theoretical advances in understanding Asian consumer culture context, they do not necessarily focus on precariousness in contemporary Asia.

The authors in this volume, on the other hand, interrogate consumer culture of vulnerable populations as they are related to sociological problems of migration, poverty, inequality, and governmentality in precarious Asia. They problematize the legitimacy of the neocolonial development paradigm, inadequate population management, and the grossly disproportionate distribution of Asian wealth. The studies in this volume address the need to ensure socially sustainable consumer culture in which consumers are assured of security and privacy, extended social protections, emotional support, decent education and jobs, and universal health care for addressing severe poverty and inequality.

Consumer Culture Theory in Asia: History and Contemporary Issues consists of five parts, ranging over several social scientific disciplines, reflecting the many faces of macro- and microissues in consumer culture. Part I focuses on the history of consumerism in Asia, highlighting China and Japan. Part II focuses on consumer identity projects. Part III focuses on consumer rituals. Part IV focuses on governance and sustainability in consumption practices. Finally, Part V interrogates intersections of body, technology, and mass-mediated marketplace ideologies.

History of Consumerism in Asia

According to Arnould and Thompson (2005, 875), “Consumption is a historically shaped mode of sociocultural practice that emerges within the structures and ideological imperatives of dynamic marketplaces.” Historically, it was China, followed by Japan and Korea, in which consumers formulated their goals in life through the acquisition of goods beyond subsistence and for more than traditional display (Clunas 1991; Nishiyama 1997). Consumerism has played a vital role in modern history, not only in the West, but also in Asia (Stearns 2001). How has consumer desire and zeal risen, developed, and contributed to generating consumer culture in Asia? Has consumer precariousness impeded consumerism, fostered resistance, or stimulated consumer culture? Two chapters in this section provide historical exploration of consumerism and consumer culture in China and Japan, focusing on the period from early modern times to our time.

In Chapter 2, “The Long March of Commodity in China,” Alison Hulme maps a concise history of consumerism in China, comparing and contrasting the key eras in China’s history. The chapter begins with an exploration of the role of Confucianism in the Dynastic era (1600 BCE—1912). It considers Confucianism’s apparent restraint in encouraging propriety and nonmaterial aspirations. The chapter analyzes consumerism in the Republican era (1912–1949) and the national products movement in particular. Hulme provides a nuanced understanding of China’s consumerist desires and behaviors during the Mao era (1949–1976). During the Reform era (1978–present), she proceeds to explain how Deng Xiao-ping exploited the lineage between Confucianism and Maoism in order to substantiate the opening up policies of 1978. In doing so, he encouraged not only the creation of wealth but also the spending it on consumption. The final section of the chapter addresses the most recent two decades of the reform period during which consumerism has become a stated ambition within China’s economic plans. In sum, the chapter critically assesses the interweaving of different strands of Chinese culture in its history as an unsteady gestation period for its consumer society, rather than the smoother path often depicted by many Western scholars.

In Chapter 3, entitled “Consumerism in Early Modern Japan: Food, Fashion, and Publishing,” Kazuo Usui explores popular culture and consumerism in early modern Japan: the Edo Period under the Pax Tokugawa (1603–1868). His chapter discusses three fields of consumerism: culinary culture focusing on dining out of sushi and noodles, fashion trends in kimono, and popular illustrated novels. He shows that consumerism during the Edo period was characterized by a rapid growth in consumption and strict class hierarchy. The market economy started to pervade everyday life and consumption styles—sometimes restricted by the sumptuary laws, yet nurtured by the trickle-down effect—became the identity of Edoites. The author discusses the effect of consumerism in the late period of early modern Japan and in the subsequent period. Following the Meiji Restoration (1868), there was an opening up of Japan and an infusion of Western influences. Then, the mixture of Japanese styles with Western styles in consumption occurred. This was aided by the rapid industrialization and Westernization of the late 19th century. As a result of the Western influences, Japanese consumer culture became to comprise two layers: “authentic” commodities from early modern and hybridized commodities in modern Japan. The chapter concludes with a discussion about the place of manga, kawaii (cute culture), and fake uniform pastiche fashion in the escapist consumer culture of problematic contemporary Japan, all of which suggests a resemblance to the development of consumer culture in early modern Japan.

Consumer Identity Projects

Consumers are identity makers and seekers. The marketplace is a major source of mythic and symbolic resources through which consumers, including those who lack resources to fully participate in the market, construct narratives of identity (Arnould and Thompson 2007). Consumer identity projects include extended self (Belk 1988a), identity play, body image, self-presentation, gender performativity, negotiating cultural contradictions, and experiential aspects of consumption. Possessions may play a more extensive role than might be imagined in the construction of the self in the “Third World consumer culture” (Belk 1988b). Material lifestyles and possessions are also used to construct and reconstruct the identity of consumers in transition. For example, a migrant negotiates the self of multiple—often dissimilar—cultures (Joy and Dholakia 1991; Mehta and Belk 1991). Immigrant consumers, with ideological tensions in a new world, may also use commodified cultural symbolic mediators to construct and reaffirm their identities and quietly resist the dominant order (Jafari and Goulding 2008). Mass-mediated marketplace ideologies powerfully contribute to these projects. The stream of research in this area is interested in consumer motivations and goals.

In Chapter 4, “Century of Humiliation and Consumer Culture: The Making of National Identity,” I-Chieh Michelle Yang, Juliana French, and Christina Lee illustrate the multiplicity of emergent identity positions produced by Chinese travelers within their humiliation discourse. China’s astounding economic development in the last several decades has fostered a vigorous consumer culture. However, as China remains as an authoritarian government, the contradictory consumer culture obscures the evolution of Chinese national identity. Meanwhile, literature on how Chinese consumers draw on market resources for identity projects is limited. Based on the results from an ethnographic study, the authors argue that consuming international tourism provides a potent platform for Chinese people to negotiate their national identity—what it means to be Chinese today by interacting with foreign cultures and people. The authors contend that international tourism functions as the platform for the Chinese to affirm their achievements and demonstrate to the world their economic prowess and the modern Chinese identity.

In Asia and elsewhere, disparity of wealth is to a large extent the consequence of inequalities in opportunities, including access to quality education. In consumer culture, an autonomous mother, being a key decision-maker for her child, plays a significant role for her children’s educational status that also leads to their identity construction. She imparts consumer socialization. She is responsible for the child’s consumer enculturation. In Chapter 5, “Predicting a Mother’s Role in Investing in Children’s Education: A Study on Autonomy and Empowerment from India,” Akshaya Viayalakshmi, Meng-Hsien (Jenny) Lin, and Sara...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents Page
• List of Illustrations Page
• List of Contributors Page
• Acknowledgments Page
• 1 Introduction
• Section I History of Consumerism in Asia
• Section II Consumer Identity Projects
• Section III Consumer Rituals
• Section IV Governance and Sustainability in Consumption Practices
• Section V Body, Technology, and Mass-Mediated Marketplace Ideologies
• Index