Disadvantaged Consumers: An Ethical Approach to Consumption by the Poor

This essay presents my research stream on impoverished citizens as it relates to transdisciplinary work at the intersection of consumer behavior, applied ethics, public policy, and marketing practice. The original studies that inform this discussion were conducted using ethnographic methods with subpopulations that included the homeless, rural poor, children living in poverty, and aborigines isolated in the Australian outback. The opening section frames my work within the context of the larger marketing domain. The next section describes dysfunctional business activities that reduce the consumer quality of life of disadvantaged citizens. Their reactions to this maltreatment then are presented, with an emphasis on the various groups noted. The essay closes with a brief discourse on restricted consumer behavior in business ethics research. Ronald Paul Hill is the Robert J. and Barbara Naclerio Endowed Chairholder and Senior Associate Dean of Intellectual Strategy in the Villanova School of Business.     

Are parents gender neutral when financing their children's consumption?

Children are consumers from early on, but they are dependent on financial support from their parents for many years. Based on a survey among 1173 Norwegian children aged 8–24 years, we examine how children's consumption is financed and how their main financial sources change during childhood, distinguishing between pocket money and odd jobs on the one hand and gainful employment and study loans on the other. Our analysis demonstrates how parental monetary support decreases as years go by and is replaced by gainful employment and study loans. We ask whether parents are gender neutral in supporting their children's consumption or not. This is done by comparing the distribution of pocket money among girls and boys, as well as the amount of money given to the respective genders for special consumer goods. Girls and boys have divergent preferences and often exhibit different spending patterns. The analysis of the six selected fields of consumption showed significant gender differences in four of them. By comparing what children choose to pay for with their own money with what they influence their parents to pay for, we find that parents' financial support tend to have a moderating effect on their children's own gender‐biased preferences.     

Health as a consumption object: research notes and preliminary investigation

Through the processes of commodification and marketization, materials and human activities are brought within the domain of market exchange. The results of these accelerating processes are observed in the consumer culture centred on objects of consumption. We contend that, in addition to healthcare, health itself has become yet another object incorporated within consumption space. This contention is consistent with the perspective of consumption as the dominant social paradigm in the structuring of health and healthcare practices. In this paper we present the conceptual backdrop for our contentions, together with details of a heuristic study. Our findings support the view that people regard health as a consumption object. Furthermore, the evidence suggests a patterning of responses by social grade and gender. Given our wider interest in class‐based health inequalities, we use our results to comment on the broader policy debate concerning this phenomenon in relation to consumerism.     

Practising gender: The role of banter in young men’s improvisations of masculine consumer identities

Abstract

Although consumer researchers have explored the social, cultural and consumption-related tensions involved in being and becoming masculine, prior research has tended to focus on individual men’s experiences. This paper reviews literature in this area together with theories of gender as performed, performative and social practice. Our ethnographic study of male friendship groups in central Scotland explores the gender processes involved in improvising their masculine consumer identities within and across various social settings and interactions. In particular, through consumption-related banter, they played for and played with their ideas of masculinity, thereby engaging in the practising of gender. The boundaries between ‘safe’ and ‘danger’ zones of consumption varied across social groups and contexts, highlighting the complexity and contingency of contemporary masculinities.     

贫困线调整与贫困发生率比较问题研究评析

贫困线设定及其调整是否合理、贫困发生率是否可以跨时跨地比较,这是扶贫理论研究与实践中两个非常重要的基础性问题。本文归纳了因计算方案和贫困线调整导致贫困发生率不可比的主要问题,包括由于消费支出定义外延不一致、调查回顾期限不一致、地区差异、时点不同等,相应地总结梳理了目前解决这类问题的经验与方法,在此基础上评价了各种方法的优缺点,并提出解决类似问题的进一步研究方向。     

Consumption to compensate for the feeling of “loss of ownership of self” Women’s journeys through the liminal transitions of marriage

This interpretive study derives a conceptual framework explaining how Indian women experience a loss of self through the transformational event of marriage. The self-discrepancy of losing one’s self motivates these women to renegotiate their sense of self through consumption. Data were collected through 76 in-depth interviews analyzed by a constant comparative method and grounded theory. Our research question is to what degree and in what ways do women in India experience a loss of self upon marriage and, if they do, through what consumer practices (if any) do they attempt to compensate for this feeling of loss? Analysis revealed three common stages in Indian women’s married life (1) marriage as a life transitional event inducing liminality (2) loss of Self: dissonance (3) compensatory consumption as a response to dissonance. Our research contributes to life cycle theory by focusing on liminal transitions. We find that self is a possession that women can lose after marriage in India. Based on these findings we argue that understandings of identity and life cycle must be amended to consider self-discrepancy and coping processes. We develop a model of consumption that results from a perceived loss of self. This is all part of a process of self-identity reconstruction. We also expand psychological ownership theory to include ownership of self.     

Does Zakat reduce poverty? Evidence from Tunisia using the Fuzzy Approach

Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam; it is compulsory for all the well-off Muslims and is given to the needy. This study examines Zakat's impact on poverty in Tunisia. Using simulated data of individuals from Tunisian household surveys in 2010 and 2015, we measure the effect of Zakat to reduce poverty. This study uses the Fuzzy Approach to conclude that Zakat does reduce poverty. The simulation results display a significant decrease in the poverty index of Tunisia's seven regions.     

地理区位、农户特征与贫困分布——基于西海固720个农户的分析

地理区位、农户特征是决定贫困分布的重要因素。本文以宁夏西海固8个国家扶贫工作重点县72个观察村的720个农户资料为样本数据,按照地理区位和农户特征为标志对贫困指标进行分解研究,以观察贫困人口分布状况,分析贫困机理,从微观上制定具体的扶贫措施。研究发现,地理区位和农户特征决定了农户贫困规模和程度的差异性,这种差异性是确定西海固农村扶贫开发对象和重点的参考依据。     

农村劳动力流动对脱贫的影响文献综述

关于农村劳动力流动与贫困之间的关系一直是社会各界广泛关注的焦点。本研究通过对相关文献的梳理,针对劳动力外出务工的减贫效应,从贫困缓解论、贫困加剧论以及不确定论三方面进行概述,重点分析劳动力流动对我国农村贫困的影响及机制。结果表明,农村劳动力外出务工通过提高农户非农收入和改善整个社会的资源配置效率在收入维度上对农村贫困具有一定减缓作用,但同时,受农村劳动力过量流失的影响,外出务工在农户生活照料及社会保障等多维贫困上并未表现出显著作用,甚至存在一定负面影响。因此,应把握好劳动力外出之度,促进劳动力就近就业,同时加强对农村留守人员的社会保障,以实现多维脱贫、乡村繁荣。