Gender After Gender in Consumer Culture

Gender After Gender in Consumer Culture provides an updated discussion of how gender cuts across consumer culture, in light of increasing gender fragmentation and integration with other identity positions.

Sex, the biological distinction male/female, and gender, which refers to a person’s sense of being male, female, or any other combinations of these, inform issues as varied as personal identity, social interactions, and market behaviours. First, contributions account for the increasing fluidity and/or fragmentation of gender positions, which reshape the interplay between consumers and marketers. Second, they provide a timely illustration of how consumption and markets concur in contrasting gender inequalities, taken both individually and jointly (e.g., at the intersection of ethnicity or positions of market marginalisation). Third, chapters question the role of gender in granting personal and societal well-being, as they reflect on the collective capacity of constantly undoing gender stereotypes. Focusing on gender, this book allows the reader to trace the links among cultural categories (e.g. masculinity, femininity, gender identity), social phenomena, and market (dis)functioning.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue in the journal Consumption Markets & Culture.

Elisabeth Tissier-Desbordes is Emeritus Professor of Marketing at ESCP, Paris. She acted as Associate Dean for Research at ESCP and as co-editor of the journal Décisions Marketing. Her research expertise lies in the domains of advertising and taboos, consumer behaviour and consumer culture, and gender studies.

Luca M. Visconti is Full Professor of Marketing and Dean of the Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society at USI, Lugano. He served as Lecturer at Università Bocconi and was faculty member at ESCP, Paris. His research expertise lies in the domain of cultural branding, storytelling, and consumer vulnerability and well-being.