Most of my research is directed at consumer experiences and practices, examined from a cultural perspective.
Consumer culture appears as a consequence of the relational dynamic among consumers, institutions (companies, NGOs, etc.), and the meanings given by consumers to products, companies and brands.
The theoretical perspective adopted – ‘Consumer Culture Theory’ (CCT) – thus addresses consumption in accordance with its sociocultural, experiential and symbolic aspects, using interpretative analyses.
CCT is today an international interdisciplinary field that comprises macro, interpretive, and critical approaches to and perspectives of consumer behavior. More information on CCT can be found here: http://consumerculturetheory.org.
My work is particularly aimed at gaining a greater understanding of ‘peripheral’ consumption that is understudied in marketing research. Peripheral consumption frequently gives rise to different behaviours in the market as well as to atypical organisation of the economic players involved. It also leads to social implications.
My research can be divided into three focus areas:
- responsible and activist consumption;
- ethnic consumption;
- and poverty and consumption.
The dynamic of ‘niche’ markets, a meeting-point for supply and demand, lies at the heart of my research, with two focus areas:
- Understanding the phenomena of consumption outside mass markets (responsible consumption and ethnic consumption)
- Analysing how markets are structured around peripheral consumption areas, how markets are constituted (fair trade) and how two market phenomena (immigration and poverty) are institutionalized.
To access the most prominent material on this website related to CCT, click here.
I have co-authored in 2010 a history of French CCT through an article published in Recherche et Applications en marketing.