Gender, Culture, and Consumer Behavior

This book covers the gamut of topics related to gender and consumer culture. Changing gender roles have forced scholars and practitioners to re-examine some of the fundamental assumptions and theories in this area. Gender is a core component of identity and thus holds significant implications for how consumers behave in the marketplace. This book offers innovative research in gender and consumer behavior with topics relevant to psychology, marketing, advertising, sociology, women’s studies and cultural studies. It offers 16 chapters of cutting-edge research on gender, international culture and consumption. Unique to this volume is its emphasis on consumption and masculinity and inclusion of topics on a rapidly changing world of issues related to culture and gender in advertising, communications, psychology and consumer behavior.

Cele C. Otnes is the Investors in Business Education Professor of Marketing at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, her M.A. in Advertising from the University of Texas at Austin and her B.A. in English Literature at Louisiana State University. Her research focuses on ritualistic consumption, and how ritual practices by retailers and providers impact consumer experience. She is co-author with Elizabeth Pleck of Cinderella Dreams: The Allure of the Lavish Wedding (University of California Press, 2003) and co-editor with Tina M. Lowrey of Contemporary Consumption Rituals: A Research Anthology. Her work has appeared in numerous journals in marketing, advertising, and anthropology. She has served on the Executive Board of the Association of Consumer Research, as co-chair of the Gender, Marketing and Consumer Behavior conference (with Jonathan Schroeder in 2000) and as co-chair of the Association for Consumer Research conference (2012). She has taught courses on the undergraduate, MBA and/or doctoral level in consumer behavior, consumer insights, marketing theory and retailing. She is active in her church, and enjoys yoga, cooking, traveling, socializing with her friends and colleagues and the challenge of parenting a creative and articulate teenager.

Linda Tuncay Zayer is Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Business at Loyola University Chicago. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, M.B.A from the University of Notre Dame, and Bachelor of Science from Indiana University. Her research interests include how cultural discourses influence consumers. In particular, she examines how gender impacts identity, persuasion, and shopping behavior. Zayer’s dissertation examined how men negotiate their gender identities in the marketplace. She has published in journals such as Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Retailing, Qualitative Market Research, among others. She currently serves as the Vice President of Communications for the Consumer Behavior Special Interest Group of the American Marketing Association. In addition to academia, she owns a marketing consulting company, tealeaf consulting, and works with both small and large businesses.

C. C. Otnes, L. T. Zayer, Preface. Part 1. Feminist Theory and Discourse. C. Coleman, Construction of Consumer Vulnerability by Gender and Ethics of Empowerment. H. Jensen Schau, M. Buchanan-Oliver, The Creation of Inspired Lives: Female Fan Engagement with the Twilight Saga. Part 2. Media, Advertising and Gender. L. Stevens, P. Maclaran, The Carnal Feminine: Consuming Representations of Womanhood in a Contemporary Media Text. L. T. Zayer, C. C. Otnes, Climbing the Ladder or Chasing a Dream? Men's Responses to Idealized Portrayals of Masculinity in Advertising. M. R. Nelson, A. M. Vilela, Is the Selectivity Hypothesis Still Relevant? A Review of Gendered Persuasion and Processing of Advertising Messages. J. Lambiase, T. Reichart, M. Adkins, M. LaTour, Gender and Media Literacy: Women and Men Try on Responses to Objectification in Fashion Advertising. Part 3. Gender, Culture and the Market. G. Coskuner-Balli, B. Ertimur, Viewing Gender as a Value-Creative Resource. H. Woodruffe-Burton, K. Ireland, Lived Consumer Bodies: Narcissism, Bodily Discourse and Women's Pursuit of the Body Beautiful. A. G. Close, Escalated Expectations and Expanded Gender Roles: Females' Gift-Giving Rituals and Resistance for Valentine's Day Events. Part 4. Masculine Discourses. J. Ostberg, Masculinity and Fashion. S. Chen, The Rise of 草食系男子 (Soushokukei Danshi) Masculinity and Consumption in Contemporary Japan. N. Ourahmoune, Masculinity, Intimacy and Consumption. R. L. Harrison, J. W. Gentry, S. Commuri, A Grounded Theory of Transition to Involved Parenting: The Role of Household Production and Consumption in the Lives of Single Fathers. Part 5. New Directions. S. Dobscha, A. Prothero, (Re)Igniting Sustainable Consumption and Production Research Through Feminist Connections. A. Gopaldas, E. Fischer, Beyond Gender: Intersectionality, Culture and Consumer Bahavior. J. A. Costa, G. J. Bamossy, Gender Research as the Ingénue of Marketing and Consumer Behavior.