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The Center Cannot Hold: Consuming the Utopian Marketplace

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  • Pauline Maclaran
  • Stephen Brown

Abstract

This article draws upon the utopian studies literature to integrate two strands of contemporary consumer research, the study of place and space and the analysis of consumer/marketer relations. Based on a longitudinal study of a festival shopping mall, we provide an emergent theory of how the utopian marketplace is experienced, a theory that hinges around three interlinked conceptual categories: sensing displace, creating playspace, and performing artscape, which are subverted by the center management's maladroit refreshment of the retail offer. The relevance of this theorization for place-based scholarship, together with its implications for researchers of consumer/marketer relations, is also discussed. (c) 2005 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

Suggested Citation

  • Pauline Maclaran & Stephen Brown, 2005. "The Center Cannot Hold: Consuming the Utopian Marketplace," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 32(2), pages 311-323, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jconrs:v:32:y:2005:i:2:p:311-323
    DOI: 10.1086/432240
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    Cited by:

    1. Joy, Annamma & Wang, Jeff Jianfeng & Orazi, Davide C. & Yoon, Seyee & LaTour, Kathryn & Peña, Camilo, 2023. "Co-creating affective atmospheres in retail experience," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 297-317.
    2. Makkar, Marian & Farrelly, Francis & Athwal, Navdeep, 2024. "Co-creating cultural heterotopic spaces in Airbnb," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    3. Eric J. Arnould, 2007. "Should Consumer Citizens Escape the Market?," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 611(1), pages 96-111, May.
    4. Teea Palo, 2023. "The Emergence of Concerned Partnerships in the Ethical Marketization of Place: A Narrative Lens," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(4), pages 835-854, May.
    5. Katja H Brunk & Markus Giesler & Benjamin J Hartmann & Darren DahlEditor & Craig ThompsonAssociate Editor, 2018. "Creating a Consumable Past: How Memory Making Shapes Marketization," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(6), pages 1325-1342.
    6. Podoshen, Jeffrey S. & Andrzejewski, Susan A. & Venkatesh, Vivek & Wallin, Jason, 2015. "New approaches to dark tourism inquiry: A response to Isaac," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 331-334.
    7. Puccinelli, Nancy M. & Goodstein, Ronald C. & Grewal, Dhruv & Price, Robert & Raghubir, Priya & Stewart, David, 2009. "Customer Experience Management in Retailing: Understanding the Buying Process," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 15-30.
    8. Christou, Prokopis A. & Farmaki, Anna, 2019. "Utopia as a reinforcement of tourist experiences," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 144-147.
    9. Podoshen, Jeffrey S. & Venkatesh, Vivek & Wallin, Jason & Andrzejewski, Susan A. & Jin, Zheng, 2015. "Dystopian dark tourism: An exploratory examination," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 316-328.
    10. Kumar Rakesh Ranjan & Stuart Read, 2016. "Value co-creation: concept and measurement," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 290-315, May.
    11. Hong, Soonkwan & Vicdan, Handan, 2016. "Re-imagining the utopian: Transformation of a sustainable lifestyle in ecovillages," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 120-136.
    12. Jack Coffin & Andreas Chatzidakis, 2021. "The Möbius strip of market spatiality: mobilizing transdisciplinary dialogues between CCT and the marketing mainstream," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 11(1), pages 40-59, June.
    13. Rosenbaum, Mark S. & Ramirez, Germán Contreras & Camino, Jaime Rivera, 2018. "A dose of nature and shopping: The restorative potential of biophilic lifestyle center designs," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 66-73.
    14. Stuart Read & Stefan Michel & Jan H. Schumann & Kumar Rakesh Ranjan, 2019. "Pricing co-created value: an integrative framework and research agenda," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 9(3), pages 155-183, December.
    15. Kozinets, Robert V., 2021. "Reprint: YouTube utopianism: Social media profanation and the clicktivism of capitalist critique," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 349-365.
    16. Mathilde Pulh & Rémi Mencarelli & Damien Chaney, 2019. "The consequences of the heritage experience in brand museums on the consumer–brand relationship," Post-Print halshs-02142424, HAL.
    17. Damien Chaney & Renaud Lunardo & Rémi Mencarelli, 2018. "Consumption experience: past, present and future," Post-Print hal-01951670, HAL.
    18. Aleksandrina Atanasova, 2021. "Re-examining utopia in contemporary consumption: conceptualization and implications for marketing," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 11(1), pages 23-39, June.
    19. Alain Debenedetti & Damien Chaney, 2024. "From feeling like home to being at home: The negative outcomes of attachment to commercial places," Post-Print hal-04355633, HAL.
    20. Kozinets, Robert V., 2019. "YouTube utopianism: Social media profanation and the clicktivism of capitalist critique," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 65-81.
    21. Vera Hoelscher & Andreas Chatzidakis, 2021. "Ethical Consumption Communities Across Physical and Digital Spaces: An Exploration of Their Complementary and Synergistic Affordances," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(2), pages 291-306, August.

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