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Money, Sacrificial Work, and Poor Consumers
[The Low Literate Consumer]

Author

Listed:
  • Rohit Varman
  • Hari Sreekumar
  • Russell W Belk

Abstract

This is an ethnography among poor migrants from Kerala, India to the Middle East. This study offers insights into how the poor accumulate sacrificial money through sufferings and self-abnegation, and earmark it for consumption in Kerala. The hardships endured to earn the sacrificial money transform it into a sacred object. The phenomena of accumulation, earmarking, and meaning making of sacrificial money by the poor can be understood through the concept of sacrificial work. Sacrificial work is a spatially demarcated circuit of accumulation of money through hardships and its conflict-ridden transfer to family, community, and self for consumption. In sacrificial work, the poor erect a boundary around this money, and earmark it as caring, communal, and transformative. By delineating the various aspects of sacrificial work, this study brings to the center a behavior that has, in spite of its ubiquity, been relegated to the margins of consumer research.

Suggested Citation

  • Rohit Varman & Hari Sreekumar & Russell W Belk, 2022. "Money, Sacrificial Work, and Poor Consumers [The Low Literate Consumer]," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 49(4), pages 657-677.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jconrs:v:49:y:2022:i:4:p:657-677.
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    References listed on IDEAS

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