Women, Consumption and Paradox

Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Contributors
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Women, consumption and paradox
	Marketing negatively to women
	Women’s paradoxical response re-examined
	Feminism and feminist anthropology
		First wave feminism
		Second wave feminism
		Third wave feminism
	Women, consumption and discourse in media
	Embodiment and consumption as a way to mediate inequalities
		Debating mind–body dualism in ethnographic work on consumption
		Challenging production–consumption opposition in ethnographic work
	Conclusion: negotiating contradictions through embodied consumption practices
	Notes
	References
Part I Gender engagements, consumption interactions and marketplace ambiguities
	1 Women and chocolate: Identity narratives of sensory and sensual enjoyment
		Background of product development and marketing
		Theoretical approach
			The agency of things
			The dialectics of objectification
			The power of the gift
			Secrecy, power and feminine identity
			Dialectics of competing narratives
		Methodology
			Selecting a target
			Research participants
			Ethnographic interviews
			Cultural analysis
		Findings
			Sensory construction of self
			Chocolate in a regime of self-care
			Symbolic associations
				Nurturance and sensuality
				Exoticism and refinement
			Secrecy
			Resistance to brand name Fling
			Chocolate and sexual desirability
		Paradoxes in network interactions and discourses
			Company starting point
			Advertising agency and ethnographic research
			Videography
			Advertising media and journalists
			Outcome
		Discussion
		Conclusion
		Notes
		References
	2 ‘Shapewear or nothing to wear’: The ambiguity of shapewear in the plus-size fashion market
		The fat acceptance movement
		The fashion industry
		Fatshionistas
		Assembling marketplace inclusion: the body at the center
		The ambiguity of shapewear: a trigger for market change or a boundary object?
		Shapewear in body-centered assemblages
			Being un/comfortable in one’s own skin
			The dis/empowerment paradox
		Shaping new boundaries
		References
	3 Creating interactional alignment in call center customer care
		Data and methods
			Excerpt 1
		Findings
			Call 1: caller escalates
				Excerpt 2
				Excerpt 3
				Excerpt 4
				Excerpt 5
				Excerpt 6
				Excerpt 7
				Excerpt 8
				Excerpt 9
			Call 2: agent escalates
				Excerpt 10
				Excerpt 11
				Excerpt 12
				Excerpt 13
				Excerpt 14
				Excerpt 15
			Call 3: customer-centered service
				Excerpt 16
				Excerpt 17
				Excerpt 18
				Excerpt 19
				Excerpt 20
		Discussion
		References
	4 Financial technology and the gender gap: Designing and delivering services for women
		Introduction
		The promise of fintech for all
			Financial services, digital transformation and the new ecosystem
			Fintech and the consumer perspective
			Fintech and women’s issues
		Gender and finance in context
		Financial services for women: examples
			Services marketed to women
		Afterpay
			Services designed by/for women
		Ellevest: savings, investment and retirement for women
		Conclusion
		Notes
		References
	5 Being connected: Mobile phones in the lives of domestic workers in Mexico City
		Methodology
		Mobile phones embedded in domestic workers’ everyday lives
		Spaces for consumption and marketing
		Appropriation of advertising messages
		Final remarks
		Notes
		References
	6 Untangling women’s braided relationships with music
		Literature review
		Methodology
		Findings
		Agentic themes in respondent narratives
			Intergenerational
			Cultural heritage/country of origin and nostalgia
			Motivating (action or inspiration)
			Cooking and cleaning
			Emotional support
			Therapy
			Empathy
			Socialization: educational advice
			Role model: mimesis
		Theoretical flow
		Conclusion
		References
Part II Histories of gender imageries and practices in flux
	7 Women under control: Advertising and the business of female health, 1890–1950
		Lydia E. Pinkham’s vegetable compound: a woman’s solution for ‘female complaints’
		A Brazilian case of women’s medicine: Regulador Gesteira
		Medicine consumption and control over women’s bodies
		Notes
		References
	8 Company uniforms and  gender dynamics in the  Japanese workplace
		Introduction
		Work clothes in modern Japan
		Women’s work and work uniforms
		Female employment in recent years
		Background of the controversy over the jimufuku versus  jackets contest in Sekai
		Social drama initiated by ippanshoku working mothers in the logistics department
		Discussion
		Notes
		References
	9 Women’s consumption of cosmetic products in China: Between logistics, conflict and symbolism
		From the Cultural Revolution to mass aesthetic consumption: the permanence and ruptures of beauty in China
		The material conditions of beauty after the Cultural Revolution: the establishment of a housing distribution and ...
		The conflicting dimensions of beauty in China: life cycle effects and the evolution of the ‘matrimonial market’
		The Chinese symbolism of beauty: flow, ambivalence and context
		Conclusion
		Notes
		References
	10 Shifts and paradoxes of gender over the course of a career
		The power of the mundane
		The power in the doing
		The power of multiple vectors and messiness
		Dynamics of change
		Notes
		References
	11 Little luxuries: Decency, deservingness and delight
		Decencies and deservingness
		Delight
		The lures of little luxuries
		Conclusion
		References
Index