Download Insights from New Social Movement Theory

Neo-Tribal Consumption of Ideologies: Insights from New Social Movement Theory
Miranda Mirosa, University of Otago
Abstract
This article provides an overview of the marketing literature on tribes and then suggests that
this converges with the new social movement (NSM) school of thought, particularly with the
work of Melucci. What we do and do not know about tribes is highlighted, as are Melucci’s
key theories, which offer potential to fill the recognised gaps. These particular theories are
discussed in the text of the article and propositions are put forward for future research. This
conceptual article adheres to the theme of three R’s: firstly, the reputation of marketing can
be improved by drawing ideas from more established bodies of work such as NSM theory;
secondly, it is more socially responsible to support tribes than to dominate markets (Cova,
2002); and thirdly, consumer movement tribes consume goods, services and ideologies and
are thus of relevance to marketers.
Introduction
It is well known in marketing that goods and acts of consumption can confer varying forms of
meaning and value to the consumer, ranging from individual differentiation to social
integration (Cooper, McLoughlin and Keating, 2005). While traditionally the focus has been
at the individual level considering how goods can become extensions of the self (Belk, 1988),
there is evidence of growing support amongst consumer behaviour researchers for studying
the group or community level as a means to understanding consumption and identity.
In a seminal paper Cova (1997) proposed there are two schools of thought that exist in
marketing around post modernity and identity: the Northern school which is based on the
individualist tradition and the Southern school (also referred to as the Latin school of
societing) which focuses on the collectivist/neo-tribal tradition. Cova has been largely
influenced by the sociologist Mafessoli (also a member of the Latin school), and his theories
about the break-up of mass culture. Cova in turn has influenced a number of recent works in
marketing which consider consumption from this tribal perspective (c.f. Cooper, McLoughlin
and Keating, 2005; Ryan, McLoughlin and Keating, 2006). A tribe is described as “networks
of heterogeneous persons….who are linked by a shared passion or emotion; a tribe is capable
of collective action, its members are not simple consumers, they are also advocates” (Cova,
1997, p.602). Cova emphasises that it will take a disruption of marketing know-how to
understand tribes (2002). New social movement (NSM) theory is a well established body of
literature that has potential to lead to a deeper understanding of tribes in the marketing
discipline.
Consumer movements are an interesting type of tribe as their members consume not only
products but also ideologies. Consumer movements are currently under-theorised in
marketing literature and calls have been made for further conceptualisations (Kozinets and
Handelman, 2004). The aim of this paper is to investigate the ways in which NSM theory can
contribute to the conceptualisation of tribes in general and consumer movement tribes in
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particular. Therefore, to achieve this aim, the sociological theories of NSM theorist Alberto
Melucci are examined for their potential to contribute to the tribal literature in marketing.
NSM Theory
NSM theory is rooted in European traditions of social theory and political philosophy and
emerged as a response to the inadequacies of classical Marxism for analysing collective action
(Cohen, 1985; Klandermas, 1993). Opposing the classical reductionism of Marxism which
relied on analysing social movements in terms of production, NSM theorists have turned to
the spheres of culture, politics and ideologies. Because NSM theorists often focus on the
cultural sphere and include consumerist elements into their analyses, NSM theories provide a
useful framework for analysing contemporary consumer movements (Kozinets and
Handleman, 2004).
Social movements have received systematic attention from sociologists for over 30 years and
the NSM literature contains a rich body of work. In an overview article, Buechler (1995)
presents a summary of the NSM paradigm identifying a number of themes that characterise
the theories, helping to define these contemporary types of social movements. First,
collective action is mainly found in the cultural sphere alongside instrumental action in the
political sphere. Second, processes that promote autonomy and self-determination are more
important than strategies for maximising power and influence. Thirdly, conflicts are usually
over post materialist values rather than over material resources. Fourth, the construction of
collective identity and group interests is seen as a fragile process as opposed to being
structurally determined. Fifth, grievances and ideologies are socially constructed as opposed
to being deduced from a group’s structural location. Finally, the collective action is often
submerged in temporary networks as opposed to centralised organisational forms. Buechler
goes on to highlight the contributions of four key theorists (Castells, Touraine, Habermas and
Melucci) whose work is central to the field. Buechler proposes a typological distinction
between political and cultural versions of NSM theory and postulates that Castells is the most
representative theorist of the political version (some of Touraine’s work fits into this category
as well) and that Melucci is one of the most important theorists to operate from a culturalist
reading of NSM literature. Although NSM is referred to as a paradigm, it is a vast and
diverse literature, and so for the purpose of theoretical focus the analysis that follows will rely
on the work of Melucci whose culturalist reading is clearly the most informative for consumer
movements.
Convergence of Melucci and Tribal Marketing Literature
Melucci introduces semiotic and post-modern elements into NSM theory and his cultural
version eschews strategic concerns in favour of more symbolic expressions. This approach
converges with Maffesoli’s post-modern account of neo-tribes (Perdue et al, 1997) and also
the Latin school of thought in marketing. Melucci’s sociological theories of social
movements have potential to extend on, and add to, a number of key areas in the marketing
tribal literature as is outlined in the Table 1 and discussed in the following section.
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Table 1: What is known and what is unknown and How Melucci’s Theories May Help
Areas addressed in tribal work
Melucci’s theories that extend on tribal work
1. identifying the tribe
←
visibility/latency of collective action
(CA)
2. tribal roles that members adopt
←
social composition of social movements
Areas not addressed in tribal work
Melucci’s theories that add to tribal work
3. tribal existence and formation
←
factors affecting formation of CA
4. collective tribal action and participation ←
production and participation in CA
5. political orientations of tribe
←
political nature of CA
Discussion
The following discussion focuses on the first two points in Table 1 and just briefly touches on
the last three points.
1.
First, marketers who wish to research tribes must obviously be able to identify them.
Cova and Cova propose that there are two types of tribal traces, temporal and spatial, which
help identify a tribe. In temporal terms tribes “emerge, grow, reach their zenith, languish,
then dissolve. Their underlying logic is timeless and fragmented” (2002, p.605). In spatial
terms tribes can be seen at public spaces (both physical and virtual) such as at meeting-places
where they perform their rituals. These tribal traces which require researchers to forage for
hints (Cova and Cova, 2002), provide a good starting guide but do require further
conceptualisation. Consumer behaviour researchers may find that the visibility and latency
theory of collective action presented below (which is summarised from Melucci’s book
Nomads of the Present: Social Movements and Individual Needs in Contemporary Society,
1989), can extend on the work which has been done thus far in the area of tribal marketing.
The formal organisation of a movement, which has been the focus of study in the past, has
declined in importance with acknowledgement that collective action has come to be based
more on movement areas. These “take the form of networks composed of a multiplicity of
groups that are dispersed, fragmented and submerged in everyday life, and which act as
cultural laboratories” (1989, p.60). Hence, social movements live in the everyday networks
of social relations and in the attempts by individuals to practise alternative lifestyles. These
private submerged networks, in which memberships are multiple and involvement is limited,
function as systems of exchange and they appear only infrequently as publicly visible
phenomena in response to a specific issue and only for a limited time. As collective action is
focused on cultural codes, the form of the movement (the network of submerged groups) is
itself a message which poses a symbolic challenge to the dominant codes. These
contemporary forms of collective action produce two types of change: a type of cultural
change which affects ways of living, and change in institutions and political systems.
Collective action produces visible and measurable effects on at least three levels: Firstly, it
can cause institutional change (e.g. through political reforms or the redefinition of
organisational practices). Secondly it can lead to the selection of new elites (e.g. political
parties, skilled personnel). Thirdly it can lead to cultural innovation (the development of
models of behaviour and social relations, such as changes in language, dress and eating
habits, which enter into the everyday life and the market).
As an example, the slow food movement (SFM) illustrates why Melucci’s theory provides a
more concrete understanding of how to identify contemporary types of movements than that
provided by Cova and Cova. The SFM, which promotes the right to pleasure through food
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and eco-gastronomy, has gained worldwide attention in recent years. Cova and Cova’s advice
on how to identify this particular tribe would be that researchers try and locate places where
the slow food members gather such as at meetings held by the formal organisation and at food
and wine events. Extending on this, Melucci’s theory suggests that researchers will find
visible (and hence measurable effects) of the SFM on at least three levels, including change at
the institutional level such as change in the food distribution (e.g. trends towards shorter
supply chains and increase in farmers markets) and change at the cultural level such as change
in consumption practises (e.g. increasing consumption of organic foods and renewed interest
in cooking classes). Thus our understanding of how to identify a contemporary consumer
movement tribe is enriched by an understanding of Melucci.
2.
Secondly, once the tribe has been identified, the next phenomenon the researcher may
wish to understand is the social composition of the tribe. Although Cova and Cova state that
tribes are fuzzy and are “more societal sparkle than socio-economic certainty” (2002, p.604),
they do propose that tribal members can adopt the following roles: sympathiser, practitioner,
participant or member. While these roles are presented in pictorial form as four circles which
are overlapping in the centre, this representation is misleading due to the fact that the roles are
in fact cumulative and as such would be better depicted as a hierarchy. Despite this fault, the
fundamental problem in the marketing tribal literature to date is that while the roles are
discussed there has been no attempt made to understand the social composition of the tribes
which inform these roles. Melucci’s (1989) theory summarised below may provide some
direction in this area.
The social composition of contemporary movements derives from three main sectors of the
social structure: a) the ‘new’ middle class or ‘human capital class’ which is those that work in
the technology sectors based on information, the service sector and the public sector, and who
are well educated and financially stable; b) those in a marginal labour position in the labour
market, including students, unemployed or other ‘peripheral’ groups such as youth, retired
people and middle-class housewives; and c) elements of the independent ‘old’ middle class
such as farmers, who are particularly evident in regional and environmental mobilisations.
These different groups vary in their motivations to participate in collective action, become
involved in collective action at different stages, have different capacities for building
collective identities and therefore have different sets of expectations.
Once again, our understanding of who belongs to contemporary consumer movement tribes
can be enhanced by an understanding of Melucci and once again the SFM provides a case in
point. All three sectors of the social structure outlined by Melucci are present in the SFM.
While the movement has been criticised widely as being a yuppie food revolution, it has also
attracted youth and students concerned with the negative social and economic effects of the
global food system as well as farmers who are often concerned with the environmental effects
of modern farming techniques. All three groups of members join the movement with
different agendas which inevitably will influence their motivations and the type of ‘tribal role’
they will adopt.
While the marketing literature on tribes so far has not yet addressed a number of important
areas, Melucci has developed theories in some of these areas as the following summary (of
points 3-5 in Table 1) highlights.
3.
Both structural and conjunctural factors affect the formation of movements. Structural
factors include: the corporate growth model, the production model, the education model and
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the life world model (which are essentially surplus models). Conjunctural factors include
economic factors and political factors (which highlight the limits of the system).
4.
Individuals contribute to the formation of a somewhat stable ‘we’ by rendering
common and constantly negotiating and adjusting at least three orientations: the goal of their
action; the means to be utilised; and the environment within which their action takes place.
There are three interwoven reasons why individuals participate in collective action: because
they belong to a self contradictory social sector, have available specific resources and have
the commitment required.
5.
Contemporary forms of collective action are both pre-political and meta-political:
pre-political in the sense that they are rooted in everyday life experiences and meta-political
because political forces can never represent them completely. The aim of this paper has been
to put these new ideas out on the table for future consideration and discussion.
Future Research
It has been acknowledged that more research is needed on consumer movements especially
those which are attempting to change consumer culture. Therefore an interesting opportunity
exists for consumer researchers to use an understanding of NSM theory. This can be done by
applying Melucci’s theories to a broad range of consumer movement tribes and determining
their usefulness. This may be done in a similar approach to that developed by Kozinets and
Handleman (2004), which used NSM theorist Touraine’s theory of ideology formation to
conceptualise the ideologies of consumer activists. The NSM literature has emerged very
much within a European context therefore in order to determine whether or not these theories
are bounded in this specific cultural context, it is important that researchers search for such
evidence in both European and non-European consumer movement tribes. Consumer
movement tribes such as the SFM are unique, consuming not only goods but ideologies as
well (which are often based on anti-market and anti-consumption values), and as such it is
likely that these types of tribes will continue to pose a number of challenges. Marketers that
understand the structure, composition, motivations, actions and political orientations of these
tribes will be better equipped to deal with these issues.
Summary
What we do and do not know about tribes was highlighted in Table 1, as were key theories
from NSM theorist Melucci, which offer potential to fill the recognised gaps. The following
five propositions summarise these issues:
1.
Consumer movement tribes are submerged in everyday life and they appear
only infrequently as publicly visible phenomena. The visible effects of tribal collective
action are institutional change, selection of new elites and cultural innovation.
2.
Consumer movement tribes consist mainly of members from the ‘new’ middle
class, those in a marginal labour position, and elements the independent ‘old’ middle
class.
3.
Structural and conjunctural factors that affect the formation of consumer
movement tribes include the corporate growth model, the production model, the
education model, the life world model, economic factors and political factors.
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4.
Tribal members contribute to the formation of somewhat stable ‘we’ by
rendering common the goal of their action, the means to be utilised, and the
environment. Individuals participate in tribal collective action because they belong to
a ‘self- contradictory’ social sector, have the specific resources needed and have the
commitment required.
5.
Consumer movement tribes are both pre-political and meta-political.
If we find Melucci’s theories relevant, in that they are able to be used by marketers to provide
a richer understanding of consumer movement tribes, a considerable contribution will have
been made to the Southern school of Marketing.
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