Consumption Institutions

Metin Cosgel ()

Review of Social Economy, 1997, vol. 55, issue 2, pages 153-71

Abstract: Consumption institutions reflect socially constructed systems of rules that generate regularities in peoples consumption behavior. This paper seeks to understand these institutions by using insights from recent developments in rhetorical analysis and the economics of institutions in order to develop an analogy between speech and consumption and to explore parallels between the institutions that surround them Just as a speaker utilizes speech institutions (e.g. languages speech codes), a consumer utilizes a variety of consumption institutions (e.g., the meanings produced by specific arrangements of goods, dress codes) in making statements. Consumption institutions serve as both constraints and enablers, providing the knowledge that assist individuals to relate to each other through intersubjectively shared categories of communication. They serve a dual function by providing knowledge for the consumer to send and the audience to interpret messages. Copyright 1997 by Taylor and Francis Group

Date: 1997

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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rsocec:v:55:y:1997:i:2:p:153-71

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Review of Social Economy is edited by Wilfred Dolfsma, Deborah Figart, Robert McMaster and Martha Starr

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