 Consumption InstitutionsMetin Cosgel () Review of Social Economy, 1997, vol. 55, issue 2, 153-171 Abstract: Consumption institutions reflect socially constructed systems of rules that generate regularities in people's 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., language, 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. Keywords: consumption; institutions; Veblen; modernism; rhetoric; knowledge (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rsocec:v:55:y:1997:i:2:p:153-171 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/00346769700000031 Access Statistics for this article Review of Social Economy is currently edited by Wilfred Dolfsma and John Davis More articles in Review of Social Economy from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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