Mobilizing for Cash-in-Use: Addressing the Gap in Neoliberalism Caused by Disruptive Innovations

Pia A. Albinsson and Spencer M. Ross

Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2024, vol. 9, issue 4, 452 - 466

Abstract: This qualitative research examines the everyday experiences of pro-cash activists who resist marketplace practices that force consumers to use platformed money ecosystems (PMEs) thereby eliminating cash-in-use. Activists allege that the increasing use of PMEs threaten consumers’ financial well-being thereby increasing marketplace vulnerability as banks abuse their oligopoly status to perpetuate a power imbalance. Findings indicate that technology disruptions transitions lead to the exclusion of pro-cash consumers who are deemed illegitimate and deviant and therefore undesirable to financial institutions. These consumers find themselves burdened with the responsibility of proving their legitimacy in the marketplace. We contribute to the literature by empirically demonstrating that the consumer responsibilization process violates state and market logics. In response, consumers engage in collective resistance and consumer activism with the aim of upholding the expected logics (i.e., cash-in-use).

Date: 2024
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