Consumer Collectives: A History and Reflections on Their Future

Abstract

This article provides a history of the treatment of consumer collectives in the social sciences literature. It highlights some of the insights derived from recent work in consumer research on consumer collectives which we organize under a heuristic taxonomy distinguishing packs, tribes, and bands. All of this suggests some future directions for consumer collectives and areas for future research. The proliferation and diversification of digital technologies will continue to shape and be shaped by consumer collectivities. Platforms are likely to accelerate and diversify consumers' collective uses of their affordances. Algorithms seem destined to play a bigger role in the formation and management of collectives. Both geography-free and local collectives are likely to develop further. The article concludes with synopses of the competitive and invited articles in this issue, which richly portray the behaviors and meanings that shape and are shaped by consumer collectives.

Consumption networks in times of social distancing: Towards entrained solidarity

“…Consumption collectives are “networks of social relations that arise around consumer goods, brands, other kinds of commercial symbols, and digital platforms” (Arnould et al, 2021: 415). Research on consumption collectives since the 1990s has shown how consumption works as a powerful force to help consumers reinvent a communal feeling of social relatedness, togetherness, and solidarity in modern, individualistic societies.…”

“…On looking more closely, we do still glimpse traces of sociality in communitas. Arnould et al (2021) point to the existence of social links within communitas but argue that they are more liquid than solid as they emerge in physical and digital spaces and are mostly grounded in members’ likeness and experiences aimed at providing opportunities to escape reality. Phenomena such as pilgrimages, rave parties, or digital nomading are examples of such fragmented sociality within communitas because they arise at the margins of traditional social structures (Goulding et al, 2002; Higgins and Hamilton, 2020; Husemann et al, 2016).…”

“…The second kind of sociality, organized sociality, covers consumption collectives that share “interpretive repertoires that create social boundaries” among members (Arnould et al, 2021: 420). These collectives are socially structured, hierarchically organized, and mostly territorially based.…”

“…This short-sightedness is even more noticeable in an era of digital technologies and the constant proliferation of algorithmic platforms that makes the entanglement among individuality, solidarity, and consumption more intricate. Indeed, consumption collectives increasingly emerge as networks because they include heterogeneous entities (people, things, and institutions) and create alternative forms of social links among consumers (Arnould et al, 2021; Cova and Shankar, 2018; Thomas et al, 2013). A case in point is the emergence in France, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, of local groups of people who helped each other by meeting online to “exchange and discuss sewing patterns, do-it-yourself templates, and ideas” to produce and distribute hand-made masks to complement the shortage created by the market and the government’s inability to meet demand (Cochoy, 2021: 431).…”

Secret Consumption:

“…2) 消費集団とは， 「消費財，ブランド，その他の商業的シンボ ル，デジタル・プラットフォームの周囲に生じる社会的関 係のネットワーク」を指し (Arnould et al, 2021) ，製品， ブランド，活動，消費イデオロギーへのコミットメントを 共有する消費者から構成される (Cova & Cova, 2002;Muniz & O'Guinn, 2001;Schouten & McAlexander, 1995…”