Developing Consumer Subjectivity in Ireland: 1900—80

Abstract

The development of consumer subjectivity cannot be solely understood in terms of the intentions, strategies and discursive practices emanating from diverse power centres. Following Elias, and using Ireland as an empirical case, the consumer is presented as undergoing a shift along a continuum of We-I balances towards the latter pole. This occurs within the context of increasing social interdependencies, functional specialization and social integration. Through complex, unplanned social processes over time, the consumer is seen more individualistically. I conclude by suggesting that there are opportunities to synthesize figurational and Foucauldian approaches to consumer subjectivity once long-term social change is prioritized. Key wordsThe question of who the consumer is has received considerable attention in recent years, and is often an implicit assumption in many academic accounts of consumer culture. Slater (1997: 33-62) argues that modern thought tends to characterize the consumer as either hero or dupe, someone in rational control of their interests and how to satisfy them, or someone manipulated by the machinations of the market and its operators. In the former social category the consumer has sovereignty over their own needs and desires, which are private and normatively beyond the control or determination by others. The latter model denotes the consumer as a more passive recipient of information and persuasion regarding the type of life one should lead and the means to conform to it. Clearly, these oppositional models raise questions about subjectivity, or the extent to which one is expected to conform to broader social expectations and ideals in practices of consumption, or alternatively, rely exclusively on one's own dispositions to steer one's actions in the marketplace.

Green governmentality and responsibilization: new forms of governance and responses to ‘consumer responsibility’

“…Hobson 2004, Dolan 2009). This way of governing individual conduct is evident in fields such as health, career development, and, not least, the environment.…”

Excremental theory development

“…We agree with Thompson's (2004) assertion that consumer behaviour is very much mediated by sometimes difficult-to-identify discourses of power and that these discourses can be historically inherited. Indeed, various authors have attested to the importance of understanding the historical emergence of the consuming subject (McCracken 1990;Witkowski and Jones 2006;Dolan 2009). A tendency to interpret the consumer as a de-historicised entity, as though the marketplace offers a blank book of possibility unrestrained by history or institutional powers, is further challenged by our observations.…”

Documents and detachment in the figurational sociology of sport

“…Firstly, we recognised that Gaelic games developed into more formal encounters during the late nineteenth century. The rst author had already used Elias's theories to examine the development of consumer culture in Ireland over the course of the twentieth century (Dolan, 2005, Dolan, 2009a, Dolan, 2009b. The choice of a gurational approach for that study was not immediate or automatic, but followed dissatisfaction with an earlier inclination towards a Foucauldian analysis.…”