The alchemy of the upwardly mobile: symbolic capital and the stylization of elites in frequent-flyer programmes

Abstract

From a sample of 51 major international airlines, we offer a critical discourse analysis of so-called loyalty or frequent-flyer programmes and their related business-class services. As examples of cultural capital par excellence, these seemingly innocuous discursive formations act as significant agents of, and channels for, globalist relations of power in the context of international travel and tourism. The principal logic of frequent-flyer programmes hinges on establishing a synthetically personalized (see Fairclough, 1989) framework by which ‘loyalty’ is defined and rewarded, and by which privilege is then awarded and regulated. However, what actually sustains this commodified interpersonal appeal is the airlines' skilful reworking of symbolic capital, their manipulation of the illusion of distinction, and the exploitation of social anxieties about status. This is all achieved through a series of discursive strategies that stylize(see Cameron, 2000a) ‘preferred’ passengers as elite. Our analysis of frequent-flyer programmes and business-class services exposes some of the ways social privilege and superiority are nowadays measured, as well as the normative production of luxury. We argue that, for the sake of global marketability and profit, the semiotic realization of super-elitism by the airline industry powerfully ‘re-organizes' anachronistic modes of tourism while also reformulating very traditional notions of class distinction.

A darker side of hypermobility

“…In the past, network capital would mostly have been signified by objects, such as large or powerful cars, private aircraft or yachts, frequent business trips, often to long-haul destinations, or signifiers of frequent flyers, such as often golden or otherwise 'status-coloured' frequent flyer high status cards attached to bags (Thurlow and Jaworski, 2006). While such signifiers persist, contemporary glamorization of (hyper)mobility in some more privileged societies, such as within Northern Europe, appears to be framed around a considerably greater variety of expressions, which only to a limited degree represent objects, rather than issues, aspects or ideas of admiration.…”

“…The high social status associated with frequent corporeal mobility in some more privileged societies, specifically by air and road, is at least partly attributable to its glamorization in the media and other forms of public discourse (Thurlow and Jaworski, 2006). The purpose of this critical review is to further investigate the social mechanisms through which hypermobility is glamorized in the contemporary world.…”

Exploring the Micro-Politics of Place: Lifestyle Migrants, Collective Identities and Modes of Belonging

“…Although 'elite' membership status is clearly grounded in economic privilege, it is not a clear-cut, structural social category. An elite identity is an ideological subject position; it is semiotically achieved and enacted through social practices, including discourse (Thurlow & Jaworski, 2006). Membership is therefore relatively open -and through the repetition and routinization of discursive practices such as the processes of symbolic differentiation -including, in this case, through the foregrounding of English rather than the local language in these highly visible billboards) -elitist, privileged, collective identities are reproduced and reinforced.…”

Factors Contributing to Popularity of Loyalty Programs

“…From the perspective of customers, preferential treatment is perceived as elitism, which concerns a customer's inclination toward a certain ideological reality to claim exclusivity or superiority (Thurlow & Jaworski, 2006). For loyalty program members, tiers provide a sense of social status, as members compare themselves with those with other tiers (Drèze & Nunes, 2009).…”