Understanding the Dark Sides of Alternative Economies to Maximize Societal Benefit

Abstract

Alternative economies can significantly contribute to societal flourishing, but the potential dark sides should also be considered. As shared commitments are the foundation of alternative economies, we draw on related literature to conceptualize various types of dark sides of an alternative economy. While less prominent than the well-being outcomes, we present qualitative data of when the participants of one alternative food network experienced disappointment, burnout, guilt, or division. Comparing with the dark sides gleaned from other studies on alternative economies, we present a framework for evaluating the dark sides in alternative economies. Dark sides can be on a continuum from the micro level to the macro level, as well as more likely to threaten the continuance of alternative economies or societal well-being. We offer recommendations to guard against the vulnerabilities of alternative economies for their continued growth and impact, as well as discuss the implications for research on marketing systems failure.

Our Obsolete Marketing Mentality: George Fisk, Meet Karl Polanyi

“…The point is that the market mechanism is only one of many ways , and government/state control is not the only alternative. This broader perspective will interest all macromarketers, but perhaps especially those working in the fields of marketing and development (Arndt 1981; Böhm and Brei 2008; Ingenbleek 2014; Figueiredo et al 2015; Godinho, et al 2017), critical marketing (Burton 2001; Firat and Tadajewski 2009; Tadajewski 2010; Dholakia 2012), those interested in alternative economies (Benmecheddal, Gorge and Özçağlar-Toulouse 2017; Campana, Chatzidakis, and Laamanen 2017; Lloveras and Quinn 2017; Watson and Ekici 2020), those interested in sustainability (Visconti, Minowa, and Maclaran 2014; Prothero and McDonagh 2021; Varadarajan 2020), especially if social sustainability and cultural survival are among the areas of concern, and those interested in the long view (Lusch 2017; Shultz 2017). Those working in marketing and development, especially, must remember that market capitalism grew, and grows, by reaching into and often destroying traditional economies integrated by institutions other than the market.…”

Normalized Heterotopia as a Market Failure in a Spatial Marketing System: The Case of Gated Communities in India

“…The normalization of heterotopia leads to a more significant phenomenon amounting to the failure of the marketing system. The expected outcome of any marketing system is to improve the well-being of its participants (e.g., Watson and Ekici 2020: Wooliscroft and Ganglmair-Wooliscroft 2018). However, when heterotopias emerge, they tend to envelop and squeeze the weaker actors out of these benefits by fracturing and bifurcating the marketing systems.…”

“…The terms of trade, in such cases, are structured by the market in a way that facilitates elite consumption and uses naturalizing strategies to ‘other’ the rest. Watson and Ekici (2020) explore failures in alternate economies that could hold back alternate marketing systems from contributing to societal well-being. Redmond (2018) posits that these market failures can be self-correcting and that marketing systems reorganize themselves in the long run.…”

Participatory Food Provisioning via Emerging Technologies: Revisiting Prosumption and Value Creation Beyond the Anthropocene

“…Macromarketing researchers have explored both the potential benefits and drawbacks of these systems. For instance, Watson and Ekici (2020) discuss aspects of alternative food networks undermining their community value. Saravade, Felix, and Fırat (2021) question the foundational logic of sharing economies, concluding that they are unlikely to serve as genuine alternatives but function in parallel competition to existing economic systems.…”