Gifts

Intertwining Market and Moral Economies and the Rise of Store Bought Gifts

Bibliographic Data

ID2166038
AuthorsMichelle F Weinberger (0000-0003-2864-7140, Northwestern University, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume20
Issue3
Pages245-257
Publication date2017-05-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueConsumption Markets & Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1025-3866 • E-ISSN: 1477-223X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10253866.2016.1231748
OpenAlexW2525355599
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited42

Gifts are a major part of both economic and social life. This intertwined relationship between the market and moral economies has long been unsettling to those concerned about rationalized marketplace meanings contaminating and eroding the sacred social role of gift giving. Consumer researchers have analysed the important relationship work done through gift giving in the moral economy and the ways that the marketplace facilitates such work (or not). However, little has explored when, how, and why a store bought gift, rather than a homemade one, actually became acceptable. This article uses three case studies from the early to mid-1800s to trace the rise of the store bought gift in the American marketplace. It highlights how the sociocultural context, marketing innovations, retailers, and meanings surrounding gifting all helped to ensconce gift giving as both a central component in the contemporary marketplace and a tool for symbolic communication in social life

Business · Context (archaeology · Gift giving · Moral economy · Political science · Politics · Sociocultural evolution · Sociology · Symbolic communication · Work (physics · American History and Culture · Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification · Law · Wine Industry and Tourism · Marketing

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