Article1989

The Sacred and the Profane in Consumer Behavior: Theodicy on the Odyssey

Russell W. Belk · Melanie Wallendorf · John F. Sherry

1,778 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Consumer Research

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Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification Study and Philosophy of Religion Religious Tourism and Spaces

Abstract

Two processes at work in contemporary society are the secularization of religion and the sacralization of the secular. Consumer behavior shapes and reflects these processes. For many, consumption has become a vehicle for experiencing the sacred. This article explores the ritual substratum of consumption and describes properties and manifestations of the sacred inherent in consumer behavior. Similarly, the processes by which consumers sacralize and desacralize dimensions of their experience are described. The naturalistic inquiry approach driving the insights in this article is advanced as a corrective to a premature narrowing of focus in consumer research.

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References

1968The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research.2017The Discovery of Grounded Theory 2003Metaphors We Live By 2017The Interpretation of Cultures 1982The Experiential Aspects of Consumption: Consumer Fantasies, Feelings, and Fun 1986The Invention of Tradition 1983Time and the Other: How Anthropology Makes Its Object 1986The cultural biography of things: commoditization as process

Cited by

1992Servicescapes: The Impact of Physical Surroundings on Customers and Employees 2002The Field behind the Screen: Using Netnography for Marketing Research in Online Communities 2005Consumer Culture Theory (CCT): Twenty Years of Research 1994Analysis and Interpretation of Qualitative Data in Consumer Research 1993River Magic: Extraordinary Experience and the Extended Service Encounter 1995Subcultures of Consumption: An Ethnography of the New Bikers 2002Why Do Brands Cause Trouble? A Dialectical Theory of Consumer Culture and Branding

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