Let’s get rich: Multilevel marketing and the moral economy in Siberia

Abstract

Multinational multilevel marketing companies like Amway advertise the opportunity to get rich by selling their products and by recruiting further salespeople into their schemes. Multilevel marketing is a highly contested industry worldwide because of its predatory marketing strategies, exaggerated promises and the fact that only few participants are successful in their attempt to make money. This paper examines the moral logics of multilevel marketing in a rural part of Southeast Siberia, exploring how Amway manages to thrive on the basis of intimate social relationships. I argue that it is not only individual aspirations and the dream of great wealth which makes people join multilevel marketing schemes, but that feelings of obligation, expectations of support and intimate pressure are crucial for pushing people towards such economic activity.

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