The Transformative Potential of Feminist Critique in Consumer Research

Given the importance of gender in consumer research, one might expect feminist perspectives to be at the forefront of critical engagement with consumer behaviour theory. However, in recent years, feminist voices have been barely audible. This paper explores the value of, and insights offered by, feminist theories and feminist activism, and how feminist theory and practice has altered our understanding of gendered consumption. It then argues that postmodern and postfeminist perspectives have diluted feminism's transformative potential, leading to a critical impasse in marketing and consumer research. In conclusion, we suggest that feminist perspectives, notably materialist feminism, might open up fresh new possibilities for critique, and interesting and worthwhile areas for transformative research in consumer behaviour.

Transformative realism: reflections of reality in political avant-garde and contemporary fine art film - Spanish Labyrinth, south from Granada

A turn towards documentary modes of practice amongst contemporary fine art video and filmmakers towards the end of the 20th Century, led to moving image works that represent current social realities. This drew some comparisons of these forms of art to journalism and industrial documentary. The practical research is embodied in a single screen film that responds to recent political and ecological realities in Spain. These include the mass demonstrations that led to the occupation of Madrid’s Plaza del Sol and Spain’s in 2011 and largest recorded forest fires that spread through Andalusia in August of the following year. The film, titled Spanish Labyrinth, South from Granada, is a response to these events and also relates to political avant-garde film of the 1930’s by re-tracing a journey undertaken by three revolutionary filmmakers, Yves Allegret, René Naville and Eli Lotar, in 1931. The theoretical research for this project establishes an historical root of artists’ film that responds to current social realities, in contrast to news media, in the Soviet and European avant-garde movements of the 1920s and 1930s. The main aim of this method is to argue the status of the works that I identify, both avant-garde and contemporary, as a form of art that preceded a Griersonian definition of documentary film.

Territories of scarcity and creativity: a critical view of informal settlements and emerging tactics under conditions of scarcity in Nairobi, Kenya and Quito, Ecuador

This thesis explores the processes through which scarcity is constructed in informal settlements and how conditions emerging within its limits gives way to particular socio-spatial phenomena and influence the emergence of self-organisation and creative strategies from a non-expert perspective. At the same time, this thesis deconstructs these emerging tactics (reactive and transformative) in a diagrammatic way to generate a critical study of their potential for socio-spatial change that goes beyond the everyday survival. Most people associate scarcity with “not having enough” of something, most usually of a material nature. In contrast, this paper is based on the premise that scarcity is a constructed condition, therefore exploring it beyond its immediate manifestation and illustrating its discursive, distributive and socio-material components. In this line, the research uses Assemblage Theory as both an approach and a tool for analysis. This approach allows the research to depart from everyday narratives of the residents, and gradually evolve into a multi-scalar, non-linear reading of scarcity, by following leads into different realms and unpacking a series of routine events to uncover their connections to wider processes and particular elements affecting the settlement and the city as a whole. For this purpose, the research is based on a qualitative, flexible and multi-sited methodology, using different case studies as testing grounds. Collected data stems from a 11-months ethnographic fieldwork in informal settlements in Ecuador and Kenya, analysing the socio-spatial practices and strategies deployed by the different actors producing the built environment and arising from everyday and latent experiences of scarcity. The thesis examines the multi-scalar nature of these strategies, including self-building and management tactics, the mobilisation of grassroots organisations, the innovative ways of collaborating deployed by different coalitions and the reformulation of urban development policies. As outcomes of the research, the thesis will show illustrative diagrams that allow a better understanding of, firstly, the construction of scarcity in the built environment beyond its immediate manifestation and secondly, the way that emerging tactics a) improve existing conditions of scarcity, b) reinforce the status quo or c) contribute to the worsening of the original condition. Therefore, this thesis aims to offer lessons with both practical and theoretical considerations, by firstly, giving an insight into the complexity and transcalar nature of the construction of scarcity in informal settlements; secondly, by illustrating how acute conditions related to scarcity gives birth to a plethora of particular phenomena shaping the territory, social relationships and processes; and thirdly, by identifying specific characteristics within the informal that might allow for new readings of the city and possibilities for socio-spatial change under conditions of scarcity.

Identifying and explaining framing strategies of low carbon lifestyle movement organisations

Over the last decade we have seen the growth and development of low carbon lifestyle movement organisations, which seek to encourage members of the public to reduce their personal energy use and carbon emissions. As a first step to assess the transformational potential of such organisations, this paper examines the ways in which they frame their activities. This reveals an important challenge they face: in addressing the broader public, do they promote ‘transformative’ behaviours or do they limit themselves to encouraging ‘easy changes’ to maintain their appeal? We find evidence that many organisations within this movement avoid ‘transformative’ frames. The main reasons for this are organisers’ perceptions that transformational frames lack resonance with broader audiences, as well as wider cultural contexts that caution against behavioural intervention. The analysis draws on interviews with key actors in the low carbon lifestyle movement and combines insights from the literatures on collective action framing and lifestyle movements.

Discipline-specific writing for business students: Research, practice and pedagogy

In the past few years strong arguments have been made for locating academic writing in higher education within the students’ disciplinary contexts in the belief that a full understanding of the role and dynamic of writing can only be achieved if it is examined as a social practice in its context of production. This chapter reports on a study that examined the conceptualisations of writing for business by a group of undergraduate and postgraduate lecturers and students at the business school of a British university. Based on a critical analysis of the literature reviewed for the study, and the data collected, the chapter contributes to existing writing pedagogy with a number of research-informed transformative pedagogical applications for teaching discipline-specific writing for business. Such applications which combine context-oriented practices (e.g. raising awareness of the role of disciplinary values in shaping writing) and text-oriented activities (e.g. discipline-specific referencing) aim at influencing the pedagogic agenda for teaching writing in higher education. The chapter concludes with questions for reflection and discussion that provide an opportunity for readers to reflect upon their own teaching environment.

Sociological Knowledge and Transformation at ‘Diversity University’, UK

This chapter is based on a case study of one UK university sociology department and shows how sociology knowledge can transform the lives of ‘non-traditional’ students. The research from which the case is drawn focused on four departments teaching sociology-related subjects in universities positioned differently in UK league tables. It explored the question of the relationship between university reputation, pedagogic quality and curriculum knowledge, challenging taken-for-granted judgements about ‘quality’ and in conceptualising ‘just’ university pedagogy by taking Basil Bernstein’s ideas about how ‘powerful’ knowledge is distributed in society to illuminate pedagogy and curriculum. The project took the view that ‘power’ lies in the acquisition of specific (inter)disciplinary knowledges which allows the formation of disciplinary identities by way of developing the means to think about and act in the world in specific ways. We chose to focus on sociology because (1) university sociology is taken up by all socio-economic classes in the UK and is increasingly taught in courses in which the discipline is applied to practice; (2) it is a discipline that historically pursues social and moral ambition which assists exploration of the contribution of pedagogic quality to individuals and society beyond economic goals; (3) the researchers teach and research sociology or sociology of education - an understanding of the subjects under discussion is essential to make judgements about quality. ‘Diversity’ was one of four case study universities. It ranks low in university league tables; is located in a large, multi-cultural English inner city; and, its students are likely to come from lower socio-economic and/or ethnic minority groups, as well as being the first in their families to attend university. To make a case for transformative teaching at Diversity, the chapter draws on longitudinal interviews with students, interviews with tutors, curriculum documents, recordings of teaching, examples of student work, and a survey. It establishes what we can learn from the case of sociology at Diversity, arguing that equality, quality and transformation for individuals and society are served by a university curriculum which is research led and challenging combined with pedagogical practices which give access to difficult-to-acquire and powerful knowledge.

Empowering development: capabilities and Latin American critical traditions

This thesis theoretically and critically examines the move towards people-centred approaches to development. It offers a critical examination of the work of Amartya Sen using theoretical resources emerging from Latin American traditions. Amartya Sen’s calls to understand Development as Freedom (1999) have significantly influenced mainstream development thinking and practice, constituting the clearest example of people-centred approaches to development today. Overcoming the limitations of previous state-centred notions of development articulated around ideas of economic growth, in Sen’s Capability Approach (CA) development is seen as a process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy. In this understanding, the agency of development shifts from the state to individuals and the analytic focus moves from economic growth to individual capabilities. In this manner, this framework is structured towards the central goal of empowerment, wherein the expansion of capabilities is seen both as the means and end of development. Since its inception, the widespread support for the CA has allowed for the expansion of ethical considerations within mainstream development thinking. Even while the remarkable advances offered by Sen’s work should be praised, this thesis argues that these have come with new limitations. These limitations stem from, what is termed here, a “Paradox of Empowerment” that effectively encloses Sen’s approach within Western notions of development. While Sen’s approach is poised to provide a theoretical framework that is built on the expansion of freedom and individual agency, there is little agency here to move beyond the ideas of development fundamentally linked to liberal democracies and market economies. This thesis engages with several critical traditions from Latin America, recovering their often undervalued insights for development thinking. Crucially, this engagement provides the critical framework to illustrate the aforementioned paradox and explore multiple dimensions of empowerment central for contemporary development thinking and practice. In this, the thesis engages Sen’s work with the Liberation Theology of Gustavo Gutierrez, with Paulo Freire’s Critical Pedagogy and with the contemporary discussions of ‘Buen Vivir’ associated with Indigenous philosophies of the Andean region. Throughout its chapters,it uncovers the conceptual baggage within the Paradox of Empowerment in Sen’s work and examines the ethical challenges and boundaries of this approach in relation to the collective dimension of development processes, the possibilities for structural transformation and concerns for sustainability. Progressively engaging the different dimensions of this paradox, this thesis advances the recovery of the transformative potential of the ideas of empowerment for development.