2008/03/21 by Markus Giesler · 7 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Social Sciences · Psychology · #Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification #Psychology of Social Influence #Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
paper · doi:10.1086/522098
openalex publication_date 2008/03/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
How do markets change? Findings from a 7-year longitudinal processual investigation of consumer performances in the war on music downloading suggest that markets in the cultural creative sphere (those organizing the exchange of intellectual goods such as music, movies, software, and the written word) evolve through stages of perpetual structural instability. Each stage addresses an enduring cultural tension between countervailing utilitarian and possessive ideals. Grounded in anthropology and consumer behavior, I illustrate this historical dynamic through the process of marketplace drama, a fourfold sequence of performed conflict among opposing groups of consumers and producers. Implications for theorizing on market system dynamics and the consumption of performance are offered. (c) 2007 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..