Consumption Identity - a case of tourist consuming experiences and constructing identity 28 September 2009 By Kari

1. Consumption & Identity - a case of tourist consuming experiences and constructing identity28 September 2009By Karina M. Smed

2. Agenda: Theoretical perspectives on consumption and identity A case example from the field of tourism: Tourism consumption and identity

3. The self-conception approach to consumer behaviour: An individual does have a self-concept of himself The self-concept is of value to him Because this self-concept is of value to him, an individual's behaviour will be directed toward the furtherance and enhancement of his self-concept An individual's self-concept is formed through the interaction process with parents, peers, teachers, and significant others Goods serve as social symbols and, therefore, are communication devices for the individual The use of these good-symbols communicates meaning to the individual himself and to others, causing an impact on the intra-action and/or the interaction processes and, therefore, an effect on the individual's self-concept (Grubb & Grathwohl, 1967:25-26)

4. Implications�: Goods carry symbolic meaning Self affects motivations to buy Identity construction as motivation � eventually affecting behaviour Self and identity are individually and socially determined �We are what we have� (Belk, 1988:139)

5. Developments in Consumer Theory (By �stergaard & Jantzen, 2000)

6. �[�] the consuming individual is conceived as a tourist who is looking for new experiences via consumption. This is not done due to a need for it or due to a need for fulfilling wants to get beyond a cognitive dissonance. Instead, it is based on a desire for a meaning in life (�stergaard, 1991) because the consuming individual, in this approach, uses the consumption of products and services as bricks in the construction of a meaningful life. It is an ongoing project for the consuming individual to construct meaning, and it is based on emotions and feelings where the single consuming individual tries to create a coherent life� (�stergaard & Jantzen, 2000:17)

7. Defining moments in time�: 16th Century means of government social competition Trickle down effect

8. 18th Century New opportunities & markets Changing consumer choices

9. �What men and women had once hoped to inherit from their parents, they now expected to buy for themselves. What were once bought at the dictate of need, were now bought at the dictate of fashion. What were once bought for life, might now be bought several times over. What were once available only on high days and holidays through the agency of markets, fairs and itinerant pedlars were increasingly made available every day but Sunday through the additional agency of an ever-advancing network of shops and shopkeepers. As a result �luxuries� came to be seen as mere �decencies�, and �decencies� came to be seen as �necessities�. Even �necessities� underwent a dramatic metamorphosis in style, variety and availability� (McKendrick et al. (1982:I) in McCracken, 1988:17).

10. 19th Century A symbolic side of consumption Interactions between persons and �things� �[consumer goods]�increasingly the residence of cultural meaning and new opportunities for defining self and the world" (McCracken, 1988:24) A nonreligious agent of change Beginning of consumer society

11. The consumer as a tribe member: ? ? Goods as a means to identity positioning and construction

12. Understanding Identity�: From identity as� A static core One entity formed at adolescence �but still a popular perception of having one unique inner core and true self To identity as� On-going process, constantly negotiated Multiple entitities dependent on context Postmodern self No unifying belief systems Fragmentation Decentrering, �freedom� to choose and possible loss of coherent sense of self

13. Conceptual Developments: Traditional psychology focus on individual self (E.g. Eriksson � life cycle) Social psychology focus on social dynamics (E.g. Tajfel & Turner - Social Identity Theory)

14. Personal & Social Identity: Multiple, flexible identities Group memberships Inclusion/exclusion Individual in group/group in individual - uniqueness/belonging � sameness, similarity/differentiation

15. Richard Jenkins (2008):  Static view: �Something that simply is� What it really is: �A process of being or becoming� = �doing� In addition: �Never a final or settled matter� ? identity as a social construction

16. Communicative negotiation of identity: Positioning self and other Ongoing process of negotiation "Identity can be seen as a story that a person writes and rewrites about him or herself, never reaching the end until they die, and always rewriting the earlier parts, so that the activity of writing becomes itself part of the story" (Giddens in Gabriel & Lang, 2006:83) Display of identity found in discourse, narratives, behaviour etc.

17. In relation to tourism�: The inauthenticity of modern society � reality found elsewhere: ��in other historical periods, and other cultures, in purer, simpler lifestyles� (MacCannell, 1976:3) Search for self elsewhere � tourism as an instrument �tourists are away from home to experience the heigthened consciousness of self by searching for reference images and signs of others� (Wang, 2000:2)

18. PhD Dissertation: �Tourism & Identity � accumulated tourist experience and travel career narratives in tourists� identity construction� An example incorporating consumption � in a tourism context � and identity � theoretical and empirical reflections