On the Limits of Immigrants’ Market-Mediated Social Mobility

In his sweeping critique of the social outcasts of modernity, Zygmunt Bauman portrays Western marginalized consumers as stuck in an existential quandary between urgent calls for cultural adaptation, and effective access to key socio-cultural capital. We empirically investigated the market-specific aspects of this socio-cultural constellation focusing on why and how certain practices of consumption and market participation endow immigrant consumers effectively with higher status recognition, while others rather evoke status-defying behaviors of their local peers. The research yields empirical support for Bauman’s diagnosis, for instance, when migrants are discriminated through brand discourses, but also reveals viable paths for upward social mobility for immigrant consumers.

Citation:

Marius K. Luedicke and Elisabeth A. Pichler (2011) ,"On the Limits of Immigrants’ Market-Mediated Social Mobility", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Alan Bradshaw, Chris Hackley, and Pauline Maclaran, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 31-34.