What's the Matter With That Kid? Family Consumption Strategies That Minimize the Critical Gaze

One metanarrative of consumer theories is that illness/disability is an unfortunate side note, when in reality, impairment, physical differences, and cognitive limitations touch many lives. This paper explores the adaptation that families as a consuming unit make in their transition to being a family with a special needs child. When the family system includes disability, how does the family experience otherness, how do they adapt to their new constraints, and, eventually, how do they resist exclusion and form new marketplace connections? As unwilling participants at the boundary of marketplace evolution, these families provide a window into structural assumptions and constraints of the market that may not be consciously identified by the able bodied.



Citation:

Marlys Mason and Teresa Pavia (2007) ,"What's the Matter With That Kid? Family Consumption Strategies That Minimize the Critical Gaze", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 8, eds. Stefania Borghini, Mary Ann McGrath, and Cele Otnes, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research.

Authors

Marlys Mason, Oklahoma State University, USA
Teresa Pavia, University of Utah, USA



Volume

E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 8 | 2007



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