Just For Fun a History of Mentality Based Analysis of Hedonic and Experiential Consumption

EXTENDED ABSTRACT - We call attention to experience orientation (Hirschman and Holbrook 1982; Holbrook and Hirschman 1982) as an important dimension in consumer research. We do not claim that this striving for experiences is the dominant or only factor of motivation when consumers behave in the market place. But we claim that experiences have an important function for consumers when they have to evaluate the significance of products for their life. Experiences are an important component in the current perception of 'the good life’. Demographically, we assume that this striving has become much more widespread during the last decades. The reasons for this are increased economic possibilities for a greater proportion of the population and a modern form of hedonism. The experience orientation is moreover stimulated by the aesthetization of commodities that has taken place during the last century. In a sense the experience orientation is the concise answer to this aesthetization, since the consumer can use aesthetics in the construction of a coherent self.

Citation:

Christian Jantzen, Per Ostergaard, and James A. Fitchett (2004) ,"Just For Fun a History of Mentality Based Analysis of Hedonic and Experiential Consumption", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 31, eds. Barbara E. Kahn and Mary Frances Luce, Valdosta, GA : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 328-328.