Practising gender: The role of banter in young men’s improvisations of masculine consumer identities

Abstract

Although consumer researchers have explored the social, cultural and consumption-related tensions involved in being and becoming masculine, prior research has tended to focus on individual men’s experiences. This paper reviews literature in this area together with theories of gender as performed, performative and social practice. Our ethnographic study of male friendship groups in central Scotland explores the gender processes involved in improvising their masculine consumer identities within and across various social settings and interactions. In particular, through consumption-related banter, they played for and played with their ideas of masculinity, thereby engaging in the practising of gender. The boundaries between ‘safe’ and ‘danger’ zones of consumption varied across social groups and contexts, highlighting the complexity and contingency of contemporary masculinities.

Keywords:

• masculinity
• gender
• consumption practices
• discourse
• banter
• ethnography

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Paul Hewer, the Associate Editor and the reviewers, for their insightful comments and guidance which were invaluable in developing the theoretical framing of this paper.

Notes

1. Pseudonyms used.

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjzGaSQX0iU

3. WKD is a vodka-based bottled drink produced by Beverage Brands.

4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfNpPnoasME

5. McCoy crisps are manufactured by KP Snacks.

6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3_nj4-mN90

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Wendy Hein

Wendy Hein is a Lecturer in Marketing at Birkbeck, University of London. Her research interests include consumption practices and gender identities, with a particular focus on men and masculinities. Based on her ethnography of young men’s consumption in Scotland, her interests further include ethnographic methodologies, the role of gender differences and new technologies in ethnographic research. She is the co-ordinator for the marketing discipline of the PRME Gender Equality working group, where current work focuses on teaching gender in the wider marketing curriculum. Her work has been presented at North American ACR Conferences, ACR Gender, Marketing and Consumer Behaviour Conferences and Interpretive Consumer Research Workshops, and has been published in Qualitative Marketing Research: An International Journal.

Stephanie O’Donohoe

Stephanie O’Donohoe is Professor of Advertising and Consumer Culture at The University of Edinburgh Business School. A graduate of the College of Marketing and Design (now DIT) and of Trinity College, Dublin, her PhD, undertaken at Edinburgh, explored young adults’ experiences of advertising. Her current research interests include the working lives of advertising creatives, consumption experiences during bereavement and in the transition to motherhood, and children and emerging adults as consumers. Her work has been presented at international marketing and interdisciplinary conferences, and published in edited collections and journals including the European Journal of Marketing, Human Relations, and the Journal of Marketing Management. She is on the editorial boards of several journals and is co-chair of the Sixth Interdisciplinary Child and Teen Consumption Conference (2014) and the Eighth Interpretive Consumer Research Workshop (2015), both to be held at Edinburgh.

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