Towards an ontology of consumers as distributed networks (or the end of ‘consumer research’ as we know it?): retrospective insights from the praxeomorphism of Russell Belk’s ‘extended self’

ABSTRACT

Belk’s conceptualisation of the extended self is one of the most influential articles published in the history of consumer research. However, less scholarly attention has been given to the broader ontological implications of Belk’s later arguments that his original distinction between a core and extended self should be abandoned. In this comment, I first highlight how Belk’s original formulation marked a contested transition from a dualistic view of consumers as possessing a core self that remains distinct from the socio-material world to a dialectical understanding of consumer selves as emerging from a centre-to-periphery network of relations. His ensuing update implicitly denotes another ontological shift towards an even more de-centred view of the ‘extended self’. However, Belk’s reformulation of the extended self in the digital age lacked a culturally established, alternative praxeomorphic model needed to fully disentangle the extended self from the ‘heavy’ ontology of the core self. Contemporary socio-technical innovations are beginning to offer a praxeomorphic means to ontologically re-vision consumers as distributed networks whose life narratives function as ledgers of their assembled experiences. As an emerging praxeomorphic future shaped by the mass diffusion of AI technologies is rapidly taking shape, I suggest that ‘consumer research’, as we currently understand it, may soon be radically transformed.

KEYWORDS:

• Extended self
• consumer culture theory (CCT)
• ontology
• heavy and light capitalism
• actor network theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Projection can also correspond to negative, unwanted, or unwanted aspects of the self that are transposed to an object, giving rise to a defence mechanism known as splitting (Klein, 1975).

2. Source: https://www.synopsys.com/glossary/what-is-blockchain.html.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Craig J. Thompson

Craig J. Thompson is the Churchill-Bascom Professor of Marketing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research investigates the socio-cultural shaping of consumer identity and the politics of consumption.