|
Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
|
Commercial cultures: Transcending the cultural and the economic
Peter Jackson
Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
In recent years there have been repeated calls for a convergence between ‘the cultural’ and ‘the economic’. This paper provides a specific take on these issues through an exploration of the contested geographies of contemporary commercial culture. Traditionally, ‘culture’ has been associated with meaning and creativity, with works of the imagination and aesthetic practices that are far removed from the pursuit of economic profit. By contrast, ‘commerce’ has conventionally been regarded with disdain by critically minded social scientists, signalling a vulgar and materialistic world, devoid of morality, where human agency is subordinated to the logic of capital. This paper aims to challenge such dualistic thinking by exploring the commodification of cultural difference and by demonstrating that the rational calculus of the market is inescapably embedded in a range of cultural practices. The argument moves from an analysis of linear commodity chains to an exploration of more complex circuits and networks, illustrated with examples from contemporary commodity culture, looking specifically at the food and fashion sectors. Rather than demonstrating complexity for its own sake, the objective is to identify new forms of understanding and new possibilities for intervention in what can sometimes seem like an all-encompassing ‘consumer culture’ where every act of resistance is immediately recuperated in successive rounds of commodification.
Key Words: commodities • culture • commerce • (cultural) difference • food • fashion
Progress in Human Geography, Vol. 26, No. 1,
3-18 (2002)
DOI: 10.1191/0309132502ph254xx
 CiteULike  Complore  Connotea  Del.icio.us  Digg  Reddit  Technorati  Twitter What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
|
|
 
A. Pike
Geographies of brands and branding
Progress in Human Geography,
October 1, 2009;
33(5):
619 - 645.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I. Cook
Geographies of food: mixing
Progress in Human Geography,
December 1, 2008;
32(6):
821 - 833.
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
N. M. Coe, P. Dicken, and M. Hess
Global production networks: realizing the potential
J. Econ. Geogr.,
May 1, 2008;
8(3):
271 - 295.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
R. Hudson
Region and place: rethinking regional development in the context of global environmental change
Progress in Human Geography,
December 1, 2007;
31(6):
827 - 836.
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. James
Critical moments in the production of `rigorous' and `relevant' cultural economic geographies
Progress in Human Geography,
June 1, 2006;
30(3):
289 - 308.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
K. Bakker and G. Bridge
Material worlds? Resource geographies and the `matter of nature'
Progress in Human Geography,
February 1, 2006;
30(1):
5 - 27.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
D. Leslie and N. M. Rantisi
Governing the Design Economy in MontrEal, Canada
Urban Affairs Review,
January 1, 2006;
41(3):
309 - 337.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. Hughes
Geographies of exchange and circulation: alternative trading spaces
Progress in Human Geography,
August 1, 2005;
29(4):
496 - 504.
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
R. Hudson
Conceptualizing economies and their geographies: spaces, flows and circuits
Progress in Human Geography,
August 1, 2004;
28(4):
447 - 471.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. Goss
Geography of consumption I
Progress in Human Geography,
June 1, 2004;
28(3):
369 - 380.
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
N. Castree
Economy and culture are dead! Long live economy and culture!
Progress in Human Geography,
April 1, 2004;
28(2):
204 - 226.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
K. N. Rankin
Anthropologies and geographies of globalization
Progress in Human Geography,
December 1, 2003;
27(6):
708 - 734.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
P. Crang, C. Dwyer, and P. Jackson
Transnationalism and the spaces of commodity culture
Progress in Human Geography,
August 1, 2003;
27(4):
438 - 456.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
T. Marsden
Book Review: Reading retail: a geographical perspective on retailing and consumption spaces
Progress in Human Geography,
August 1, 2003;
27(4):
533 - 536.
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
N. Castree
Commodifying what nature?
Progress in Human Geography,
June 1, 2003;
27(3):
273 - 297.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
L. Crewe
Geographies of retailing and consumption: markets in motion
Progress in Human Geography,
June 1, 2003;
27(3):
352 - 362.
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. Currah
The Virtual Geographies of Retail Display
Journal of Consumer Culture,
March 1, 2003;
3(1):
5 - 37.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
