2018-2019 Marketing Seminars

Consumer Claims to Space in the Politics of Consumer Identity

Melanie Wallendorf, Professor, Eller College of Management, University of Arizona

Synopses

Physical space is an integral element of social life that impacts a wide range of consumption experiences, including shopping, eating, and exercising. However, not every consumer has access to the same kinds or amounts of spaces. Just like with the resources of money and knowledge, access to the resource of space is socially structured, being unevenly available to different consumer categories. This substantial issue, consumer differential access to space, has been underexplored in consumer research; in this literature, the predominant approach to study space has been to focus on how social actors work to make specific sites more meaningful, through practices that are mostly detached from the influence of social structure. In response to this oversight, the present research employs a mixed-method ethnography to study a contemporary ethos of consumption that questions the differential access to space that women encounter with some of their self-expressive consumption activities as a result of pervasive power hierarchies. This research develops a geosocial framework that sheds light on how consumers act on space as a way of interrogating the cultural subordination of their consumer identities. This framework helps unravel the interlinkage between space and power relations in the realm of consumption.

 Understanding the Impact of Artificial Intelligence

Avi Goldfarb, Professor, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto

Synopses

Perhaps the most popular topic with respect to the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) concerns what this technology means for jobs. As AI develops and mimics increasing levels of cognitive functions, the scope of jobs that might be impacted is great. This has motivated investigations into the nature of cognitive skills required for a wide array of occupations in order to identify those most likely to be impacted. Estimating the impact of AI on labor market outcomes requires an understanding of the particular tasks that AI will directly effect. Our goal in this article is to specify the characteristics of the technological change brought about by AI, and then to demonstrate how understanding these details provides useful insight into the labor market consequences.