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Excremental theory development
Author(s) -
Bradshaw Alan,
Canniford Robin
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of consumer behaviour
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.811
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1479-1838
pISSN - 1472-0817
DOI - 10.1002/cb.307
Subject(s) - secrecy , order (exchange) , sociology , power (physics) , discipline , subject (documents) , epistemology , aesthetics , environmental ethics , social psychology , psychology , law , social science , computer science , political science , business , art , philosophy , physics , finance , quantum mechanics , library science
This paper explores and investigates multi‐disciplinary perspectives on excrement in order to fertilise the ground on which new consumer research agendas may be cultivated. We begin by illustrating the symbolic power and affective conditioning that attends excrement, explaining the veil of secrecy that history has draped over our bodily functions. We then illustrate how this symbolic and affective order is manifest in material infrastructures that maintain our aversion to the subject of waste. With these orders in mind we then assess their importance by asking what might happen if they were undone, stressing the sacred and profane implications that various thinkers have assigned to the presence and place of bodily waste in our lives. Finally, the paper highlights practical perspectives that our discussion raises. We stress the potential importance of hidden affective and architectural frames in consumer culture, arguing that a fuller engagement with these issues may encourage us to acknowledge the pressing issues of hygiene that will challenge society as the century progresses. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.