Doing Anthropology in Consumer Research by Patricia L. Sunderland, Rita M. Denny

Product Details

Synopsis

Doing Anthropology in Consumer Research is an essential new guide to the theory and practice of conducting ethnographic research in consumer environments. Patricia Sunderland and Rita Denny argue that, while the recent explosion in the use of “ethnography” in the corporate world has provided unprecedented opportunities for anthropologists and other qualitative researchers, this popularization too often results in shallow understandings of culture, divorcing ethnography it from its foundations. In response, they reframe the field by re-attaching ethnography to theoretically robust and methodologically rigorous cultural analysis. The engrossing text draws on decades of the authors’ own eclectic research—from coffee in Bangkok and boredom in New Zealand to computing in the United States—using methodologies from focus groups and rapid appraisal to semiotics and visual ethnography. Five provocative forewords by leaders in consumer research further push the boundaries of the field and challenge the boundaries of academic and applied work. In addition to reorienting the field for academics and practitioners, this book is an ideal text for students, who are increasingly likely to both study and work in corporate environments.

Biography

Rita Denny and Patricia Sunderland are anthropologists and founding partners of Practica Group, LLC, where their clients have included General Motors, Daimler-Chrysler, AT&T, Verizon, Boeing, and The Miss America Pageant. They have published articles in Journal of Business Research, Anthropological Quarterly, Human Organization, Consumption Markets and Culture, Research Magazine, and Anthropology News, and book chapters in Advertising Cultures (Berg); Creating Breakthrough Ideas (Bergin and Garvey); and Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods in Marketing (Edward Elgar).