This article argues that the new ‘visuality’ (Schroeder, 2002) of
the Internet transforms the stock market into an epistemic consumption object. The
aesthetics of the screen turn the market into an interactive and response-present
surface representation. On the computer screen, the market becomes an object of
constant movement and variation, changing direction and altering appearance at any
time. Following Knorr Cetina (1997, 2002b) we argue that the visual logic of the
screen ‘opens up’ the market ontologically. The ontological
liquidity of the market-on-screen simulates the indefiniteness of other life forms.
We suggest that the continuing fascination with online investing is a function of
the reflexive looping of the investor, who aspires to discern what the market is
lacking, through the market-on-screen that continuously signals to the investor what
it still lacks. Implications for existing theories on relationships and involvement
are discussed.
Allen, D.E.
and
McGoun, E.G.
(2001)
‘Hedonic investment’
, Financial Services Review9(4):
389–403
.
2.
Allen, D.E.
,
McGoun, E.G.
, and
Kester, G.W.
(2000)
‘A Sociological Explanation of Financial Market Growth’
, International Review of Financial Analysis9(4):
421–432
.
3.
Arnould, E.J.
and
Thompson, C.J.
(2005)
‘Consumer Culture Theory (CCT): Twenty Years of Research’
, Journal of Consumer Research31(4):
868–882
.
4.
Bagozzi, R.P.
and
Dholakia, U.M.
(2002)
‘Intentional Social Action in Virtual Communities’
, Journal of Interactive Marketing16(2):
2–21
.
5.
Balasubramanian, S.
and
Mahajan, V.
(2001)
‘The Economic Leverage of the Virtual Community’
, International Journal of Electronic Commerce5(3):
103–138
.
6.
Belk, R.W.
(1988)
‘Possessions and the Extended Self’
, Journal of Consumer Research15(2):
139–168
.
7.
Belk, R.W.
(1992a) ‘Attachment to
Possessions’, in
S.M. Low
and
I. Altman
(eds) Place Attachment: Human Behavior and Environment, pp.
37–62.
New York: Plenum Press
.
8.
Belk, R.W.
(1992b)
‘Moving Possessions: An Analysis Based on Personal Documents from
the 1847–1869 Mormon Migration’
, Journal of Consumer Research19(3):
339–361
.
9.
Belk, R.W.
,
Ger, G.
and
Askegaard, S.
(2003)
‘The Fire of Desire: A Multisited Inquiry into Consumer Passion’
, Journal of Consumer Research30(3):
326–351
.
10.
Belk, R.W.
,
Wallendorf, M.
and
Sherry, J.F.
(1989)
‘The Sacred and the Profane in Consumer Behavior: Theodicy on the Odyssey’
, Journal of Consumer Research16(1):
1–38
.
11.
Benjamin, W.
(1979) ‘A Small History of
Photography’, in
W. Benjamin
(ed.) One-Way Street and Other Writings, pp.
240–257.
London: New Left Books
.
12.
Bonsu, S.K.
and
Belk, R.
(2003)
‘Do Not Go Cheaply into That Good Night: Death-Ritual Consumption
in Asante, Ghana’
, Journal of Consumer Research30(1):
41–55
.
13.
Borgerson, J.
and
Schroeder, J.E.
(2005) ‘Identity in Marketing Communications: An
Ethics of Visual Representation’, in
Allan J. Kimmel
(ed.) Marketing Communication: New Approaches, Technologies, and
Styles, pp. 256–277.
Oxford: Oxford University Press
.
14.
Castells, M.
(2001) The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet,
Business, and Society.
Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press
.
15.
Celsi, R.L.
,
Rose, R.L.
and
Leigh, T.W.
(1993)
‘An Exploration of High-Risk Leisure Consumption through Skydiving’
, Journal of Consumer Research20(1):
1–23
.
16.
Coulter, R.A.
,
Price, L.L.
and
Feick, L.
(2003)
‘The Origins of Involvement and Brand Commitment: Insights from
Postsocialist Central Europe’
, Journal of Consumer Research30(2):
170–183
.
17.
Cova, B.
(1993) ‘Beyond Marketing: From Marketing to
Societing’, in
D. Brownlie
,
M. Saren
,
R. Wensley
and
R. Whittington
(eds) Rethinking Marketing, pp.
12–23.
Coventry: Warwick Business School Research Bureau
.
18.
Cova, B.
(1997)
‘Community and Consumption: Towards a Definition of the Linking
Value of Product or Services’
, European Journal of Marketing31(3/4):
297–316
.
19.
Dholakia, N.
and
Zwick, D.
(2004)
‘Cultural Contradictions of the Anytime, Anywhere Economy:
Reframing Communication Technology’
, Telematics and Informatics21(2):
123–141
.
20.
Drucker, P.F.
(1993) Post-Capitalist Society.
New York: HarperBusiness
.
21.
Fischer, E.
,
Bristor, J.
and
Gainer, B.
(1996) ‘Creating or Escaping Community? An
Exploratory Study of Internet Consumers' Behaviors’,
in Advances of Consumer Research(Vol. 23:
178–182).
Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research
.
22.
Fournier, S.
(1998)
‘Consumers and Their Brands: Developing Relationship Theory in
Consumer Research’
, Journal of Consumer Research24(4):
343–373
.
23.
Gagnier, R.
(1997)
‘Neoliberalism and the Political Theory of the Market’
, Political Theory25(3):
434–454
.
24.
Ger, G.
and
Belk, R.W.
(1996)
‘I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke: Consumptionscapes of
the “Less Affluent World”’
, Journal of Consumer Policy19(3):
271–304
.
25.
Giulianotti, R.
(1996)
‘Back to the Future: An Ethnography of Ireland's
Football Fans at the 1994 World Cup Finals in the USA’
, International Review for Sociology of Sport31(2):
323–342
.
26.
Grayson, K.
(1995) ‘The Dangers and Opportunities of Playful
Consumption’, in
M.B. Holbrook
(ed.) Consumer Value, pp. 105–125.
London and New York: Routledge
.
27.
Grayson, K.
and
Shulman, D.
(2000)
‘Indexicality and the Verification Function of Irreplaceable
Possessions: A Semiotic Analysis’
, Journal of Consumer Research27(1):
17–30
.
28.
Heelas, P.
,
Lash, S.
and
Morris, P.
(1996) Detraditionalization: Critical Reflections on
Authority and Identity.
Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers
.
29.
Holt, D.B.
(1995)
‘How Consumers Consume: A Typology of Consumption Practices’
, Journal of Consumer Research22(1):
1–16
.
30.
Holt, D.B.
(2003)
‘What Becomes an Icon Most?’
, Harvard Business Review81(3):
43–49
.
31.
Juenger, E.
(1989) ‘On Pain’ (excerpt),
in
C. Phillips
(ed.) Photography in the Modern Era: European Documents and Critical
Writings, 1913–1940,pp. 207–210.
New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art/Aperture
.
32.
Kleine, R.E.
and
Kernan, J.B.
(1991)
‘Contextual Influences on the Meanings Ascribed to Ordinary
Consumption Objects’
, Journal of Consumer Research18(3):
311–324
.
33.
Kleine, S.S.
and
Menzel Baker, S.
(2004)
‘An Integrative Review of Material Possession Attachment’
, Academy of Marketing Science Review1(1):
1–39
.
34.
Knorr Cetina, K.D.
(1997)
‘Sociality with Objects. Social Relations in Postsocial Knowledge Societies’
, Theory, Culture and Society14(4):
1–30
.
35.
Knorr Cetina, K.D.
(1999) Epistemic Cultures: How the Sciences Make
Knowledge.
Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press
.
36.
Knorr Cetina, K.D.
(2001) ‘Postsocial Relations: Theorizing
Sociality in a Post-Social Environment’, in
G. Ritzer
and
B. Smart
(eds) Handbook of Social Theory, pp.
520–537.
London and Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage
.
37.
Knorr Cetina, K.D.
and
Bruegger, U.
(2000)
‘The Market as an Object of Attachment: Exploring Postsocial
Relations in Financial Markets’
, Canadian Journal of Sociology25(2):
141–168
.
38.
Knorr Cetina, K.D.
and
Bruegger, U.
(2002a)
‘Global Microstructures: The Virtual Societies of Financial Markets’
, American Journal of Sociology107(4):
905–950
.
39.
Knorr Cetina, K.D.
and
Bruegger, U.
(2002b)
‘Traders' Engagement with Markets’
, Theory, Culture, and Society19(5/6):
161–185
.
40.
Kozinets, R.V.
(2001)
‘Utopian Enterprise: Articulating the Meanings of Star
Trek's Culture of Consumption’
, Journal of Consumer Research28(1):
67–88
.
41.
Kozinets, R.V.
(2002)
‘The Field Behind the Screen: Using Netnography for Marketing
Research in Online Communities’
, Journal of Marketing Research39(4):
61–72
.
42.
MacFarquar, L.
(1994) ‘This Semiotician Went to
Market’, Lingua FrancaSeptember/ October: 59–79.
43.
Maffesoli, M.
(1996) The Times of the Tribes.
London: Sage
.
44.
McAlexander, J.H.
,
Schouten, J.W.
and
Koenig, H.F.
(2002)
‘Building Brand Community’
, Journal of Marketing66(1):
38–54
.
45.
McCracken, G.
(1988) The Long Interview.
Newbury Park, CA: Sage
.
46.
Mehta, R.
and
Belk, R.W.
(1991)
‘Artifacts, Identity, and Transition: Favorite Possessions of
Indians and Indian Immigrants to the United States’
, Journal of Consumer Research17(4):
398–411
.
47.
Muniz, A.M.
and
O'Guinn, T.C.
(2001)
‘Brand Community’
, Journal of Consumer Research27(4):
412–432
.
48.
Odean, T.
(1999)
‘Do Investors Trade Too Much?’
, The American Economic Review89(5):
1279–1298
.
49.
Peñaloza, L.
(2001)
‘Consuming the American West: Animating Cultural Meaning and
Memory at a Stock Show and Rodeo’
, Journal of Consumer Research28(3):
369–398
.
50.
Pirsig, R.M.
(1984) Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Toronto and New York: Bantam
.
51.
Rayport, J.F.
and
Sviokla, J.J.
(1995)
‘Exploiting the Virtual Value Chain’
, Harvard Business Review73(6):
75–99
.
52.
Rheinberger, H.-J.
(1992)
‘Experiment, Difference, and Writing: I. Tracing Protein Synthesis’
, Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science23(2):
305–331
.
53.
Rheinberger, H.-J.
(1997) Toward a History of Epistemic Things: Synthesizing
Proteins in the Test Tube.
Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press
.
54.
Rook, D.W.
(1985)
‘The Ritual Dimension of Consumer Behavior’
, Journal of Consumer Research12(3):
251–264
.
55.
Sassen, S.
(1999) ‘Digital Networks and
Power’, in
M. Featherstone
and
S. Lash
(eds) Spaces of Culture, pp.
48–63.
London: Sage
.
56.
Schau, H.J.
and
Gilly, M.C.
(2003)
‘We Are What We Post? The Presentation of Self in Personal Webspace’
, Journal of Consumer Research30(3):
385–404
.
57.
Schouten, J.W.
(1991)
‘Selves in Transition: Symbolic Consumption in Personal Rites of
Passage and Identity Reconstruction’
, Journal of Consumer Research17(4):
412–425
.
58.
Schouten, J.W.
and
McAlexander, J.H.
(1995)
‘Subcultures of Consumption: An Ethnography of the New Bikers’
, Journal of Consumer Research22(1):
43–61
.
59.
Schroeder, J.
(1998) ‘Consuming Representation: A Visual
Approach to Consumer Research’, in
B.B. Stern
(ed.) Representing Consumers Voices, Views and Visions, pp.
193–230.
New York: Routledge
.
60.
Schroeder, J.
(2002) Visual Consumption.
London and New York: Routledge
.
61.
Schroeder, J.E.
and
Borgerson, J.L.
(1998)
‘Marketing Images of Gender: A Visual Analysis’
, Consumption, Markets and Culture2(2):
161–201
.
62.
Schroeder, J.
and
Zwick, D.
(2004)
‘Mirrors of Masculinity: Representation and Identity in
Advertising Images’
, Consumption Markets and Culture7(1):
21–51
.
63.
Shapiro, C.
and
Varian, H.R.
(1999) Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy.
Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press
.
64.
Sherry, J.F.
(1990)
‘A Sociocultural Analysis of a Midwestern American Flea Market’
, Journal of Consumer Research17(4):
13–30
.
65.
Smith, C.W.
(1981) The Mind of the Market.
London: Croom Helm
.
66.
Stehr, N.
(1994) Knowledge Societies.
London and Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
.
67.
Stehr, N.
(2001a) The Fragility of Modern Societies: Knowledge and Risk
in the Information Age.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
.
68.
Stehr, N.
(2001b) ‘Modern Societies as Knowledge
Societies’, in
G. Ritzer
and
B. Smart
(eds) Handbook of Social Theory, pp.
494–508.
London and Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage
.
69.
Stern, B.
and
Schroeder, J.E.
(1994)
‘Interpretive Methodology from Art and Literary Criticism: A
Humanistic Approach to Advertising Imagery’
, European Journal of Marketing28(8/9):
114–132
.
70.
Swedberg, R.
(1994) ‘Markets and Social
Structures’, in
N. J. Smelser
and
R. Swedberg
(eds) The Handbook of Economic Sociology, pp.
255–282.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press
.
71.
Thompson, C.J.
,
Locander, W.B.
and
Pollio, H.R.
(1989)
‘Putting Consumer Experience Back into Consumer Research: The
Philosophy and Method of Existential-Phenomenology’
, Journal of Consumer Research16(2):
133–146
.
72.
Tönnies, F.
(1979) Gemeinschaft Und Gesellschaft: Grundbegriffe Der
Reinen Soziologie.
Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft
.
Wallendorf, M.
and
Arnould, E.J.
(1988)
‘My Favorite Things: A Cross-Cultural Inquiry into Object
Attachment, Possessiveness, and Social Linkage’
, Journal of Consumer Research14(4):
531–547
.
75.
Zaltman, G.
(2003) How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind
of the Market.
Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press
.
76.
Zwick, D.
(2003)
‘Online Investing: Derealization and the Experience of Risk’
, paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for
Consumer Research, 9–12 October, Toronto.
