Practicing Qi and consuming Ki : Folk epistemology and consumption rituals in Japan

Abstract

Folk epistemology is a study of the commonsense knowledge and internalized beliefs of ordinary people. This paper discusses consumer knowledge in the context of consumption rituals in Japan. Studying the development of local knowledge is imperative in consumer research, despite accelerating globalization, because knowledge and reasoning cannot be separated from the history in which they are embedded. Prior research tended to treat knowledge projects and consumption rituals as sequential conceptions. The purpose of this study is to propose a model of transcendental consumption rituals, underpinned by cultural pragmatics and ontological liquidity. The proposed model entails a holistic approach to consumer rituals, synthesizing both synchronic and diachronic aspects of the rituals. Metaphors in language and tacit knowledge influence folk epistemology of consumption rituals. Ontological viscosity and the spiritual center of gravity are proposed to better explain the dynamism of consumer rituals in a relatively monolithic culture.