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Race, Social Context, and Consumption: How Race Structures the Consumption Preferences and Practices of Middle and Working-Class Blacks

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Race, Social Context, and Consumption: How Race Structures the Consumption Preferences and Practices of Middle and Working-Class Blacks Race, Social Context, and Consumption: How Race Structures the Consumption Preferences and Practices of Middle and Working-Class Blacks The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Pittman, Cassi. 2012. Race, Social Context, and Consumption: How Race Structures the Consumption Preferences and Practices of Middle and Working-Class Blacks. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:9836713 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA @ 2012 – Cassi Louise Pittman All Rights Reserved. Dissertation Committee Chair: Cassi Louise Pittman William Julius Wilson Race, Social Context, and Consumption: How Race Structures the Consumption Preferences and Practices of Middle and Working-class Blacks Abstract The contemporary experience of race in America demands that blacks become astute observers of their surroundings, required to read subtle social, interactional and environmental cues to determine how to appropriately engage others in order to gain respect and social acceptance. Consumption objects, whether physical or material goods or services and experiences, are symbolic tools that blacks mobilize in order to define and assert themselves wherever they may be. Market research reveals that divergent patterns of consumption exist along racial lines. Blacks outspend whites in three central categories: apparel, personal care, and electronics and technology. Sociological research on consumption, however, has inadequately addressed how race influences blacks‘ consumption. Claims that blacks are conspicuous consumers are pervasive in both popular and academic works, and research indicates that blacks‘ consumption is, at least partially explained by status considerations, yet no comprehensive, empirically grounded theory exists to account for the contextually determined, symbolic and strategic use of goods by middle and working-class blacks. In my dissertation entitled “Race, Social Context, and Consumption: How Race Structures the Consumption Preferences and Practices of Middle and Working-class Blacks,” I offer an account of blacks‘ consumption that addresses this gap in the literature. I analyze qualitative interview data collected from 55 blacks residing in the New York City area, focusing on blacks‘ consumption preferences and practices in three social arenas: where they live, where iii they work, and where they play. Through examining middle and working-class blacks‘ consumption I show the ways that race remains salient in blacks‘ everyday lives; affecting their routine practices and marketplace interactions. Blacks differ as consumers as a consequence of a history of racial alienation, segregation, and discrimination in public settings, which has resulted in their use of goods to mitigate racial stigma, but distinct patterns of consumption emerge as blacks mobilize consumption objects to express and affirm their racial identities. This dissertation demonstrates that whether consumption goods are used to contest racial stigma or to express feelings of racial affinity, in both instances blacks‘ consumption preferences and practices reflect their reactions to the settings in which their consumption is enacted. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations viii Acknowledgments ix INTRODUCTION………………………………...…………………..…......………………… 1 Methodological Overview…………………………………….…................................. 6 Description of Respondents.............................................................................. 9 Description of the Study Setting....................................................................... 11 I. THEORETICAL OVERVIEW……….....….…………………….…................................... 15 A Brief Overview of Patterns of Racial Divergence in Consumption ……….....…. 16 An Examination of Existing Accounts of Blacks’ Consumption…………..……… 19 Addressing the Limitations of an Account of Blacks’ Consumption as a Quest for 30 Status ……………......…………………………......…………..……………………… Operationalizing a Comprehensive Definition of Consumption.................... 30 The Diverse Functions of Consumption......................................................... 37 How Racial Discrimination and Racial Stigma Impact Blacks’ 43 Consumption................................................................................................... Extending Accounts of Consumption by Seriously Considering Race and Social 44 Context …………………………......…………………………......………...………… Examining the Social Context: The Means by Which Race Structures 46 Consumption ………………………......…………………………................ Summary…………………….…...............................……………………….…............ 49 II. WHERE BLACKS LIVE— REP YOUR HOOD AND YOUR HOODS' REP: How 51 Racial Identity Informs Racial Residential Preferences................................................................ Building a Better Framework to Understand How Racial Identity Informs Racial 57 Residential Preferences.................................................................................................. Symbolic Considerations Underlying Perceptions of Neighborhood 57 Desirability.......................................................................................................... Blacks’ Racial Residential Preferences...…………………………................... 59 Linking Blacks’ Racial Identity to Their Racial Residential Preferences............ 61 Sample and Setting......................................................................................................... 63 v Findings........................................................................................................................... 65 Perceptions of Neighborhood Desirability for Blacks Living in Non-Black 66 Neighborhoods.................................................................................................... Perceptions of Neighborhood Desirability for Blacks Living in Black 69 Neighborhoods.................................................................................................... Racial Affinity and Racial Uplift............................................................. 70 Sense of Community................................................................................ 71 Proximity to Black Cultural and Social Institutions................................. 71 Negative Neighborhood Stigma............................................................... 73 Lack of Resources and Services............................................................... 74 Uncomfortable Experiences - The Salience of Gender............................ 76 The Salience of Class........................................................................................... 77 Discussion........................................................................................................................ 77 Conclusion....................................................................................................................... 82 I II. WHERE BLACKS WORK - DRESSING FOR SUCCESS: 85 How Blacks’ Consumption Practices Reflect the Salience of Race and Racial Stigma at Work . Research on Blacks’ Experiences at Work.................................................................. 86 The Significance of Self-Presentation at Work................................................... 92 Methods........................................................................................................................... 93 Findings........................................................................................................................... 97 The Influence of the Workplace Racial Composition on Blacks’ Self- 98 Presentation Strategies....................................................................................... Overcompensation …............................................................................... 98 Playing by the Book: Meeting Workplace Standards….......................... 105 Under-Compensation: Being Free to Be as You Please........................... 106 The Racial Undertones Evident in Workplace Settings and Interactions........... 108 Workplace Contexts Where Race and Racial Stigma is 109 Salient...................................................................................................... Workplaces Where Race is Not Salient.................................................. 121 Discussion........................................................................................................................ 123 Conclusion....................................................................................................................... 125 IV. WHERE BLACKS PLAY - SHOPPING WHILE BLACK AND LIVING IN A CONSUMER REPUBLIC - Discriminatory Treatment of Blacks Who Are Trying to Spend Their Money…………………………...………………………………………………... 127 Background..................................................................................................................... 128 Methods and Sample...................................................................................................... 140 vi Findings........................................................................................................................... 141 Sites of Discrimination....................................................................................
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