‘Strategies from Below’: Middle-class British Indian Consumers’ Navigations of Ethnic Identification and Intergenerational Cultural Transmission Anuja Anil Pradhan This thesis is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2020 Lancaster University Management School 1 Word Template by Friedman & Morgan 2014 For Amit, who always walks with me. i Word Template by Friedman & Morgan 2014 DECLARATION This thesis has not been submitted in support of an application for another degree at this or any other university. It is the result of my own work and includes nothing that is the outcome of work done in collaboration except where specifically indicated. Some of the ideas in this thesis were the product of discussions with my supervisors Professor Margaret K. Hogg and Dr Hayley Cocker. Excerpts of this thesis have been published in the following conference manuscripts and academic publications. Peer-Reviewed Book Chapter (Invited Contribution): Pradhan, A., Cocker, H. and Hogg, M.K. (2019) Ethnic identification: Capital and distinction among second-generation British Indians. In eds Badje, D., Kjeldgaard, D. and Belk, R.W. Consumer Culture Theory. Published online: 26 Mar 2019; 85-101. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0885-211120190000020010 Conference Papers: Pradhan, A., Cocker, H. and Hogg, M.K. (2019) Social Anchoring - An alternative understanding of migrant consumers' experiences. Consumer Culture Theory Conference. John Molson School of Business, Montreal. 17-19 July. (Conference Paper) Pradhan, A., Cocker, H. and Hogg, M.K. (2018) Performing identity – How British Asians acquire subcultural capital, build social capital, and gain distinction through ii Word Template by Friedman & Morgan 2014 Bollywood, music and dance. Consumer Culture Theory Conference. University of Southern Denmark, Odense 28 June-1 July. (Conference Paper) Author Contribution Statement I initially designed the study, gathered all the data for this thesis, and conducted initial data analysis on my own. My supervisors then gave feedback on the analysed data and together, we agreed upon which themes to pursue. The first full drafts of all three manuscripts were written by me. My supervisors were involved in critical revisions of the final drafts of article 1 (Chapter 2) and article 2 (Chapter 3). Supervisors provided some feedback as well as minor edits for article 3 (Chapter 4) as they might for a monograph thesis, however, they did not make any major revisions to this article. iii Word Template by Friedman & Morgan 2014 ABSTRACT This thesis explores ‘strategies from below’, i.e., the strategies employed by migrant consumers in making sense of their ethnic identification in navigating intergenerational cultural transmission, and in interacting with identity mythologies. Prior consumer research within consumer culture theory has focussed on the challenges and difficulties associated with the new subjectivities emerging from globalisation and mobility. This research, however, takes an asset perspective (Roy, 2016) to understanding migrant consumers by focusing on the empowering and uplifting aspects of their cultural heritage, the sense of self they derive from particular ways of ‘doing family’ (Morgan, 1996), and their experiences of believing themselves to be privileged ‘model minority’ migrants. In this way, the thesis aims to present a more diverse representation of ethnic subjectivities that can provide theoretically relevant insights for reconsidering how we think about consumer ethnicity in the future. The context within which the aforementioned phenomena are analysed is the lives of first-, 1.5-, and second-generation middle-class, Hindu British Indian women. The thesis is comprised of three research papers, each employing a different analytical lens – Bourdieu’s (1979) concepts of field, capital, and habitus; Zontini and Reynold’s (2018) transnational family habitus; and Grzymala-Kazlowska’s (2016) social anchoring theory - for understanding migrant consumers’ adaptations to the receiving society. The emergent findings show how consumers leverage subcultural capital to gain distinction in society, how we can understand successful intergenerational cultural transmission among ethnic minorities, and how consumers can mobilise myths about their ethnicity to express personal ethnic identifications. The thesis makes contributions iv Word Template by Friedman & Morgan 2014 Strategies from below – Anuja Anil Pradhan – December 2019 to our understanding of how migrant consumers overcome challenges by drawing upon unique resources available to these groups. Additionally, by taking a generational lens to understanding consumer ethnicity, this thesis extends our understanding of the evolution of experiences and constructions of ethnicity beyond the dominant post- assimilationist acculturation paradigm. v Word Template by Friedman & Morgan 2014 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This has been a long and arduous journey. However, I have been lucky enough to not have to make it alone. So, please bear with me while I take a moment to convey my gratitude to all those who have taken this journey with me. I would like to most sincerely thank my supervisors, Professor Margaret Hogg and Dr Hayley Cocker for their unending help, support, guidance, motivation, patience, indulgence, concern, and care throughout this journey. I would like to thank Margaret for her kindness, her constant care, for being an inspiration and a role model not just as an academic but as a person. Margaret really is the very best. I would like to thank Hayley for her kindness as well, and her friendship, and for being a cool voice of reason and hope when I needed it the most. I have been very lucky to have a fantastic supervision team and for this I am very grateful because without it I would not be here. I would like to express my deepest gratitude and love to my mom, dad, and Amit for always being by my side, for believing in me, helping me, supporting me, and putting up with me through this emotional rollercoaster of a ride. Thanks to my mom for teaching me to be brave and giving me courage. Thanks to my dad for passing on his sense of integrity and hard work. Thanks to Amit for being the best human being I have had the privilege of knowing and loving. My family has been my pillar of strength and support, and every day I wake up knowing I have won the lottery of life by being born into this ocean of love. I would like to thank my informants for giving me their time, inviting me into their homes and their lives, for feeding me, befriending me, and trusting me with their stories. vi Word Template by Friedman & Morgan 2014 Thanks especially to Kish, Neesha, Kit, Jasmine and Harsha Aunty for going above and beyond. I am truly grateful to have met all these amazing women through this journey. I would like to thank Professor Søren Askegaard for his help, critique, and academic mentorship. Thanks for always pushing me to do better. Sincerest thanks to Gian Fulgoni and Lancaster University’s Marketing Department for the funding provided for this PhD. Thanks to my friends for making this journey more fun. I would like to thank Tobias Finke for believing in me even at times when I didn’t. Thanks to Debjani Paul for sharing my sense of weird. Thanks to GulAhmed for being there, thanks to Adjoa for joining me at the High Table, to Rhucha for the laughs, to Samyuktha, Sarada, and Shashwati for being my F.R.I.E.N.D.S, and to Craig for six seasons and a movie. Thanks to the CCT community for welcoming me and making me feel like I belong. Shout out to The Daniels and my Danish crew. Thanks also to those who inspired me to take this academic journey – Dr Bhama Venkataramani, Julie Brooks, and Dr John Desmond. Thanks to Kayla Friedman and Malcolm Morgan for this Word template. This PhD was fuelled by some very good coffee so I would like to acknowledge all the baristas over the years who have kept me going. Special shout out to Tom, Martha, Fionn, Jenna, Lilly, Ollie, Alice, Katie, and Tasmin for all the fuel, conversations, and encouragement. Thanks to all the dogs who have kept me entertained and brought joy to the most difficult days of this journey – Venk, Cosmo, Phoebe, and the loving memory of Pongo vii Word Template by Friedman & Morgan 2014 (the smartest and goodest dog) in particular. Finally, thanks to Steven Erikson and Brandon Sanderson for giving me bridges when I needed them. viii Word Template by Friedman & Morgan 2014 CONTENTS 1 Introduction 1 1.1 CONTEXT 3 1.1.1 INDIAN MIGRATION TO BRITAIN 4 1.1.2 FIRST-GENERATION’S EXPERIENCES OF MIGRATING TO BRITAIN 5 1.1.3 GROWING UP BRITISH INDIAN - 1.5- AND SECOND-GENERATION MIGRANT CONSUMERS’ EXPERIENCES 7 1.2 OVERVIEW OF ARTICLES 9 1.3 CONSUMER ACCULTURATION 16 1.4 TRANSNATIONAL FAMILIES 20 1.5 CONSUMER MYTH MAKING 25 1.6 RESEARCH DESIGN 27 1.6.1 EPISTEMOLOGY – CONSTRUCTIONISM 28 1.6.2 THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE – INTERPRETIVISM 30 1.6.3 METHODOLOGY – EXISTENTIAL PHENOMENOLOGY 32 1.6.4 DATA COLLECTION 34 1.6.5 POSITIONING AS A RESEARCHER 42 1.6.6 DATA ANALYSIS 43 1.6.7 EVALUATING RESEARCH 45 1.6.8 RESEARCH ETHICS 48 1.7 THESIS OUTLINE 49 ix Word Template by Friedman & Morgan 2014 2 Ethnic Identification: Capital and Distinction Among Second-Generation British Indians 50 2.1 STRUCTURED ABSTRACT 50 2.2 INTRODUCTION 52 2.3 CONTEXT 53 2.4 LITERATURE REVIEW 54 2.4.1 CONSUMER ACCULTURATION 54 2.4.2 BRITISH ASIAN IDENTITY-WORK 58 2.5 OVERVIEW OF KEY THEORETICAL CONCEPTS 59 2.6 METHODS 60 2.7 FINDINGS 62 2.7.1 BOLLYWOOD CINEMA AS PRIZED CULTURAL CAPITAL 63 2.7.2 PERFORMING