The Social Embeddedness of Marketing
In both premodern and modern capitalist societies, marketing emerged as a key driver behind consumption patterns and as a facilitator of new consumer goods and services. This chapter uses historical case studies to highlight how marketing and consumption practices co-developed over time and in response to socioeconomic and technological changes. The historical evidence shows that marketing activities have never followed a narrow economic and utilitarian calculus; instead, they have always existed within and helped to maintain a wide range of relations between businesses, consumers, cultural intermediaries, and lawmakers. A key tension that runs through the history of marketing and consumption is the coexistence of efforts to control consumer behavior and attempts to provide consumers with the space needed to create entirely new kinds of consumption experiences.