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Marketing involves a wide range of professions, activities and tools and it plays an increasingly important role in our lives. But what exactly is marketing and how did it come to assume such importance? Who are the marketing professionals, what exactly do they do and what influence do they have in our economy and society? Over the last forty years, sociologists have studied marketing and analysed its practices, techniques and consequences, producing a formidable body of knowledge about the nature of marketing and its impact. This book provides a concise account of these contributions and an introduction to the most important sociological concepts for understanding marketing such as consumption, the market, the organization and culture. Mellet presents marketing not just as a set of techniques but as a pervasive social activity performed by different actors in specific contexts according to particular rules and views. He unpacks the activity of marketing, showing who marketers are, how they think, what they do and how they shape and construct not only markets but also the world we live in. Written in a clear and accessible style, this book is the perfect introduction to marketing from a sociological perspective and it will be used on courses on marketing and the sociology of culture.
List of contents
Introduction
Chapter 1. Which sociology, for which marketing?
The impossible sociology of a professional group
Marketing as cultural and behavioural engineering
Producing markets
Business and marketing management
Chapter 2. The consumer as seen by the marketer
Marketing and sociology: a common history
Consumer surveys
Consumer profiles
Chapter 3. Empire of signs
The work of qualities
The circulation of qualities
Qualities versus qualities
Chapter 4. Markets as organizations
Organizing market spaces
Managing customers
Reorganizing the market so as to innovate
Chapter 5. Morality and marketing
Between morality and the market
Marketing as a political instrument
Marketing in a different way?
Conclusion
Marketing as a collective reality
Marketing as an institution of capitalism
Notes
Index
About the author
Kevin Mellet is Associate Professor of Sociology at Sciences Po, Paris.
