IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v14y2025i3p179-d1614049.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Customization of U.S. Holidays: Agency and Nonconformity

Author

Listed:
  • Robert M. Carini

    (Department of Sociology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA)

Abstract

Scholars have long sought to understand the meanings and implications of holidays for societies, groups, and individuals. Normative observances for holidays shift over time, which scholars have explained primarily with macro-level forces such as galvanizing events/trends and priorities of social institutions, but this approach tends to undersell individual and familial agency to customize holidays to their own circumstances, including to reject or resist normative symbols, meanings, and practices, either in part or wholly. Micro-level processes, then, offer insight into what happens when cultural projections about how to observe a holiday collide with an individual’s decision about whether and how to participate, especially with respect to negotiation processes. While the extant literature is robust regarding rituals commonly attached to holidays, there has been much less focus specifically on how agency shapes nonconformity to (or adoption of) normative scripts, including novel expressions. More research would also be helpful for understanding the dynamics of how families and other small groups negotiate shared observances. Finally, micro-level processes may serve—under certain conditions—to promote macro-level change in holiday patterns. To stimulate further research on processes involving agency and perceived constraints to holiday observation, I suggest a preliminary typology of U.S. holiday customization for individuals.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert M. Carini, 2025. "Customization of U.S. Holidays: Agency and Nonconformity," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-13, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:14:y:2025:i:3:p:179-:d:1614049
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/3/179/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/3/179/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Close, Angeline G. & Zinkhan, George M., 2009. "Market-resistance and Valentine's Day events," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 200-207, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Monika Kavaliauske & Edita Simanaviciute, 2015. "Brand Avoidance: Relations Between Brand-Related Stimuli And Negative Emotions," Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies, Faculty of Economics, Vilnius University, vol. 6(1).
    2. Akbar, Payam & Hoffmann, Stefan, 2020. "Creating value in product service systems through sharing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 495-505.
    3. Marco Wolf & Shaun McQuitty, 2011. "Understanding the do-it-yourself consumer: DIY motivations and outcomes," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 1(3), pages 154-170, December.
    4. Givi, Julian, 2020. "(Not) giving the same old song and dance: Givers’ misguided concerns about thoughtfulness and boringness keep them from repeating gifts," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 87-98.
    5. Givi, Julian, 2021. "When a gift exchange isn’t an exchange: Why gift givers underestimate how uncomfortable recipients feel receiving a gift without reciprocating," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 393-405.
    6. Clinton Amos & Nancy Spears & Iryna Pentina, 2016. "Rhetorical Analysis of Resistance to Environmentalism As Enactment of Morality Play between Social and Ecological Well-Being," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 224-259, March.
    7. Nguyen, Hieu P. & Munch, James M., 2011. "Romantic gift giving as chore or pleasure: The effects of attachment orientations on gift giving perceptions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 113-118, February.
    8. Sung, Eunyoung (Christine), 2021. "The effects of augmented reality mobile app advertising: Viral marketing via shared social experience," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 75-87.
    9. Akbar, Payam & Mai, Robert & Hoffmann, Stefan, 2016. "When do materialistic consumers join commercial sharing systems," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 4215-4224.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:14:y:2025:i:3:p:179-:d:1614049. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.