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Women Skating on the Edge: Marketplace Performances as Ideological Edgework

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  • Craig J. Thompson
  • Tuba Üstüner

Abstract

This study analyzes the marketplace performances that are enacted in the field of women’s flat track roller derby using the theoretical lens of gender performativity. Rather than treating the roller derby field as an autonomous enclave of gender resistance, this study focuses on the interrelationships between derby grrrls’ resignifying performances of femininity and the gender constraints that have been naturalized in their everyday lives. The market-mediated nature of derby grrrls’ ideological edgework enables them to challenge orthodox gender boundaries, without losing sociocultural legitimacy. This analysis casts new theoretical light on the gendered habitus and reveals key differences to the outcomes that would follow from Bourdieusian assumptions about the deployment of cultural capital in zero-sum status competitions. The concept of ideological edgework also presents a theoretical alternative to critical arguments, such as the commodity feminism thesis, that assume an inherently paradoxical and, ultimately co-opting, relationship exists between practices of countercultural resistance and marketplace performances. We further argue that ideological edgework redresses some of the conceptual ambiguities that can lead gender researchers to conflate gender performativity with social performances.

Suggested Citation

  • Craig J. Thompson & Tuba Üstüner, 2015. "Women Skating on the Edge: Marketplace Performances as Ideological Edgework," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 42(2), pages 235-265.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jconrs:v:42:y:2015:i:2:p:235-265.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jcr/ucv013
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    Cited by:

    1. Anna Alexandersson & Viktorija Kalonaityte, 2021. "Girl bosses, punk poodles, and pink smoothies: Girlhood as Enterprising Femininity," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 416-438, January.
    2. Sophie Duncan‐Shepherd & Kathy Hamilton, 2022. "“Generally, I live a lie”: Transgender consumer experiences and responses to symbolic violence," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(4), pages 1597-1616, December.
    3. Raggiotto, Francesco & Scarpi, Daniele, 2020. "Living on the edge: Psychological drivers of athletes’ intention to re-patronage extreme sporting events," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 229-241.
    4. Matthew Hawkins, 2019. "The effect of activity identity fusion on negative consumer behavior," Post-Print hal-02014635, HAL.
    5. Zanette, Maria Carolina & Scaraboto, Daiane, 2019. "“To Spanx or not to Spanx”: How objects that carry contradictory institutional logics trigger identity conflict for consumers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 443-453.
    6. Giana M. Eckhardt & Susan Dobscha, 2019. "The Consumer Experience of Responsibilization: The Case of Panera Cares," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 651-663, October.
    7. Bernard Cova, 2021. "The new frontier of consumer experiences: escape through pain," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 11(1), pages 60-69, June.
    8. Eric Arnould & David Crockett & Giana Eckhardt, 2021. "Informing marketing theory through consumer culture theoretics," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 11(1), pages 1-8, June.
    9. Ourahmoune, Nacima, 2016. "Narrativity, temporality, and consumer-identity transformation through tourism," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 255-263.
    10. Schiele, Kristen & Louie, Lauren & Chen, Steven, 2020. "Marketing feminism in youth media: A study of Disney and Pixar animation," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 63(5), pages 659-669.
    11. Jack Coffin & Andreas Chatzidakis, 2021. "The Möbius strip of market spatiality: mobilizing transdisciplinary dialogues between CCT and the marketing mainstream," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 11(1), pages 40-59, June.
    12. Ourahmoune, Nacima, 2017. "Embodied transformations and food restrictions: The case of medicalized obesity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 192-201.
    13. Ateeq A. Rauf & Ajnesh Prasad, 2020. "Temporal Spaces of Egalitarianism: The Ethical Negation of Economic Inequality in an Ephemeral Religious Organization," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 699-718, March.
    14. Jack Coffin & Christian Eichert & Shona Bettany & Andrew Lindridge & Gillian Oakenfull & Jacob Östberg & Lisa Peñaloza & Diego Rinallo & David Rowe & Jannsen Santana & Luca M. Visconti & Luciana Walth, 2022. "Crossing wires : Short-circuiting marketing theory," Post-Print hal-04325542, HAL.
    15. Clément Dubreuil & Delphine Dion & Stéphane Borraz, 2023. "For the Love of the Game: Moral Ambivalence and Justification Work in Consuming Violence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 186(3), pages 675-694, September.

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