Showing papers by "David Bell published in 2000"

The sexual citizen : queer politics and beyond

Abstract: Acknowledgements. 1. Sexing Citizenship. 2. Sexual Politics And Sexual Citizenship. 3. Marriage, The Military And The Sexual Citizen. 4. The Sexual And The Social. 5. Sexual Democracy And Urban Life. 6. The Love That Dares Not Forget Its Brand Name. 7. Transnational Sexual Citizenship. 8. Turn It Into Love. 9. Hard Choices. Notes. Bibliography. Index

Looking for Loss Aversion in Scanner Panel Data: The Confounding Effect of Price Response Heterogeneity

Abstract: Recent work in marketing has drawn on behavioral decision theory to advance the notion that consumers evaluate attributes (and therefore choice alternatives) not only in absolute terms, but asdeviations from a reference point. The theory has important substantive and practical implications for the timing and execution of price promotions and other marketing activities.Choice modelers using scanner panel data have tested for the presence of these "reference effects"in consumer response to an attribute such as price. In applications of the theory of reference-dependent choice (Tversky and Kahneman 1991), some modelers report empirical evidence of loss aversion: When a consumer encounters a price above his or her established reference point (a "loss"), the response is greater than for a price below the reference point (a "gain"). Researchers have gone so far as to suggest that evidence for the so-called reference effect make it an empirical generalization in marketing (e.g., Kalyanaram and Winer 1995, Meyer and Johnson 1995).It is our contention that the measurement of loss aversion in empirical applications of the reference-dependent choice model is confounded by the presence of unaccounted-for heterogeneity in consumer price responsiveness. Our reasoning is that the kinked price response curve implied by loss aversion is confounded with the slopes of the response curves across segments that are differentially responsive to price. A more price-responsive consumer (with a steeper response function) tends to have a lower price level as a reference point. This consumer faces a larger proportion of prices above his reference point, thus the response curve is steeperin the domain of losses. Similarly, the less price-responsive consumer sees a greater proportion of prices below his reference point, so the response curve is less steep within the domain of gains. As a result, any cross-sectional estimate of loss aversion that does not take this into account will be biased upward--researchers who do not control for heterogeneity in price responsiveness may arrive at incorrect substantive conclusions about the phenomenon. It is interesting to note that in this instance, failure to control for heterogeneity induces a bias infavor of finding an effect, rather than the more typical case of attenuation of the effect toward zero.We first test our assertion regarding the referencedependent model using scanner panel data on refrigerated orange juice and subsequently extend this analysis to 11 additional product categories. In all cases we find, as predicted, that accounting for price-response heterogeneity leads to lower and frequently nonsignificant estimates of loss aversion. We do, however, find some categories in which the effect does not disappear altogether. We also estimate loss aversion using a "sticker shock" model of brand choice in which the reference prices arebrand-specific. In line with the results of the majority of prior literature, we find smaller and insignificant estimates of loss aversion in this model. We show that this is because in the sticker shock model, there is no apparent correlation between the price responsiveness of the consumer and the representation of reference effects as losses or gains. Our findings strongly suggest that loss aversion may not in fact be a universal phenomenon, at least in the context of frequently purchased grocery products.

The Cybercultures Reader

Abstract: From the Publisher: The Cybercultures Reader brings together articles covering the whole spectrum of cyberspace and related new technologies to explore the ways in which these technologies are reshaping cultural forms and practices at the turn of the century. The reader is divided into thematic sections focussing on key issues such as subcultures in cyberspace, posthumanism and cyberbodies and pop-cultural depictions of human-machine interaction. Key features include: * section introductions locating the essays in their theoretical and technological context * editor's introduction and accompanying user's guide * extensive bibliography

Naked as Nature Intended

Abstract: This article explores the ways in which naturism articulates a set of relationships between the body and nature. We begin by sketching the histories of some Western naturist movements, tracing their lineage back to 19th-century life reform movements and through into inter-war reorientations of citizenship and morality. We consider the problematic of the naked body's relationship to the erotic (and specifically to the erotics of nature), drawing on some materials on outdoor sex; set alongside this is a discussion of the regenerative use of wilderness in the mythopoetic men's movement. These strands are finally drawn together in order to consider the complex negotiation of discourses of nature, human nature, the natural body and the natural landscape - a negotiation embodied in naturism.

Consumer Shopping Behaviors and In-Store Expenditure Decisions

Abstract: The authors study the effect that consumers’ adopted shopping patterns have on their responsiveness to pricing activity of retailers. Two important dimensions of shopping behavior — inclination to switch stores and preference for a particular retail price format (every day low price (EDLP) or promotional price (HILO)) are hypothesized to systematically affect the responsiveness of in-store expenditure decisions to changes in prices. In particular, store loyal households should be more responsive to changes in prices when deciding how much to buy in a given store. Similarly, the household shopping in a HILO format (where price variability is greater) should be more responsive. These hypotheses are developed and then tested using a joint model of store choice and in-store expenditure which accounts for potential interdependence between these decisions. The findings attest to the ability of consumers to exploit variation in the environment: When constrained on one dimension (e.g., by shopping in only one store), consumers exhibit flexibility on another (e.g., by adjusting expenditures in response to price changes). If afforded the opportunity to be flexible (e.g., through variable prices at a HILO store), consumers take advantage of this. These aspects of shopping behavior interact in a theoretically interesting, but counter-intuitive way: the expenditure decisions of HILO switching consumers turn out to be the least responsive to changes in prices at a particular store. These shoppers exploit advertised price differences and move among stores. This responsiveness in the store choice decision means they have less incentive to exhibit flexibility in their expenditure decisions at a given store. The authors present estimates from a series of models calibrated on a scanner panel data set which captures store choices and expenditure receipts, and find all hypotheses to be supported.

The popular culture of conspiracy/the conspiracy of popular culture

Abstract: This chapter centres on the popular TV series (and movie and merchandizing spin-offs), The X-Files. In particular, it seeks to interrogate the 'conspiratorial narratives' that The X-Files dramatizes in its metatext. To accomplish this, we trace one story arc, or 'cumulative narrative', that crosses the seven seasons of the series broadcast by the end of 2000 in the UK: the story of the abduction of Samantha Mulder, younger sister of The X-Files' central character, FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder. This long-running, episodic storyline is especially pivotal to the series, as it is the desire to find 'the truth' of Samantha's abduction that propels Fox Mulder in his single-minded pursuit of answers to the riddles posed by the X-files. Our reading of the Samantha narrative is set in two contexts. First, as a core motif of The X-Files, it is located in the growing 'popular culture of conspiracy' the production, circulation and consumption of conspiracy theories within the broad realms of popular culture. It is then set in a second context; that of the 'conspiracy of popular culture'. In particular, focus here will be given to the ways in which 'fringe knowledges' such as those about alien abduction (propagated and popularized by The X-Files) gain popular currency and mass exposure at the same time that they suffer harsh critical scrutiny from what we might call 'knowledge-keepers'. By looking at critical responses both to 'fringe knowledges' and to their representation and reproduction in The X-Files, we want ultimately to think about the forms and functions of 'popular conspiracy culture'.

Bi The Book: A review essay [1]

Abstract: These three recent volumes on bisexuality all simultaneously re ect (or re ect on) Merl Storr’s assertion and her question, just quoted; and, in a sense, the two statements are related, since the lack of clarity in conceptualising bisexuality accounts for some of the growing interest in it—for that very lack of clarity means that bisexuality is increasingly read as something unsettling, something which actively deŽes clarity. As one of the two clumsily named ‘Bi-introductions’ to Re-Presenting Bisexualities says: