An Over-Extended Self?

Abstract

In a beautifully written and well-documented essay, Russell Belk (1988) develops and articulates the concept of the extended self in consumer behavior. The article is important because it reminds us that what consumers do (i.e., the products they buy, use, save, and give away) and why is at least as important as how (including the specification of more microlevel processes that are necessary to carry out these activities). For grabbing us by the collar and focusing our attention on the substantive significance of consumers' behavior, Belk deserves considerable praise. In portraying the richness of the organized whole we call the self as something more than a set of discrete preferences, operating functions, and processes, the article presents a view of the consumer that deserves the field's attention. Unfortunately, this view is embodied in a transcendent concept-the extended self-which, given no apparent boundaries, is at once metaphor and scientific construct. Had the extended self been presented as part of a metaphysical discussion of self or as a person's preferred view or reflections about the self, these comments would be unnecessary and perhaps inappropriate. When offered as an explanatory construct within the realm of science, however, literary license should properly give way to the hard-nosed scrutiny required in the search for knowledge.' As presently articulated, I fear the extended self promises far more than it can deliver and therefore invites subsequent rejection or benign neglect. Indeed, one of the things that Belk seems to find most appealing about the concept-its ability to integrate and shed light on so much that consumers do-is its most dangerous quality. Such an all-encompassing explanation for behavior is more likely to obscure rather than reveal and thereby to discourage careful inquiry into the multifaceted nature of consumers' behavior toward the products they own and use. One alternative is to shrink the concept of the extended self down to one having a common core of meaning from a motivational or behavioral standpoint. This would increase the likelihood of developing a more comprehensive framework in which linkages between the extended self and other concepts can be more fully articulated.