Theory of Consumption in Economics: The Theoretical and Empirical Contribution of Hazel Kyrk (1886-1957)

Since Karl Marx fashioned his theory of capitalism in the nineteenth century, scholars have continually updated Marxian theory to capture the pervasiveness of commodity relations in modern society. Influenced by Georg Lukacs and Henri Lefebvre, the members of the French avant-guard group, the Situationist International (1957–1972), developed an intransigent critique of consumer capitalism based on the concept of the spectacle. In the spectacle, media and consumer society replace lived experience, the passive gaze of images supplants active social participation, and new forms of alienation induce social atomization at a more abstract level than in previous societies. We endeavor to make two theoretical contributions: First, we highlight the contributions of the Situationist International, pointing out how they revised the Marxian categories of alienation, commodification, and reification in order to analyze the dynamics of twentieth century capitalism and to give these concepts new explanatory power. Second, we build a critical theory of consumer capitalism that incorporates the theoretical assumptions and arguments of the Situationists and the Frankfurt School. Today, critical theory can make an important contribution to sociology by critically examining the plurality of spectacles and their reifying manifestations. In addition, critical theorists can explore how different spectacles connect to one another, how they connect to different social institutions, and how spectacles express contradictions and conflicting meanings. A critical theory of spectacle and consumption can disclose both novelties and discontinuities in the current period, as well as continuities in the development of globalized consumer capitalism.

Although this chapter is mainly concerned with the international contributions by Japanese theoretical economists in the post-World War II period (after 1945), in this section, we shall briefly refer to some important contributions before 1945. Until the end of World War II, Japan was a pure importer of economic theory and had nothing to export except only a few exceptional contributions.1 Kei Shibata and Masazo Sono are two such exceptional Japanese scholars who were able to add something new to modern economic theory of that period. Shibata was a very creative theoretical economist at Kyoto University. He studied mathematical Walrasian/Casselian general equilibrium theory as well as Marxian economic theory. In 1930, he found that Cassel’s (1918) system of equations of general economic equilibrium may not have a meaningful solution because there is the possibility that a subsystem becomes overdeterminate. Unfortunately, his paper (Shibata 1930) was written in Japanese, so that his contribution remained unknown amongst western economists. But his assertion was in fact the same as that of von Stackelberg (1933), which appeared three years after the publication of Shibata (1930).2 Shibata (1933), which was written in English, tried to formulate Marx’s scheme of reproduction by means of a simplified two sector Walrasian general equilibrium system of equations, and this paper was referred to by Oscar Lange (1935). He also published a critical review of Keynes’ General Theory (Keynes 1936) in English only a year after the publication of Keynes’ book (cf. Shibata 1937). Masazo Sono was a mathematician rather than economist, but his mathematical analysis of the ‘separable goods’ problem, which was done during World War II, is an important contribution to consumer theory (cf. Sono 1943).3 The contributions by such economists as Shibata and Sono were the pioneering works which foreshowed the striking international contributions by several Japanese theoretical economists after World War II, especially in the period between the 1940s and the 1970s. In the following sections, we shall consider international contributions by Japanese economists to the development of economic theory after World War II, especially focusing on the development of dynamic economic theories from the1940s to the 1970s. We take up the theoretical contributions by Takuma Yasui, Michio Morishima, Hirofumi Uzawa, Takashi Negishi, Nobuo Okishio and Hukukane Nikaido.4

The aim of this article is to make an overall assessment of Andreas George Papandreou’s theoretical contributions during his American academic career, from the perspective of the history of economic thought. Papandreou contributed to the postwar development of economic thought in competition theory and experimental testing of consumer theory. In developing competition theory, he introduced a new method of evaluating the monopolistic power of a firm through a coefficient measuring the firm’s penetration in the market. Furthermore, he suggested a way of experimentally testing whether individual preferences satisfy the axiom of transitivity. He actively participated in the methodological controversies on the realisticness of economic assumptions that took place between 1946 and 1953, and on the empirical meaning of economics in 1963, between Milton Friedman, Paul Samuelson, Fritz Machlup, Herbert Simon, and others.

This research article aims to evaluate the characteristics of ecotourism destination loyalty in light of destination attachment, destination equity framed by perceived value, and tourist experience. Thus, the attributes of ecotourism destination branding in formulating tourist loyalty are examined. The study is of significant importance for developing economies having natural tourist destinations. A total of 358 questionnaires were filled through wjx, and a SmartPLS-based structural equation modeling tool was used to analyze the data obtained from eco-tourists. The software is essential for complex structural models, including multiple indicators, and relationships. The empirical results exhibit that perceived value and tourist experience significantly contribute to destination loyalty and equity, eventually influencing tourist destination loyalty. Moreover, destination memory moderates the relationship between destination attachment, destination equity, and destination loyalty. Further, destination attachment and destination equity mediate the relationship between the perceived value, experience, and destination loyalty. Additionally, the study extends the tourist consumption theory to the ecotourism literature. Besides the theoretical contribution, the study makes a practical contribution to practitioners. For instance, perceived value is a prime contributor to tourist destination loyalty. In perceived value, the most important factor is good value for money. Such practical contribution will provide a pathway to the strategic formation of business.

BackgroundIn an increasingly digitalized world, the impact of digital technology on sports consumption behavior is a pivotal area of study, particularly among college students who are highly engaged with digital platforms.MethodsThis study investigates how digital technology use shapes college students’ sports consumption behavior, incorporating emotional experience as a mediator and symbolic perception as a moderator. Guided by the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework and Symbolic Consumption Theory (SCT), data from 861 Chinese college students (511 males and 350 females) were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).ResultsResults reveal that digital technology use significantly enhances sports consumption, not only through a direct effect but also indirectly by improving emotional experience. Furthermore, symbolic perception amplifies the effect of emotional experience on consumption behavior. These findings highlight the dual psychological pathways through which technology influences sports-related decisions.ConclusionThe study offers theoretical contributions by integrating emotional and symbolic mechanisms, and provides practical insights for sports marketers and educators aiming to engage college students in digital-era consumption.