RESEARCH INTERESTS

My primary research interest lies in the sociology of consumer behavior. Understanding consumer behavior is important for marketers since it is consumers who possess the buying power to determine the success of products, ideas, or services. A sociological focus in this domain involves the study of macro societal and cultural trends that shape consumer beliefs and practices.

Society is in a state of constant flux. This is true for Pakistan as well where tradition has been embedded in society, but in recent years I have seen that bond gradually erode with increased urbanization, product availability, consumer choice, and the proliferation of media channels and their access. People dress, eat, travel and buy differently now than they did twenty years ago. Hence, my topic of research interest intrigues me at a personal level. More broadly, the theme of my research is to assess how the demands of tradition and modernity are handled by consumers. This is a less well-developed domain in consumer behavior literature.

Central to the macro-analytics of consumption is the study of the context it takes place in. Unlike an individualistic examination from a psychological or purely economical point-of-view, consumer culture theory (CCT) is a set of approaches that tries to understand consumption processes within a social, political, cultural, and time-specific perspective. CCT aims to provide a holistic, interpretive, and/or critical approach to understanding consumer choice. Particular issues under the CCT spotlight include consumption influenced by social resources, culture-specific phenomenon, and consumer meaning-making, all mediated by the marketplace. CCT is the dominant sociological paradigm for the study of consumer behavior in contemporary marketing literature. My work is situated in this space.

In recent consumer behavior literature, researchers have increasingly used French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological concepts to explain consumption practices. His research has established that people compete in different walks of social life or what he termed fields. My Ph.D. thesis focused on Bourdieu’s social life theory in the context of participants from the religious group Tableeghi Jamaat in Pakistan. In particular, I addressed the research question, “How do participating consumers negotiate conflict between traditional and modern fields of social life?” The ethnographic study found that participants use multiple subconscious strategies to ameliorate distinct tensions between socio-economic class and religious demands. These strategies are guided by overarching resources called capitals accumulated through individual socio-historic conditioning. Capitals help consumers negotiate stresses by instigating learned or improvised responses. Consumers may resist to or comply with field pressures depending on the capitals gained from either modern or traditional fields. Such behavior is linked to consumption. The study concluded that consumer behavior is restricted by the number and strength of social life influences a person develops in his or her life trajectory.

I now discuss three papers I am currently working on.

Project 1: Rauf, Ateeq Abdul and Paul Henry, “From the Bazaar to the Masjid: Traditionalizing Consumers within the Currents of Modernity” composing first draft, target: Journal of Consumer Research

In this article, we draw upon the main focus of my Ph.D. research, i.e. how consumers manage involvement in modern and traditional fields. This research shows how consumers move into new and unfamiliar settings despite sometimes having an incompatible social upbringing and how they resolve ensuing conflicts related with existing field participation. Social resources called capitals are important assets that help consumers respond to pressures. Religious individuals combat modern forces to different degrees depending on the connection with traditional beliefs, norms, and values. Institutional doctrine can limit consumer involvement with the marketplace altogether which avoids outright confrontation with market specifics. This project will further understanding of fields and how field dynamics promote or hinder consumer participation, lifestyle, and consumption. Moreover, this study highlights the ways that modernity is negotiated by orthodox religious consumers and adds to the discussion of the relation between religion and consumption in the contemporary marketplace.

Project 2: Rauf, Ateeq Abdul, "Religious Discrimination at the Workplace" composing first draft, target: Organization

In this article, I examine instances of religious discrimination in Pakistan. I try to underpin the reasons of why such cases manifest themselves in the broader context of an Islamic country, divided by sectarianism.

Project 3: Rauf, Ateeq Abdul, "Education Ratrace" data collection, target: Consumption, Markets, and Culture

This project overviews the increasing trend of higher education in urban Pakistan and tries to unveil the forces behind it. Of particular interest is the education of women and how they try to negotiate the pressures of parenthood and culture to pursue educational interest outside the country, in liberal institutions, and long past what is traditionally considered marriageable age.