CHAPTER 1 - University of Exeter

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Chapter 1 - Introduction
motivations for buying certain products and how different products can relate to
identity. The most key feature of these different approaches to shopping is however
that shopping seems to be a highly gendered activity - most notably a female one,
although there was some evidence that researchers were becoming aware that these
patterns of behaviour were changing. For example Firat (1994) had stated that:
Largely, consumption has become an acceptable activity, even for males, who
have been relatively freed from having to represent only the masculine
because of the cultural break that has begun to take place between the
categories of gender and sex. (p. 216)
Several other researchers (Bakewell & Mitchell, 2004; Dholakia, 1999; Dholakia,
Pedersen & Hikmet, 1995; Fisher & Arnold, 1994) made the point that because of
the changes society has been undergoing, men by default have to be more involved in
every day shopping and consumption behaviours. For example people in general are
staying single longer, thus a single man also has to take care of himself for longer,
where previously a wife or female partner might have taken care of his shopping
needs. In similar fashion, Roberts (1981) also noted that since people are staying
single longer, it helps them in acquiring consumer skills unusual for their sex; for
example, women might be more likely to purchase a car, while men could be getting
more involved in shopping for and preparing meals than a historical perspective
might have indicated.
Otnes and McGrath (2001) investigated to what extent stereotypes
surrounding male shopping behaviours were still true and found that most of them
could now be refuted because men as well as women participate in shopping
behaviours. In addition, Holt and Thompson (2004) showed that at least in the USA