Commodification of Race and Ethnicity

Beginning in the latter part of the twentieth century, the economic systems of the United States and to some extent most Western societies transformed from modern industrial economies to post-modern, postindustrial economies based on the consumption rather than the production of goods. In such societies, people use commodities to shape their identities. Like other forms of identity, ethnicity and race are socially constructed with the use of commodities. Some people embrace a voluntary, convenient form of ethnic identity that is largely symbolic, while others — mainly people of color — have visible racial or ethnic markers that make their group membership a matter of ascription, not of choice. While people use commodities to express ethnic and racial identities, other relationships form between ethnicity and the commodity culture. Ethnicities become marketed through festivals, race-specific products, clothing and ethnic cuisines. The commodification of ethnic cultures has led people to question the authenticity of the ethnicities they "consume."

Keywords: Achieved Characteristic; Ascribed Characteristic; Assimilation; Cathedrals of Consumption; Ethnicity; Fetishism of Commodities; Invented Traditions; Melting Pot; Race; Symbolic Ethnicity

Overview

The study of the commodification of race and ethnicity brings together several fields of sociology. Sociologists use the term "ethnicity" to refer to a shared background, origins or culture. "Race" refers to a socially constructed category loosely based on ancestral background and appearance. Sociologists believe that racial categories are for the most part biologically meaningless, although they have great social significance. While these terms are used for different analytical reasons in sociology, a person's race and ethnicity may overlap and in mainstream culture the terms are often used interchangeably.

Commodity culture is also a concern of sociology. As Western economies have transformed from manufacturing-based productive economies to systems based more on service industries and information, consumption rather than production has become the major focus of social institutions. For example, families consume together rather than produce together, leisure time is spent consuming, commodities are treated almost as magical objects or fetishes, and people shape their identities through use of products. The study of the social construction of race and ethnicity and the development of commodity culture illuminates several contemporary trends: people use commodities to shape their own ethnic identities and to label and sometimes stereotype various others; commodities are developed and marketed to groups on the basis of their race and ethnicity, and ethnicity itself is treated as a product to be sold.

Identity Formation through Consumption

The economies of many post-industrial Western economies such as the United States are based on high levels of consumption. In a consumer society, people do not define themselves by their relationships to the means of production, but in relationship to the market — that is, people define themselves according to what they buy. While in traditional societies and even early modern societies, people are defined largely through their roles and relationships, in consumer societies, a heavier emphasis is placed on visual statements of identity, fashion, and identity construction through the use of commodities. Culture becomes "prefabricated and mass marketed" (Dunn, 2000, p. 117) and ethnic identity can be purchased in the same way as other commodities. This simultaneously has the positive effect of giving people more choice in their own identity construction and the negative effect of destroying traditional bonds and fragmenting society.

Ascribed & Achieved Characteristics

Sociologists point out that some personal characteristics are ascribed; they are given to people at birth, such as gender. Others are achieved; people "earn" them as they move through life. For example, age is ascribed and marital status is achieved. Race is generally an ascribed characteristic. Although a person may pass as someone of another race, more often racial sorting based on appearance assigns people to the racial group with which they identify. Ethnicity is also ascribed, but there is a sense in which it can be achieved. People who exhibit physical characteristics associated with their ethnicity have that ethnicity ascribed to them, but others must actively display their affiliations for people to correctly identify their ethnic identity. In this sense, ethnicity can be said to be achieved.

Symbolic Ethnicity

Gans (1979) said that many people experience their ethnicity not through participation in ethnic life (for example, living in an ethnic community or attending religious services with others of the same ethnicity) but by identifying through individual acts with an ethnic category. For many people (particularly those who are descended from white ethnic groups) ethnicity has become largely voluntary and unlikely to affect life chances or important decisions. To "feel ethnic," that is, to feel connected with older traditions and meanings associated with a particular ethnicity, people engage in activities of a more symbolic nature. Ethnicity becomes an attribute associated with personal identity rather than group identity. Gans noted that using consumer goods (especially food) and celebrating ethnic holidays were easy ways of practicing symbolic ethnicity. In contemporary society, there are few costs and many benefits to symbolic ethnicity; it can provide people with a sense of uniqueness and help them distinguish themselves from others and from mass culture. Conversely, it can give a sense of belonging and provide a sense of common identity. In consumer societies, because people use commodities to construct their identities, symbolic ethnicity becomes shaped by commodities (Bankston & Henry, 2000). Ethnicity becomes expressed through ethnic festivals, foods, clothing and music -all commodified forms — whereas in the past it was expressed through maintenance of traditional culture from religious practices to folkways, through endogamous marriage, ethnic voting blocks, and labor market niches.

A group's culture may be commodified because it is being assimilated into the broader culture, or conversely, commodification may signal a renewed interest in maintaining distinct aspects of an ethnic or racial subculture. Commodification may be imposed on a group from the outside, for example, Mattel created sari-clad versions of Barbie to increase their market share in India (Grewal, 2005). Or, people in a group may market their culture to outsiders as a means of preserving it and keeping it alive. There is no limit to how an ethnicity can be packaged and sold. Ethnic culture is sold through foods, drinks, toys, clothing, and music; often, ethnic stereotypes are part of the marketing. For example, in some Irish pubs, the product being marketed is an imaginary Irish identity and also "a particularly 'Irish' way of having a 'good time'" based on the old stereotype of the Irish as heavy drinkers (McGovern, 2002, p. 79). What these examples have in common is the extent to which ethnic identity becomes inseparable from commodities. "Significantly, many of the transactions by which ethnicity is made 'real' are economically grounded: festivals, restaurants, art galleries, clothing outlets, and musical venues" (Lu & Fine 1995).

Applications

Examples of Commodification

Ethnic festivals may center on agricultural products associated with a group, foodstuffs, religious holidays, or a variety of ethnic practices such as dancing, production of indigenous products (Navaho blanket weaving), historical reenactments, or other activities (Cajun alligator calling). Staging ethnic festivals serves as a means of creating a symbolic ethnic identity in consumer society. Ethnic festivals are designed to re-enchant the world. They offer a multitude of commodities that ostensibly provide an authentic representation of an ethnic culture, and offer these for sale as a means of participating in ethnic life or as a means of constructing an ethnic identity (Bankston & Henry 2000).

Sometimes ethnicity is commodified in an attempt to move products. For example, the producers of Guinness began cooperating with the O'Neill's Irish pub chain when they realized that many people ordered Guinness in specific social settings — Irish-themed restaurants and bars — but rarely outside of these settings. Guinness began to cooperate in efforts to expand the number of Irish pubs in Britain and worldwide as a marketing tool. More than beer is being sold in these Irish pubs; the true commodity for sale is a conception of Irish ethnicity, especially the idea of Irish pubs as friendly places where drinking is the norm. To market the idea of Irish ethnicity, the décor and music are carefully controlled to remind customers of "old-world" Ireland. This presentation of ethnicity serves as a platform on which the selling of Irish beers can take place.

There is a long history of using images of black and Asian people in advertising to connote otherness and difference. For example, in a study of ads from the 1929 National Geographic, O'Barr (1994) finds images of Africans used to symbolize primitive culture (as opposed to modern, technologically developed Western culture) and Native Americans representing the savage and untamed wilderness. From early modern ads from the turn of the 20th century through the Civil Rights era, images of African Americans were frequently problematic. Ads often only represented black people as servants — cooks, maids, and bellhops — who brought the advertised products to white people. Black people were not the intended audience of such ads; they were used as props. Other ads used racist imagery to sell everything from foods to clothes to chemicals.

Race-specific Products

While ethnicity is commodified and sold, and race and ethnicity are used as symbols to sell a variety of commodities with no actual connection to the groups represented, race and ethnicity are also seen as boundaries defining niche markets. Some products — particularly health and beauty products — are created for and pitched to specific races. These pitches may be grounded in actual market demand. On the other hand, many products aimed at a racial or ethnic market are perceived as tools that deliver a message of ethnic inferiority. For example, the derogatory interpretation of the texture of African-American hair has launched a multi-million dollar industry aimed at transforming this "bad hair" into hair that more closely approximates straighter Anglo-American hair. Mercer (1995) argued that hair products marketed to black people are not neutral products; they carry messages about how black people should assimilate into the mainstream (white) culture. Ethnic products have political meanings; some styles such as the conk or the Afro were created to express a message of disaffection from social norms. Frequently, though, styles created to carry a political message are quickly commodified into just another fashion. Commodification indicates a kind of assimilation but it can also create a sense of manipulation and inauthenticity. For example, Frankenberg (1996) found that whites who lack strong ethnic identification often feel that whiteness has become over-identified with commodity culture; they see whiteness linked with homogenized or mass marketed products (for example, Wonder Bread and Kleenex).

Authenticity

Authenticity refers to the perceived veracity or genuineness of a product or experience. Ostensibly, authentic cultural products present ethnic life as it was before assimilation and acculturation introduced alien elements. Of course, the idea of authenticity is an ideal type; there are few cultures that exist in such isolation from the world that they are not influenced by other societies, and even cultures that do not borrow much from the outside change over time. Authenticity is also a relative concept. Food that is seen as authentically Mexican on the United States' East Coast will not pass muster in Southern California; food that is seen as authentically Chinese in small Midwestern suburbs will not seem authentic to people used to eating in New York's Chinatown. Even within a culture there might not be agreement about what is authentic.

People who consume ethnic products are often in search of an experience that is non-threatening while ethnically authentic. Restaurants provide a popular means of experiencing ethnic otherness safely. Lu and Fine (1995) studied Chinese restaurants as examples of this quest of Americans for authentic experiences of other cultures. Chinese restaurants make up about a third of all ethnic restaurants in the US, while only 1.2 percent of Americans can claim Chinese ancestry, according to the 2010 US Census; meaning that most patrons of Chinese restaurants experience the food of an ethnic group other than their own. There are rewards to seeking out ethnic food, beyond the culinary ones. Consuming the food of another ethnic group can provide a means for people to construct their own identities as sophisticated and worldly. At the same time, though, many if not most customers of such establishments would not appreciate an unmitigated ethnic experience, since cuisines from other nations use foodstuffs and techniques considered inedible by many Americans (feet, brains, organ meats, and so on). Owners of ethnic restaurants thus must negotiate between their customers' stated desire for an authentic experience and their desire for familiarity. Authentic ethnicity is thus produced by combining food that is somewhat "Americanized" (cooked differently, or made with more common ingredients) with an atmosphere created to suggest ethnic identity. Customers are not always good judges of what is authentic in ethnic cuisines. Lacking experience, they use other markers of ethnicity (décor, ambiance, presence of ethnic staff) to support their judgments (Gaytan 2008). In search of authenticity, people end up inventing traditions, creating new cultural products that are legitimated by suggesting they are inheritors of older traditional forms (Hobsbawm, 1983).

Discussion

Historical Tourism

Just like race and ethnicity, history and tourism have become increasingly commodified. As advances in technology made transportation more reliable and less expensive, the modern tourism industry developed, and tourism has become increasingly popular with and available to people of all classes over the last century, especially since World War II. Visiting historical sites is a popular activity for tourists. Historical tourism is promoted by historians and history buffs who are interested in preserving and sharing their local history. It is also promoted by local, state and national governments and the business community for both altruistic and commercial reasons. History has been commodified in many fashions; for example, people buy houses, furniture and clothing modeled after bygone styles, and books, movies, toys and games representing the past are popular. Historical tourism allows for a melding of educational and commercial aspects of exploring the past, as some historical sites become "cathedrals of consumption."

The past few decades have seen attempts by historical sites to present more inclusive historical information. Before the Civil Rights movement, mainstream accounts of history in the U.S. tended to focus on a white, Eurocentric version of the past. In the decades since, strides have been made to present a more complete version of the past in books, in movies, and at historical sites. In the past, when history was told by whites to whites, it often used people of color as props. For example, in the 1920's, the Great Northern Railway created two rail expeditions to take tourists to sites important in US history. These trips were marketed to white customers and pitched as historical journeys; the history they sold was the story of Western expansion from an Anglo-centric viewpoint, using local American Indians as props to recreate interesting tableaux from the past (Kammen, 1997). The trips used a commodified and stereotypical concept of "Indian-ness" (dancing, trading, peace-pipe smoking) to appeal to potential white customers.

In contrast to this older case, Colonial Williamsburg has worked to include the stories of servants, slaves, and free people of color in its interpretation of the past, a project that is complex because of the tension between presenting an authentic past and presenting a past attractive enough to draw in paying visitors (Handler & Gable, 1997). One of the pressures behind this move to inclusion in sites across the nation is economic; it is hard to market a historical site to people who find their own stories slighted there. Tourism — especially historical tourism — is big business, appealing to all racial and ethnic groups. African Americans are more likely than whites to specifically seek out historical sites, especially those commemorating their ethnic past such as civil rights museums or shrines and museums dedicated to figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and Frederick Douglass (Rosenzweig & Thelen, 1998). In the case of historical tourism, commodification of ethnicity and race takes the form of integrating multiple stories into the historical narrative. In this case, then, commodification does indicate a level of assimilation and acceptance, and also an attempt to keep a distinct tradition alive.

Conclusion

Is commodification a form of assimilation, an attempt to preserve or reinvigorate traditional culture, a form of cultural imperialism, or just an attempt to cash in on nostalgia? The examples above suggest it is all these things, and subject to change. Larger social forces such as globalization, political shifts, and economic transformations can influence the ways an ethnicity is marketed. This can be seen in the growing popularity of Irish pubs in Britain as the Irish peace process proved successful, and also the changing representation of Appalachia in the Smithsonian Folk Festival as increased globalization shifted the festival from a celebration of American folk to a depictions of international folk life (McGovern, 2002; Satterwhite, 2008).

Terms & Concepts

Achieved Characteristic: An achieved characteristic is constructed or earned. Marital status and social class are achieved characteristics.

Ascribed Characteristic: An ascribed characteristic is one over which people have no control, an identity into which they are born. Gender and age are ascribed.

Assimilation: The incorporation of one culture into another; seen as a means of mobility for immigrant groups, it is also criticized by advocates of multiculturalism.

Cathedrals of Consumption: George Ritzer's term for sites such as malls, superstores, theme parks and cruise ships that turn the process of consuming into an almost sacred experience.

Ethnicity: shared culture and origins, manifested in shared cultural traits such as a common language, customs, or religious belief.

Fetishism of Commodities: Karl Marx's term describing how, under capitalism's system of alienated labor, people treat commodities as if they are magic. Because people are alienated from the objects they produce, relationships with objects replace relationships with people.

Invented Traditions: Term coined by Eric Hobsbawm that refers to new cultural events that incorporate aspects of older cultural traditions for legitimacy.

Melting Pot: Used to refer to assimilation in the U.S., the term implied that the nation's diverse cultures would assimilate into the larger society, each contributing a little something new without changing the flavor of the whole.

Race: Category based on appearance and ancestral origins, believed by sociologists to have great impact on life chances but little biological basis.

Symbolic Ethnicity: Ethnicity with little impact on day-to-day life, expressed voluntarily through participation in ethnic festivals, food choices, holidays.

Bibliography

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Dunn, R.G. (2000). Identity, commodification, and consumer culture. In J.E. Davis (Ed.), Identity and Social Change (pp. 109-134). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

Frankenberg, R. (1996). Whiteness as an unmarked cultural category. In, K. Rosenblum and T. Travis (Eds). The meaning of difference . New York: McGraw-Hill.

Gans, H. (1979). Symbolic ethnicity: The future of ethnic groups and cultures in America. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2, 1-20. Retrieved February 25, 2010 from EBSCO online database, SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=10446759&site=ehost-live

Gaytan, M.S. (2008). From sombreros to sincronizadas: Authenticity, ethnicity, and the Mexican restaurant industry. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 37, 314-341.

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Lu, S. & Fine GA. (1995). The presentation of ethnic authenticity: Chinese food as a social accomplishment. The Sociological Quarterly 36 , 535-553.

McGovern, M. (2002). 'The 'Craic' market': Irish theme bars and the commodification of Irishness in contemporary Britain. Irish Journal of Sociology, 11, 77-98. Retrieved February 25, 2010 from EBSCO online database, SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=14670342&site=ehost-live

Mercer, K. (1995). Black hair/Style politics. In E. Carter, J. Donald and J. Squires (Eds), Cultural Remix: Theories of politics and the popular . London: Lawrence and Wishar.

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Philip, C.L., Dawson, B., & Burford, T.I. (2011). The complexities of race and ethnicity: Understanding diversity in the American context. International Journal Of Diversity In Organisations, Communities & Nations, 11, 69–83. Retrieved October 25, 2013 from EBSCO online database, SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=74292321&site=ehost-live

Ritzer, G. (1999). Enchanting a disenchanted world: Revolutionizing the means of consumption. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.

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Satterwhite, E. (2008). Imagining home, nation, world: Appalachia on the mall. Journal of American Folklore 121 10-24.

Suggested Reading

de Mendiola, M. (2004). Mexican contemporary photography: Staging ethnicity and citizenship. boundary 2, 31, 125-153. Retrieved February 25, 2010 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=14812510&site=ehost-live

Gvion, L., & Trostler, N. (2008). From spaghetti and meatballs through Hawaiian pizza to sushi: The changing nature of ethnicity in American restaurants. Journal of Popular Culture, 41, 950-974. Retrieved February 25, 2010 from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=35198914&site=ehost-live

Philip, C.L., Dawson, B., & Burford, T.I. (2011). The complexities of race and ethnicity: Understanding diversity in the American context. International Journal Of Diversity In Organisations, Communities & Nations, 11, 69–83. Retrieved October 25, 2013 from EBSCO online database, SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=74292321&site=ehost-live

Willis, S. (1995). I want the black one: Being different. In E. Carter, J. Donald and J. Squires (Eds), Cultural remix: Theories of politics and the popular (pp. 141-165). London: Lawrence and Wishar.

Wood, R.E. (1998). Touristic ethnicity: A brief itinerary. Ethnic and Racial Studies 21, 218 -241. Retrieved February 25, 2010 from EBSCO online database, SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=443081&site=ehost-live