An interdisciplinary review of resistance to consumption, some marketing interpretations, and future research suggestions

This article provides an interdisciplinary review of consumer resistance, an overarching term that includes various forms of anti‐consumerist behaviour. The review draws from disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, political economy, and cultural studies to explore the historical and discursive constructions of resistance and other key marketing concepts. In so doing, it identifies two distinct paradigms in the social sciences and humanities, namely, the “manipulation and enslavement” and the “agency and empowerment” discourses, and examines how these paradigms reflect onto theories of resistance in marketing. Lastly, the article suggests several new directions for resistance research that pertain to globalization, emerging markets, and ideological consumption.