This book critically examines marketization: a phenomenon by which market processes are institutionalized and marketing increasingly pervades all areas of our everyday life. It presents a number of theories, frameworks and empirical studies highlighting how the phenomenon of marketization affects the 21st century consumer. The book also contests the traditional understanding of markets, offering a more comprehensive treatment of marketization and a fresh perspective on the dynamics of markets and the institutions that control everyday consumption practices.

This well-crafted research book is a valuable addition to the sparse literature on theories of marketization. The authors refigure the existing theories more broadly and present compelling evidence and insights into market phenomenon such as marginality, alternative market forms and consumer identity.

“This book could be an absolute delight for the readers, and an ideal resource for academicians, practitioner, and policy-marketers who are interested in understanding, devising, and implementing the appropriate marketization strategies. … we thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. We found this book informative and generally enjoyable, useful and well written. … Overall, this book provides an amazing range of insights, thoughts, and extensive examples from a global perspective.” (Farzana Quoquab and Jihad Mohammad, Journal of Macromarketing, March 23, 2022)

Dr. Himadri Roy Chaudhuri is a faculty member (Marketing) at XLRI, Jamshedpur, India, and was an Associate Professor at the International Management Institute (IMI), Kolkata. He holds a Ph.D. in Business Management from the University of Calcutta, and has more than 16 years' academic experience in investigating culture consumption theory, critical marketing, public consumption and consumer happiness in the domain of marketing theory. His other research areas include theorizing consumer lived experience and subaltern consumption phenomenon, and he has published papers on public and conspicuous consumption respected international journals. He is an associate editor of the Global Business Review and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Marketing Communication. He has participated in technical sessions at various international conferences, and is an official at the Macro Marketing Society’s India Chapter.

Professor Russell W. Belk is Kraft FoodsCanada Chair in Marketing at Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and has held visiting faculty posts at the University of Utah, Lancaster University Management School, Göteborg University, University of Otago, University of Michigan, Edith Cowan University, and the University of British Columbia to name a few. He has published numerous papers in international journals as well as several books, including 10 volumes of ‘Russell Belk, Sage Legends in Consumer Behavior.’ He is co-editor of the Handbook on the Sharing Economy, published by Edward Elgar.