1st Edition
The Hard Sell An Ethnographic Study of the Direct Selling Industry
By John Bone
Copyright 2006
216 Pages
by
Routledge
216 Pages
by
Routledge
216 Pages
by
Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
In this work John Bone provides a lively and engaging insight into the social world of direct selling organizations. He investigates these under-researched organizations via a detailed ethnography of two home improvement companies selling products such as fitted kitchens, double glazing and conservatories, as well as developing wider sociological debates on trust and interaction. These... Read more
Contents: Introduction: direct selling; Setting the scene; Entering the field; 'The Persuaders' part 1: marketing; 'The Persuaders' part 2: sales; The culture of the 'con man'; A culture of excess; Booty capitalism; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.
Biography
John Bone is Lecturer in Sociology in the Department of Sociology, University of Aberdeen, UK.
Prize: The British Sociological Association Philip Abrams Memorial Prize 2007 (joint winner) 'John Bone's penetrating study of direct selling in the home improvements industry takes us into a world that makes a mockery of the principles of rationally ordered bureaucracy. This is booty capitalism: irrational, anti-structural, and fixated on short-term gains. Offering a wealth of ethnographic material, Bone's study is a major contribution to our understanding of the dynamics of contemporary capitalism.' Alan Aldridge, University of Nottingham, UK '...for readers who require insights into the day-to-day organization and operations of an important but little-known business type, this provides essential reading...As a contribution to business history, this work of sociology has opened up an aspect of "real life" to academic scrutiny and has exposed a less glamorous part of the retail industry to first-rate effect.' Business History
