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Call for Submissions

Special Issue on The Impact of Race on Consumers in the Marketplace

Editors:

• Frederick Wherry, Princeton University
• Vanessa G. Perry, The George Washington University

JCA is devoted to peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary research on the interests of consumers in the marketplace. This special issue of JCA is motivated by recent work of Race in the Marketplace (RIM), an international multidisciplinary research network dedicated to innovatively advancing knowledge and critically understanding the role of race and how it intersects with class, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexuality and disability in global marketplaces.

The guiding aim of the special issue is to highlight the influence of power, privilege and oppression on consumer well-being, question existing marketplace practices and link these understandings to an overall framework that supports social justice and the development of equitable markets across societies. Papers featured will examine how race (and its intersecting socio-political constructs – e.g. class, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability and sexuality) affects and is affected by the functioning of various markets (e.g. retailing, health, housing, finance, art, sport) and market infrastructures (e.g. algorithms, credit scoring, and market objects) with an emphasis on consumer well-being. The RIM special issue intends to be international, interdisciplinary and critical.

Consistent with the journal’s affiliation with the American Council on Consumer Interests (ACCI) and its origins in the consumer movement, research published in the journal focuses on protecting consumers’ interests and is addressed from the consumers’ point of view.

Potential areas of inquiry for submissions include (but are not limited to):

• How do consumers experience race and racialization in market spaces (material and virtual)?
• How is the marketplace defined, how do consumers interpret those definitions, and how are markets racialized in ways that harm or benefit consumers?
• How might big data, algorithms, and artificial intelligence reinforce, perpetuate and exacerbate existing systems of racism, or help solve them?
• How do the dynamics of race shift when considering online marketplaces?
• How do consumers construct racial identity projects both proactively and reactively in contexts of inequality?
• How does racialization influence consumers’ marketplace experiences? In other words, how do consumers of color experience the marketplace differently from others?
• What mechanisms drive degradation in the marketplace?
• Can the marketplace be made racially-equitable under a capitalist system? If so, how?
• What practical actions can be taken by individuals, collectives, organizations, businesses, and government entities to bring about fair and equitable marketplaces?

 

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