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INTEREST CATEGORY: CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
POSTING TYPE: Calls: Journals

Posted by: Anna-Bertha Heeris Christensen

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Marketing Theory Special Issue

Paradoxes in Acceleration and Deceleration in Consumer Culture

Anna-Bertha Heeris Christensen
Richard Gyrd-Jones
Katharina C. Husemann
Giana M. Eckhardt

Submission Deadline: 15 May 2026

Contemporary consumer culture reflects both consumer lifestyle acceleration (Bauman, 2013; Rosa, 2013) and deceleration (Husemann and Eckhardt 2019). In the former, consumers seek to utilize technologies, fast capitalism and the culture of immediacy that allow consumers to simultaneously reach their life goals whilst enriching their consumer experiences (Miles, 2020). This is reflected in fast fashion, instantaneous online shopping and delivery and mobile technology. Indeed, digital acceleration enables constant connectivity, redefining how we maintain relationships and cultural ties. For example, by enabling new forms of intimacy with distant others in conditions of ‘immediacy’ (Tomlinson, 2007; Baumann, 2013) exemplified in the digital love market (Ordóñez-Giraldo, Phipps & Oxanne, 2024). However, the consequences of this acceleration include experiences of elevated levels of stress, general anxiety, burnout (Santomauro et al., 2021) and alienation (Rosa, 2013), as well as seeking deceleration (Husemann & Eckhardt, 2019) and boredom (Murphy, McDonagh & Flaherty, 2023). This is also reflected in shifting consumer desires and attitudes to ownership (Atanasova & Eckhardt, 2021).

Deceleration is becoming more sought after by consumers (Eckhardt and Husemann, 2018), as we see a rise in decelerated lifestyles: slowing down consumption (Berger-Remy et al., 2020) prioritizing mindfulness (Heitmann et al., 2011) and reclaiming control over the perceived speed of their lives. This is reflected in trends such as downshifting (Dickinson et al. 2011), the slow food movement (Littler & Binkley, 2008), and minimalism and decluttering (Shaw & Newholm, 2002; Wilson & Bellezza, 2021). However, deceleration is not to be a panacea. Schwarz (2021) notes that the lives of digital nomads, who give up a fixed locale to live and work in order to slow down, are fraught with paradoxes of materialization/de materialization, acceleration/deceleration, and reduced/increased consumption. It is these paradoxes that we seek to explore in this issue. How are these concepts related at theoretical, empirical and ontological levels and are they are two sides of the same coin? If so, what connects these seemingly opposite concepts and what are the implications for how we understand consumers and consumption today?

We hope that illuminating how consumers navigate between acceleration and deceleration, how markets respond to acceleration and deceleration, and how notions of (de)materialization, (de)consumption and consumer well-being can generate novel insights to advance marketing theory.

This special issue invites research that critically explores acceleration and deceleration as patterns of consumption across diverse contexts, cultures and spaces, recognizing that these patterns may vary depending on local socio economic and cultural conditions. We particularly encourage contributions that highlight the paradoxical nature of these phenomena and introduce novel theoretical perspectives that advance marketing theory. We seek empirical and conceptual studies that illuminate how consumers navigate, suffer from, or find emancipation through processes of acceleration and deceleration. Multidisciplinary approaches that foster theoretical development are especially welcome, as is research representing diverse perspectives from across the globe. For example, exploring specific movements such as the lying flat (tang ping) movement in China or societal positions attached to privilege.

Potential topics for submission include, but are not limited to:

• Ontological perspectives on paradoxes in the context of acceleration and deceleration.
• Epistemological explorations about how these paradoxes can be understood
• How consumers manage the paradox between acceleration and deceleration
• How consumers reconcile and navigate acceleration and deceleration (if at all).
• How are acceleration and deceleration connected, as paradoxes or dialectics, and do different notions of the phenomena change their role in consumption?
• How does digitalization shape acceleration and deceleration in consumption/marketing?
• What are the consequences of acceleration and deceleration?
• Is deceleration a reaction to our accelerated society and in what ways do the phenomena interact?
• How do acceleration and deceleration exist in different cultures, classes and spaces?
• How do acceleration and deceleration impact on how consumption/marketing functions and/or practices are organized?
• How are acceleration and deceleration enacted, performed or practiced differently amongst different movements or cultures?

Submission Instructions

All submissions will undergo double-blind peer review. The deadline for submission is 15 May 2026. Papers accepted are expected to be online by November 2027. Authors are encouraged to refer to the Marketing Theory website for instructions on submitting a paper and for more information about the journal. Manuscripts should be submitted through the ScholarOne Manuscripts portal

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Please contact the Guest Editor team on simarktheory@gmail.com with questions about the suitability of a manuscript for the special issue.

References:

Atanasova, A., & Eckhardt, G. M. (2021). The broadening boundaries of materialism. Marketing Theory, 21(4), 481-500.

Bauman, Z. (2013). Liquid modernity. John Wiley & Sons.

Berger-Remy, F., Dubreuil, C., Dion, D., & Albertini, E. (2020). Oases of Deceleration: How Firms Shape Experience of Deceleration. Proceedings of the European Marketing Academy. http://proceedings. emaconline. org/index. cfm.

Dickinson, J. E., Lumsdon, L. M., & Robbins, D. (2011). Slow travel: Issues for tourism and climate change. Journal of sustainable Tourism, 19(3), 281-300.

Heitmann, S., Robinson, P., & Povey, G. (2011). Slow food, slow cities and slow tourism. Research themes for tourism, 114.

Eckhardt, G. M., & Husemann, K. C. (2018). The growing business of helping customers slow down. Harvard Business Review, December 7. https://hbr.org/2018/12/the-growing-business-of-helping-customers-slowdown

Husemann, K. C., & Eckhardt, G. M. (2019). Consumer deceleration. Journal of Consumer Research, 45(6), 1142-1163.

Littler, J., & Binkley, S. (2008). Cultural studies and anti-consumerism: a critical encounter. Cultural Studies, 22(5), 519-530.

Miles, S. (2020). The Experience Society: consumer capitalism rebooted. Pluto Press.

Murphy, S., Hill, T., McDonagh, P., & Flaherty, A. (2023). Mundane emotions: Losing yourself in boredom, time and technology. Marketing Theory, 23(2), 275-293.

Ordóñez-Giraldo, S., Phipps, M., & Ozanne, J. L. (2024). Romance in times of crisis: Contingent social synchronization in accelerated love markets. Marketing Theory, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14705931241302953

Rosa, H. (2013). Social acceleration: A new theory of modernity. Columbia University Press.

Santomauro, D. F., Herrera, A. M. M., Shadid, J., Zheng, P., Ashbaugh, C., Pigott, D. M., … & Ferrari, A. J. (2021). Global prevalence and burden of depressive and anxiety disorders in 204 countries and territories in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Lancet, 398(10312), 1700-1712.

Schwarz, S. (2021). ‘Going’Green? Nomadic Consumers’ Paradoxical Journey Toward Sustainability. Advances in Consumer Research, 49, 60-64.

Shaw, D., & Newholm, T. (2002). Voluntary simplicity and the ethics of consumption. Psychology & Marketing, 19(2), 167-185.

Tomlinson, J. (2007). The culture of speed: The coming of immediacy. Sage. Wilson & Bellezza (2021). Consumer Minimalism, Journal of Consumer Research, 48(5), 796–816.

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