Consumer Collectives: A History and Reflections on Their Future

Abstract

This article provides a history of the treatment of consumer collectives in the social sciences literature. It highlights some of the insights derived from recent work in consumer research on consumer collectives which we organize under a heuristic taxonomy distinguishing packs, tribes, and bands. All of this suggests some future directions for consumer collectives and areas for future research. The proliferation and diversification of digital technologies will continue to shape and be shaped by consumer collectivities. Platforms are likely to accelerate and diversify consumers’ collective uses of their affordances. Algorithms seem destined to play a bigger role in the formation and management of collectives. Both geography-free and local collectives are likely to develop further. The article concludes with synopses of the competitive and invited articles in this issue, which richly portray the behaviors and meanings that shape and are shaped by consumer collectives.