%0 Journal Article
%T The duality of social self
%A Paolo Totaro
%A Thais Alves Marinho
%J Journal of Consumer Culture
%@ 1741-2900
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/1469540517717774
%X ˇ°Consumer cultureˇ± theories frequently claim that people use symbols of consumption to socially self-categorize and satisfy their needs for assimilation or differentiation. Through two empirical quantitative studies, we argue that self-categorization operates according to a duality overlooked by these theories. On one hand, self-categorization can be understood as the assimilation of the ˇ°Iˇ± into a normatively well-characterized group, a self-categorization that we define as ˇ°ontologicalˇ± in this article. On the other hand, it can be understood as the identification with socially standardized and impersonal models, a self-categorization that we term ˇ°formal.ˇ± In the two studies, we investigated whether the psychologically perceived distance between the in-group and out-group (metacontrast) is greater in ontological than in formal self-categorization and, second, whether these two forms of self-categorizations operate independently (not correlated) in consumption. The results support the two hypotheses. However, further studies should be developed in order to give a more definitive character to the theory. If the findings of this work were to be confirmed by other ecological contexts and sampling techniques, there might be consequences for ˇ°self-brand connectionˇ± analyses and in general for consumption studies where social self-categorization theory can be applied
%K Social self-categorization
%K optimal distinctiveness theory
%K depersonalization
%K self-brand connection
%K social and system integration
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1469540517717774