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Journal of Consumer Research, Inc.

The Sacred and the Profane in Consumer Behavior: Theodicy on the Odyssey
Author(s): Russell W. Belk, Melanie Wallendorf, John F. Sherry, Jr.
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Jun., 1989), pp. 1-38
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2489299 .
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The Sacred and the Profane in Consumer
Behavior: Theodicy on the Odyssey

RUSSELL W. BELK
MELANIEWALLENDORF
JOHN F. SHERRY, JR.*

Two processes at work in contemporary society are the secularization of religion


and the sacralization of the secular. Consumer behavior shapes and reflects these
processes. For many, consumption has become a vehicle for experiencing the sa-
cred. This article explores the ritual substratum of consumption and describes
properties and manifestations of the sacred inherent in consumer behavior. Sim-
ilarly,the processes by which consumers sacralize and desacralize dimensions of
their experience are described. The naturalistic inquiryapproach drivingthe insights
in this article is advanced as a corrective to a premature narrowing of focus in
consumer research.

It has been argued that revelatory incidents are the aged woman named Sarah,fashions the dolls with lov-
primary source of insight in ethnographic field- ing detail born of remarkablesocial circumstance. Af-
work (Fernandez 1986; Sherry 1988). These are ter the birth of her first child-a son now embarking
highly charged encounters suffused with meaning. upon a tryingpreadolescence-an automobile accident
Because these incidents are directly experienced by prevented Sarahfrom conceiving other children, most
notably the daughtershe alwayswanted. During her re-
the researcher,the significance of the phenomenon covery, Sarahbegan doing handicrafts,and eventually
under study is more fully appreciatedthan might oth- began "makingthe babies." In joining the dolls' fabric
erwise be possible. A number of such revelatory inci- bodies and faces, Sarahsees the babies "come to life."
dents have caused us to reevaluate some of the field's She views her skill as a special gift, just as babies are a
fundamental constructs for understanding market- gift from God. As she talks about her dolls, she adopts a
place and consumer behavior. Consider the following differentlinguistic register,shifting into baby-talk,and
abbreviatedexamples: caresses their foreheads as she speaks. Prior to closing
the sale of each doll, Sarahperformsa deliberatetrans-
Amongthe waresfor saleat the edgeof the midwayof action. She kisses the doll before releasing it to a cus-
a bustling Southwesternswap meet are decorative tomer, wishing it well and knowing all the while how
broomsand handcrafteddolls whichcloselyresemble happy the doll will make other children.
CabbagePatchKids. The vendor,a vibrantmiddle-
Describinghis arrangementof sculpted ceramic figures
* Russell W. Belk is the N. Eldon Tanner Professorof Business alternately as a "surrealisticfantasy" and a "dream,"
Administrationat the Collegeof Business,University of Utah, Salt GarthWarrenwatches viewersstrollingpast his exhibit
Lake City, UT 84112. Melanie Wallendorfis Associate Professor at the open air art festival. The young SouthernCalifor-
of Marketing,Collegeof Businessand Public Administration,Uni- nian artist has created a series of figures ("Eygot,"
versity of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85716. John F. Sherry,Jr. is Assis- "Wewants," "Sleep Drive," "Swollen Pride") com-
tant Professorof Marketing,Kellogg GraduateSchool of Manage- plete with framed misspelled proem cautionary tales,
ment, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60608. Financial which representaspects of his own personality(notably
support and intellectual encouragement from John Farley and
MarketingScience Institute, Bill Wells and DDB Needham, David "consumerism") which he purportsto dislike greatly.
Bergerand Foote, Cone, and Beldingenabledthe data collection on He is building a portfolio suitable to enteringgalleries,
which this article is based. The authors also thank Howie Becker, and is using this show to gain some exposure. Signifi-
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi,Andrew Greeley, and Deborah Heisley cantly, he is little concerned with business matters,and
for insightful comments on an earlierdraft. ProfessorWallendorf finds pricing his artworktroublesome. He gives many
appreciatesthe hospitality of the Departmentsof Marketingat the of his pieces away for nothing, and is as content with a
University of Utah and NorthwesternUniversity, where uninter- talkative looker as a paying customer. His younger sis-
ruptedtime and othersupportwas providedto completethis manu- ter, however, is sales-oriented, and has undertaken to
script during a sabbatical.All three authors acknowledgethe sup- protect Garthfrom his own philanthropy.Using a pric-
port of their respective institutions and the other members of the ing policy that is at turns intuitive and strategic,she is
Odysseyresearchteam duringthe data collection phase of the Con-
sumerBehaviorOdyssey. not above reviling critical lookers or alteringher broth-
er's work to suit a prospective buyer. Garth's philoso-
I

? JOURNALOFCONSUMERRESEARCH
* Vol. 16*June 1989
2 THE JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

phy of "If people smile, it's enough; they don't have to self-a need to transcend existence as a mere biologi-
buy" contrastsstrikinglywith the sister'sphilosophy of cal being coping with the everydayworld.
"I make sure he gets what's coming to him." Theirs is For many contemporary consumers, there are also
a symbiotic relationshipin which commerce assumes a elements of life with no connection to formal religion
custodial role with respectto art. that are nonetheless revered, feared, and treated with
The middle-agedproprietorof Mr. Ed's Elephant Mu-
the utmost respect. Examples include flags, sports
seum and Gift Shop speaks with considerable pride of stars, national parks,art, automobiles, museums, and
opening his presentbusiness. Operatingon intuition he collections. Whether we call the reverence for these
likens to predestination, Mr. Ed risked starting a ven- things religious, contemporary consumers treat them
ture sustained through the display and sale of elephant as set apart, extraordinary,or sacred,just as elements
replicas and peanuts. His museum houses a collection of nature are sacredin naturistic religions and certain
of hundredsof elephant replicashe has amassed for the icons are sacredto followers of contemporary,organ-
enjoyment of others and for posterity. His gift shop is ized religions. Although the specific focal objects
similarly laden with elephantiana. Despite the appar- differ, the same deeply moving, self-transcending
ent similarityof contents, Mr. Ed regardsthe two areas feelings may attend each, and the same revulsion may
as sublimely distinct. The museum items will never be occur when these objects are not treated with respect.
offeredfor sale at any price, regardlessof their similar-
ity (or even apparent inferiority) to items in the gift Religion is one, but not the only, context in which the
shop. Mr. Ed can conceive of no compelling argument concept of the sacred is operant.
(including his own hypothetically imminent destitu- Explicit recognition of the sacred status accorded
tion) for moving a piece from the museum to the gift to many consumption objects illuminates aspects of
shop. Mr. Ed maintains with axiomatic, heartfelt cer- contemporary North American consumer behavior
tainty that to attempt such a move would be "wrong." that, while basic and pervasive, have not been ex-
plained by prior theory and research.The substantial
Each of these vignettes reflects a dimension of body of social science theory on the role of the sacred
buyer and seller world views previously undescribed in religion is used here in developing an understand-
in consumer research. Each is an example of the ritual ing of sacred aspects of consumption. This body of
substratum of consumer behavior. These observa- related theory is used in analyzing and interpreting
tions make it apparent that consumption involves the Consumer Behavior Odyssey data (Belk 1987c;
more than the means by which people meet their ev- Wallendorf and Belk 1987; Holbrook 1987; Kassar-
eryday needs. Consumption can become a vehicle of jian 1987; Sherry 1987a; Wallendorf 1987b) and in
transcendent experience; that is, consumer behavior building a theory of the sacred aspects of consump-
exhibits certain aspects of the sacred. It is the premise tion.
of this article that this sacred dimension can be clini- The conditions and characteristicsof consumption
cally described and interpreted, thereby enhancing interpretable through the constructs of sacred and
our understanding of consumer behavior. In the fol- profane are detectable through introspection and a
lowing pages, we explore the qualities of sacredness close reading of a diverse literature set However, the
and the underlying processes of transformation mani- processes of meaning investment and divestment-
fest in consumer behavior. the sacralization rituals we treat at length in this arti-
Theory and research in the sociology of religion cle-are resistantto such distanced exposition. To re-
suggest that a fundamental distinction structuring so- flect the insights immanent in armchairand field, we
cial life is between what is set apart and regarded as employ a compromise strategy of presentation. That
sacred and what is regarded as profane or ordinary. In is, conditions for and foci of sacredness are explored
some societies, the sacred involves magic, shaman- principally through literature evaluation tempered
ism, animism, and totemism. Such societies often ac- by fieldwork. Processes are examined principally
cord sacred status to components of the natural envi- through analysis of field data tempered by literature.
ronment that are revered, feared, worshiped, and This work is intended as a conceptual contribution to
treated with the utmost respect. In contemporary parallel disciplines and as an empirical contribution
Western religion, the sacred/profane distinction is to consumer research.
also important, although the elements of experience After explaining the naturalistic methodology
considered sacred differ. Contemporary Western reli- through which the insights in this article were de-
gions define as sacred certain gods, shrines, clothing, rived, we review the sacred and profane in scholarly
days, relics, and songs. While less a part of nature, theories of religion. To understand what these theo-
these objects are regarded by the faithful of contem- ries can contribute to our understandingof consumer
porary Western religions as sacred, and there are par- behavior, we next explore shifts in contemporary
allels with the regard for certain natural objects by boundaries between the sacred and the profane. In so
participants in non-Western religions. Both sets of doing, we illuminate what is considered sacred in the
objects fulfill a need to believe in something signifi- secular world of consumption. Going beyond merely
cantly more powerful and extraordinary than the categorizingobjects or experiences as either sacredor
SACRED AND PROFANE IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 3

profane, we then develop a theory of the central pro- In naturalistic inquiry, no such assumption is
cesses by which transcendence is achieved through made. Instead, researchersbuild an understandingof
consumption, using data from participant-observa- the phenomenon as it occurs in situ, later testing the
tion and depth interviews from the Consumer Behav- veracity of that understanding, also in situ. The first
ior Odyssey.Finally, we outline areas of consumer re- step is to observe and record the phenomenon in de-
searchthat can benefit most from this theoretical per- tail. Researchersthen specify their understandingand
spective. construct guifdelinesfor furtherdata collection to test
the emerging understanding. This iterative process
continues in what Glaser and Strauss (1967) call the
METHOD constant comparative method. Rather than data col
The importance of the distinction between sacred lection followed by analysis, data collected previously
and profane aspects of consumption emerged in in- form the basis for an interpretation, which then de-
terpretingour data from a pilot project (Belk, Sherry, fines what data still are requiredto test the interpreta-
and Wallendorf 1988). Subsequently, the Consumer tion. The process continues until conceptual catego-
Behavior Odyssey collected data primarily through ries are saturated and reach a point of redundancy,
naturalistic, qualitative fieldworkas detailed by Lin- making further data collection unnecessary. For ex-
coln and Guba (1985). Data analysis and interpreta- ample, by the time we interviewedthe collector of ele-
tion with corroborationfrom the religious and social phant replicas mentioned earlier, we had explicit
science literatureswere guided by the constant com- hypotheses concerning the separation of sacred pos-
parative method of Glaser and Strauss (1967) and sessions from profane, usable commodities available
techniques specified by Miles and Huberman (1984) for sale. This collector echoed the views of prior in-
and Becker (1986). We used natural settings, emer- formants that collections are sacred and thereby
gent design, multiple sites, purposive sampling, cross- differentiatedfrom salable commodities.
context testing for transferability,depth and intimacy Neither the number nor type of interviews needed
in interviewing,triangulation of data across research- to reach this point of saturationcan be specifieda pri-
ers and data collection media, and triangulationof in- ori. This results in a substantialamount of time spent
terpretationacross researchers.Despite a long history by the researchersthemselves gathering data and de-
of usage in anthropology and sociology, these ap- veloping "thick description" (Geertz 1973). Initial
proaches have been employed less commonly in the interviews are largely nondirective (Briggs 1986), but
study of consumer behavior and, thus, are explained later blend into more directed, semistructuredones.
brieflyhere.
Before and during fieldwork,and throughout post- Sites and Purposive Sampling
field coding and further analysis, we immersed our-
selves in the literatures that address the sacred/pro- This article is based on data from a pilot study con-
fane distinction. Our reading of these literatureswas ducted in the fall of 1985, as well as data collected
both close and emergent, and has shaped and re- by the Consumer Behavior Odyssey iqthe summer of
flectedthe interpretationpresentedhere. Unlike posi- 1986 (see Kassarjian 1987 for the project's history).
tivistic research, which supposedly evaluates extant The Odyssey'sgoal was to develop a deep understand-
literature to discover gaps to address through addi- ing of consumption, broadly defined. To accomplish
tional research, the Odyssey did not begin with a this goal, a rotating team of academics employed nat-
literature-based problematique. Rather, fieldwork uralistic methods while traveling across the United
prompted libraryresearch,which in turn led to addi- States. Themes from the pilot study were pursued,but
tional fieldwork.What was at one moment a need to other themes and concepts also emerged as the proj-
interpret consumer behavior in context, became at ect advanced.
the next moment a desire to deconstruct and recon- Data for the pilot project were collected at a swap
struct scholarly theories. We employ a presentation meet (Belk, Sherry, and Wallendorf 1988). A major
style that reflects this balance between library and theme detected was that consumers made sacred and
field. profane distinctions in their behaviors and uses of
space, time, and objects. At the completion of the pi-
lot study, this theme was not fully developed into the-
Emergent Design oretical propositions and was understood only with
regard to the phenomena present at this site, but it
Data collection and analysis were guided by emer- appeared to be powerful enough to warrantbroader
gent design. This approachdiffersfrom surveys or ex- investigation.
periments, which assume that the researcherunder- During the Odyssey, we first checked whether the
stands the phenomenon prior to doing the research, sacred/profane distinction noted in the pilot study
so that hypotheses and fully specified data collection was apparent at other swap meets. This approach
and analysis plans are possible. differsfrom that of single-site ethnographiesand was
4 THE JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

stimulated by our sense that these were broadly appli- recorded on videotape. Although not problem-free,
cable theoretical concepts. Finding that the concept our experience with videorecordingsleads us to chal-
generalized well to four other swap meets, other out- lenge the speculative claim of Hirschman (1986) that
door periodic sales events were sampled, including videorecordingshould be avoided due to its intrusive-
two antique flea markets, a farmers' market, and a ness. Videotaping captures the rich detail of an inter-
yard sale. Other outdoor events that combined the view, while simultaneously leading researchersto ex-
sales interactions already observed with entertain- amine their membership roles in the field (Adler and
ment or celebrations were added, including a Fourth Adler 1987). Video and still photographyare data col-
of July festival, three county fairs, two community lection techniques finding increasing support among
festivals, three art festivals, one historical festival, experienced ethnographersin sociology and anthro-
and two ethnic festivals. To generalize beyond out- pology (Briggs 1986; Collier and Collier 1986; Ives
door events, we included fieldworkat two indoor an- 1974; Wernerand Schoepfle 1987).
tique fairs or auctions. We also did fieldwork at in- Since informed consent necessitates some level of
door sites housing more permanent sellers, including intrusiveness (Punch 1986), video photographyis not
three museums, a gas station, a bookstore, an ethnic the problem it would be if covert participant-observa-
grocery store, several restaurants,and a fast food res- tion were being attempted. The extensive literatures
taurant. To generalize to sites that are more perma- on deviance indicate the wide range of behaviors ac-
nent to consumers, we also went to informants' cessible to research using undisguised, naturalistic
homes. methods and speak to the possibility and importance
Homes were sampled purposively to represent sa- of acknowledginginformants' rightsto informed con-
cred space, in contrast with commercial sites, which sent. Video captures informants' explanations con-
are generally more profane. In sampling for sacred- structed in response to researchers'inquiries, called
ness, we spoke with people about their collections and "perspectives of action," as well as informants' ac-
other objects given special status, such as cars in a car tions in their social setting, called "perspectivesin ac-
show. These data were contrasted with data gathered tion" (Snow and Anderson 1987, after Gould et al.
at temporary homes such as recreational vehicle 1974). It provides rich temporal and nonverbal detail
parks, a summer trailer park, six resorts and hotels, reminiscent of Bateson and Mead's (1942) early work
a national park campground, a weight loss resort, a with film and still photos and Leahy's photo ethnog-
nursing home, and two homeless shelters. People in raphies in the 1930s (Connolly and Anderson 1987).
the midst of a long-distance move were interviewed, Still photography was used to document sites and
as were people encountered on the street or highway participants. These visual records were combined
rest stops. Other sacred sites purposively sampled in- with written researcherrecords in the form of field-
cluded a temple, a chapel, and two evangelical ser- notes, journals, and photo and video logs. Fieldnotes
vices. No interviews were conducted utilizing CB ra-
consist of detailed notes about each interaction writ-
dios, although this approach was tried. Although
differences in the specific focus of the sacred varied, ten on a daily basis by each researcher.Fieldnotes are
we saw no indication that the sacred and profane pro- the primarydata recordand the only materialin those
cesses discussed here applied only to certain sites or cases when video or still photo records were not
geographicareasin the United States. made. Supplementing the fieldnotes are the more in-
trospectivejournals of each researcher,which contain
reflections, emerging interpretations, and memos to
Depth Interviewing other researchers.
Data were collected through depth interviews and The pilot study data consist of 121 single-spaced
observations requiring unstructured responsiveness pages of fieldnotes andjournals, 130 still photographs
to consumers (Briggs 1986) as well as the develop- and slides, two hours of videotaped interviews, and an
ment of intimacy between researcherand informant artifact file. The Odyssey data include approximately
(Wallendorf 1987a). Informantswere told that the in- 800 pages of fieldnotes andjournals, 4,000 still photo-
teraction was part of a project attempting to under- graphs and slides, 137 videotapes lasting 15-18 min-
stand American consumers. Possibly the field of con- utes each, about a dozen audio tapes, and the artifact
sumer research has not explored sacred aspects of file. Odyssey data are archived at the Marketing Sci-
consumption previously because the sacredaspects of ence Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Pilot
consumption are less likely to emergein experimental project data materials were audited by three scholars,
and survey researchinteractions. whose reports on the trustworthiness of interpre-
tations are available. The point of listing the quantity
Data Record- of data is not to imply that it is related to the quality
of data, but ratherto indicate the extensiveness of the
Although fieldnotes were written for all interac- documentation from which this work draws. As is
tions with informants, many interactions were also typical in ethnographic research,the depth and rich-
SACRED AND PROFANE IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 5

ness of the data is indicated by including verbatim ex- heirlooms, pets, time, souvenirs, art, mentions of
cerpts from fieldnotes within the article. "special" items, photographs, physical space, holi-
days, and pilgrimages. In building and testing inter-
Triangulation pretations, contexts were examined sequentially,
with each succeeding context acting as a check on the
Two forms of triangulation employed enhanced the interpretations supported by preceding ones (as in
thickness of description and sharpened the accuracy Lincoln and Guba's suggestion that researchers use
of researchers'observations. These two forms are tri- referentialadequacy materialsto check the credibility
angulation across researchersand across media. Since and confirmability of an interpretation). Just as satu-
Odyssey data collection was conducted by a team, ration was used to guide the emergent sampling de-
several researchersoften wrote fieldnotes on the same sign, redundant support over different contexts was
interview. These were written separatelyand without used to assess generalizability of findings. We do not
discussion prior to writing, permitting the assessment present propositions that were disconfirmed as we
of completeness and convergence. Differences in moved across contexts.
emotions experienced may be expected to occur in
journals, given the subjective nature of human inter- Analysis
action. However, triangulation across researchers During fieldwork, we circulated memos on our
minimizes discrepancies in the recording of factual emerging understandings. As data collection prog-
information and improves the recall of the research ressed, these memos specified propositions to be chal-
team. As the team gained experience as a researchin- lenged through purposive sampling. Contrary to the
strument, the observational skills and perceptual bi- conception of interpretive methods described by
ases of individual members allowed a division of la- Calder and Tybout (1987), naturalistic inquiry
bor to emergethat reduced redundancyin description uses purposive sampling and constant comparative
and increased effectiveness and comprehensiveness method to test by developing, challenging, and refor-
in recordinginteractions; for example, we divided the mulating the emergent conceptualization.
labor required to simultaneously interview an in- Fieldnotes, journals, and photo and video indices
formant, attend to the video camera, and shoot pho- were computerized for use in systematic data analy-
tographs.Triangulationacross media involved exam- sis. This data analysis was completed using Zylndex,
ination and comparison of video interviews, photo- a computerized programfor qualitative data manage-
graphs,and fieldnotes. ment and analysis (see Belk 1988a). Analysis of each
Triangulationis also useful in assessingthe mutual- context also included examination of photographs
ity or uniqueness of the interpretation. We blended and videotapes. Triangulation between researchers
the perspectives of a bi-gender team (as recom- occurred with separate examinations of computer
mended by Levinson 1987) of three consumer behav- analyses and visual records.
ior researcherswith theoretical and methodological Based on understandings developed in the pilot
training in psychology, sociology, and anthropology. project and memos concerning emerging interpre-
These differencesled to few disagreements regarding tations, two focal processes were identified:the trans-
the appropriatenessof the sacred/profane interpreta- formation of profane commodities into sacred ob-
tion, although there were minor differences in the jects, and the maintenance and loss of sacredness(de-
highlightsgiven to this theme. For example, a psycho- sacralization). Data for each context were coded
logical orientation leads the interpretation toward a using margin notations concerning each process. The
definition of sacred experience as individually moti- transferabilityof these propositions was tested by se-
vated, while the sociological focus is on consequences quentially analyzing contexts. Consistent with the
for societal integration and cohesion. Generally, we constant comparative method (Glaser and Strauss
found our differingtheoretical perspectives mutually 1967), propositions were revised in successive com-
compatible rather than mutually exclusive. Where parisons with new data until saturation and redun-
such differencesexist, they are noted in the text. dancy were achieved. What we refer to here as testing
is in fact a large series of tests continued until the the-
ory fully captured the phenomenon. Limitations and
Interpretive Contexts modifications are noted as the results are presented.
In building the interpretation, the data were ob- The discussion is organized by process and draws
tained and structuredby context. We use the term site from each context.
for a particulartype of physical location where data THE SACRED AND THE PROFANE
were collected (e.g., a swap meet), and the term con- IN RELIGION
text for categories of consumption phenomena, a dis-
tinction comparableto the "focal settings" and "cul- What Is Religion?
tural domains" identified by Snow and Anderson William James's (1961, pp. 42, 45/orig. 1902) be-
( 1987). Contexts that emerged were gifts, collections, havioral definition of religion still serves well:
6 THE JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

(Religion)shallmeanforus thefeelings,acts,andexpe- Durkheim (1915) also sees the sacred as being be-
riencesof individualmenin theirsolitude,sofar as they yond individual creation; however, in his sociological
apprehendthemselvesto standin relationto whatever view, the sacredemerges collectively wheinsociety re-
they may consider the divine. . . . We must interpret moves certain things from ordinary human use.
the term"divine"verybroadly,as denotinganyobject Something is defined as being sacred through a social
thatis godlike,whetherit be a concretedeityor not. process that bringsa system of meaning to individuals
In its avoidance of a particular theological perspec- (hierophany), resulting in societal cohesion.
tive, this definition is hardly singular among social
scientists. For example, Roberts ( 1984, p. 90) states: Kratophany. The sacred elicits both strong ap-
proach and strong avoidance tendencies (Durkheim
Religionhas to do with a uniqueand extra-ordinary 1975/orig. 1896). This ambivalence creates an over-
experience-anexperiencethathasa sacreddimension whelming power, the manifestation of which is called
and is unlike everyday life . . . the experience of the kratophany (Eliade 1958). Although the vernacular
holy. Suchan experienceis often callednonrational, usage of the term sacred implies only that which is
forit is neitherrationalnorirrational.
good and desirable, Durkheim distinguishes between
Such definitions stressthe special quality of sacred- beneficent sacred powers, such as those associated
ness that makes something religious. Marcel Mauss with gods, protectors, and holy places, and evil sacred
(quoted in Ferrarotti1979, p. 674) contrastedthis ob- powers, such as those associated with corpses, sick-
servation with the more common assumption that re- ness, and impure objects (Pickering 1984). Both are
ligion involves particulardeities: imbued with sacredpower through strong ambivalent
reactions (kratophany)that combine fascination and
It is nottheideaof god,theideaof a sacredperson,that devotion with repulsion and fear. Because people si-
one findsoveragainin anyreligion,it is the ideaof the
sacredin general. multaneously seek the beneficence of the sacred and
fear the evil it can unleash, they approach it with a
To understand how this perspective on religious ex- care appropriateto its kratophanouspower.
perience applies to contemporary consumer behav-
ior, we must specify the propertiesof sacredness. Opposition to the Profane. The extraordinarysa-
cred is defined partly by its opposition to the ordinary
profane. Profane refers to that which is ordinary and
Properties of Sacredness part of everyday life, not to that which is vulgar or
The sacredcan best be understood by contrastingit offensive, as in vernacularusage. Although Durkheim
with the profane, as in the extensive theoretical treat- recognized various degrees of sacredness, the ex-
ments by Emile Durkheim and Mircea Eliade. Their tremely sacredwas held to be inviolably distinct from
perspectivesare similar, although Durkheim's notion the profane. "The sacred . . . cannot, without losing
of religion is more sociological, focusing on societal its nature, be mixed with the profane. Any mixture
consequences, while Eliade's is more psychological or even contact, profanes it, . . . destroys its essential
(Stirrat 1984). We present 12 propertiesof sacredness attributes"(Durkheim 1953, p. 70). Such sacrilegein-
synthesized from the writings of Durkheim, Eliade, cludes trespasson the sacredby profane persons;only
and subsequent theorists. Of these, hierophany, kra- a priest or shaman can cross from the profane to the
tophany, opposition to the profane, contamination, sacredrealm, and only after appropriatepurification.
sacrifice, commitment, objectification, ritual, and A primary societal function is the exercise of social
mystery all apply in both individual and social treat- control to maintain the separateness of the two
ments of the sacred. Communitas and myth are pri- spheres, protecting the inviolate status of the sacred
marily social concepts, and ecstasy and flow are pri- and maintaining its position as set apart.
marily psychological.
Contamination. Both beneficent and evil sacred
Hierophany. Hierophanyis "the act ofmanifesta- things have the power to contaminate through con-
tion of the sacred . . . i.e., that something sacred tact. However, in contradistinction to medical usage
shows itself to us" (Eliade 1958, p. 7), conveying the of the term, contamination in this context generally
idea that, phenomenologically, people do not create indicates the spreadof positive sacrednessratherthan
sacred things. Instead, sacrednessmanifests itself ex- evil (negative sacredness).Objectsblessed through sa-
perientiallyas "something of a wholly differentorder, cred ritual are thus said to be contaminated with sa-
a reality that does not belong to our world" (Beane credness. A religious example of contamination is the
and Doty 1975, p. 141). In Eliade's psychological Christianritual sacramentof communion, in which a
view, hierophany involves the notion that the sacred congregation eats symbols of the body and blood of
does not manifest itself to everyone. A sacred stone Christ (in some traditions, transubstantiationis said
continues to appear like other stones except to those to occur). Similarly, possessions of sacredpersons be-
who believe it has revealed itself to them as unique, come venerated icons because they are contaminated
supernatural,or ganz andere (totally other). with sacredness; places where sacred activities oc-
SACRED AND PROFANE IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 7

curred are contaminated with sacredness that the ence of. . . sacred objects" (Durkheim 1915, p. 56).
faithful seek to attain through pilgrimages (O'Guinn Rituals are often performed without deliberate
1987; O'Guinn and Belk 1989; Turner and Turner thought to the rationale that guides them. They are
1978). functional through their performance, apart from
their content (Bossard and Boll 1950). Like sacrifice,
Sacrifice. As an act of abnegation and submis- ritual prepares one to approach the sacred and may
sion, sacrificeestablishescommunication with the sa- be enacted as an individual or, more commonly, as a
cred by purifyingand preparingthe sacrificer(Hubert group. Ritual surrounds the contact of profane per-
and Mauss 1964). Sacrificeusually involves a "gift to sons with the sacred to ensure that the evil powers
the gods" of otherwise profane material goods, such feared in kratophany will not be unleashed. Ritual
as domestic animals in pastoral societies (James also protects the sacred from contact with mere mor-
1962). But sacrificecan also involve asceticism, fast- tals and alleviates human anxiety about this contact
ing, sexual abstinence, self-mutilation, and martyr- (Malinowski 1954).
dom (Mol 1976). Sacrificesprepareone to commune
with the sacred, bring about a strong degree of com- Myth. Myths often surround the sacred and are
mitment to sacredexperience, and indicate appropri- used historically to document its status through nar-
ate deferenceto reinforcethe extraordinarycharacter ratives, iterative tales, or speculations about existence
of the sacred. (Kirk 1970). Such accounts define our place within
the world and maintain sacred status through repeti-
Commitment. Individuals feel a "focused emo- tion (Eliade 1964; Mol 1976). They socialize partici-
tion or emotional attachment" to that which is con- pants' understandingsof the collective definitions of
sidered sacred (Mol 1976, p. 216). Psychologically, the sacred and instruct new participants such as chil-
such commitment directs attention to the sacred, dren and recent converts.
which becomes a strong part of one's identity. This
aspect of sacredness shares some features with what Mystery. The sacred "has conferredupon it a dig-
has been called involvement in the consumer re- nity that raises it above the ordinary or 'empirical' "
search literature. However, sacredness goes beyond (Pickering 1984, p. 159). It cannot be understood cog-
the concept of involvement, as will be explained more nitively, for the sacred commands love, devotion,
fully later. fear, and related spiritual or emotional responses
Sociologically, collective formation of sharedcom- rather than rational thought. This mystery is charac-
mitment to a definition of the sacredis the integrative teristic of phenomena that do not fit human behavior
basis for society (Durkheim 1915, 1960/orig. 1902; models based on presumptions of self-interest or
Weber 1962/orig. 1920). Regardlessof what is chosen competition, but ratherderive from a desire for more
to signify the sacred in society, shared commitment profound experiences and meanings (Nisbet 1966).
results in what Durkheim terms mechanical solidar- When something loses this mystery, it loses its sacred-
ity, in which religious participantsreplicatethe social ness and becomes ordinaryand profane.
order by maintaining commitment to the collective
definitions of sacredand profane. Individual commit- Communitas. Communitas is a social antistruc-
ment to the sacred is so strong that initial experience ture that frees participants from their normal social
with the sacredmay result in conversion-an identity roles and statuses and instead engagesthem in a trans-
change resultingin an unshakableconviction. cending camaraderie of status equality (Turner
1969). It is most likely to occur when the individual
Objectification. Objectification is "the tendency is in a "liminal" or threshold state betwixt and be-
to sum up the variegated elements of mundane exis- tween two statuses, such as may occur on religious
tence in a transcendental frame of reference where pilgrimages (Turner and Turner 1978) and in initia-
they can appear in a more orderly, more consistent, tion ceremonies, fraternalorganizations, countercul-
and more timeless way" (Mol 1976, p. 206). Through tural groups, and occasionally among researchteams
representationin an object, the sacred is concretized. (Sherry 1987a). This spirit of communitas emerges
This allows things of this world to take on greater from shared ritual experiences "which transcend
meaning than is evident in their everydayappearance those of status-striving, money-grubbing, and self-
and function. A stone may continue to appear as a serving" and act as "proofs that man does not live by
stone, but it is a sacredobject when its origin is under- bread alone" (Turner 1972, pp. 391-392).
stood througha creation myth to be the tear of an ani-
mal. We find this aspect of the sacred to be particu- Ecstasy and Flow. The sacred is capable of pro-
larly important in understanding the sacredness of ducing ecstatic experience, in which one stands out-
some contemporaryconsumption. side one's self (Colpe 1987). Durkheim (see Pickering
1984) describes a joy that arises from the transcen-
Ritual. Rituals are "rules of conduct which pre- dent reality of sacred things. According to James
scribe how a man should comport himself in the pres- (1961, p. 55/orig. 1902),
8 THE JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

Like love, like wrath,like hope, ambition,jealousy . the sacred, such as lay for clerical dress, contempo-
it (religion) adds to life an enchantment which is not raryguitar for classical organ music, and oral partici-
rationallyor logically deducible from anything else. pation by parishioners in addition to sermons by the
The sacred can take a person outside of self, matter, pastor. These changes reflect culture's dynamic defi-
and mortality, but such ecstatic experiences are mo- nitions of the sacred and the profane.
mentary ratherthan constant (Greeley 1985). Ecstasy Others have found a gradually more secular cele-
marks the extraordinarycharacter of sacred experi- bration of traditional religious events, such as Christ-
ence and distinguishes it from the common pleasures mas (Belk 1987a; Bock 1972; Luschen et al. 1972),
of everydaylife. and a marked decline in family religious rituals, such
A psychological interpretationrefersto the effect of as prayersat meals and bedtime, and collective read-
participation in the sacred as flow (Csikszentmihalyi ings from sacred literature (Bossard and Boll 1950).
1975) or peak experience (Maslow 1964). Flow expe- The discontinuance of Latin in the Catholic Mass ex-
riences include a centering of attention, a loss of self, emplifies a secularization of religion involving de-
a feeling of being in control of self and environment, mystification, lesser separation of sacredand profane
and an autotelic aspect such that the activity is its own times, and lesser preservationof ritual and myth.
reward(Csikszentmihalyi 1975). The use by contemporary religions of radio and
Victor Turner (1977) has subsequently distin- television media also demonstrates secularization
guished communitas as involving a "shared flow." through the broadcastof sacredrituals into what may
Like the differencesbetween Durkheim and Eliade re- be profane spaces or times (O'Guinn and Belk 1989).
garding sacred experiences, the differences between "Televangelism" secularizes religion also by its asso-
flow or peak experience and communitas are not so ciation with the secular medium of television (Frankl
much in the nature of the experience as in whether it 1987). By becoming more linked to the secular, reli-
is a group or an individual phenomenon. Although gion may have undermined its own sacredness,open-
group ritual does not appearnecessary for ecstatic ex- ing the way for other foci of sacredness. That is, as
periences (Hardy 1979; Laski 1962), such rituals can religion provides less of an extraordinaryexperience,
and do bring about sacred experiences. To begin to people look elsewhere for experiences that transcend
explore the applicability of the concept of the sacred everydaylife.
to contemporaryconsumption, we must consider the
contemporaryboundariesbetween the sacredand the Sacralization of the Secular
profane.
The emergence of the sacredin secular contexts has
coincided with the secularization of institutional reli-
SHIFTING BOUNDARIES BETWEEN gion. As the Catholic church lost control of politics,
THE SACRED AND THE PROFANE knowledge, art, and music, each of these spheres de-
veloped sacred status of its own. To characterizethis
The sociology of religion has noted changes in con- trend, Rousseau formulatedthe term "civil religion,"
temporarysociety that make interpretationsof the sa- which refersto finding the essence of religion in what
cred and the profane somewhat different than Durk- is traditionally regarded as secular. The notion has
heim's-in which the sacred resided in the sphere of been treated in greatestdepth by Bellah (1967, 1985),
religion and the profane resided in the secular world. whose theory of civil religion attempts to resolve the
Changes in contemporary life indicate that the sa- ambiguous role of religious symbols in secular society
cred/profanedistinction is no longer isomorphic with (Fenn 1986). Contemporarysacralizationof the secu-
the religious/secular distinction (Becker 1957). Two lar is seen as occurring in the cultural arenas of poli-
trends work together to support the applicability of tics, science, art, and consumption. Evidences from
the concept of the sacredto the secularcontext of con- each of these areaswill be briefly reviewed.
sumption. The first trend involves the gradual secu- Nationalistic celebrations reflect the sacralization
larization of contemporary institutional religion, of the secular within politics (Demerath 1974; Shiner
while the second involves the gradualsacralization of 1972). National holidays are celebrated more widely
the secular. Both processes reflect shifting boundaries than many religious holy days; national anthems are
between the sacred and the profane. sung with all the reverence of hymns; national flags
are icons; and contemporary national heroes and
Secularization of Religion monuments have supplantedthe widespreadworship
of religious saints and shrines (Geist 1978; Roberts
The secularizationof religion is a widely noted pat- 1984; Rook 1984; Warner 1959). Marketforces accel-
tern. For example, Ducey (1977) found growth in erate and focus this sacralization of nationalism, cre-
nontraditional church services and decline in tradi- ating invented traditions, such as Scottish clan tar-
tional services in the United States during the 1970s. tans (Hobsbawm and Ranger 1983), and replace-
Nontraditional services substituted the profane for ments for evil eye and hex symbols in official-looking
SACRED AND PROFANE IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 9

commercial security system and security patrol signs 1979), as well as deriving from the music experience
on the doors and windows of many American homes itself (Holbrook and Hirschman 1982).
(Rook 1987). Europeans venerate royalty (e.g., Wil- This leads us to consider evidence of the sacraliza-
liamson 1986) with a mystique imparted by long- tion of the secular from the realm of consumption.
standing rituals and symbols (Hayden 1987; Shils and Although consumption historically has often been
Young 1953). The crown jewels are regardedas icons opposed by institutional religious teachings (Belk
that are as unthinkable to sell as it would be to turn 1983), it has gained sacredstatus in our consumption-
the Statue of Libertyinto condominiums. oriented and hedonistic society (Campbell 1987; Mol
A second area where the secular is sacralized is sci- 1983). Mol illustrates the "cosmic straddling, deep
ence. Rather than religion, science is considered the commitment, solemn rites, and expressive symbol-
ultimate arbiterof truth in societies that venerate ra- ism" that may attach to art, sports, music, and even
tional thought and causal explanations (Capra 1975), secular objects such as some clothing and automo-
much to the dismay of fundamentalists. Weber called biles. That consumption has become a secular ritual
the substitution of scientific for religious belief "the through which transcendent experience is sought has
disenchantment of the world," while Schiller called it been noted, but not empirically explored, in the con-
"the disgodding of nature" (quoted in Berman 1984, sumer behavior literature (Hirschman and Holbrook
p. 57). The miracles of god and nature have gradually 1982; Holbrook and Hirschman 1982; Leiss, Kline,
been replaced by scientific explanations (Inkeles and Jhally 1986; Rook 1985; Sherry 1987b, 1987c;
1983). Now it is science rather than religion that is Wallendorf and Arnould 1988; Williamson 1986).
viewed as imparting knowledge, although a number Just as Protestantism helped secularize religion in
of authors see this as an unfortunate divorce of eros Weber's (1958/orig. 1904) view, the rise of individu-
from logos (Bateson and Bateson 1987; Berman 1984; alism has made it possible to define the sacred as that
Highwater 1981; Hyde 1983; Keller 1985; Pirsig which brings secular ectasy to the individual. Accord-
1974; Plato 1955/orig. 400 B.C.) that leaves us with ing to Campbell (1983, p. 293):
an incomplete understandingof the world. Although nominally "secular" in character(this prin-
A third arena that provides evidence of the sacrali- ciple) . . . derived from the idea of a "covenant" or
zation of the secularis art and music. Since the Refor- compact between each individual and his own "self,"
mation, religious content in music and art has de- in which in return for acknowledging one's duty to
clined and secular themes have increased (Berger serve the spirit of self, that spirit would in turn bring
1967). Yet, both are sacred to many consumers. Art, happiness to the individual. Heaven in such a doctrine
is the fulfillment of self.
like science, is not only sacred, it sacralizes. Place-
ment in a gallery, museum, university, or other scien- It is the sacralizing of certain aspects of consumption
tific or artistic institution can sacralize objects that will serve as the focus for the remainder of this
(Clifford 1985). Museum curators are among the article.
priests of the art world. Prominent collectors are also
accorded expert status to authenticate artwork and What is Sacred?-The Domains
act as "missionaries" in promoting art to the uniniti- of Sacred Consumption
ated(Lynes 1980).
In a definition reminiscent of the sacred/profane As a result of the secularization of religion and the
distinction, Becker (1978) differentiates between art sacralization of the secular, the sacred/profane dis-
and craft, noting that both may be aesthetically ap- tinction has become applicable to the secular context
pealing, but a craft object has a use. This accords with of consumption. While anything can potentially be-
the idea that the sacred is set apart and beyond mun- come sacred (Acquaviva 1979), sacred status is not
dane utility and also accords with the noble portrait distributedrandomly acrossthe elements of a culture.
of the starvingartist, which Becker ( 1982) finds accu- Instead, consumers enact the sacred/profane distinc-
rate given the difficulty of having one's work defined tion within common domains of experience. Poten-
as art. tially sacred consumer domains, like potentially sa-
The presence of the sacred is as evident in popular cred religious domains, fall into six major categories:
music as it is in the so-called "high arts," but there places, times, tangible things, intangibles, persons,
are clearer deities-charismatic rock stars. The sa- and experiences. We will discuss the meaning of the
cralization of rock music is accomplished by each sacred/profane distinction for contemporary con-
generation of youth, which draws its collective iden- sumers in each of these as a means of building a defi-
tity from the songs of these rock stars (Martin 1979) nition of sacredness.
via a process that Goodman (1960) calls "the sacra- Places. In agricultural societies, one's homeland
mental use of noise." The ecstasy here derives from is the sacred center of the world. Even contemporary
the liminal experiences of sex, violence, and mysti- displaced cultural groups such as the Navajos experi-
cism (e.g., drugs) associated with this music (Martin ence a fracturedsocial fabric as a result of losing their
10 THE JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

land (Scudder 1982). Some sacred places, especially development of consumer culture. Perhaps the most
those in nature, have the beauty, majesty, and power influential of these has been the department store.
to evoke ecstasy and flow without help from myth, Rather than following the wheel of retailing pattern
ritual, or contamination (Brereton 1987; Lipsey of entering the market as low-price institutions, turn-
1984). In other cases, these means may be needed to of-the-century department stores entered the market
sacralizea place. as extravagant show places where functional and fi-
Places may reveal their sacredness through hiero- nancial considerations paled in the magnificence of
phanous signs, as with the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, their grandiose architecture, theatrical lighting, and
founded where an eagle landed on a blooming cactus sumptuous display (Bowlby 1985; Williams 1981).
(Brereton 1987). A place may also become sacred by Today, the simple department store is eclipsed in
contamination through events that occurred there grandeur by the shopping mall (Kowinski 1985;
(e.g., Jerusalem). Places where sacred persons were Mann 1980; Zepp 1986), where shopping has become
born, performed miracles, received mystic revela- a ritual in a consumption-oriented society.
tions, and are buried become sacredthrough contam- Other cathedrals of consumption in the past two
ination. Rituals may also sacralize a place, as with centuries have included the grand opera house
groundbreaking ceremonies, burials, and house- (Naylor 1981), the theatre (May 1980; Sharp 1969),
warmingparties. the museum (Rochberg-Halton 1986), world's fairs
Once a place is regardedas sacred,it may command (Benedict 1983; Rydell 1984), and the grand hotel
reverentialbehaviors such as pilgrimages,removal or (d'Ormesson 1984). Such places gave consumers a
wiping of shoes, silence, purificationprior to entry, or taste of opulent luxury, often even being named "pal-
sacrificial offerings. If they do not already exist, aces" in the early 1900s. Although consumers could
boundaries may be marked and shrines erected. The not aspire to live in such grand places, attending
sacredness of some spaces is defined by the activities events there enlarged desires and created a sense of
that occur there. In religion, churches, temples, and reverent awe for luxury and consumption.
shrines are viewed as sacred. But distinctions are also
made between sacredand profane areasin the secular Times. Just as sacredand profane places are sepa-
world. A secular place commonly designated as sa- rated, time is separatedinto sacred and profane peri-
cred is the geographic area of a person's childhood. ods. Sacredtime is not merely an interval that is oth-
Pilgrimages are often made to these areas on vaca- erwise profane. Once sacred time begins, it seems in-
tions, especially when accompanied by other family finite and without meaning. For example, creation
members.Going back can be either a positive or nega- myths form a history within a different time plane
tive sacred experience, depending upon how much than that of the profane world. The sacred past is re-
the place has been changed and how much of one's coverable through rituals such as New Year cel-
former identity, familiarity, and mastery is retained ebrations that reenact a creation myth (Eliade 1958,
(Belk 1988b). 1959) or festivals such as Christian Easter, which re-
The primarylocus of the sacredin the secularworld enacts the resurrection of Christ and renewal of na-
of consumption is the dwelling (Eliade 1959; Jackson ture. During initiations, graduatiotis, weddings, fu-
1953; Tuan 1978). It is sacred because it houses the nerals, and birthdays,we participatein the sacred.
family, because it is a home (Kron 1983). The most Sacred times occur cyclically during the day (e.g.,
sacredand secret family activities occur there, includ- Islamic prayers,the morning coffee break),week (e.g.,
ing eating, sleeping, cooking, having sex, caring for the sabbath,a leisurely readingof the Sunday newspa-
children and the sick, and dressing (Saegert 1985). It per), month (e.g., new moon ceremonies), and year
is separated from the profane world "outside" (Alt- (e.g., the harvestfeast, birthdaycelebrations).As with
man and Chemers 1984; Rapoport 1982) through the entry into sacred places, purification rituals may ac-
careful attention given to entry thresholds (Deffon- company entry into sacred time to separate it from
taines 1953; Rapoport 1981). In societies organized profane time. Special clothing, fragrances, prayers,
around nuclearfamilies ratherthan collective groups, utensils, and foods may accompany sacredtime (Farb
the dwelling imposes orderby centering the world for and Armelagos 1980; Leach 1961; Wolowelsky
its inhabitants (Duncan 1985). Within the home, pri- 1977). Sacred time may even serve in lieu of sacred
vate spaces serve as inner sanctums in a society favor- place, as with the Jewish calendar, which has been
ing individualism (Tuan 1978). The hearth is often a suggested to be replete with sacred times due to the
communal family altar where family photos are en- long exile of the Jews from their sacred homeland
shrined and greeting cards connecting the family to (Zerubavel 1981).
others are displayed (Collier and Collier 1986; Jack- Sacredtime also occurs episodically in secular con-
son 1953; Levi-Strauss 1965). sumption contexts; e.g., for the fan attending a sport-
Consumption also has its public cathedralsthat en- ing event or concert or for a gourmet sitting down to a
hance the mystery and sense of otherworldliness of fine meal. Irreverentbehaviors, such as interruptions,
the sacred. Such places have been instrumental in the inappropriatenoise, or too casual an attitude toward
SACRED AND PROFANE IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 11

the focus of attention at these times, are considered cure diseases, preserve dead bodies, protect from
not only rude but sacrilegious. Such actions profane harm, or bring prosperity.
events that devotees think should be regarded with Sacred objects are imbued with kratophanous
awe and appreciation. Ritual garb, behaviors, foods, power. Some possessions within the home are also sa-
and vocabulariesor silence may also be expected dur- cred, even though they may be as humble-appearing
ing these sacred intervals. As Rheims (1961, p. 29) as odds and ends on a bureau, a pincushion lid, a cigar
notes: box, faded American Legion poppies, and assorted
pills and patent medicines (Morris 1948). Particularly
Museums are the churches of collectors. Speaking in favored possessions represent aspects of the person's
whispers, groups of visitors wander as an act of faith life that are regardedas sacred (Wallendorf and Ar-
from one museum gallery to another. Until the end of
the nineteenth century it was customary to visit the nould 1988).
Hermitage Museum at Leningrad in a white tie. The A sacredpossession for many in the United States is
almost ritual habits practiced in the sales-rooms in the automobile (Levy 1978; Marsh and Collett 1986;
London and Paris have been the same for two hundred Neal 1985; Sherry 1986a). As satirized by Mol (1976,
years. The Hotel Dourot (an art auction site) is a sort p. 152):
of temple. It has fixed ceremonies, and its daily hour
from ten to eleven has a completely religious atmo- Onceupon a time therewas a countrythat was ruled
sphere. bya godnamedCar.Inthebeginningit didnotamount
to much.Thenit cameto passthat out of Dearborn,
During a rock concert the behaviors considered ap- Michigan,therecame a man who took Carand said,
propriately reverential differ, but are still defined as "Lettherebe massproduction,"and slowlyCartook
sacredto participants.These behaviors include use of overthe country.Cartempleswere built, car stables
marijuana,lighting matches to indicate reverence at wereput up andspecialstoressprangup wherepeople
the end of a concert, ecstatic dance, and purchase of couldgo andbuygiftsforCar.Weekendsbecameritu-
tour t-shirt relics. Here it is the quiet, seemingly unin- alistic:On Saturdaythe peoplewouldwashCargently
volved concert-goerwho is considered inappropriate. withsoapandon Sundaytheywouldpet it witha soft
ragto removeanystraydustandridearoundthe coun-
Tangible Things. Sacred tangible things include tryside.Carruledthe countryformanyyears,demand-
icons, clothing, furnishings,artifacts,and possessions ing annualsacrificesof severalthousandpeople and
that are symbolically linked with and objectify the sa- keepingmost of the peoplein a downtroddenstateas
the people tried to meet financialpledgesthey had
cred. Shrines honor sacred relics and separate them madeto Car.
from the profane world (Geary 1986). In naturistic
religions, animals may be totemic and sacred Thus, ordinary consumption items can serve as sa-
(Houghton 1955; Levi-Strauss 1962), whereasin veg- cred icons.
etation cults, trees and plants are regardedas sacred
symbols of life, creation, renewal, youth, and immor- Intangible Things. Immaterial things considered
tality (Eliade 1959). Sacred religious objects are sacredinclude magic formulae, dance.s,crests, names,
sometimes fine pieces of art, but are sometimes quite and songs (Beaglehole 1932). More contemporaryex-
simple things like the bone, top, ball, tambourine, ap- amples include fraternityand sorority rituals, secrets
ples, mirror, fan, and fleece shown to novices in the between friends or lovers, and family recipes for
LesserEleusinian Mysteries of Athens (Turner 1972). stuffingthe Thanksgivingturkey. Like tangible sacred
Ordinary as these things may appear to be, they are things, intangibles exhibit kratophany and are ap-
made sacredby myths, rituals, and signs. They are the proached with both attraction and fear (Clodd 1920).
media by which a society's "deep knowledge" is
passed on to succeeding generations. Objects may Persons and OtherBeings. While Durkheim held
also be defined as sacred because of their rarity and that individuals in general are sacred in modern
beauty, marking them as inherently non-ordinary Westernsociety (Pickering 1984) due to values of pos-
(Clark 1986), as with precious metals and gems (Eli- sessive individualism, what is meant here is that cer-
ade 1958). tain persons are sacred and set apart from others.
Sacred objects are not treated as ordinary objects, Gods, prophets, and saints are religious examples.
but ratherseem to require special handling. They are The lives of saints take on a sacred characterthrough
revered with a "bow, a prostration, a pious touch of good deeds, self-abnegation, sacrifice, martyrdom,
the hand" (Eliade 1959, p. 25). They are consecrated, and piety. At a slightly less sacredlevel are the leaders
used in prayer, sung about, and used to triggerinspi- and officialsof the church. They are not thought of as
ration and ecstasy. Further, they may be believed to choosing their positions, but rather are "chosen" or
have magical powers, both beneficent and evil. As Eli- "called," most often by a non-rational, hierophanous
ade (1958) notes, rare stones and metals are often be- vision. In many religions, they too live a life of sacri-
lieved to have aphrodisiac, fertilizing, and talismanic fice, self-abnegation, poverty, chastity, and good
qualities. They may be considered poisonous, able to deeds.
12 THE JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

Some sacred persons have prophetic charisma that part of the sacred experience, place, and time. The
gives them magical power over followers (Weber objectifiedresult is frequently a photographor souve-
1968/orig. early 1900s). This power can be greater nir (Gordon 1986; Stewart 1984). An outsider may
than that residing in impersonal things, so that the regardthese as kitsch, but they are sacred for the pil-
charismatic leader can redefine ideas of what is sa- grim (Giesz 1969; Whetmore and Hibbard 1978).
cred. Over time, the power of the charismatic leader Eating is a sacred experience in many contexts
is routinized in a bureaucracy,which then confers sa- (Farband Aimelagos 1980), primarilywhen food has
cred status on particularpositions, and subsequently meaning beyond mere physical energy replenish-
to those who occupy these positions. The sacredness ment. Meals are eaten ritually at certain times, in cer-
of a charismatic leader, then, shifts over time from tain places, with certain implements and procedures
the person to a structure,to positions, and then to role (Jones 1982). Eating is a ritual connecting the nuclear
occupants. family, and there are a number of holiday occasions
As an immediate manifestation of the self, the body in which extended family and friends are bonded by
may be regarded as sacred. It is ritually bathed, sharing food that symbolizes life. For North Ameri-
anointed with oils, groomed, arrayedin sacred cloth- cans, these include Thanksgiving, Easter, Passover,
ing, and decorated, as with tattoos (Hope 1980; Rook Christmas, and birthdays (Wolwelsky 1977). Con-
1984, 1985; Sanders 1985; T. Turner 1977; Wallen- tamination through food is a strong symbolic percep-
dorf and Nelson 1986). Clothing adorns the body to tion, as evidenced by the rumors embodied in con-
symbolize group membership, as in the clothing signs sumer oral tradition that deal with profanation and
that devotees of long distance running use to distin- taboo (Koenig 1985; Sherry 1984). Certain foods,
guish themselves from joggers (Nash 1977). Miner such as Big Macs and Kentucky Fried Chicken, can
(1956) has deftly pointed out that contemporarybody become sacred icons that nostalgically representcul-
care ritualsregardthe bathroom as a shrine, the medi- ture (Curryand Jiobu 1980; Kottak 1975).
cine cabinet as a treasurechest of magical potions and Additional sacralization of experiences and of per-
charms, and doctors and pharmacistsas priests. sons, places, and times attend the ritual consumption
Pets are a type of sacralizedanimal (Sussman 1985; of spectatorsports. Guttman (1978) reviewsthe origi-
Tuan 1984). Apartfrom the way pets structurefamily nal religious basis of spectator sports and arguesthat,
interactions, their sacralization shapes human food while no longer religious, sports are still sacred. In
preferences.Just as cannibalism is taboo, eating a pet spectator sports, the fan participatesin an experience
or any animal considered suitable as a pet is unthink- in which teams and heroes are revered, stadiums are
able (Harris 1985). In ancient Polynesia, pigs were temples that may be the site of pilgrimages, and arti-
family pets (Titcomb 1969), but in modern agribusi- facts may serve as sacred relics. Fans participate in
ness, the pig "has been reduced to the status of a various pre-, post-, and during-game rituals (Birrell
strictly utilitarian object, a thing for producing meat 1981; MacAloon 1984; Stein 1977; Voigt 1980), and
and bacon" (Serpell 1986, p. 6). sports seasons are sacred times for them. Myths in-
volving players, teams, and the principles they are
Experiences. The experiences of prepared indi- thought to exemplify help sacralize sports, with the
viduals at sacred times and places are themselves sa- Super Bowl being the largest mythic spectacle in the
cred, as with the travels of pilgrims. The distinction United States (Birrell 1981; Cummings 1972; Real
between sacred and profane travel can be made ac- 1975).
cording to purpose and destination; travel to a shrine Although not comprehensive in listing everything
is sacred, while a journey away from home for busi- that is regardedas sacred, this discussion points out
ness is profane (Fabien 1983). While the religious pil- areas of secular consumption in which the sacred is
grimage is a traditional form of sacred travel (Turner experienced. This discussion highlights parallels be-
and Turner 1978), a part of any touring involves a tween religious experience and the broad range of
seeking of the sacred. Worship of the pure, un- places, times, tangible things, intangibles, persons,
crowded naturalsite recalls naturistic religion. There and experiences that contemporary consumers may
are also new sacred sites, including such playful cen- regardas sacred. What is of interest is not a mere list-
ters as Disneyland and Walt Disney World. The nos- ing of what is regardedas sacred, since almost any-
talgic motifs of these centers are designed to convey thing can become such a focus, but rather the pro-
the visitor into a sacred time (Moore 1980) by evok- cesses supporting individual and collective defini-
ing what Durkheim calls a nostalgia for paradise(Co- tions of sacred consumption and the distinctions
hen 1979; Culler 1981; Giesz 1969; Tuan 1978). separatingsacred from profane consumption. Rather
Sightseeinghas become a modern ritual (MacCannell than listing everything that may be labeled sacred
1976) within the sacred, non-ordinarytime of a vaca- consumption, we will outline the processes by which
tion (Graburn1977). It is a festive, liminal time when consumers understand and preserve particular as-
behavioris differentfrom ordinarywork time. An im- pects of consumption as set apart, extraordinary,and
portant part of the tourist's quest is to bring back a sacred.
SACRED AND PROFANE IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 13

Interpretive Summary of What Is Sacred ing product involvement is often characteristic of


those for whom a particular type of consumption is
We have detailed a number of properties of the sa- sacred, but not all who exhibit high enduringproduct
cred, and have shown how conventional scholarly in- involvement will regard the consumption as sacred.
terpretations of religion enhance our understanding Involvement is a component of sacred experience,
of consumer behavior. Our discussion of shifts in the but is insufficient to fully capture the experience of
boundarybetween the sacredand the profane demon- sacred consumption. The involvement construct
strates the selectively permeable nature of these do- does not explain the processes of movement between
mains of experience. Religion has become secular- sacred and profane that are explained in the theory
ized, and the secular sacralized in contemporary of sacred consumption explicated in the remainderof
Western society. In this context, consumption may this article.
become a primarymeans of transcendent experience. Nor is recent work on self-concept and fluid body
Rather than experiencing the kind of extraordinary boundaries sufficientto encompass the sacredin con-
meaning previously attained primarily through reli- sumer behavior. Whetherobjects are viewed in West-
gion, contemporaryconsumers define certain objects ern, masculine perspective as extensions of self (Belk
or consumption experiences as representing some- 1988b) or in more feminine, Eastern terms as incor-
thing more than the ordinary objects they appear to porated into self, no sacralizationneed occur in either
be. In this, they participate in what the sociology of event. Ultimately, the meaning of the sacred may lie
religion calls the sacred. The focal interest here is not in the discovery or creation of connectedness, but
-on what is regardedas sacred, as almost anything can without a confluence of the properties we have de-
be imbued with this meaning. Rather, our primaryin- scribed, sacrednesswill go undetected.
terest is in the processes by which particular con- We know of no extant quantitative measures of
sumption becomes and remains sacralized. consumption sacredness, which is why we have de-
Before examining the processesby which consump- scribedthe propertiesof the sacredin such detail, em-
tion is sacralized and preserved as sacred, it may be phasizing the variety of the experience ratherthan rel-
helpful to recapitulate our understanding of the sa- ative degrees of intensity. We have not called for the
cred. We take the sacredin the realm of consumption development of quantitative measures because the
to refer to that which is regardedas more significant, nature and experience of the sacred may be antitheti-
powerful, and extraordinarythan the self. Sacred oc- cal to such measurement. The ontological and episte-
currencesmay be ecstatic; they are self-transcending. mological assumptions of positivist methods are not
Such self-transcending experiences may, but need sympathetic to the mystical and experiential nature
not, be aided by a social context involving fellow be- of sacredness, but instead are oriented to a different
lievers who also revere the object or experience. The universe of discourse. Qualitative assessment be-
profane, by contrast, is ordinaryand lacks the ability comes important in developing an understanding of
to induce ecstatic, self-transcending, extraordinary sacred consumption processes and in discovering the
experiences. Profane objects are treated casually dimensions along which their properties might be
ratherthan reverentlyand are not a focus of devotion. measured eventually. We will now examine the pro-
Perhapsthe closest existing analog in consumer re- cesses characteristicof sacred consumption.
searchto our concept of the sacredis the involvement
construct. Conceptually, high enduring product in- RESULTS: PROCESSES OF SACRED
volvement (Houston and Rothschild 1978) is related
to, but is not the same as, sacred consumption. It is
CONSUMPTION
likely that many of the high enduring involvement Anything may become sacred. Sacredness is in
automobile owners identified by Bloch (1981) and large part an investment process. Consumers con-
Richins and Bloch (1986) regardtheir automobiles as strue meaning in various fashions and in differentde-
sacred.However, high enduringproduct involvement grees of ontological intensity. Objects (broadly con-
and sacred consumption are distinctly separate con- strued) potentiate and catalyze experience of the sa-
cepts. The notion of sacrednessin consumption is not cred. This experience may be ritualized at the level of
restricted to products; it may also attach to people, ceremony or even of habit; it may be subject to much
places, times, and experiences. More importantly, exegesis, or so deeply subconscious as to resist every-
high enduring product involvement is not a sufficient day inspection. The sacred adheres in that which is
indicant of sacredness.A consumer who watches tele- designed or discovered to be supremely significant;in
vision frequently and who regardsit as an important this regard,industrialized society is no differentfrom
source of life satisfaction need not regard television any other society, hegemonic and ethnocentric West-
or television programming as sacred. For television ern values notwithstanding. However, groups and in-
to be sacredto a consumer, it would also need reliably dividuals satisfy the universal need to experience the
to provide self-transcending, extraordinary experi- sacred quite differently. A comprehensive analysis
ences, and be capable of being profaned. High endur- must describe not just what is considered sacred, but
14 THE JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

also the ways objects and people move between the terpreting this behavior. Singularization is the pro-
sacredand profane realms. Our analysis will focus on cess by which a commodity becomes decommodi-
two processesthat occur regardingsacredand profane tized (see also Appadurai 1986). A relatively un-
aspects of consumption: sacralization processes and differentiatedobject is individuated by the consumer
maintenance processes that perpetuatesacredness. through this process, which is paramorphic to man-
agement's intent in the practice of branding(Gardner
Sacralization Processes and Levy 1955). Singularizationcan be trackedin the
successive investments and divestitures of meaning
How do certain possessions attain sacred status?Is associated with a consumer's relationship with an ob-
sacrednNess something that is acquiredwith the object, ject Since excessive commoditization homogenizes
as power steeringis acquiredwith an automobile, or is value, and in this sense is "anticultural,"decommod-
it something that happens afterthe object is acquired? itizing rituals ensure that some things remain unam-
Our data indicate that there are at least seven ways biguously singular (Kopytoff 1986). Thus, in a Durk-
through which an object can become sacralized in heimian sense, culture (through its bearers, i.e., con-
contemporary consumer culture: ritual, pilgrimage, sumers) sacralizes portions of itself; consumers
quintessence, gift-giving, collecting, inheritance, and transform a house into a home. Sacralized objects
external sanction. embody the power inherent in cultural integration.
Sacralization ThroughRitual. An ordinary com- Although singularization does not guarantee sacrali-
modity may become sacred by rituals designed to zation at the level of culture, it does allow consumers
transform the object symbolically. Much ritual be- to bring order to their own world of goods and make
havior in contemporary consumer culture has been sacralization a possibility.
secularized- in effect reduced to ceremony or In the trailer campground, artificial nature was
habit-but some ritual may be reclaimed, or singular- brought in to singularize the home. This was not
ized, and consciously returnedto the realm of the sa- unique to camper parkswhere people spent the entire
cred. These rituals may be public or private, collec- summer; similar rituals for settling and designating
tive or individual. as sacredwere observed at a recreationalvehicle park
Sacralization through ritual is evident in infor- where most people spent only one or two days.
mants' descriptions of the process of moving into a Some campers have a great many plants about their
new house and turning it into a home. (For additional sites, as if trying to cultivate the illusion of being at
material on the architecturaldimensions of sacraliza- home in their yard, or of somehow having tamed na-
tion, see Oliver 1987 and Slesin, Cliff, and Rozensz- ture while living in its midst.
troch 1987). A man in a homeless shelter who was
moving into his own room in a boarding house esti- Rather than finding this a waste of time, the owner of
mated that turning this space into a home would hap- the first camper park mentioned was proud of the
pen quickly;he expected that his new room would feel work many of the residents had done to decoratetheir
like home the first night that he slept there. For him, sites. They were proudly demonstrqting the lower
merely sleeping in the room for one night, combined middle class orientation toward home ownership and
with the knowledge that it was his, was sufficient rit- care of possessions (Coleman 1983; Levy 1966) by
ual for transformingit into a home. working diligently on their space-even while on va-
However, for lower middle-class people spending cation. One woman who lived in this parkwas getting
the summer in a trailer campground, making the a new trailer. She said that it would take a while before
place feel like home involved extensive work to the the new place would seem like home, and outlined the
exterior of the trailer and the rented space, as indi- ritual transformationsshe and her husbandwould use
cated by the following excerpt from field notes: to make it a home. They planned to build a deck
around the new trailer, and she was making craft ob-
There is an amazing amount of work which has gone jects to decorate the interior. In addition to the desire
into outdoor settling and decorating. The sites have to make the trailer more aesthetically pleasing, these
wood piles, awnings, colored gravelto be rakedaround rituals serve to singularize and transmute the trailer
the yard, white painted rocks to line the driveway, into a home.
Americanflags,lawn statuaryof all types including ani-
mals which are in fact native here such as squirrels, Sacralization may be accomplished in part by im-
hanging lantern lights in abundant variety, and plastic posing one's own identity on possessions through
chain strung around the space like a fence. There are transformations. The urge to change, customize, or
lawn chairs of heavy metal, twirling daisies and other just symbolically appropriate, as with photographs
whirligigs,woodburnedsigns with the residents'names (e.g., Sontag 1973), appearsto be strong, as illustrated
on them, planterswith flowers, and even some annual in this comment by a woman who was renovating the
flowersplanted in the ground. house she shareswith her husband and children:
Kopytoff's (1986) call for a "cultural biography of "The first day that we were able to be here, which was
things" providesthe concept of singularizationfor in- two minutes aftersettlement I guess, we ran in. My hus-
SACRED AND PROFANE IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 15

band'sstepfathercame and photographedinsideand sufficiency wrung from hardship, and through con-
outside;and (then we also took picturesof) stagesof tamination by the natural sites they visited.
changeasweredidlastsummer.It'sjustfunto getthose Other secular pilgrimages encountered were being
outandrememberhow,oh, it wasawful."(wf,35)' undertakenby people in motor vehicles or on bicycles
The photographsare a reminderof the time when this and were to last either months or weeks. These often
was a profane house. The celebration of such sacraliz- involved historic destinations such as Gettysburg,
ing transformationsis common. A teen-aged male de- Washington, D.C., and the mansions of Newport, RI.
scribed his months-long work altering his first auto- Whereas the first two destinations celebrate nation,
mobile to make it just the way he wanted it. He ritu- the third celebratesthe American ethos of wealth and
ally cares for the finished car with twice-a-week worldly success. Through such pilgrimages, the sa-
baptismal washings and a once-a-week anointing credness of the site is maintained.
with wax. Such places are seen as shrines and are often visited
An elderly informant explained that she and her on mass pilgrimagesby tourists to attain a sacredstate
husband had spent much of their adult lifetimes fix- of being through contamination. This includes
ing their home just the way they wanted it. They then shrines with positive power, such as the Statue of Lib-
purchased a second farm home that they renovated erty, as well as those exhibiting kratophanouspower,
extensively, including putting in a lake. Furniture such as the Vietnam Memorial (Lopes 1987; Spencer
pieces made from walnut trees removed from the lake and Wolf 1986). Secular pilgrimages typically occur
site were given to each of their three children as sym- during the liminal time of vacation when one is tem-
bols of the transformationof the farm into a singular- porally away from the everyday, ordinaryworld.
ized home. In some cases, we encountered groups of pilgrims
who had banded together much as the religious pil-
"It wassuchfun to do. Eventhoughyou didn'tmake grims chronicled by Chaucer(1948/orig. circa 1400).
them yourself,you felt like you wereresponsiblefor Three males and one female in their early twenties
them."(wf,65) were camping near each other in a national park, al-
Her description unconsciously echoes a mythic though they had only encountered each other that
theme in The Odyssey (Homer, Book 23:190-204) in evening. Two were doing long tours by bicycle and
which the bed of Odysseusand Penelope is hewn from the other two had done so previously. A shared sense
Zeus's sacred olive tree. Although this informant of values as well as a sharedliminal state (Turnerand
hired a cabinetmaker, she feels responsible for the Turner 1978) prompted their camaraderie, as was
pieces because the ideas carried out were hers, as was also true of those participating in the Consumer Be-
the case in the restoration of the farm house. The havior Odyssey (Belk 1987c; Sherry 1987a).
transformation of the trees into furniture provides a Not all persons we encountered traveling were in-
tangible object to represent self and family heritage. volved in secular pilgrimages.Those moving to a new
This was supportedby her 35-year-old daughterwho home were invariably rushing to their next destina-
observed in a separateinterview: tion, and the interim travel was an annoyance rather
than an experience to be enjoyed as a favored state of
"It'sverylovely furniture.But it makesit morethan grace. They were anxious to get to what was sacred to
personal;it'slikea pieceof me."(wf,35) them: a place they could call home.
The furnitureis a ritual symbol of the daughter'scon-
nection to her family. Sacralization Through Quintessence. Not all sa-
cralized objects are as unique as handcraftedwalnut
Sacralization Through Pilgrimage. A second furnitureor a cross-countrybicycle trip. Some sacred
means by which an aspect of consumption may be sa- objects seem ordinary,yet are regardedand treated as
cralized is through a secular pilgrimage. By secular extraordinary. Initially this puzzled us, particularly
pilgrimage, we refer to a journey away from home to for objects that are sacralizedand cherished precisely
a consumption site where an experience of intense sa- for their similarity to other objects. We observed the
credness occurs. The most extraordinarypilgrimage sale of jewelry "As seen on Dynasty and Dallas,"
we encountered among informants was being made complete with photographic murals of Linda Evans.
by a middle-aged couple and their son traveling by We observedthe use of Don Johnson cardboardman-
horse-drawn, covered wagons. They had sold their nequins to sell jackets similar in appearanceto those
house, truck, and possessions, and had given up jobs worn on his television show "Miami Vice." While the
and school-based education to roam freely through concept of contamination is at work here, there ap-
the American and Canadian West. What was being pears to be something more operating to sacralize
sacralizedthroughthis pilgrimagewas the self via self- commodity objects. It was even more apparentin one
automobile enthusiast's explanation that he was a be-
'Parenthetical notations with fieldnote material indicate race, liever in Chevrolets and came from a family of
gender,and age. "Chevy people," while another was a "Ford man."
16 THE JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

Simply put, how can mass-produced, anonymous, example of the mysticism that may attach to such
commodity-like objects acquire sacred status? quintessential brandsis the furor caused by Coca-Co-
One enlightening concept is quintessence. Quintes- la's 1985 decision to abandon its age-old formula in
sential objects possess a "rare and mysterious capac- favor of a tastier one. Despite positive indications
ity to be just exactly what they ought to be . . . un- from taste tests, for consumers the magic and mys-
equivocally right," according to Cornfeld and Ed- tique were gone. As the quintessential products listed
wards (1983). Objects cited by both Cornfeld and previously suggest,quintessence generallyis achieved
Edwardsand Sudjic (1985) as quintessential include over a long period of time and is not a process that
the Mont Blanc Diplomat pen, the Swiss Army knife, emanates exclusively from effortsby the producer.
the Cattier Santos watch, Dom Perignon champagne, This temporal dimension of the sacred is bound up
the Polaroid SX-70 land camera, Levi's 501 jeans (see with authenticity. While museums of art reproduc-
also Solomon 1986), the Zippo lighter, the American tions were once common, our society is currentlyun-
Express card, the Wham-O frisbee, the Volkswagen willing to accept such displays as sacred. In our inter-
Beetle, Coca-Cola, and Ray Ban sunglasses. What do views with collectors, authenticity-discerned in var-
these products have in common? According to Corn- ious ways, including signatures, numbered prints,
feld and Edwards(1983, n.p.): firsteditions, and items produced during a certain pe-
riod of time-was a commonly cited criterion in se-
Thepleasuresuchthingsofferus is wonderfulandillog- lecting items for a collection. The quest for quintes-
ical; it is verylike the purejoy a child feels when he
unexpectedly comesintopossessionof somethingmag- sence is a quest for authenticity-"The Real Thing"
ically desirable.. . . For while we may use quintessen- in Coca-Cola's well-chosen vocabulary. However,
tialthingsforcommonplacepurposes,theyserveastal- quintessence is seldom as universal as Coca-Cola's. It
ismansand guideposts,touchingour soulswith souls may be supportedby a cult of "truebelievers," as with
of theirown. the "Chevy man" mentioned earlier.Alternatively, it
may be supportedby the celebration of newness in an
Sudjic (1985, p. 18) echoes this mystical totemic lan- object, as newness rendersthe object quintessentially
guage. perfect.
Caringaboutgreenwellies,or aboutcustomizedCorti- Some places were rendered quintessentially sacred
nasarebothexamplesof the practiceof usingcult ob- by consumers' desire for authenticity. For some in-
jectsin a tribalway,formembersto identifyeachother, formants, the more commercial a place was seen as
andto excludeoutsiders. being, the more it was disparaged.The more natural,
real, or authentic it was perceived as being, the more
Armstrong (1971, pp. 26, 29) designates an object it was treated as a sacred place. Perceiving a place as
exhibiting such quintessential qualities as an "affect- real is more a matter of having it fit one's prior images
ing presence." or imaginative reconstructions than it is a matter of
The . . . affecting presence (is) . . . a self-contained, being factually, historically, or locally accurate, as
actoron the one handanda human-per-
perpetuating noted in this field note excerpt concething a Japanese
ceptor related affectant on the other. . . . Ontologi- tourist in his early twenties.
cally,the affectingpresenceis a perpetuating affecting
act-a near-beingwith its unique"personality"con- He exhibited typical Japanese unwillingness to offend
tinuouslyexertingitsownexistence,thoughit is known by claiming to have difficulty picking a favorite place
only in transaction.It is independentof any sourceof he's been in America, but he liked the West due to the
"meaning"or energyexternalto itself;being a self- cowboy flavor of Arizona and New Mexico, and he
sufficiententity,it is its own "meaning"andprovides wants to move to a smaller area of America. He doesn't
its ownenergy. like the crowdedareasand said that the West is like the
real America for him.
The metaphors employed in these descriptions in-
dicate that these are sacred objects. They are branded Disneyland was described by tourists as a marvelous
commodities, but give the impression that they are place to bring the family. Still, a tourist at a Midwest-
beyond mere commerce. This suggeststhat sacredob- ern historical museum stressed:
jects need not be one of a kind. As with the "Chevy "It is important to get away from such commercial
man," for some consumers it is the brand and model places and learn about real history." (wm, 50s)
that is sacredratherthan a specific, personally owned
object. Sacred objects are not always singularized The type of place viewed as quintessentially sacred
(Kopytoff 1986), particularistic, or unique objects. varies with the informant, but the function of sacred
Instead, the item may be seen as unique from other places in vacation pilgrimages remains constant.
brands,as with the smell of Lysol to some Irish Catho- These places potentiate experience of the sacred by
lics or the flavor of Oreo cookies to their devotees. embodying hierophany and kratophany, by enabling
Uniqueness theory (Snyder and Fromkin 1980) rec- communitas, and by being limned with myth by their
ognizes a range of such individuation strategies. An promoters, as with Disney World (Kottak 1982).
SACRED AND PROFANE IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 17

Tourists also regarded as quintessentially sacred arate items from the profane world of commerce, sin-
those places that they have visited that are exception- gularize them (Kopytoff 1986), and turn them into
ally natural,uncrowded,and unspoiled by other tour- gifts.
ists. One woman made such a discovery on her vaca- Since a gift is usually an expression of connection
tion with her husband, as described in this field note between people, it may take on sacred status. How-
excerpt: ever, some gifts, such as the "free gifts" received in
Theyhad not plannedto go to PrinceEdwardIsland return for purchases or charge account applications,
but heardso many people in Nova Scotia say good remain profane commodities. Not all gifts are sacred,
thingsaboutit that they decidedto go. In fact, it was and not all gifts are equally sacred.
one of their favoriteparts of the trip. One 12-mile Gifts are hallowed by connection to other sacredel-
stretchof the beachwas the most beautifulplace she ements of life. Tourist sites provide consumers an op-
hadeverbeen.Shesaidit lookedlike"Godhadreached portunity to capturethe sacrednessof the site by buy-
downhis handandtouchedit." (wf,60s) ing a gift for those at home, or a souvenir for oneself.
Such places are sacred not only because they are per- In the rangeof sites we sampled, gift shops were abun-
ceived as authentic and unspoiled; there is also some dantly present:at cheese factories, restaurants,battle-
naturism or reverence for nature reflected. An em- fields, castles, theatres, truck stops, recreationvehicle
ically driven interpretation is that visiting this place parks, and almost all other tourist sites encountered.
showed the family's resourcefulnessin discovering its Pre- or pseudo-singularized objects (i.e., mass pro-
quintessential beauty and made the family members duced artifactsennobled by the label "gift") available
special and unique for having been there, furthersin- at these shops were purchased and resacralized by
gularizingtheir own sacredness. consumers; the objects were transformedinto gifts or
Although the intuitive feel for the condition of souvenirs. To indicate where the object was obtained
quintessence may be right, additional work is needed and to sacralize it further, the name of the site was
to explore fully the range of such human-object re- often inscribed on it (Gordon 1986; Stewart 1984), as
lations (e.g., Csikszentmihalyi and Rochberg-Halton with t-shirts imprinted with images of the Statue of
1981; van Imwagenforthcoming;Wallendorfand Ar- Liberty bought by two elderly informants for their
nould 1988). In this regard, Scarry(1985) notes that grandchildren.Alternatively, metonyms-objects so
apartfrom attachmentsto objects that come to repre- closely linked with an experience that they literally
sent connections to particularpeople (a singularized, embody it (Lakoffand Johnson 1980)-were selected
sacred object), we also are comforted by anonymous for souvenirs, as with the inexpensive Indian jewelry
and mass-produced objects. They are regarded in bought for friends at home by a Japanese college stu-
many ways as alive, as the bearers of the message, dent touring the American Southwest. This contami-
"Whoever you are, and whether or not I personally nation by a sacred site visited on a pilgrimage en-
like or even know you, in at least this small way, be hances the sacrednessof the transformedobject (Kel-
well" (Scarry 1985, p. 292). Quintessential objects ley 1987).
bind us culturally, societally, and even globally to a Another type of gift that is often-sacralized is one
sense of sacred uniformity, which coexists with our imbued with handwork and labor. Shortly before she
desires for individuation (Boorstin 1973; Breen died, one informant's grandmothersewed her a sam-
1988). pler; it is a gift that the granddaughterdeeply cher-
ishes. It is not the literal content of the poem on the
Sacralization Through Gift-Giving. Informants sampler, which the informant could not recall from
identified a fourth means for sacralizing an object, memory, but rather its symbolic content that makes
namely through gift-giving. Gifts often have special it sacredfor her. Because the samplerwas given to her
meaning, and selection of gifts to give to others is as a surprise,it is more sacredthan the crafts she asks
clearly differentfrom a commodity purchase. The sa- her mother to make. These latter items are closer to
cred/profane distinction is evident in Malinowski's commodities, and she refers to these requests as
(1922) continuum with pure gifts at one end (no "placing an order." Because she asks for them, they
thought of return is involved) and pure trade at the are not as cherished as the gift of the sampler.
other, and in Mauss's(1925) distinction between pure In this pattern of meanings, the value-expressive,
gifts and pure commodities. When informants pur- self-symbolizing characterof the sacred is evident. If
chased objects as gifts, they engaged in one phase of a one of the functions of defining something as sacred
sacralizingprocess. Consumers take gift objects from is increased social cohesion (Durkheim 1915) or soci-
the profane world where they are purchased, system- etal integration (Parsons and Shils 1951), then what
atically remove price markers,and decoratively wrap is selected to be regardedas sacred may be value-ex-
them (Waits 1978). They ritually exchange these gifts pressive for the social group, as well as self-expressive
in a ceremony that may involve the mandatory pres- for the individual. This multivocality gives sacredob-
ence of others, decorations, and special clothing (Belk jects much of their symbolic efficacy.Such objects are
1979; Caplow 1984; Sherry 1983). These actions sep- different from the purely instrumental objects of the
18 THE JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

profane world. They are not uniform commodities, "boughten"goods. We observedtourists riding in air-
but are individually singularized(Kopytoff 1986) and conditioned buses arriveat a large swap meet in Am-
collectively expressive. Turner (1967, p. 108) views ish country, ready to "visit" the land of farmerswho
the central cluster of sacra as the "symbolic template don't use contemporary technology, "sample" the
of the whole system of beliefs and values in a given foods prepared by the farm women, and buy these
culture." "simple folk's" crafts as handmade gifts to take back
From the data presented thus far, we might specu- home. Yet, the tourists gladly boarded the air-condi-
late that handmade gifts uniformly express the values tioned buses at the end of a hot summer day of shop-
of craft and labor. But this is not completely borne ping out-of-doors to return to their everyday lives of
out in-therest of the data. In fact, handmadegifts were technology and "boughten" goods. This dialectic be-
considered profane by a woman in her sixties who re- tween self and other drives much tourism. We found
called her youth in the rural Midwest. that both labor and labor-savingtechnology are more
than just core values in our secular world. They are
She talked about how things were when she was a child.
. The othersthought she was spoiled because she got vehicles of hierophany, commitment, and flow. The
things that they didn't get to have. She got to have a sacred status of gifts derives from their multivocal
"boughten"doll and they only had ragdolls. She got to ability to express these contrasting values as well as
have some "boughten"dresses,although most of them social connections.
were made at home. She remembersone dress that she Gifts are kratophanous in their ability to separate
had when she was about 4 or 5 years old. It was a us from the material world and simultaneously bind
"boughten" dress that was very light and had a very us to it. The same woman who described the
full skirt. Her mother put it on her one time and she "boughten" dress discussed the changing role of gifts
remembersgoing out after it rained and playing in the at Christmas:
water in it and that dress floated all around her and it
felt very nice. She is not sure why she remembersthat, She doesn't really rememberChristmasgift giving. For
but she does. her husband,a good Christmaswas one when he would
get 25 cents worth of candy. She thinks that perhaps
This would have been during the time when store- Christmaswas more of a family celebration then and
bought gifts began to supplant handmade gifts, aided not so much of a gift-givingtime.
by advertising supporting their appropriateness
as gifts (Snyder 1985; Waits 1978). The hand- Gifts are not as sacred as the connections between
made dresses were profane, while those that were people that they are used to signify. They provide the
"boughten" in a store were, at that time, considered contemporary material basis for kindred interaction
sacred. The informant recalled a transcendent, magi- once provided by other sources, such as the "kinship
cal experience that occurred while wearing the pur- work" of writing letters and making phone calls, or-
chased dress. In light of our discussion of department ganizing gatherings, and communal labor formerly
stores as cathedralsof consumption, it is understand- involved in the social reproduction of intimacy
able that a "boughten"gift would engenderjust such (Cheal 1987). For a younger generatitn, however, the
an experience for a rural consumer. This experience affiliation with the material world is seen more posi-
also suggests that the cultural frames for goods em- tively. This is true even for an Amish boy growing up
ployed by North American consumers (described as in an anti-materialisticreligious community.
an evolutionary sequence by Leiss et al. 1986, p.
279-idolatry, iconology, narcissism, and totemism) John's favoritetoy is a wooden truck which is about 18
may be regionally as well as temporally bounded. inches long and about 10 inches high. It was given to
him as a Christmaspresent, but he doesn't know where
There is often a time lag in the diffusion of cultural it came from (whether it was bought or made). What
frames from core to periphery, as well as in adapta- John likes most about Christmas is getting gifts.
tion of these frames to local realities. Culture change (wm, 8)
occurs on a regional basis in such multicultural set-
tings as the contemporaryUnited States. The giving and getting, rather than the gift per se-
Gifts indicate the value-expressivenature of the sa- although in our Amish case, the rustic simplicity of
cred. Gifts handcrafted by the giver allow the giver the gift itself is telling-are especially significant
and recipient to celebratethe values of friendship and (Baudrillard 1981) of the sanctity of domestic affilia-
singularizing labor. However, when "handmade" tions.
represents everyday toil expended to meet profane So gifts acquire sacred status as expressions of
needs, manufacturedgoods may become glorified, in deeply held cultural values. Sharingthese values, giv-
part because they representthe belief that technology ers and recipients are bound together in a ritual cele-
provides a more comfortable life for consumers. bration creating and reinforcing social integration.
Hand labor is appreciatedfor specially crafted items, Other gift-giving instances encountered confirm our
but is superfluousfor most of our needs. Technology understanding of this means by which objects attain
is valued for providing the advances that give us sacred status. A boy (wm, 12) on vacation at a na-
SACRED AND PROFANE IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 19

tional historic site with his extended family bought a during the pilgrimage.This ritual is a virtual reenact-
gift for a family member who did not come on the ment of the archetypalmonomyth of the heroic quest
trip, using money he had earned doing odd jobs for (Campbell 1949; Sherry 1987a). Buying a gift upon
neighbors: one's return would be inappropriatebecause it would
not transfer any of the sacredness of the vacation to
"How does it make you feel to be in a place like this;
kind of fun? old?"
those who did not go. It would fail to allow others to
"Yeah, it makes me feel old; it makes me feel like participatein contamination by the sacredplaces and
going back into history. It makes you feel old. It makes times that occurred during the vacation. Instead, it
you feel like you are in that time." would offerthem a profane commodity from their ev-
"What will it feel like when you wear your belt eryday world.
buckle?"
"I don't know. I guess it will feel (pause) make me Sacralization ThroughCollecting. A fifth way ob-
feel like I'm a soldier or somethin' like that. Or it could jects are sacralizedis by inclusion in a collection (Belk
give you some sort of, I can't explain. You know how et al. 1988). Even though each item may not be
you feel sort of proud? The Civil War makes you feel unique, as with one informant's collection of Hum-
like you're a General or something like that; like you
are in the army. .
mel figurines,together they are additionally singular-
"So you will wearyour belt buckle and that will kind ized by formation into a collection. Taken as a whole,
of bringback what this place is like?" collections are regarded by their owners as special,
"Well, the belt buckle's not for me." unique, and separate from the everyday items they
"Oh, its not?" have and use. The collection is reveredand respected
"The belt buckle's for my uncle. So he gets the belt by collectors based on a series of superlatives most
buckle.-IfI were to have it, I'd probablyfeel proud." often involving its size and completeness and the en-
ergy and effortthat went into assembling it.
This gift selection episode creates a nostalgic image Items that are offered for sale, even as collectibles,
of a self-reliant and patriotic boy, proud of imagined exist as profane commodities. Once included in a col-
military service, enmeshed in neighborhood and fa- lection, an object acquiressacrednessby addingto the
milial ties. Through the gift and his adolescent de- completeness of the collection. It is ennobled by its
scription of what it evokes, he celebratesthe meaning connection to the other items and by adherenceto the
of these cultural values using the object as a project- principles of No-Two-Alike and Unity-in-Diversity
ible field (Leiss et al. 1986). (Danet and Katriel 1987). It is also sacralizedthrough
Not all gifts are meaning-laden expressions of cul- the rituals of the hunt and enshrinement in an or-
tural values or love. Many are profane objects bought dered display. The collection as a whole is sacredpar-
and given in an obligatory fashion. Many such gifts tially because it symbolizes attempted completeness
are soon forgotten, put aside, or discarded. Those and comprehensiveness, neither of which is ever at-
who are in the business of producing objects to be sold tainable. The collector generally strives to have one
as gifts are not unaware of these issues. One inform- perfect example of each kind of a particularitem. In
ant was in the business of making and selling dolls of categories that are infinitely expansive, the collector
St. Nicholas, Santa Claus, and Father Christmas. She gradually narrows the focus (e.g., all "retired" Pre-
used antique fabric to make the doll clothing as a cious Moments figurines).
means of recapturingthe past. Only those objects that somehow add to the com-
She began making these because she had always loved pleteness of the collection in the eyes of the collector
Christmas.She has had great success and can't keep up are selected for this conversion. Search may assume
with the demand even though she claims to work 18 proportions of a grail quest, indicating the scarcity of
hours per day. She says she enjoys it. Despite the pres- appropriateobjects for inclusion. The informant who
sure, she has a representativeand is trying to sell her collects elephant replicas searches for them when he
work to gift stores through two major metropolitan is on vacation, and at flea marketsand garagesales, all
merchandisemarts. She is concerned that people won't situations with a possibility of treasure-finding.Once
see them as unique and handcraftedat a gift store the
way they do at an antique sale (where she now sells found for a collection, objects then take on meaning
them). beyond their individual existence. They are now part
of a set, an element in a largerscheme.
Some gift objects echo the values expressed by Items in collections may also attain sacredstatus by
other kinds of sacred objects, such as the connection being bought in a state of disrepair and then trans-
to the past of heirlooms, the sense of completion and formed through labor into fine specimens. For exam-
mastery of collections, or the symbolism of true gifts ple, one informant, an antique collector (wf, 40s),
of the self. This was often found to be the basis for the bought a table in disrepair for $3 at an auction. She
search for a gift to give on return from a trip. For this planned to spend hours restoring it to its once fine
gift-giving occasion, the general expectation is that condition. Throughher investment of personal labor,
some object will be carriedback from the sites visited it would be transformed into a part of a collection.
20 THE JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

Another collector did this by repairing pocket- ing the salesclerk see if they have a particular one in
watches. Sacredness in collections thus may derive stock. She has all of the "retired"figurines (a total of
not only from adding some completeness to the set, about 20). She got started collecting them when her
but also through the investment of oneself (Belk brothergave her the first one. He also started a collec-
tion for his girlfriend.As a gift, he pays for her to buy
1988b). This labor theory of value is an "elementary the "club selections." Sometimes she gives this type of
folk theory with deep existential roots" (Cheal 1987, figurinetp him as a gift.
p. 157).
Collectors often sacralize objects by finding and This collection began with connections to mystery,
rescuing them from those who do not understandthe since the nature of a gift is initially not known, and
objects' worth or value. For example, a collector of ritual, since the role prescriptionsincumbent on a gift
Mickey Mouse items (wm, 40s) found some original recipient are observed (Caplow 1984; Sherry 1983).
Disney display backdropsat a swap meet, where they The startergift nature of this collection is not unlike
were being used as tarps to cover and protect other the friendship symbolized by starter recipes (e.g.,
merchandise that was considered valuable. He was sourdoughbread, yogurt, brandiedfruit) in which the
proud to have rescued them and was now using them original gift grows to produce more.
"appropriately"as backdropsto drawattention to the However, despite the sacred status of gifts and the
Disney items he sells. He priced the backdrops at sacredness of collections, collectors are not always
$500 because he did not want to sell them. Folk narra- pleased to receive gifts of the items they collect, as il-
tives of such salvations from lucky finds are so com- lustrated by the sentiments of a 13-year-oldgirl who
*mon among collectors and swap meet habitues that collects Mickey Mouse figuresas well as keychains:
the stories may be considered collectively as market Her collection of Mickey Mouse items was started by
mythology (Beards 1987) drawing from the theme of someone who returned from Disneyland and brought
religious salvation and conversion. her a gift. She can't rememberwho it was who gave it
Rather than being purchased or received in trade, to her (later, off camera,her fathertells her it was him).
some items in collections are received as gifts. This Often people will give her gifts of key chains or Mickey
was true of all of the Hummel figurinesof one collec- Mouse items. Although she appreciates the gifts, she
tor and for some of the items owned by the elephant would prefer to pick out the things for her collection
collector mentioned earlier. Here the object has al- herself. That way she can pick out the things that she
readyenteredthe realm of the sacredthrough gift-giv- likes. She doesn't know how to explain which ones she
likes, but does know them when she sees them.
ing and remains in that realm by joining a collection.
Significantly, for the elephant collector, some items Collections may also be sacred because they are an
were received as gifts from friends and others who had expression of self. The personal acquisition of collect-
visited the museum, giving the collection a broader ibles is an investment of self as well as a demonstra-
social significance for him. He said that he got tion of one's hunting ability and persistence in
"mushy and misty-eyed" as he thought about these searching for items for the collection. Since vacation
gifts from museum visitors, some of whom previously travel takes people to new locales, it ts often a time to
had been strangersand one of whom was a movie star. search for additions to collections. Receiving items as
The sacrednessof this collection and its signification gifts for a collection can deny one the opportunity to
of his connection to others is enhanced by enshrine- demonstrate hunting ability and self-expressiveness,
ment of the gifts in the elephant museum he runs. Vis- and so such gifts may not be desired.
itors to the museum and its related gift shop partici- Some collections may be furthersacralizedbecause
pate in furthersacralization by stopping to pay hom- they are based on a more explicit expression of self,
age to the significance of elephants, and by their as with an informant nicknamed Bunny (wf, 30s),
purchasesand comments. In the museum, each piece who also collects bunny replicas. This collection
given by someone as a gift is marked with a hand-let- serves as a totemic representation of her individual
tered sign commemorating its origin, as with dona- (rather than tribal) identity. It connects the natural
tions and loans to art collections displayed in art mu- category of bunnies to the cultural element of an indi-
seums. The sacralization of a collection is intensified vidual (Levi-Strauss 1962; Sahlins 1976). Through
also by drawingfrom the sacrednessof gift-giving and her collection, she simultaneously celebrates herself
museums. and nature. Similarly, other informants, women
Collections are often begun with objects that were whose husbands are policemen, bought humorous-
given to the collector as a gift. The following excerpt looking pig doorstops, which served to connect their
from fieldnotes illustrates the way in which an object husbands to a profession and to the animal kingdom.
is sacralizedthrough gift exchange: In both cases, the collection serves as a totemic ex-
I talked to one woman (wf, 20s) and her mother (wf, pression of identity.
50s) who are looking for a particular"collectible" fig- Finally, collectors sacralize collections by system-
urine in the Precious Moments series. She bought one atically labeling, arranging,and displayingthe collec-
last yearwhen she was here on vacation and now is hav- tion. This quasi-scientific or quasi-artisticactivity sa-
SACRED AND PROFANE IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 21

cralizes and legitimizes what might otherwise be seen mal conversations concerning the importance of rel-
as mere acquisitiveness by giving it a more noble ap- ics on display-whether farmimplements of the nine-
parent purpose. teenth century, possessions of Ellis Island immi-
grants, artworksand mansions of turn-of-the-century
Sacralization ThroughInheritance. Objects may robberbarons, or even elephant replicas.
achieve sacred status through inheritance as family In mansions of the nouveaux riches, such as those
heirlooms (Shammas, Salmon, and Dahlin 1987). Re- at Newpprt, Rhode Island, preserved furnishings
moved from the world of commerce and increasingly showed that the former owners had sought the bless-
singularized, in part by their age, these objects gain ing of famous architects and artists. Often rooms and
uniqueness and contaminating sacredness by their furnishings had been moved en masse from castles
sentimental associations with the owner's past his- and chateaux. Treasuresof European cathedrals and
tory. Such artifactsare repositoriesof family continu- royalty had been purchased to sacralize and cleanse
ity (Csikszentmihalyi and Rochberg-Halton 1981; the often ruthlessly attained wealth of the nouveaux
Rochberg-Halton 1986). Their history helps define riches. During the owners' lives, some art treasures
who the inheritors are, where they came from, and were further sacralized by external authorities
where they are going. through loans to museums and world expositions.
Heirlooms that were handmade, that were worn When the mansions became public museums, heirs
close to the body (such as jewelry), or that denoted received the additional blessing of historical societies,
ties to a native land were frequently mentioned by art curators, and guides, who interpretthese wonders
Odyssey informants. In the case of items worn close for tourists.
to the body, there is more contamination and symbol-
ization of the self. Preservation of these closely worn Summary of Ways of Achieving Sacredness. In
items partakes of positive sacred contamination. summary, sacredness adheres in certain aspects of
Similarly, items from one's native land are from a sa- consumption through seven different processes: rit-
cred place, if not a sacred time as well (Belk 1988b). ual, pilgrimage, quintessence, gift-giving, collecting,
Thus, heirlooms move from the profane realm in inheritance, and external sanction. With the excep-
which they (or their materials) were purchased into tions of quintessence and external sanction, these sa-
the sacredrealm through connection to deceased (pri- cralizing processes are enacted purposively by con-
marily same-sex) family members. This sacralization sumers in an effort to create sacred meaning in their
intensifies if accompanied by meanings connecting it lives. Whether social or individual in nature, each sa-
to the person's physical body or the symbolic body cralizing process separatesobjects, people, and expe-
of the person's native land, as with one informant's riences from the world of the profane and imbues
cameos from her mother's homeland. them with precious, positive sacredness. Other pro-
Like collections, heirlooms represent complete- cesses then serve to maintain the sacred status and
ness. They indicate that family ties have not been bro- prevent the encroachment of the profane.
ken by death. In this sense, heirlooms are gifts to the
living from the dead and represent the continuity of Perpetuating Sacredness
one generation to the other. Characteristic of the
short histories and the nuclear family orientation of Ecstatic as one might feel upon having contact with
Americans, few heirlooms linked to the family longer the sacredthrough an object, person, place, or experi-
than from the prior two generations were mentioned ence, sacred status may be lost through habituation,
by informants. It is not history and long lineage that forgetting, or encroachment of the profane. To pre-
is being celebratedby heirlooms, but ratherthe com- vent this loss, ongoing effortsare requiredto maintain
pleteness and continuation of the family-the formal sacredness.Four means for maintaining sacrednessin
celebration of which is particularlyimportant to up- consumption that emerged from analysis of our data
per class families (Bossard and Boll 1950). Even so, are separation of the sacred from the profane, perfor-
as McCracken (1988) speculates, caring for family mance of sustaining rituals, continuation through in-
heirlooms may be decreasingly common as societies heritance, and tangibilized contamination. For each,
become more mobile and materialistic. The logistics there is a related avenue of desacralizationthat these
of maintenance, storage, display, and dispersal may maintenance activities are designed to prevent.
dictate less curatorialforms of familial ritual. Separation of Sacred from Profane. Often we
Sacralization ThroughExternal Sanction. An ob- found the sacred separated,either temporally or spa-
ject may be sacralized through sanction by an exter- tially, from the profane to minimize the likelihood of
nal authority. The enshrinement of a piece in a mu- unwanted contamination. Collections were separated
seum is, one indicator of such recognition and the from other objects to reinforcetheir sacred,non-utili-
most common encountered duringthe Odyssey. That tarian status and to prevent their entrance into the
tourists bowed to the external authority of museums profane world where they might be consumed or
was evident in their quiet, reverential tones and for- used. The elephant collection was in a museum ad-
22 THE JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

joining a gift shop filled with elephant replicas for the "baby." In so doing, she emotionally, if not physi-
sale. This separation prevented any confusion that cally, separatedthe sacred from the profane.
items in the collection might be for sale. As a test of Similarly, a painter/sculptor (wf, 50s) was willing
this notion, we asked the collector if he ever moves to sell some of her works, but regardedother pieces as
anything out of the museum collection and places it part of a serial collection in which she possessed items
for sale in the gift shop. He responded: sequentially rather than simultaneously. She didn't
"Never."
want to part with her work until she had enjoyed it
"Why not?" sufficiently. To prevent premature sale, she posted
"I wouldn't want to do that. I just don't want to do prohibitive prices on certain works and raised tte
that. It would be, like, I don't know, like it would be price if she received serious inquiries. The collector/
wrong.It would seem wrongto me. It really would." dealer of Mickey Mouse memorabilia followed the
"Whatwould that do? Whatwould that do to the col- same tactic, and each time someone showed an inter-
lection; what would that do to you?" est in buying one of his favorite pieces, he raised the
"I think it would lose some of its grandeuror some- price. This pricing structure protects the sacred by
thing. It would not be as important if I was able to just preventing its entry into the profane world of com-
put this elephant out in the store and sell it. People merce. Exorbitantly high prices confirm the sacred
would say, 'Well, my heavens, he just sells what he
wants to whenever he wants to.' But I don't want to do
value of these artifacts,and the sacrificeof not accept-
that. When I buy a piece, it's because I really want it for ing a high price offer is a further means by which the
the collection. I have had people offer me some nice collector/dealer pays reverence to the sacredness of
sums for pieces in here, I mean, at times when I really these objects.
could have used a nice sum, and it was difficultto say, Breen (1988) shows how rituals of non-consump-
'No.' But I said, 'No'; if I liked it that well and I bought tion in the mass consumer boycotts of English goods
it, then it must be important to the collection, so I am were instrumental both in giving American colonists
going to keep it there." a sense of nation and in precipitating the American
"So once a piece joins the collection, then it stays Revolution. Boycotts serve to avoid sacralizing pro-
with the collection?" fane consumption objects by mixing them with sa-
". . . it becomes the collection. It's part of it. It's go-
ing to stay there,period." cred objects in the home. By refusing to continue to
enshrine English goods in their homes and in their
This collector's behavior may be somewhat ex- lives, boycotting colonists refused to accept the au-
treme, but it gives bold relief to similar separations thority of the British Crown as either divine or legiti-
that other people employed to preservethe sacredsta- mate to rule over them.
tus of certain possessions. When an item is sacred to Home is a sacred space that provides separation
someone, it is regardedas beyond price and will not from the profane everydayworld, although certain ar-
be sold under any circumstances (Stewart 1984). eas within the home are viewed as more sacred than
Compliance with the self-imposed rule of "never sell" others (Altman and Chemers 1984). Societies differ
applied so absolutely to sacred objects that inform- with respectto whethercommunal public space or in-
ants were surprisedwe would even ask if they would dividual private space is more sacred (Tuan 1982). In
consider selling them. This logic explains the behav- contemporary Western society, the sacredness of the
ior of a Mickey Mouse collector/dealer and an an- individual and of privacy or separation from others
tique collector/dealer who found it unthinkable that have gained dominance. Rochberg-Halton (1984)
they would use items from their collections at home found that the room regardedas most special differed
as merchandise. The only collector/dealers who among three generations. About half of the children
mixed their merchandise with their own collections ages nine to 14 cited their bedrooms, whereas adults
were two novice dealers who each had a mental un- were likely to cite the living room where social life
derstanding,if not a spatial representation, of things is enacted. Older adults (70+) cited their bedrooms,
that were not for sale. presumablybecause they increasinglylived their lives
Artists selling their work separated the sacred cre- there. What is sacred, then, in home life is not neces-
ation from the profane sale in several ways. The male sarily a family gatheredaround the radio or hearth, as
sculptor mentioned in the opening vignettes did not in a Norman Rockwell painting. Instead, the oldest
discuss the price or sale of his work; instead, his sister and youngest generations in the United States are
handled the business end of things. The woman at a likely to harbor private treasures in their individual
swap meet selling handcrafteddolls, which she called rooms.
her "babies," used differentinflection and voice tone Sacredpossessions were separatedfrom more func-
to referto the dolls as commodities versus the dolls as tional (but similar appearing) profane objects in in-
babies. She kissed the "baby"as she sold the doll (one formants' homes. Some heirloom spoons in one
object with two communicative voices) and personi- home were hanging on the wall to indicate that these
fied the transaction as sending her children into the spoons were for viewing, not use. In another home
world to bring happiness to someone who would love with a bunny collection, ceramic bunny soup tureens
SACRED AND PROFANE IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 23

were displayedto indicate they were not used for serv- reconstructedlog house, was completed. The interim
ing soup, at least not on ordinary occasions. Sim- house was not imbued with sacredness. In fact, like
ilarly, a woman who collected functional but fragile another couple interviewed, they planned to keep
black amethyst glassware stored it on a plate rail many possessions in storage during the interim time.
above the kitchen cabinets, where she kept dishes that However, the sacred assemblagewill later be brought
were used everyday. A grocery store owner who col- together to transform and sacralize the newly built
lected antique product packageskept them in display space. The couple was preparingfor this interim pe-
cases in his office, locked away from the salable gro- riod by sorting and reconsidering the status of the
cery products that filled the shelves of the store. Col- wide variety of objects they had acquiredin their life
lectors who sometimes used items from their collec- together.
tions were careful to do so only on special occasions. In a number of informants' homes, sacred objects
For example, car collectors showed these sacred pos- were assembled together in decorative shrines, often
sessions only at car shows or drove them in special on the mantle above the hearth, as with one young
parades and car club outings. All of these strategies couple who noticed during the interview that all of
maintain sacredness by separating the sacred from the items displayed on the mantle had been wedding
the profane. gifts. In homes without a hearth, such assemblages
Another way of maintaining object sacrednessis to may be displayed in the front room on the television
separateit from the profane by designating a particu- set. For example, one collector of native American
lar space for it, creating, in effect, an enshrinement. replicas clustered an American Indian statuarylamp,
This is evident in the elephant collection housed in a family photographs, an American Indian whirligig
museum created for this purpose. Another informant gift, a crocheted afghan, and a crying Christ head to-
(wf, mid-30s) preferreda separate place of honor on gether in the front room. Likewise, an informant who
her bedroom wall for a sampler made by her grand- is a passionate writer/researcherand jazz collector
mother, while non-family-made samplers could be has a room in his home that contains his jazz records,
decoratively clustered together. Fragile collections his Steinway baby grand piano, and his current writ-
are often storedbehind glass-dooredcabinets in living ing work. Similarly, a woman who had moved across
and dining rooms that are often treated as tabernacles the country for a one-year period described her pres-
by adults. The items are ritually enshrined and placed ervation strategy.
in prominent areas of the house to be revered and to
cast their spells on the inhabitants, while also being "Did you ship the watermeloncollection out here?"
separated from the profane. The collector/dealer of "No. Those kind of things I was kind of afraid to.
That's the kind of stuff that means (touches heart)
Mickey Mouse items used to keep his collection in its something to me: things we've collected, like on our
own room at home, but his seven-year-old son was honeymoon, or whatever. I would be real upset. I'd
frightenedto go into "the Mickey room," illustrating ratherlive without them for a year than risk having it
the kratophany of the sacred and acknowledging its all get busted." (wf, late 20s)
potentially destructive power. This collector also ac-
knowledged the "ruin and destruction" that occurs As with people who do not use sacred items for fear
when collecting overpowers the collector and be- of breakage, this couple lived without some special
comes addictive. By keeping the collection locked things for a year rather than risk profaning them
away, this kratophanouspower is kept under control throughbreakageor loss. Their fearswere realistic be-
and separatedfrom everydaylife. cause some expensive but profane possessions, such
When people move from one home to another, they as a microwave oven, were broken in the move.
often become concerned about the safety of their sa- In summary, spatial and temporal separationof the
cred objects, which are used as vessels to transfer sa- profane from the sacred was evident across contexts.
credness from one home to another. Their concern There was no evidence that the sacred and profane
emerges, in part, because the sacredness housed in can mix with impunity and maintain sacredness.The
these objects must pass successfully through the pro- boundaries are permeable, but well guarded. Never-
fane, everyday world before reestablishment in the theless, there were some instances of deliberatetermi-
new home. This is reminiscent of Aeneas's flight from nation of sacredstatus, accomplished through mixing
his home with his household gods on his back (Ae- the sacredwith the profane.
neid, III: 15-19). The items moved may be valuable Somewhat ironically, given the elevated place of
or breakable, as with ceramic figurines and a fragile money in contemporary society, the most general
heirloom doll, or ordinary-appearing,such as an old way the sacred is desacralized is to turn it into a sal-
washboard.Sometimes, people live for an interim pe- able commodity, and thus desingularize it. This ex-
riod in a liminal house before moving into the home plains the exuberance of one informant upon selling
destination. This was the case with one couple mov- her ex-husband's left-handed golf clubs at a swap
ing out of a farmhouse to live in a small summer meet. She had desingularized the last remaining ob-
kitchen building for a year while a new dwelling, a ject that symbolized him, and converted it into a
24 THE JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

commodity. Entrance into the world of commerce bear one's children, the notion of such sacralizingand
through conversion to cash commodifies what was desacralizingrites is all but lost.
previously sacred. Although money can desacralize, this is not always
Our language in referringto dwellings makes this the case in contemporary society. As Real (1975, p.
separationbetween (profane) housing-"a commod- 40) notes:
ity . . . produced primarily for profit"-and (sacred)
dwelling-which is "without economic value in any When Duke Snider, center-fielder for the Brooklyn
direct sense" (Saegert 1985, p.295). Dovey (1985, pp. Dodgers, published an article in the SaturdayEvening
53-54) also separates the profane house and the sa- Post in the middle 1950s admitting "I Play Baseballfor
Money," therewas a tremorof scandalthat ranthrough
cred home on the basis of the consideration of money: the American public, as if a clergymanhad said he did
not much care for God but he liked the amenities of
In the modern world, the house is a commodity involv- clerical life. But when Mercury Morris was asked on
ing substantialeconomic commitment. It is an invest- national television after the Dolphins' one-sided Super
ment of economic resources that yields profit and Bowl VIII victory, "Was it fun?" he replied, "It was
power. As such, the house has become increasingly work," and no one batted an eye.
similarto other products-being bought and sold, used
and discardedlike a car or washingmachine. Home, on A possible interpretation here is that the focus on
the other hand, involves a commitment not of money,
but of time and emotion. It is the place wherewe invest money has desacralized sports. However, it appears
dreams, hopes, and care. Although we can buy the that, like quintessential objects in the marketplace
-propsand freedom that make such an investment pos- and artworks that are sacralized by a high purchase
sible and secure, the phenomenon of home itself can- price, sports stars are no longer desacralized by high
not be commoditized. . . . Yet the increasing com- salaries and may even be sacralized by them. If play-
moditization of the house engenders a confusion be- ers were interchangeable robots, commoditization
tween house and home because it is the image of home would result and fans would no longer view them as
that is bought and sold in the marketplace. sacred heroes.
So money is not a sufficientindicant of commoditi-
Kopytoff (1986), like Marx (1972/orig. 1867), sees a zation in contemporary Western culture. Desmonde
general"driveto commoditization" in capitalist soci- (1962) traces the flow of sacred symbols from reli-
ety. It is disturbing to many that everything can be gious to secular contexts by showing how traditional
bought and sold, leaving little that is sacred. How- religious symbols were transferred to one essential
ever, informants were quick to point out what they component of a consumption-venerating society:
would not sell. A show horse owner (wf, 20s) ex- money. In consumer culture, "mammon" retains its
plained to us that her horse is "not a business," mean- etymological denotation of "that in which one places
ing that it was removed from the profane world of one's trust," as well as its biblical connotation of"dis-
commerce. order" (Haughey 1986). Money is so strongly sym-
Yet the language of commoditization is pervasive. bolic that it presents an intriguing dialeetic between
Fromm (1947) arguedthat even people are commodi- good-sacred and evil-sacred. In contemporary soci-
tized when we market ourselves and take on "market ety, money is never merely profane or ordinary;it has
personalities." Hyde (1983) cautions that when art- a kratophanous power that at alternate times serves
ists and scholars turn from presenting their work as a both beneficent and evil ends. Money can singularize
gift, and instead make profit a primarygoal, they sow as well as commoditize.
the seeds of destruction of their own creativity be- Because mixing the sacred with the profane threat-
cause no sacred soul remains in the work. Haug ens to destroy the sacred, advertising is often seen as
(1986) is among the many Marxist writers who see a threat, having the potential to trivialize the sacred
marketing as appropriating the sacred for selling by its copresence. For example, on commercial TV
purposes, leaving little that remains sacred after such in Great Britain, the juxtaposition of advertisingwith
appropriation. broadcastsof royalty and religion are two such threats
The controversy attending the recent "Baby M" (Laski 1959). Legislation enacted in 1954 prohibits
case, which has prompted a consideration of the pro- advertising within two minutes before and after any
priety of commercial surrogate motherhood, illus- broadcast of royal occasions. With religion, as with
trates the concern over commoditization (Kingsley art, advertising threatens to banish the ecstasy
1987). It is difficultfor many to accept that the sacred achieved in formerly sacred contexts. The other
concept of motherhood is not above money. Believ- threat is that commodities seek to appropriatethe sa-
ing that sacredness is a situational rather than abso- credness of royalty, art, or religion through contami-
lute attribute whose boundary is inherently danger- nation. This appearsto be the concern of critics such
ous, van Gennep (1909) viewed rites de passage as as Berger (1972), Hudson (1987), and Williamson
protective rituals that define entrance to a new status. (1986), who find it offensive that advertising should
In a world in which surrogatemothers can be hired to feature art masterpieces or religious figures. Outrage
SACRED AND PROFANE IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 25

at the use of Beatles music in television commercials A related desacralizing mixture of the sacred and
for Nike shoes echoes this concern. the profane is decontextualization. This offense
Experiencing what was previously considered sa- against the sacred involves removing it from its con-
cred as now mixed with the profane produces emo- text or place of origin. Arnheim (1987) speaks of
tional reactions of loss. For example, certain actors sculptures and paintings being "kidnapped" by mu-
and actresseshave their names imprinted on stars on seums and "torn from (their) moorings in space and
a Hollywood sidewalk, but one,informant was disap- time" (Arnheim 1987, p. 682). What seems to be
pointed by recent choices. threatenedhere is the sacrednessof the time and place
in which the art originated ratherthan the sacredness
"I was amazed at the Walk of Fame that they give stars of the art object per se. Putting the London Bridge in
to anyone. They had a star, I mean like Peter Framp- Arizona may or may not lessen the sacredness of the
ton. I mean he was famous for like fifteen minutes.
Now he's got a star for all eternity. You know, that's bridge itself, but it does threaten to lessen the sacred-
like real strange."(wm, late 20s) ness of old London. The outpouring of emotion,
much of it outrage, in connection with the restorative
He was disturbedbecause the inclusion of these sup- cleaning of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, which is liter-
posed starsprofaned what he had considered a sacred ally shedding new light on Michelangelo's paintings
context. He lamented the loss of this illusion. (Pope-Hennessy 1987), is another example of the
Desacralization by mixing the sacred and the pro- power of decontextualization.
fane occurs through two related phenomena: kitsch Sustaining Rituals to Prevent Rationalization and
and decontextualization. Kitsch refers to decorative Habituation. Because sacred objects may begin to
objects of bad taste that are popular with the masses, seem ordinary and profane over time, ritual mainte-
as with one informant's whimsical decorative pink nance is sometimes needed to preserve and revivify
flamingo. Discussions of kitsch imply that such ob- their sacred status. Meals, holidays, vacations, and
-jectsare an offense to something sacred (e.g., Highet other such family rituals not only sacralize the ob-
1972); however, the precise nature of this offense is jects they involve, they do much to maintain the sa-
seldom agreed upon. In the case of religious kitsch, cred status of the family.
such as a sentimental renderingof Christ or a picture The elephant replicas collector has performed a
of the Virgin Mary painted on a seashell, the offense number of rituals to preserve the sacred status of his
seems to be an inappropriatemixing of the sacredand collection. Each time he has moved, he has packed
the profane. Dorfles (1969) and Pawek (1969) worry the whole collection carefully. Before he started the
that religious kitsch lead the faithful away from reli- Elephant Museum, he kept some things in boxes,
gion ratherthan toward it. In other cases, the offense rather than risk breaking them in the unpacking. He
seems to be the trivial nature of these pieces that has been through three floods and has unpacked and
makes them disposable ratherthan timeless (Schroe- repacked all of the items each time with no losses. It
der 1977). In the case of kitsch souvenirs, the offense was this packing and unpacking that convinced him
has been characterizedas taking an object out of con- to open the museum, where he could shaarethe collec-
text inappropriatelyand turning it into a mere com- tion with others. He feels that he preservesthe sacred
modity (Gregotti 1969). This reflects both the com- status of his collection through sharing it with those
moditization discussed previously and decontextuali- who visit the museum. He mentioned that elephant
zation discussed next. Given the proprietaryattitude families stay together for life. In a sense it is a form of
of the upper class toward fine arts as a class marker eternal life that he is tryingto ensure for the collection
(Lynes 1980), kitsch may represent to them a threat and, by extension, for himself, through these rituals.
to desacralizefine art and may elicit an elitist fear of For an informant with some monogrammed heir-
disenfranchisement. loom silver spoons, sacredness-maintaining rituals
Perhaps the most telling interpretation of the include cleaning, repair, and display. The soft, silver
offense entailed in kitsch is the argument that it is in- spoons had some dents that she had removed after re-
authentic (Stewart 1984). Kitsch is chargedwith deal- ceiving the spoons from her mother-in-law. She then
ing with superficialityrather than substance (Brown had the spoons mounted and framed to hang in her
1975), with being turned out mechanically (Green- dining room. Another informant had restored an
berg 1946), and with offering spurious value (Giesz heirloom quilt from her mother, as described in this
1969). The charge of inauthenticity is similar to fieldnote excerpt.
charges of forgery or reproduction in art (see Belk The woman selling raffletickets . . . had restored her
1987b) and to MacCannell's (1976) arguments con- mother's patchworkquilt and uses it in her home. It is
cerning the "staged authenticity" experienced by the draped over a quilt rack and used on a bed when it is
tourist. Inauthenticity charges that kitsch lacks the needed. It had been mildewed from being packed away
magic and power of the truly sacred, but pretends to and a number of pieces had to be replaced. She antici-
sacredness through its associative representations pates that her daughterwill take this quilt and keep it
and use. in the family.
26 THE JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

Through her investment of labor and care in the ob- arette marks makes the object more sentimentally
ject, she prevented it from becoming profane junk valuable and sacredby preservingthe extended self of
and restoredits sacred status, which will be preserved a family member.
by passing it on to her daughter. This fetishistic in- The sacrednessof other heirlooms is maintained by
vestment of labor in an object recompenses its neglect ritual prohibitions against use. To use these objects
over the years. Once its sacred status is restored, it would desacralize them by making them mere utili-
must then be preserved, having come dangerously tarian commodities. During one interview, a woman
close to vanishing. Similar levels of attention to a sa- in her mid-thirties corrected the interviewer who
cred heirloom in disrepairwere reportedby other in- mentioned some toys in the living room.
formantswho strippedfurniture,sewed dolls back to-
geth7er,and oiled tools. These are not sacralizing ac- "I noticed a number of toys around. In the family
room, there were toys, and in the libraryyou called it,
tions, but ratherare rituals that restore and maintain there were some toys. But in the living room there were
sacredness. some toys. There were some dolls. . ."
This type of restoration was described by an infor- "Oh (eyebrows raised and knowing smile comes to
mant who has an heirloom that she had refinished to face-emphatically), there are not. They're not toys!
allow its sacred nature to shine through: There should not be toys in there. They'rejust sort of
collectibles I guess . . . There's an old piece in there; a
"I have a tea wagon . . . in the dining room,. . . a little bed in there that was his grandmother'sthat has a doll;
teacart that my coffee service is on, that belonged to a chaise bed of sorts. So that's in there, and its got some
my grandmother,that I just had refinished.It had been dolls on it, but they're not for play. And there are some
painted when that antiquing look was in that you stuffed animals in there that used to be my husband's
painted furniture, and then you rubbed that sort of when he was a child. So they're kind of fond favorites,
black paint over it to make it look old. And it had sev- I guess." (wf, mid-30s)
eral layers of paint on it. I did not do the refinishing,
but I decided that it is a pretty enough piece that I'd The items are, in fact, antique toys, but are now
have it refinished.So that's kind of a special piece." (wf, viewed by the informant as decorative objects re-
early 30s) moved from the profane world in which they might
Through a cleansing ritual, the once-sacred heirloom be used in play. Here the owners ritually comply with
was restored. It is as if through this act of duty, the the self-imposed rule of "Never Use."
cart's glory can now shine through, as it could not Some heirlooms are used, but only on ritual occa-
when the black paint was profaning it. Oddly, for the sions. That is, they are separatedtemporally from the
relative who chose to put the black antiquing paint profane and are employed ritually. One informant
on, this was probablyseen as a way of making an ugly (wf, mid-30s) has a lace tablecloth that was passed on
piece more attractive. It seems odd that someone to her by her grandmother. She uses it on holidays
would "antique" an antique, but this too was proba- (sacred times when the family is brought together for
bly done to try to resingularizethe piece. This wom- ritual behavior)and on other "special occasions," but
an's refinishing of the piece restores its sacred status never for everydayuse. The continuation of tradition
for her. in this way sustains the sacred statiusof the tablecloth
However, preserving sacred status in heirlooms as it furtherenhances it.
does not always mean restoringitems to their original The sacredness of a place is also maintained by ad-
condition. It may involve maintaining the imperfect herence to ritual behaviors. For example, informants
condition of an object when imperfections serve as at a weight loss resortwere concerned about how they
sacred marks of use by family members. One woman would be able to transfertheir rituals at the resort to
explained the logic of this approach, as noted in this their home life. Many thought they would try, but
fieldnote excerpt: would probablynot be successful. They in essence ad-
mitted that the magic resides in the place and all that
Rene had a commode at home that was passed down to occurs there. They were not hopeful that they would
her by her mother who got it from her mother (Rene's be able to recreate this magic at home. The magical
grandmother).It has been used by each of her children transformationthat they hoped would occur was a re-
as a dresserin their rooms. Her husband refinished it sult of their ritualistic exercise, dieting, and massages
and took nine coats of paint off of it. He was trying to during their stay. Their daily regimen involved the
take off the cigarettestains from when her brotherhad
it, but she told him not to take those off because "those abundant use of water (drinking it, swimming in it)
make it even more precious." (wf, 40s) making them feel cleansed in the transformationand
intensifying their regard for the resort as a sacred
Maintenance of an heirloom's sacredness then does place and their stay as a sacredtime. For one woman,
not always mean preservation in the way that a mu- the resort "feels like home" because she has the same
seum or seller might approach the object. Unlike the room each year and over time has come to know
marks of a famous person, these do not increase the many of the others who come here. To her, the place
object'seconomic value. However, preservingthe cig- exemplifies the American dream of achievement of
SACRED AND PROFANE IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 27

one's goals, the importance of physical perfection, held (Thompson 1979). We observedthe same move-
and stability over time. It is a place of baptism and ment with other old, functional pieces, such as carpet
rebirth, sacrifice and salvation. Through ritual, it beaters now hung on the wall as decorative items and
maintains sacrednessthat is too fragile to transfer to a tramp's cupboard that hung above one informant's
the everydayworld. desk. While newness may initially sacralize an object
Gift-giving is a ritual that may be used not only to as being quintessential, irreverence creeps in with
sacralize,as discussed earlier,but also to maintain the time. Later, someone again sees the object's potential
sacredness of personal goods, as with some infor- for sacrednessand saves it from obscurity.
mants' gifts to us intended to preserve our close con- Rituals also attempt to prevent rationalization,
nections to them. When we sometimes offered recip- which may desacralize the sacred in two ways. The
rocal gifts, they were refused, as they would have first is that to bring rational argument to bear on the
commoditized the interaction. We were given gifts of sacred is to rob it of its essential mystery and hiero-
postcardsto use as interview stimuli, candy, a hand- phanous power. For example, this was seen by Weber
crafted leather flyswatter,rides to get gasoline when (1958/orig. 1904) to have occurredwhen science split
we had run out, and dinners preparedin our honor. from art, producing the "disenchantment of the
The informants traveling by covered wagon had world." It occurs when the scientist dissipates the
grown accustomed to being photographedby curious beauty of the rainbow by dismissing it as light re-
tourists, and a sign beside their wagon read, "Dona- flected and refractedin air-suspendedwater droplets
tions Appreciated for your Photos." As we had (Belk 1986). It is the same diminution of magic
stopped, photographed them, conducted a video in- thought to occur when the Santa Claus myth is ex-
terview and come to know them rather well, it was ploded for the child. Such rationalized views are sel-
unclear whetherthey would expect payment from us. dom capable of retaining the mystery, ritual, and
When we mentioned that we would like to give them power of former understandingsand, thus, are likely
something for the rich insights they had given us, they to diminish sacredness.
refused the cash offer saying, "You don't have to do A second way rationalization desacralizes is by
that!" When we responded by saying, "We know we offering principled excuses for ignoring, discarding,
don't have to do it, we just want to," the interaction or otherwise failing to treat something with the
returned to the sphere of gift-giving. The verbal ex- "proper" respect. One of our informants, who raises
change was a desanctifying and reconsecratingritual mice to sell to pet stores or give to "good homes,"
to preserve the friendship while still permitting the rationalizes that she takes only "the mice with lousy
economic transfer. Under other circumstances, no dispositions or poor personalities" to feed to her
amount of ritualistic framing can excuse irreverence. snakes. Several small-scale pet breeders we inter-
Clearly, for example, one should not accept a dinner viewed rationalized the sale of their beloved animals
invitation from friends and then leave a cash pay-
ment. The only acceptable "payment" is a reciprocal by assuring us that they made sure that the animals
were going only to good homes. There was undoubt-
social offeringthat keeps the interaction in the sacred
social realm rather than in the profane, commercial edly some sincerity in this desire, but there was also
realm. an element of rationalization in turning these living
Despite numerous rituals designed to maintain sa- beings into salable commodities. They avoided ac-
credness, habituation and rationalization constantly knowledging this transformation by viewing the sale
threaten to desacralize the sacred. In habituation, as a ritual to continue the love and affection given to
movement from the sacred to the profane occurs in a the animal.
way that is gradualenough to be little noticed as some Similarly, informants discarding or selling sacred
objects become worn and familiar. But time may also heirloom furnitureor memory-laden baby clothes of-
restore objects to a sacred status, as was explained in ten suggested that someone else would make better
this fieldnote excerpt by one antique dealer/collector: use of them. There was an element of truth in this
claim, but the need to offersuch explanations suggests
What is interesting to her is that the nice pie safes, an element of rationalization as well. Explaining that
which are popular as living room cupboardsnow, used something is the "logical thing to do under the cir-
to be kitchen pieces, but many of them are now found cumstances" demystifies behavior and moves the ob-
out in chicken coops. Her business brings them back ject out of the realm of the sacred. Similarly, while
into the house. the collection as a whole is sacred, some collectors are
willing to convert particularitems from the collection
Initially, the object loses its sacredness and is rele- into profane, salablecommodities, providedthat they
gated to more profane areas of the home. But then, first find a replacement item that is "better" (e.g., a
when it is old enough to become appealingto antique plate from a manufactured collectors' series to re-
collectors, it moves through the world of commerce place a similar, chipped plate already in the collec-
into a more sacredposition than that which it initially tion).
28 THE JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

Sacred consumption may be profaned when con- able, presumablybecause in case of divorce they might
sumers are not sufficientlyreverentialand do not fol- take them, and the family tradition would stop.
low prescribedrituals. MacCannell (1976, p. 43) de-
scribes tourist crowding at natural wonders as "pro- We can interpretthis statement as implying that heir-
faning the place" in the eyes of other (presumably looms will be passed matrilineally, whereas wealth
more serious) tourists. The burning or dragging of a will be passed patrilineally, an interesting hypothesis,
flag through the streets is an act of intentional dese- particularly in light of the complexity of contempo-
cration of a sacred symbol, just as an overly stylized rary family!structures. This rule also suggests that
performance of the national anthem may be seen as women nurture relationships and the heirlooms that
irreverent (Rook 1984). Several informants men- symbolize these relationships, as has been found in
tioned that children weren't allowed in particularar- other research (e.g., Wallendorf and Arnould 1988).
eas of their houses for fear certain items might be It also suggests the converse, namely that women, in
damaged or marredby fingerprints. the image of a termagant, have the power to willfully
Rituals existed for some intentional desacraliz- destroy family traditions through appropriationof its
ations we observed. These transformation rituals are symbols. Thus, when sacred heirlooms are prevented
used to redefinethe object's status with respect to the from entering the profane world by keeping them in
sacred/profane dimension. Because these rituals of- the family, the family is nurturedand preserved.
ten precededthe disposition of formerlysacreditems, There was wide understanding and acceptance of
they may be seen as the divestment rituals that Mc- such rules among informants. The woman whose
Cracken (1986) speculated might exist. For example, mother had furniture made for her from walnut trees
a woman mentioned earlier gladly sold her ex-hus- cut down at their horse farm has placed that furniture
band's golf clubs at a swap meet as a ritualistic way of only in certain rooms of her house. A piece inscribed
cleansing herself of his presence in her life. By moving with her initials is in the living room, a space reserved
the golf clubs into the realm of the profane, she for adults. A set of four-posterbeds is used in her four-
cleared him out of her life. She was quite cognizant of year-old daughter's room, but not in the room used
this, and she and her women friends did a little dance by her stepdaughter when she visits. Even by their
of joy after the sale, saying, "That's the end of him." placement in the house, these objects speak of "real"
In summary, ritual maintains the separation be- family connections.
tween sacredand profane, ensuring that what is to re- We also encountered heirloom preservation by
main in the sacred realm does not slip away. Other males. When the heirloom furniture handcrafted by
rituals transform that which was previously sacred an informant's deceased father was damaged in a
into its now appropriateprofane state, ensuring that
only that which is markedby the ritual passes through flood, he chose to work on restoringthese pieces and
the transformation. his father's tools before reclaiming anything else in
the house. An antique collector (bm, early 40s) who
Bequests. Bequests are a third mechanism found was also becoming a dealer, had some pieces that were
for preservingthe sacred status of certain consump- heirlooms. Although he was anxiousto get his busi-
tion objects and experiences. Some collectors attempt ness started, he said he would never sell the family
to ensure the continued sacred status of their collec- heirlooms. And a man with three garagesfull of accu-
tions after their death by planning to will them to de- mulated, usable objects to share with neighbors also
scendants as heirlooms. For example, the collector of had some heirloom tools that had belonged to his fa-
elephant replicas plans to leave his collection to his ther. These were substantiallymore significantto him
granddaughter,who was only a year old at the time of and would be passed on to his male heirs. Although
our interview. He wants to preserve "the grandeur" not universal, there does appear to be a general pat-
of the collection by bequeathing it in such a way that tern of maintaining the sacredness of connection to
it will become an heirloom. If the collection remains same-sex parents and family members through heir-
intact, he "imagines history will stand in awe of what looms.
he did." Through his will, he hopes to invoke wider The counterpartto maintainingsacrednessthrough
compliance to the "Never Sell" rule mentioned ear- inheritance is losing sacred reverence for objects
lier. through lack of an appreciative heir. This was a fre-
A woman in a quilt-makinggroupbelieves there are quent concern of collectors. The collector of elephant
bequest "rules" that protect a family's heirlooms, as replicas does not want to leave his collection to his
mentioned in this fieldnote excerpt: wife or daughterbecause he doesn't expect that either
She says that the rule is to give sons property and of them would carryon the museum after he dies. His
money and to give daughters possessions and heir- fear is that the collection would be sold piece by piece
looms, because they will stay in the family and be on an auction block. Therefore, although the grand-
passed on to granddaughtersthat way; otherwise the daughter is very young, he thinks she already enjoys
son's wife may get a hold of them and this is not desir- elephants and hopes to bequeath the collection to her.
SACRED AND PROFANE IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 29

Why should heirs reject the responsibility of caring venirs, and photographsfor later savoring and enjoy-
-for the collection of a close family member? More ment. Tourists do not seem to mind that their photo-
than disinterest seems to be involved. Because collec- graphs will be exactly like those of all other tourists.
tions are almost always the focus of intense attention In fact, this duplication is viewed as a mark of authen-
in accumulating, classifying, maintaining, and dis- ticity, confirming the validity of the tourist's experi-
playing the assembled items, they normally take a ence (MacCannell 1976). At some sites, tourists glee-
great deal of the collector's time. Family members fully cluster with their cameras around places desig-
who do not share an interest in the collection may nated as photo opportunities.
come to see it as a rival in winning their loved one's Since we travelled to a number of tourist sites on
time, devotion, and attention. Resentment, perhaps the Odyssey, the use of photographyin preservingthe
unspoken, is to be expected under such conditions. sacred became a recurringtheme. The role of photo-
Thus, to care for a deceased collector's objects of de- graphsin sustaining sacred experiences and relation-
votion may be seen as tantamount to caring for a ships also was evident in photographs people carried
spouse's or parent's mistress or lover. with them or enshrined in their homes. Some con-
sumers' houses and vehicles were so sacred to them
Tangibilized Contamination. Besides rituals that that they carriedphotos of these things with them on
allow objects to become associated with the owners their travels. Often photos of loved family members,
and their histories, the sacredness of fleeting experi- pets, and favorite objects and places were enshrined
ences and once-encountered places is preserved, it is in the home on mantles, bureaus, and other places of
hoped, through souvenirs and photographs. This is a reverent display. Photos of the past were also given
process of tangibilizing contamination through an prominent status in historical museums, where they
object. When places visited are regardedas sacred,the were a tangible link with the past these museums were
time spent there is also sacred (MacCannell 1976). In sacralizing.
-addition,items overtly intended as souvenirs, as well Two professional photographers we interviewed
as more idiosyncratic mementos, may be regardedas differedin the extent to which they see their works as
sacred. They hold the contagious property of the sa- preserving the sacred. One photographer sees the
cred (Stewart 1984). Gordon (1986) notes five types work in which he helped preserve others' sacred mo-
of sacredsouvenir icons: ments-wedding and bar mitzvah photos-as totally
1. Pictorial images (e.g., photographs, post- unrewardingwork. He preferstaking pictures of stars
cards); like Perry Como because the subject is sacred to him
and allows him to preservethe memory of his contact
2. Pieces-of-the-rock(e.g.,seashells,pinecones); with such entertainment gods. The other photogra-
3. Symbolic shorthand (e.g., miniature Eiffel pher specializes in anthropological travel and nature
Tower, toy Loch Ness monster); photos, and sells prints at art shows. He has somewhat
mixed feelings about selling these photographsto the
4. Markers(e.g., "Grand Canyon" t-shirt, res- public. He was pleased by one purchaserwho was also
taurantmatchbook cover); and a photographerand who promised thatthe purchased
5. Local product (e.g., olive oil from Greece, lo- print would be hung "in a place of honor." In general,
cal clothing). the photos themselves (i.e., his negatives) are clearly
sacred to him and help preserve memories of mean-
In each case, some logical or symbolic reminder is ingful experiences.
sought in orderthat the memories attachedto the visit At a Renaissance Festival, we observed that people
will remain vivid and "real." Evidently there is also a were able to experience the magical aspects of time
status motive, since such souvenirs often visibly pro- travel and the romantic fantasy of being a part
claim the visit to others. We may also include in the of another world. Through souvenir dragon-slaying
category of tangibilized contamination the personal swords and flowered wreaths for the hair, people at-
memento, such as pressed flowers from a suitor, wine tempted to transport an element of this experience
bottle labels from a significant meal, and ticket stubs back to their everyday lives. The tangible sacredness
from a concert attended. Souvenirs may also repre- of such sites was often preservedin artifactsacquired
sent sacred persons who touched, autographed, or there in the form of gifts, souvenirs, and photographs.
owned the item. This is illuminated by home buyers One woman bought charms for a seldom-worn, but
in Beverly Hills who are willing to pay more for still cherishedcharm bracelet memorializing each va-
houses that formerlybelonged to prominent stars, an cation. She has a charm from Niagara Falls (from her
indication that used goods are sometimes worth more current vacation) and one from Yellowstone Park
than new goods and that sacredness may be reflected (last year's vacation). She does not have one from her
in price. hometown. Although her own home is sacred, she
The experience of being in a special place, such as feels no need symbolically to bring the hometown
a vacation site, is preservedthrough mementoes, sou- with her, since she is usually there. Similarly, a beauty
30 THE JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

queen representinga particularcity, who is therefore periences were encountered. These were the separa-
herself an incarnation of that place, recalled as she tion of the sacred from the profane, ritual, bequests,
looked over some souvenir pins on her sash the ethnic and tangibilized contamination. In each case, we
festival where she bought each pin, rather than the found corresponding ways that desacralization can
country which is supposedly symbolized by each of occur. Lack of separation of the sacred from the pro-
them. Through souvenirs and photographs, consum- fane, especially through commoditization, results in
ers tangibilize contamination of their contact with sa- desacralization,and when rationalization and routin-
cred consumption. ization supplant ritual, another form of desacraliza-
Just as the sacred can be made manifest and pre- tion occurs. Sometimes intentional divestment ritu-
served in tangible objects, the loss of such objects als are employed to desacralize items. And when sa-
threatens to desacralize. For example, collections cred objects are lost or cannot find caring heirs, again
sometimes irreverently move from the world of the desacralizationoccurs.
sacred into the world of the profane in ways that
deeply disturb people. An informant who moved Interpretive Summary of Processes
across the country had a little watermelon dish bro-
ken in the move. This bothered her because she col- Involving the Sacred
lects watermelon replicas and because her collection We have explored the consumer behavior processes
representspreservationand continuity, elements that through which sacralization,preservationof sanctity,
are tenuous in her life at present. A man interviewed and sometimes deconsecration occur. Such rituals as
lost a $10,000 collection of books and records in a contamination, gift-giving, and collecting, and vari-
flood. A worker at a Small Business Administration ous sacra such as souvenirs and heirlooms were ex-
Disaster Field Officetalked with us about the effect of plored in ethnographic detail to provide the reader
losing collections. It was her sense that young people with a feel for the many consumption settings in
bounce back fasterthan older people. Probablythis is which sacred/profanetransformationsoccur. Our re-
because the old have collected more and have more maining task is to provide some closure for our thesis,
memories to lose. and to speculate upon its further significance for the
Of course, the loss of collections or possessions in a field of consumer behavior research.
disasterpales comparedto the loss of life. The loss of a
decedent's physical remains, a particularlywrenching CONCLUSION
casualty in the flood described by one informant, is
more devastating still. But the loss of a collection or We have documented the properties of sacredness
possessions can be unsettling nonetheless. The man that consumers invest in material and experiential
who lost the books and recordssustained other exten- consumption, and have examined the ways the
sive property loss as well. He was deeply angered by boundary between sacred and profane is strategically
these losses, even though we interviewed him six manipulated. Specifically, we have tracked the ways
weeks after the flood. Such an occasion is disturbing sacralization is initiated, sustained, and terminated.
because it destroys the possibility of eternal life for Using literaturesfrom the social sciences and human-
possessions that are closely connected to self. More ities, we have explored the personal, social, and cul-
important than the destruction of the items in collec- tural significance of the transformations consumers
tions is the destruction of the value that was being in- effect between sacred and profane domains of experi-
vested and expressed, namely continued existence of ence.
the self through the collection. In Berman's (1984) opinion, mind or spirit has
Losing a gift is another irreverentway of profaning been evacuated graduallyfrom our relationshipswith
it. Such an incident was describedto us by a customer phenomena. The transformation of Western episte-
at a swap meet jewelry stand. The operators of this mology from participatingconsciousness (knowledge
stand had been informants, and two of us had become acquisition via mergerwith nature) to nonparticipat-
close enough with them to help out with customers at ing consciousness (knowledge acquisition via separa-
their stall. As the customer looked over the wares, she tion and distance from nature)-that is, from dialec-
explained that she once had a heart necklace that her tical to Cartesian rationality (Wallendorf 1987a)-
father had given her, but its clasp broke, and she lost has deprived consumer researchers of a potentially
it. The loss was a source of great anxiety. Through valuable perspective. We have sought to restoresome
such objects, one has the sacredexperience ofjoy and semblance of balance by employing naturalistic, in-
connection. To lose a keepsake is irreverent and terdisciplinary team research to examine a funda-
shows insufficientritual care. mental yet heretofore inaccessible consumption phe-
nomenon.
Summary -of Ways of Maintaining Sacredness. Consumers accord sacred status to a variety of ob-
Four distinct ways of preserving or maintaining the jects, places, and times that are value expressive. By
sacred status of times, places, people, things, and ex- expressing these values through their consumption,
SACRED AND PROFANE IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR 31

they participate in a celebration of their connection lard's (1981) critique of the "paleo-Marxist drama-
to the society as a whole and to particularindividuals. turgy" that interprets commodity fetishism as mere
For society, defining as sacred certain artifacts that object sanctification. Instead, the significance of fet-
are value-expressiveprovides social cohesion and so- ishism is ultimately semiotic and consists in the rein-
cietal integration. For the individual, participatingin forcement of cultural ideology. Through fetishism,
these expressions provides meaning in life and a the "closed perfection" of the system is celebrated
mechanism for experiencing stability, joy, and occa- and preserved,(Baudrillard, 1981, p. 93). Through
sionally ecstasy through connection. such ritualization, an individual becomes preferen-
There are apparent benefits to the individual from tially imprinted by an object while a culture simulta-
participatingin the sacred as a means of giving one's neously reproduces its critical structural categories.
life purpose. Partly for these psychological reasons, it This is accomplished in large part by the sacralizing
is generally societally approved that someone should processes we have recounted in detail here.
collect something, or treasure historical sites, or av- We have chosen to adopt a clinical ratherthan criti-
idly follow sports, for such activities focus one's life cal perspective in describing the ways in which pro-
and seemingly make one happy. But there are other fane consumption is transfiguredand made sacred.
reasons why pursuing sacred consumption is gener- Divining the teleological and moral implications of
ally societally approved. secular sacralization is left to additional work adopt-
Just as Karl Marx once proclaimed that religion is ing a theological or cultural criticism perspective. We
the opium of the masses, sacredconsumption also has hope such effortswill be aided by our clinical analysis.
the ability to channel consumer energies into a focus What is apparent is the capacity of consumer culture
that may preclude revolutionary thought and action. to facilitate expression of the sacred as it reproduces
This channeling may be dialectically cast. Homeown- itself.
-ership has long been seen as a commitment to the The behavioral complex we have described as sa-
community, but it may also be seen as the confine- cralizing and desacralizingvarious dimensions of hu-
ment of women to the realm of consumption to maxi- man experience is the ritual substratumof much con-
mize economic growth in an industrialized society sumer behavior. We have adopted the idiom of ritual
(Galbraith 1973). Sports fanaticism can be seen to to counter the "tyranny of paradigms"and the "con-
promote community identification and spirit, but strainingnature" of metaphors(Arndt 1985a, 1985b)
also to separatefamily members with differingtastes. characteristic of traditional consumer research. Our
Just as sportsfans see themselves as a unified commu- use of the constructs "sacred"and "profane"emerges
nity during sacred sports moments, so do gift ex- from the interface of the subjective world and liberat-
changers, heirloom-passing generations, and collec- ing paradigmsdescribedby Arndt (1985a, 1985b). By
tors. Acquirers of quintessential objects and souve- merging the phenomenological approach to con-
nirs may feel a sense of community in admiring one sumer experience of the former paradigm with the
another'sconsumption objects, but may be viewed as criticistic or constructivistic orientation of the latter,
materialistic or acquisitive by others. Pet ownership a richer conceptual vocabulary for describing con-
may promote good citizenship by kindling emotions sumer behavior has been created.
that allow for greater empathy with others and de- Consider two of the metaphors that shape and re-
creasethe probabilityof vandalism or other antisocial flect much inquiry in consumer research: involve-
behaviors. However, pet ownership also allows and ment and loyalty. These two conditions or experi-
fostersthe expressionof domination (Tuan 1984). Al- ences suggest something of the talismanic relation-
though we recognize the potential pathologies of self- ship consumers form with that which is consumed.
absorption, miserliness, and narrownessthat may oc- Yet, researchers have restricted their discussion of
cur within sacred consumption, we generally believe these constructs to the narrowly cognitive. Involve-
that participation in sacredness in some area of con- ment has been glossed as focused activation (Cohen
sumption is superior to a complete lack of contact 1983), whether its duration is situational or enduring
with the sacred. Singularizing the self so one is not (Bloch and Richins 1983). Even when it has been con-
treated as a mere commodity, even if through one's sidered as more than merely repeat purchase, loyalty
possessions, involves consumers with the sacred, is reduced to a function of decision-making, utilitar-
especially in collecting and experiences recalled ian, evaluative processes (Jacoby and Kyner 1973).
through some tangible artifact. Combined, these constructs deal with the arousal as-
What remains unanswered is the cultural conse- sociated with personal meaningfulness, yet neither
quence of the sacralizing processes we have exam- contends with the process of meaning investment or
ined. Sacrednessexists at a cultural level to ensure the the cultural matrix from which that process ulti-
ongoing integrity of the culture itself. Through defi- mately emanates. We have described the sacred and
nitions of sacredness, culture hallows itself, working the profane as conceptual categoriesthat animate cer-
to compel belief. Intimations of this consequence are tain consumer behaviors. We have incorporated the
latent in theories of fetishism, especially in Baudril- spirit of these constructs into a more inclusive and
32 THE JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH

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Arnheim, Rudolf (1987), "Art Among the Objects," Criti-
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