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Joel Nelson

Protrait: Joel Nelson

Professor Emeritus
Email: nelso004@umn.edu

Education

Ph.D. Yale University (1965)

Interest Areas

Sociology of Consumer Behavior; Organizations and Occupations; Stratification.

Current Research

Consumer behavior is in many respects a black box in sociological analysis. Few sociologists have examined consumer publics, and fewer still have considered the vast retail market where the joys, passions, fantasies, and indulgences of individuals come into play. Joel Nelson's current research focuses on the retail industry, specifically as it relates to the commodities retailers sell. One recent project showed how characteristics related to food preparation influenced the corporate size of fast-food and full service restaurants – but in a way at odds with the conventional McDonaldization thesis. In another project he examines the market structure of one particular commodity – clothing – and shows that the production and distribution of men's and women's clothing form mirror images, and that mass production and mass distribution are inversely related. The theoretical agenda in these projects is to treat retail organizations not merely as complex organizations or as economic corporations, but additionally as actors enmeshed in a world of commodities – which influence the market structure of the retail industry and the stores and organizations within them.

Selected Publications

"Sociology of Consumer Behavior." Forthcoming. Chapter in The Handbook of 21st Century Sociology, Clifton D. Bryant and Dennis L. Peck, eds. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

"On Mass Distribution: A Case Study of Chain Stores in the Restaurant Industry." 2001. Journal of Consumer Culture, 1: 141-60.

"The Case for Post-Industrial Capitalism." 2001. Research in Stratification and Mobility, 18: 39-62.

"Out of Utopia: The Paradox of Post-Industrialization," with David Cooperman. 1998. Sociological Quarterly, 39(Nov): 583-96.

"Service Workers." 1998. American Cities and Suburbs: An Encyclopedia, edited by Neil Shumsky. Denver, CO: ABC-CLIO Press.

Post-Industrial Capitalism. 1995. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.