Consuming the (Postmodern) Self: Sneaker Customization and the Symbolic Creation of Meaning and Identity

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dc.contributor.advisorAndrews, David Len_US
dc.contributor.authorWallace, Brandon Tyleren_US
dc.contributor.departmentKinesiologyen_US
dc.contributor.publisherDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_US
dc.contributor.publisherUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2019-10-01T05:34:08Z
dc.date.available2019-10-01T05:34:08Z
dc.date.issued2019en_US
dc.description.abstractWith regard to the centrality of symbolic cultural consumption in late capitalism (Jameson, 1991; Mandel, 1978), this thesis broadly details how consumers negotiate meaning and construct identity through engagement with cultural commodities. I examine this phenomenon through the athletic sneaker: a commodity that’s value largely derives from the cultural meanings it exhibits (Baudrillard, 1983; Miner, 2009; Turner, 2015). Specifically, I analyze sneaker customization, or the act of personal modification of traditional sneakers. Drawing from 15 in-depth interviews with individuals who have experience with sneaker customization, I explicate the various meanings that participants attach to sneaker customization, along with articulating its emergence, current position, implications and significance within its broader sociocultural contexts. This thesis contributes to understandings of how everyday individuals engage with popular cultural practices – such as sneaker customization – to create and define the means of their existence amidst the societal conditions with which they are confronted (Hall, 1996).en_US
dc.identifierhttps://doi.org/10.13016/qimk-nxtn
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/25097
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledSports managementen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledKinesiologyen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledSociologyen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledConsumer Identityen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledCultural Politicsen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledCustomizationen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledNikeen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledSneakersen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledSymbolic Creativityen_US
dc.titleConsuming the (Postmodern) Self: Sneaker Customization and the Symbolic Creation of Meaning and Identityen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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