Taco-loving Border Patrol: Examining the Contradictions of Hate and Consumption

• In Event: 3551 - Section on Sociology of Culture Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: 5. Culture Section Network: Consuming and Resisting Hate

Abstract

America is a country founded on contradictions; it is no surprise then to have border-wall supporters out on Taco Tuesday and margaritas next to Bud Light on July 4th. The country has managed to embrace and Americanize a food not its own yet remains unable and unwilling to do the same for the bearers of that beloved food. Is it then therefore possible to hate the citizens of ‘shithole countries’ yet continue to consume their food? While marketing and consumption research has long established that social and cultural values guide personal purchases, a gap remains in understanding how hate in particular can be an equally as powerful as a motivator as any other hedonic response. Hate-motivated consumption uncritically reproduces and exacerbates longstanding struggles continuing to weaken the social fabric of contemporary society.
As consumers, we purchase, or withhold from purchasing, for functional and also symbolic purposes. In doing so, we pledge a loyalty or disloyalty to the embedded properties within a…thing. But what is it exactly that we hate when we light a pair of Nike shoes on fire and how far does this hate reach when the act of defiance goes public on social media? How far from a hate crime is the act of lighting one’s shoes if doing so is motivated by prejudice? These are but a few of the questions explored when sociologically considering the current day phenomena of hate-motivated consumption and its implications. It is imperative sociological research understand the increase in popularity of this type of consumption and question if it is a product of the contentious social climate or an equally democratic form of voting with your dollars. If what we hate is socially and hegemonically constructed, we must prepare for the consequences of performed hate as a social disease.

Author

• Ginna Solorzano, North Carolina State University