Evolving desire to experience the social 'other' : Insights from the high-society bazaar

Résumé En

We explore certain key changes in consumer orientations toward consumption as a result of the transformations in globalization and modern culture. Our observations provide intriguing insights into how ‘experiencing the ‘other’ is increasingly sought by diverse social classes. We also discover the factors that intensify experiencing the other and make attending high society bazaars as consumption venues alluring for upper and lower social classes, respectively representing the westernized and traditional social elements in Turkey, where the West meets the East. Findings from in-depth and focus-group interviews unravel the motives of encountering and experiencing the other and allow us to revisit and extend different theoretical insights by recognizing more recent cultural trends and consumer sensibilities that guide and motivate consumers to seek multiplicity, difference, and navigation.