Innovation By Demand: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Study of Demand and its Role in Innovation
Andrew McMeekin, Mark Tomlinson, Ken Green, and Vivien Walsh
Abstract
This book brings together a range of sociologists and economists to study the role of demand and consumption in the innovative process. Starting with a broad conceptual overview of ways that the sociological and economics literatures address issues of innovation, demand and consumption, it goes on to offer different approaches to the economics of demand and innovation through an evolutionary framework, before reviewing how consumption fits into evolutionary models of economic development. The book then looks at food consumption as an example of innovation by demand, including an examination of ... More
This book brings together a range of sociologists and economists to study the role of demand and consumption in the innovative process. Starting with a broad conceptual overview of ways that the sociological and economics literatures address issues of innovation, demand and consumption, it goes on to offer different approaches to the economics of demand and innovation through an evolutionary framework, before reviewing how consumption fits into evolutionary models of economic development. The book then looks at food consumption as an example of innovation by demand, including an examination of the dynamic nature of socially constituted consumption routines. It includes an analysis of how African Americans use consumption to express collective identity and discusses the involvement of consumers in innovation, focusing on how consumer needs may be incorporated in the design of high-tech products. It also argues for the need to build an economic sociology of demand that goes from micro-individual through to macro-structural features.
Keywords:
demand,
consumption,
innovation,
economic development,
African Americans,
collective identity,
high-tech products,
economic sociology,
micro-individual,
macro-structural
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2002 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780719062674 |
Published to Manchester Scholarship Online: July 2012 |
DOI:10.7228/manchester/9780719062674.001.0001 |