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Articles

Vol. 2 No. 1 (2014)

One White Covers Three Ugliness’s: Uncovering Chinese Beauty Consumption Practices in a Multicultural Environment

Submitted
July 31, 2014
Published
2014-08-30

Abstract

Although increasing numbers of people live in multicultural environments devoid of a dominant culture, little is known about how, in such environments people deal with the products or consumption practices in such multicultural contexts. This study explores the phenomena of cultural pluralism, defined as a pattern of emergent consumption acts that result in the adoption of consumption patterns from several cultures. By means of an ethnographic study, ten female Chinese students studying at a university on the south coast of England participated in this research with the aim of exploring how cultural pluralism strategies are adopted when considering beauty consumption practices in a multicultural environment. Three key themes emerged from the observations, labelled recency or arrival, new environments and media consumption that influence the various levels of cultural pluralism strategies adopted. The report makes specific reference and contribution to consumer subcultures in consumer research.

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