Professor James Cronin
Professor in Marketing and Consumer Culture StudiesResearch Interests
I am a Professor in Consumer Culture Studies with the Department of Marketing at Lancaster University Management School and Director of the LUMS Centre for Consumption Insights. My principal research focuses on the social and cultural aspects of consumer behaviour including collective and symbolic forms of consumption, marketplace ideologies, consumer escapism, and the cultural politics of marketing. I am also interested in consumer health & well-being, food cultures, and the parasocial relationships that consumers forge with celebrity brands. Much of my current research activities focus on how social structures, ideological fantasies, and interactions between people shape and ground their consumption experiences. To explore these areas, I have used a variety of qualitative research methods and theoretical formulations from philosophy, sociology, and cultural theory.
My work has appeared in international peer-reviewed journals including Marketing Theory, European Journal of Marketing, Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Marketing Management, Consumption, Markets & Culture, Sociology of Health & Illness, and Journal of Business Research. I am an Associate Editor for Consumption, Markets & Culture and I co-edited a Special Issue for the Journal of Marketing Management entitled 'De-romanticising the market: advances in Consumer Culture Theory' (2022, Vol. 38 Iss 1-2).
I was a co-chair and organiser for the Cybernetic Culture Workshop 2025, an interdisciplinary event hosted by the Centre for Consumption Insights, Security Lancaster, and RISCS. Surrounding this workshop, I am involved in research that explores digitalisation and its relationships with political economy, consumer culture, crime, radicalisation, and new mechanisms of exclusion.
Previously, I was involved as a co-investigator on the UKRI NERC-funded 'Plastic Packaging in People's Lives' (PPiPL) interdisciplinary project (2020-2024). The PPiPL project set out to produce a critical, nuanced, and comprehensive overview of the ideological, socio-cultural, historical, and industrial conditions, circular supply chain logistics, and post-consumer pathways that contribute to the perceived legitimacy of plastic packaging materials in the UK. I have drawn from philosophy and cultural theory to approach plastic as a "passengerial" marketplace icon that furtively accompanies consumers on their various experiential journeys. I am the lead author of The Little Book of Plastics in Everyday Life.
I have written most recently about the uncanny and Gothic aspects of society's relationships with consumption, markets, and marketing.
Research Grants
1. 'Plastic Packaging in Peoples’ Lives (PPiPL): Understanding attitudes and behaviour around plastic food packaging' (Nov 2020-Oct 2023). Awarded by Natural Environment Research Council, UKRI. Amount awarded: £760,257
Awarded to: Professor Maria Piacentini (Co PI), Dr Alison Stowell (Co PI), Professor James Cronin (CI), Dr Alex Skandalis (CI), Professor Linda Hendry (CI), Dr John Hardy (CI)
2. Public experiences of service change in primary care: Focusing on the spaces and places of service delivery (Oct 2023- Oct 2026). Competitive PhD CASE Studentship awarded by NWSSDTP Economic and Social Research Council, UKRI.
Awarded to: co-supervisors Professor Maria Piacentini & Professor James Cronin
3. Resisting bureau-medicalisation: The integration of ‘Spaces of Compassion’ with the Biomedical Healthcare Environment (Oct 2023- Oct 2026). Competitive PhD CASE Studentship awarded by NWSSDTP Economic and Social Research Council, UKRI.
Awarded to: co-supervisors Professor James Cronin and Dr Leighanne Higgins
Additional Information
Select Media Publications
- James, S. & Cronin, J. (2025), "A New Era for Cyber Dark Tourism", 54 Degrees, Issue 22
- Hadley, C., Skandalis, A., & Cronin, J. (2024), "Taking the Spotlight off Consumer Behaviour", 54 Degrees, Issue 21
- Hadley, C., Cronin, J., & Skandalis, A. (2023), "Plastic: Making our old companion visible", 54 Degrees, Issue 14
- Cronin, J. (2018), “A Quiet Place and Far Cry 5: popular media on the dangers of ‘speaking out’”, The Conversation, 12th April.
- Cronin, J. (2017), "Back in time for Christmas dinner: the modern desire for a bygone age", The Conversation, 22nd December.
- Cronin, J. "We want tripe", 54 Degrees, 26th September
- Cronin, J. (2017), “The shopping experience is out of date”, The Grocer, 23rd February.
- Cronin, J. (2016), “Why novelty dining experiences are just another way of getting high”, The Conversation, 27th June.
- Cronin, J. (2016), “How sauerkraut is leading a food revolution”, The Conversation, 15th June.
- Cronin, J. (2016), “Nutripocalypse: The Nutrition Labelling Overload”, Huffington Post, 11th May.
- Cronin, J. (2016), “Predicting a Sugar Tax Blowback”, Huffington Post, 19th April.
Current Teaching
I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Authority. I have expertise in research-led teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, specialising in consumer behaviour, brand management, brand strategy, and issues pertaining to consumer culture. My teaching takes a critical and cultural approach to the brand-related activities of organisations and seeks to encourage a more mindful, socially-aware understanding of the role of brands in contemporary consumer culture.
I was awarded the Management School Teaching Prize at the 2018 Dean’s Awards and was 'Highly Commended' for my teaching at the University-wide 2022 Staff Awards.
PhD Supervisions Completed
Dr Scott Jones (completed PhD part-time in 2021), Lecturer at Birmingham University
Dr Quynh Hoang (completed PhD full-time in 2022), Lecturer at Leicester University
Dr Sophie James (completed PhD full-time in 2024), Lecturer at Lancaster University
PhD Supervision Interests
I am willing to supervise PhD students in the broad areas of interpretive consumer research, the sociology of consumption, and critical marketing studies.
Selected Publications
From edgework to edgeworking: the interplay of risk and the life course
Obeada, I., Cronin, J., Piacentini, M. 21/05/2025 In: Sociology.
Journal article
Consumer Culture Gothica: Marx’s phantasmaterialist influence on critical consumer research
Cronin, J., James, S. 15/05/2025 In: Consumption, Markets and Culture.
Journal article
“If You Like Your History Horrible”: The Obscene Supplementarity of Thanatourism
James, S., Cronin, J., Patterson, A. 1/05/2024 In: Annals of Tourism Research. 106
Journal article
Four Corners of the Unsettling: The more-than-uncanniness of consumer culture
Cronin, J., James, S. 30/11/2024 In: Consumption, Markets and Culture. 27, 3, p. 251-268. 18 p.
Journal article
Market mutton dressed as ÜberLamb: Diagnosing the commodification of self-overcoming
Cronin, J., Fitchett, J., Coffin, J. 1/09/2024 In: Marketing Theory. 24, 3, p. 525-544. 20 p.
Journal article
Revenants in the Marketplace: A Hauntology of Retrocorporation
James, S., Cronin, J., Patterson, A. 1/09/2024 In: Marketing Theory. 24, 3, p. 397-416. 20 p.
Journal article
Futureless Vicissitudes: Gestural Anti-consumption and the Reflexively Impotent (Anti-)Consumer
Hoang Ngoc , Q., Cronin, J., Skandalis, A. 31/12/2023 In: Marketing Theory. 23, 4, p. 585 - 606.
Journal article
Celebrity brand break-up: Fan experiences of para-loveshock
Jones, S., Cronin, J., Piacentini, M. 30/06/2022 In: Journal of Business Research. 145, p. 720-731. 12 p.
Journal article
High-fidelity consumption and the claustropolitan structure of feeling
Hoang, Q., Cronin, J., Skandalis, A. 1/03/2022 In: Marketing Theory. 22, 1, p. 85-104. 20 p.
Journal article
Plastic: a passengerial marketplace icon
Cronin, J., Hadley, C., Skandalis, A. 30/09/2022 In: Consumption, Markets and Culture. 25, 5, p. 485-497. 13 p.
Journal article
Consumer culture theory and its contented discontent: an interview with Søren Askegaard
Cronin, J., Fitchett, J. 31/01/2022 In: Journal of Marketing Management. 38, 1-2, p. 127-144. 18 p.
Journal article
De-romanticising the market: Advances in Consumer Culture Theory
Fitchett, J., Cronin, J. 31/03/2022 In: Journal of Marketing Management. 38, 1-2, 16 p.
Editorial
Lunch of the last human: Nutritionally complete food and the fantasies of market-based progress
Cronin, J., Fitchett, J. 1/03/2021 In: Marketing Theory. 21, 1, p. 3-24. 22 p.
Journal article
The Interrupted World: Surrealist disruption and altered escapes from reality
Jones, S., Cronin, J., Piacentini, M. 1/12/2020 In: Marketing Theory. 20, 4, p. 459-480. 22 p.
Journal article
Managing Collective Effervescence: 'Zomsumption’ and Postemotional Fandom
Cronin, J.M., Cocker, H.L. 1/09/2019 In: Marketing Theory. 19, 3, p. 281-299. 19 p.
Journal article
Bodysnatching in the marketplace: Market-focused health activism and compelling narratives of dys-appearance
Cronin, J.M., Hopkinson, G.C. 09/2018 In: Marketing Theory. 18, 3, p. 269-286. 17 p.
Journal article
Mapping the Extended Frontiers of Escapism: Binge-watching and Hyperdiegetic Exploration
Jones, S., Cronin, J.M., Piacentini, M.G. 6/08/2018 In: Journal of Marketing Management. 34, 5-6, p. 497-508. 12 p.
Journal article
Lifeway Alibis: The biographical bases for unruly bricolage
Cronin, J.M., Malone, S. 18/07/2018 In: Marketing Theory. 19, 2, p. 129-147. 19 p.
Journal article
Charismatic authority and the YouTuber: unpacking the new cults of personality
Cocker, H.L., Cronin, J.M. 1/12/2017 In: Marketing Theory. 17, 4, p. 455-472. 18 p.
Journal article
Deconstructing consumer discipline: how self-management is experienced in the marketplace
Cronin, J., McCarthy, M., Delaney, M. 1/11/2015 In: European Journal of Marketing. 49, 11-12, p. 1902-1922. 21 p.
Journal article
"When people take action ...": mainstreaming malcontent and the role of the celebrity institutional entrepreneur
Hopkinson, G., Cronin, J. 10/2015 In: Journal of Marketing Management. 31, 13-14, p. 1383-1402. 19 p.
Journal article
The bigger society: considering lived consumption experiences in managing social change around obesity
Cronin, J., McCarthy, M., Brennan, M., McCarthy, S. 2014 In: European Journal of Marketing. 48, 9/10, p. 1558-1778. 21 p.
Journal article
Creeping edgework: carnivalesque consumption and the social experience of health risk
Cronin, J., McCarthy, M., Collins, A. 11/2014 In: Sociology of Health and Illness. 36, 8, p. 1125-1140. 16 p.
Journal article
All Publications
IAA: Plastic Packaging in People's Lives (PPiPL): In the Loop
17/03/2025 → 28/11/2025
Research
International communications platform for food plastic packaging.
01/11/2024 → 31/03/2025
Research
Public experiences of service change in primary care: Focusing on the spaces and places of service delivery
01/10/2023 → 01/11/2026
Research
Resisting bureau-medicalisation: The integration of ‘Spaces of Compassion’ with the Biomedical Healthcare Environment
01/10/2023 → 01/11/2026
Research
LU GCRF Block Grant and Newton & FCRI: Plastic Packaging in Peoples Lives - Malaysia
03/10/2022 → 30/09/2023
Research
Plastic Packaging in Peoples' Lives (PPiPL): Bridging the consumer attitude-behaviour gap
01/11/2020 → 31/10/2023
Research
Plastic Packaging in Peoples' Lives (PPiPL): Bridging the consumer attitude-behaviour gap
01/11/2020 → 31/05/2024
Research
Knowledge Exchange Event: Packaging Responsibility in the UK & Malaysia: Policy, People & Waste Management Practice
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Plastic Free July and the experiences of the Plastic Packaging in People's Lives Team
Oral presentation
Cybernetic Culture Workshop
Other
Plastic Packaging in People's Lives: Rethinking the Consumer Attitude Behaviour Gap
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
International Communication Platform for Food Plastic Packaging: Knowledge Exchange Malaysia
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Pop-Up Study UK - Packaging up plastic
Types of Public engagement and outreach - Festival/Exhibition
CCI Roundtable Session on Valentine’s Day Consumption
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Panel Discussion: Future Plastics
Invited talk
Keith Barnes
Hosting a Non-Academic Visitor
CCI Roundtable Session on Jingle Bells & Shopping Spells: Unpacking the Christmas Consumption Frenzy
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Plastic Packaging in People's Lives: Rethinking the consumer attitude behaviour gap
Invited talk
Reflections on working on interdisciplinary funded projects
Invited talk
On the Political Economy of Single-use plastics: A transcendental materialist account
Invited talk
Thus also spoke the marketeer: Nietzsche and consumer culture
Invited talk
Thus also spoke the marketeers: Nietzsche & Consumer Culture
Invited talk
CCI Roundtable Session on The Cost of Living Crisis
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
CCI Roundtable Session on Social Media’s Otherworldly Subcultures
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
CCI Roundtable Session on Halloween: History, Lore, & Consumption (2023)
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Interim Research Director, Marketing Department
Other
Panel Discussion: Packaging Today
Invited talk
UKSS International Conference 2023
Participation in conference - Academic
BPF Sustainability and Plastics 2023: Weighing social responses to the challenges of waste plastics
Invited talk
Advancing Plastic Waste Reduction in Agri-Food Supply Chains: A Stakeholder Perspective
Invited talk
Panel Discussion: Plastics Sustainability: myth busting and the human factor
Invited talk
Futures work at Lancaster University no.2: The little book of plastics in everyday life
Invited talk
CCI Roundtable Session on the Cost of Living Crisis
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
The future of recycling
Invited talk
LUMS REF Working Group
Other
Consumption, Markets and Culture (Journal)
Editorial activity
Last(ing) human(ism) at the end of ‘the End of History’ (Keynote address)
Invited talk
CCI Roundtable Session on Subcultures of TikTok
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
CCI Roundtable Session on Halloween: History, Lore, & Consumption (2022)
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives: Perspectives on the Consumer Attitude-Behaviour Gap
Oral presentation
Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives: Perspectives on the Consumer Attitude-Behaviour Gap
Invited talk
Plastic packaging in People's Lives (PPiPL): From farm to fork and beyond?
Invited talk
PPiPL: Valuing the afterlives of materials
Invited talk
Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives: Reflections on Engaged Academic Research
Invited talk
LUMS What Matters Now
Other
CCI Roundtable Session on Technoconsumption and Artificial Intelligence
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Morecambe Bay Curriculum
Oral presentation
Journal of Marketing Management (Journal)
Editorial activity
CCI Roundtable Session on Halloween: History, Lore, & Consumption
Public Lecture/ Debate/Seminar
Responsibility and Plastic Packaging: Exploring the issues for the packaging supply chain
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Standing Conference on Organizational Symbolism
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Doctoral Research Director, Marketing Department
Other
BSA Medical Sociology 50th Anniversary Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
13th Consumer Culture Theory Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Keynote Speaker: "Producing compelling & noteworthy work for International Conferences"
Invited talk
Somatising Consumer Subjectivity
Invited talk
Rolling Back the Civilising Process
Invited talk
Health, Risk and Society (Journal)
Publication peer-review
EIASM 9th Workshop on Interpretive Consumer Research
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Interpretive Consumer Research Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Between the Screen and the Plate: Engaging with the Narratives That TV Food Documentaries use to “move” Consumers
Invited talk
Consumer Culture Theory Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Macromarketing Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
11th Consumer Culture Theory Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Consumption, Markets and Culture (Journal)
Editorial activity
Sociology of Health and Illness (Journal)
Publication peer-review
8th Workshop on Interpretive Consumer Research
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Interpretive Consumer Research Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Consumer Culture Theory Conference
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Consumer Culture Theory conference 2012
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Best Competitive Paper Award
Prize (including medals and awards)
LUMS Deans Awards: Teacher of the Year
Prize (including medals and awards)
Staff Awards: Highly Commended (Teaching)
Prize (including medals and awards)
- Centre for Consumption Insights
- Networks, Knowledge and Strategy