Papers by Ling Tung Tsang
![Research paper thumbnail of "From Shanzhai chic to Gangnam style: Seven practices of cultural-economic mediation in China and Korea" Journal of Cultural Economy. [ISSN: 1753-0350]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/80704266/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Journal of Cultural Economy, 2020
This paper examines the social construction of 'fashionability'-namely, what is 'desirable' and '... more This paper examines the social construction of 'fashionability'-namely, what is 'desirable' and 'fashionable'-with reference to the concept 'cultural mediators' that foregrounds agency, negotiation, and the contested practices of market actors in cultural production. It zeroes in on the cultural mediators' attitudes and positions in the two markets by drawing on 25 in-depth interviews with industry veterans. It shows that the mediators in South Korea and China increasingly occupy hybrid occupational roles and social positions across industries and sectors yet achieve limited success in countering the status quo of Western fashion through mediation. The analysis contributes to the literature with a categorisation of seven mediation practices that shape the valuation of fashion products (i.e. 'fashionability') in two ways. Empirically, this categorisation illuminates how cultural mediators make reference habitually to the broader social and cultural contexts to co-construct cultural-aesthetic objects. Theoretically, it advances a cultural-economic approach to the understanding of cultural mediation and challenges the reductionist viewpoint of actor-network theory through the notion of a matrix of cultural-economic agency.
![Research paper thumbnail of "Reconceptualising Prosumption beyond the 'Cultural Turn': Passive Fashion Consumption in Korea and China", Journal of Consumer Culture. [ISSN: 1469-5405]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/57589279/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Journal of Consumer Culture, 2021
While the processes of production and consumption are increasingly interrelated in society, there... more While the processes of production and consumption are increasingly interrelated in society, there is a bourgeoning literature on consumers' increased power through the prosumption process and its evolutions and manifestations in various industries, markets and social contexts. This article challenges the theoretical assumption that all types of 'prosumers' become directly empowered by digital technology or have an equal opportunity to participate in the production process through Web 2.0. By extending Ritzer's reconceptualised idea of prosumption beyond the Global North, our research analysed two specific East Asian cases of fashion consumers whose countries shared rapidly rising economic status and cultural significance yet underwent different sociocultural trajectories. Using focus group interview, we investigated how these consumers interact differentially with the existing social structure, cultural values and other emergent social agents, and the extent to which they are able to exert an influence on the production of immaterial fashion. Contesting the expressivist take of the 'cultural turn' which overemphasises consumers' awareness of and control over symbolic fashion, this article's major theoretical contribution relates to symbolic consumption in the case of fashion – as a unique case blending material, immaterial and symbolic consumption – among young Chinese and Korean consumers geographically located out of the global fashion centres. We explored prosumption's vicissitudes and limits as a theoretical concept, challenging its universality across different cultures, political-economic models and product categories, also demonstrating the multifaceted relationships and dissimilar types of power balances between production/producer and consumption/consumer. The study concluded with the new and differing orders of fashion consumption in Korea and China: the recognition of the overlapping effects of economic, sociocultural, habitual and technological factors which constitute different levels of empowerment and create different types of 'prosumers', including 'elite prosumers' and 'passive prosumers'; and the power reshuffling among fashion producers, emergent social agents and consumers in the digital age.
Since Harry Gordon Selfridge first opened his eponymous department store on Oxford Street in 1909... more Since Harry Gordon Selfridge first opened his eponymous department store on Oxford Street in 1909, London’s retailing industry was then revolutionized as Selfridge “literally changed everything about the way Londoners shopped” (Woodhead, 2007, pp.1) – the artsy shop windows, inventive in-store promotions, glitzy fashion shows and other entertainment, as well as premium customer services and facilities mesmerize every elite consumer. In the adventurous American retailer’s vision, shopping is at once a visual and tactile, gratifying and pleasurable experience that can be best relished in “a moment of private self-indulgence and enjoyment” (Woodhead, 2007, p.34). However, in the late twentieth century, due to the unprecedented growth and changes in retailing services and consumption around the world triggered by the irreversible force of globalization, post-industrialization, urbanization, transnational mobility and money flows, branding and marketing, information and communications technology and so forth, rather than just a corner of the street, we witnessed the “malling” of a large portion of urban space and gradual standardization of cityscapes in rapidly developing consumer societies, particularly in China and East Asia – from multi-story shopping malls, flagship stores, concept boutiques to guerrilla pop-up shops. Meanwhile, more and more consumers are becoming addicted to online surfing and shopping, and marketers and retailers tend to explore the online sphere, building their brands and selling their merchandises, leading to the rapid “malling” of virtual space.
Does such a metamorphosis guarantee everlasting growth in sales and further perpetuation of consumerism in our society and culture? On one hand, the emergence of online shopping, reliance on global travelers’ and tourists’ impulse (or price-conscious) consumption in global cities, have created new challenges for brands and retailers improvising strategies to sell and impress the clienteles through their physical (also virtual) shops, no matter how enthralling they be; on the other, they are striving to adapt to/experiment new modes of brand and design communication. Now our society is already saturated with brand icons and images, online and offline, and then there are simply too many options – from promotional strategies, communication channels, product variety to ways of consumption – to dazzle and distract consumers at once and in every nanosecond. Placing all these as the backdrop of branding and retailing practices, several key questions emerge: is retail design still significant like in the good old days amid the new chances and challenges? What are the alleged changes and actual practices in the contemporary retail industry and retail design as a tool of brand communication that we, whether as a researcher, practitioner or even just an ordinary consumer, have to pay attention to? What are their immediate implications and divergent effects to consumers, culture and society? More radically speaking, for instance, can the evolving virtual shopping experience and its potential synchronization with 3D printing technology (i.e., “prosume” a piece of recyclable/reprintable luxury fashion online with just a click and within a couple of minutes when one has an “omnipotent” 3D printer at home) completely substitute and eradicate the offline one in the foreseeable future (Leopold, 2015; Lindgren, 2015)? In this chapter, based on interdisciplinary theories and recent empirical research in Hong Kong and Shanghai, we attempt to address the above questions, and the discussions will focus on the retail market conditions and their social, cultural and economic significance in the two locales within the East Asian market, providing insights to a wide range of audiences who are concerned about the future of the retail industry, as well as briefly discussing the impact of evolving retail designs, dictated by market trends, on the creative liberties of the designers.
Reference:
Leopold, C., 2015. Fashion designer makes entire collection using small 3D printers. Digital Journal, [online] 27 July.
Lindgren, T., 2013. Fashion system Shanghai: The advent of a new gatekeeper. In J. L. Foltyn & R. Fisher ed., Proceedings of 5th Global Conference: Fashion – Exploring Critical Issues. Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary.Net, pp.1-8.
Woodhead, L., 2007. Shopping, seduction & Mr Selfridge. London: Profile 2007.
Thesis Chapters by Ling Tung Tsang
![Research paper thumbnail of Looking through the "imperial gaze" : understanding Hong Kong's food culture and its implications on the development of Hong Kong identity throughout the decades, 1980-2010 [MSocSc (MCCC) Thesis/Capstone Project]](https://a.academia-assets.com/images/blank-paper.jpg)
From a British colonial and post-colonial perspective, the paper chronologically examines the foo... more From a British colonial and post-colonial perspective, the paper chronologically examines the food culture of Hong Kong, from 1980 to 2010, through investigating its evoked symbolic implications (depicted with “Britishness”, “Chineseness” and globalization influences) in eliciting and mapping out the corresponding Hong Kong identity.
Deviating from utilizing the tense and agitated socio-political icons and national symbols to exemplify the local people’s identity, food culture, as an everyday, neutral and versatile cultural product that is well infused with sociocultural and sociopolitical meanings, is argued to provide a more adept metaphoric reflection and articulation of Hong Kong identity. More importantly, via the conceptualized framework derived from Said’s (1979) Orientalism, Bhabha’s (1994) cultural mimicry and hybridization as well as Chow’s (1998) third space, this study substantiates that the development of food culture in Hong Kong (allusively referenced to its local identity) is not facilitated just by the dual influences elicited from its former colonizer (Britain) and its current “imperialistic motherland” (China). Rather, based on the data collected using oral-history interviews, the dominant influences of globalization and its corresponding “transnational cultural flow” become leading forces, which negotiate and interplay with “Britishness” and “Chineseness”, in trilaterally establishing a re-contextualized third space (Chow 1998). *The full text is available at HKU Scholar Hub: http://hub.hku.hk/bitstream/10722/246731/1/FullText.pdf
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Papers by Ling Tung Tsang
Does such a metamorphosis guarantee everlasting growth in sales and further perpetuation of consumerism in our society and culture? On one hand, the emergence of online shopping, reliance on global travelers’ and tourists’ impulse (or price-conscious) consumption in global cities, have created new challenges for brands and retailers improvising strategies to sell and impress the clienteles through their physical (also virtual) shops, no matter how enthralling they be; on the other, they are striving to adapt to/experiment new modes of brand and design communication. Now our society is already saturated with brand icons and images, online and offline, and then there are simply too many options – from promotional strategies, communication channels, product variety to ways of consumption – to dazzle and distract consumers at once and in every nanosecond. Placing all these as the backdrop of branding and retailing practices, several key questions emerge: is retail design still significant like in the good old days amid the new chances and challenges? What are the alleged changes and actual practices in the contemporary retail industry and retail design as a tool of brand communication that we, whether as a researcher, practitioner or even just an ordinary consumer, have to pay attention to? What are their immediate implications and divergent effects to consumers, culture and society? More radically speaking, for instance, can the evolving virtual shopping experience and its potential synchronization with 3D printing technology (i.e., “prosume” a piece of recyclable/reprintable luxury fashion online with just a click and within a couple of minutes when one has an “omnipotent” 3D printer at home) completely substitute and eradicate the offline one in the foreseeable future (Leopold, 2015; Lindgren, 2015)? In this chapter, based on interdisciplinary theories and recent empirical research in Hong Kong and Shanghai, we attempt to address the above questions, and the discussions will focus on the retail market conditions and their social, cultural and economic significance in the two locales within the East Asian market, providing insights to a wide range of audiences who are concerned about the future of the retail industry, as well as briefly discussing the impact of evolving retail designs, dictated by market trends, on the creative liberties of the designers.
Reference:
Leopold, C., 2015. Fashion designer makes entire collection using small 3D printers. Digital Journal, [online] 27 July.
Lindgren, T., 2013. Fashion system Shanghai: The advent of a new gatekeeper. In J. L. Foltyn & R. Fisher ed., Proceedings of 5th Global Conference: Fashion – Exploring Critical Issues. Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary.Net, pp.1-8.
Woodhead, L., 2007. Shopping, seduction & Mr Selfridge. London: Profile 2007.
Thesis Chapters by Ling Tung Tsang
Deviating from utilizing the tense and agitated socio-political icons and national symbols to exemplify the local people’s identity, food culture, as an everyday, neutral and versatile cultural product that is well infused with sociocultural and sociopolitical meanings, is argued to provide a more adept metaphoric reflection and articulation of Hong Kong identity. More importantly, via the conceptualized framework derived from Said’s (1979) Orientalism, Bhabha’s (1994) cultural mimicry and hybridization as well as Chow’s (1998) third space, this study substantiates that the development of food culture in Hong Kong (allusively referenced to its local identity) is not facilitated just by the dual influences elicited from its former colonizer (Britain) and its current “imperialistic motherland” (China). Rather, based on the data collected using oral-history interviews, the dominant influences of globalization and its corresponding “transnational cultural flow” become leading forces, which negotiate and interplay with “Britishness” and “Chineseness”, in trilaterally establishing a re-contextualized third space (Chow 1998). *The full text is available at HKU Scholar Hub: http://hub.hku.hk/bitstream/10722/246731/1/FullText.pdf
Does such a metamorphosis guarantee everlasting growth in sales and further perpetuation of consumerism in our society and culture? On one hand, the emergence of online shopping, reliance on global travelers’ and tourists’ impulse (or price-conscious) consumption in global cities, have created new challenges for brands and retailers improvising strategies to sell and impress the clienteles through their physical (also virtual) shops, no matter how enthralling they be; on the other, they are striving to adapt to/experiment new modes of brand and design communication. Now our society is already saturated with brand icons and images, online and offline, and then there are simply too many options – from promotional strategies, communication channels, product variety to ways of consumption – to dazzle and distract consumers at once and in every nanosecond. Placing all these as the backdrop of branding and retailing practices, several key questions emerge: is retail design still significant like in the good old days amid the new chances and challenges? What are the alleged changes and actual practices in the contemporary retail industry and retail design as a tool of brand communication that we, whether as a researcher, practitioner or even just an ordinary consumer, have to pay attention to? What are their immediate implications and divergent effects to consumers, culture and society? More radically speaking, for instance, can the evolving virtual shopping experience and its potential synchronization with 3D printing technology (i.e., “prosume” a piece of recyclable/reprintable luxury fashion online with just a click and within a couple of minutes when one has an “omnipotent” 3D printer at home) completely substitute and eradicate the offline one in the foreseeable future (Leopold, 2015; Lindgren, 2015)? In this chapter, based on interdisciplinary theories and recent empirical research in Hong Kong and Shanghai, we attempt to address the above questions, and the discussions will focus on the retail market conditions and their social, cultural and economic significance in the two locales within the East Asian market, providing insights to a wide range of audiences who are concerned about the future of the retail industry, as well as briefly discussing the impact of evolving retail designs, dictated by market trends, on the creative liberties of the designers.
Reference:
Leopold, C., 2015. Fashion designer makes entire collection using small 3D printers. Digital Journal, [online] 27 July.
Lindgren, T., 2013. Fashion system Shanghai: The advent of a new gatekeeper. In J. L. Foltyn & R. Fisher ed., Proceedings of 5th Global Conference: Fashion – Exploring Critical Issues. Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary.Net, pp.1-8.
Woodhead, L., 2007. Shopping, seduction & Mr Selfridge. London: Profile 2007.
Deviating from utilizing the tense and agitated socio-political icons and national symbols to exemplify the local people’s identity, food culture, as an everyday, neutral and versatile cultural product that is well infused with sociocultural and sociopolitical meanings, is argued to provide a more adept metaphoric reflection and articulation of Hong Kong identity. More importantly, via the conceptualized framework derived from Said’s (1979) Orientalism, Bhabha’s (1994) cultural mimicry and hybridization as well as Chow’s (1998) third space, this study substantiates that the development of food culture in Hong Kong (allusively referenced to its local identity) is not facilitated just by the dual influences elicited from its former colonizer (Britain) and its current “imperialistic motherland” (China). Rather, based on the data collected using oral-history interviews, the dominant influences of globalization and its corresponding “transnational cultural flow” become leading forces, which negotiate and interplay with “Britishness” and “Chineseness”, in trilaterally establishing a re-contextualized third space (Chow 1998). *The full text is available at HKU Scholar Hub: http://hub.hku.hk/bitstream/10722/246731/1/FullText.pdf