Power and Opposition to Power: Mirror Realities of Complex Consumption Interactions

Power, opposition to power, and the struggles that take place between the providers of services and consumers are explored. Although such aspects of consumption interactions remain under researched in marketing, they are adequately addressed in social science traditions from which marketing has heavily borrowed traditionally. The interest in these matters is also informed by declining customer satisfaction ratings, calling into question the adherence of an important minority of businesses to the marketing and relational marketing concepts. Findings from an empirical research of complex interactions in the medico-professional context and that of the small retail outlet attest to the centrality of conflict in certain service encounters. We suggest practice implications and provide empirical backing for the proposed urgent need to integrate more systematically matters of power and opposition in marketing theory, research, and education.