|
|
Jewellery as a gift: sales talk as a tool of ethnographic analysis of gift-giving
Tomoryová, Veronika ; Abu Ghosh, Yasar (advisor) ; Sosna, Daniel (referee)
This thesis is based on research conducted in a luxury jewellery store in Prague, Czech Republic. Based on the conversations which take place between salespeople and customers when selecting gifts, it analyses the culture of gifting luxury material items in fulfilment of traditional social obligations such as the celebration of birthdays, Christmas or anniversaries. The thesis also examines to how luxury is conceived in the store, where employees' service and the company's marketing use the attributes of gift-giving to sell commodities. Specific examples demonstrate how commodities take on the properties of a gift in an effort to make the commodity exchange more personal and thus more profitable. In the jewellery store, a hybridization of the gift and the commodity takes place, actively created by the salespeople and the marketing of the manufacturer, but also by the customers themselves. Examples of conversations during gift selection provide insight into the social, economic and personal dimensions of gift-giving, as well as the typology of the nature of the gift, the occasion for the gift-giving and the relationship between donor and recipient. Keywords gift economy, gift, commodity, consumer research, marketing
|
|
|
The morality of the gift
Stehlíková, Barbora ; Abu Ghosh, Yasar (advisor) ; Sosna, Daniel (referee)
The thesis looks at the gift and at what kind of morality allows contemporary gift-giving. It is based on ethnographic research that focuses on a "generous social network" Hearth.net. This network was founded by the entrepreneur, philanthropist and buddhist Libor Malý. His goal is to fulfill the vision of improving interpersonal relationships and creating an economic system that is able to complement the existing market economy in the case of a crisis. This system also requires a change of paradigm into the paradigm of generosity and kindness. Adato Paradigma Group and the Ambassadors, who are the most active users of Hearth, help Libor Malý in fulfilling this goal. Hearth is a space where users can offer and receive gifts without an expectation of a counter-gift. The gift should be the tool that will allow the paradigm shift. The new paradigm of generosity and kindness is seen here as a cosmology based above all on the values of generosity and kindness, which is influenced mainly by the spirituality of Libor Malý. At the same time, this paradigm of generosity and kindness forms the moral basis for gift-giving within the Hearth network. Nevertheless, in the final form, the gift is determined by the moral assemblage of three moral dimensions (Zigon 2010). The thesis therefore is analyzing the...
|
|
|
Fan art in official promotion of video games
Veselá, Veronika ; Švelch, Jaroslav (advisor) ; Nečas, Vlastimil (referee)
With the rise of Internet, Web and new media technologies come increased opportunities for audience to recreate media content and influence its flow across different media platforms. The fan as a demanding yet enthusiastic consumer has become a centrepiece of media industries' marketing strategies. On the one hand, this qualitative change often described as participatory culture means a giant leap forward for fans, who can now serve new roles within the media industry. On the other, it represents a potential exploitation of media users, as unpaid volunteers do the labour professionals are paid for. This study investigates this tension in a case of videogame fans. On their official websites, videogame developers encourage fans to contribute with their fan art harnessing fan creativity for their advertising purposes. Convergence culture raises conflicts and compromises between creators of fan art (fan artists), and the owners of the copyrighted works they appropriate (game companies). This study addresses three main issues: (1) the way and circumstances under which game companies are displaying fan art on their official websites, (2) how fans understand the tensions between empowerment and exploitation, how do they address the issue of free labour, (3) how fans view issues concerning intellectual property...
|
|
|
Charity donation analysis
Wiesnerová, Jana ; Melzochová, Jitka (advisor) ; Kovanda, Lukáš (referee)
This thesis analyses effects of various factors on the likelihood of charity contribution using probit models, focusing on donations only. The main data source was the MML-TGI database 2012 developed by Median, s.r.o. In this work, two models are built using different explanatory variables. Both models support the hypothesis of the thesis that higher probability of participation in the donation is expected from women. The first model was able to demonstrate the influence of age and educational attainment on the likelihood of financial donations paid to charities. The highest increase in the probability was recorded for ages 40-45 years and graduates. In the second model, further dependence of donation on political orientation, net monthly income and marital status was tested. It has been proven that we can expect the highest probability for married women and married men, as well as the right-wing oriented people and people with an income between CZK 15,001 to CZK 30,000 per month.
|
guest ::
