Abstract

"Explorers and creators of markets: market research and market logic in the late 20th century"

Elin Åström Rudberg, Stockholm University, Dept. of economic history and international relations (elin.astromrudberg@ekohist.su.se)

This paper deals with the evolution of the market research industry in the late 20th century, exploring its relationship with the rise of neoliberalism and an increasingly market-friendly society. The overarching aim is to scrutinize the industry's role – particularly its knowledge creation – in the societal shift towards an increased emphasis on markets, selling, and branding. Examining the knowledge generated by the industry, the paper analyses the models and methods propagated by its representatives and traces how they entered private corporations and public organizations. Of particular interest is the industry's dual role—acting as both a market explorer, mapping and discovering people's needs and opinions, and as a promoter or creator of new markets, especially amid an increasingly competitive business environment. The paper critically investigates the fundamental principles underlying the industry's self-description and the envisioned value it aimed to contribute to the economy and society. It also seeks to uncover how these principles were translated into models and tools by industry representatives.
The study is a contribution to both the literature on neoliberalism and the history of advertising from the perspective of business history. Despite much research in both of the two former fields, there is yet very limited knowledge on the intertwining of the market research industry and the increased societal and business focus on consumerism, commercialism, and market thinking. Theoretical inspiration is drawn from theories in economic sociology and historical research about the market as a discourse and how a market logic can spread and gain legitimacy. Empirically, the research is grounded in published sources from the industry organization Esomar (European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research) and archival records from two key market and opinion research companies in Sweden, Demoskop (a subsidiary of the international PR company Kreab) and Sifo.