Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Yo, Clio! Can historiography save marketing scholarship?

Yo, Clio! Can historiography save marketing scholarship? Purpose – Felicitous writing is enormously important. However, the art of writing well is rarely addressed by marketing scholars. This paper seeks to argue that the marketing academy has much to learn from historiography, a sub‐discipline devoted to the explication of historical writing. Design/methodology/approach – Although it is primarily predicated on published works, this paper is not a conventional literature review. It relies, rather, on the classic historical method of “compare and contrast”. It considers parallels between the paired disciplines yet notes where marketing and history diverge in relation to literary styles and scientific aspirations. Findings – It is concluded that marketing writing could benefit from greater emphasis on “character” and “storytelling”. These might help humanise a mode of academic communication that is becoming increasingly abstruse and ever‐more unappealing to its readership. Research implications – If its argument is accepted by the academic community – and, more importantly, acted upon – this paper should transform the writing of marketing. Although the academic reward systems and power structures of marketing make revolutionary change unlikely, a “scholarly spring” is not inconceivable. Originality/value – The paper's originality rests in the observation that originality is unnecessary. All of the literary‐cum‐stylistic issues raised in this paper have already been tackled by professional historians. Whether marketers are willing to learn from their historical brethren remains to be seen. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Historical Research in Marketing Emerald Publishing

Yo, Clio! Can historiography save marketing scholarship?

Stephen Brown
Journal of Historical Research in Marketing , Volume 3 (4): 20 – Nov 8, 2011
Download PDF
20 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/yo-clio-can-historiography-save-marketing-scholarship-HdZHNkIopJ
Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
1755-750X
DOI
10.1108/17557501111183617
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – Felicitous writing is enormously important. However, the art of writing well is rarely addressed by marketing scholars. This paper seeks to argue that the marketing academy has much to learn from historiography, a sub‐discipline devoted to the explication of historical writing. Design/methodology/approach – Although it is primarily predicated on published works, this paper is not a conventional literature review. It relies, rather, on the classic historical method of “compare and contrast”. It considers parallels between the paired disciplines yet notes where marketing and history diverge in relation to literary styles and scientific aspirations. Findings – It is concluded that marketing writing could benefit from greater emphasis on “character” and “storytelling”. These might help humanise a mode of academic communication that is becoming increasingly abstruse and ever‐more unappealing to its readership. Research implications – If its argument is accepted by the academic community – and, more importantly, acted upon – this paper should transform the writing of marketing. Although the academic reward systems and power structures of marketing make revolutionary change unlikely, a “scholarly spring” is not inconceivable. Originality/value – The paper's originality rests in the observation that originality is unnecessary. All of the literary‐cum‐stylistic issues raised in this paper have already been tackled by professional historians. Whether marketers are willing to learn from their historical brethren remains to be seen.

Journal

Journal of Historical Research in Marketing – Emerald Publishing

Published: Nov 8, 2011

Keywords: Historiography; Writing marketing; Art vs science; Storytelling; Narratives; Marketing; Research work

References

  • Lucky Jim
    Amis, K.
  • History and Tropology: The Rise and Fall of Metaphor
    Ankersmit, F.R.
  • Telling the Truth about History
    Appleby, J.; Hunt, L.; Jacob, M.
  • Michelet
    Barthes, R.
  • Clio and the Doctors: History, Psycho‐History and Quanto‐History
    Barzun, J.
  • Highways and Buyways: Naturalistic Research from the Consumer Behavior Odyssey
    Belk, R.W.
  • The sacred and profane in consumer behaviour: theodicy on the Odyssey
    Belk, R.W.; Wallendorf, M.; Sherry, J.F. Jr
  • Building Brand Authenticity: Seven Habits of Iconic Brands
    Beverland, M.B.
  • Marketing renaissance: opportunities and imperatives for improving marketing thought, practice and infrastructure
    Bolton, R.
  • On the Origin of Stories: Evolution, Cognition and Fiction
    Boyd, B.
  • Introduction to the special section: ‘Is marketing academia losing its way? Perspectives from outside the US’
    Brodie, R.J.; McColl‐Kennedy, J.R.
  • Art or science?: Fifty years of marketing debate
    Brown, S.
  • Writing marketing: the clause that refreshes
    Brown, S.
  • Writing Marketing: Literary Lessons from Academic Authorities
    Brown, S.
  • Does reform need reform?
    Brown, S.
  • Are we nearly there yet? On the retro‐dominant logic of marketing
    Brown, S.
  • Thinking ‘communities of academic practice’: on space, enterprise and governance in marketing academia
    Brownlie, D.; Hewer, P.; Tadajewski, M.
  • Actual Minds, Possible Worlds
    Bruner, J.S.
  • Making Stories: Law, Literature, Life, Farrar
    Bruner, J.S.
  • Troublemaker: The Life and History of A.J.P. Taylor
    Burk, K.
  • Overture. The new history: its past and future
    Burke, P.
  • A History of Histories: Epics, Chronicles, Romances and Enquiries from Herodotus and Thucydides to the Twentieth Century
    Burrow, J.
  • The Science of History
    Bury, J.B.
  • G.M. Trevelyan: A Life in History
    Cannadine, D.G.M.
  • Introduction
    Carey, J.
  • What is History? With a New Introduction by Richard J. Evans
    Carr, E.H.
  • The Return of Martin Guerre
    Davis, N.Z.
  • Consuming History: Historians and Heritage in Contemporary Popular Culture
    De Groot, J.
  • The Art Instinct
    Dutton, D.
  • Macaulay
    Edwards, O.D.
  • The Practice of History
    Elton, G.R.
  • Twentieth‐Century Pop Culture
    Epstein, D.
  • In Defence of History
    Evans, R.J.
  • Faulks on Fiction: Great British Characters and the Secret Life of the Novel
    Faulks, S.
  • Introduction: Towards a ‘chaotic’ theory of the past
    Ferguson, N.
  • How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One
    Fish, S.
  • Which Road to the Past? Two Views of History
    Fogel, R.W.; Elton, G.R.
  • Aspects of the Novel
    Forster, E.M.
  • Fowler's Modern English Usage
    Fowler, H.W.
  • How to Be Alone
    Franzen, J.
  • How modern is modern marketing? Marketing's evolution and the myth of the ‘production era’
    Fullerton, R.A.
  • Myths, Stories, and Organisations: Premodern Narratives for Our Times
    Gabriel, Y.
  • Style in History: Gibbon, Ranke, Macaulay, Burckhardt
    Gay, P.
  • Debates With Historians
    Geyl, P.
  • The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth‐Century Miller
    Ginzburg, C.
  • The Shape of the Past: A Philosophical Approach to History
    Graham, G.
  • The Rhetoric of Science
    Gross, A.G.
  • Faces in the Clouds: A New Theory of Religion
    Guthrie, S.
  • Doing Research Projects in Marketing, Management and Consumer Research
    Hackley, C.
  • Auto‐ethnographic consumer research and creative non‐fiction: exploring connections and contrasts from a literary perspective
    Hackley, C.
  • Marketing: A Critical Introduction
    Hackley, C.
  • Parallel universes and disciplinary space: the bifurcation of managerialism and social science in marketing studies
    Hackley, C.
  • The Fifties
    Halberstam, D.
  • The Evolution of British Historiography: From Bacon to Namier
    Hale, J.R.
  • Sidney Levy: challenging the philosophical assumptions of marketing
    Harris, G.E.
  • The art of writing
    Haslett, A.
  • On Looking Into the Abyss: Untimely Thoughts on Culture and Society
    Himmelfarb, G.
  • Secular mortality and the dark side of consumer behaviour: or, how semiotics saved my life
    Hirschman, E.C.
  • Rhetorical issues in writing interpretivist consumer research
    Hogg, M.K.; Maclaran, P.
  • Stories: how they are used and produced in market(ing) research
    Hopkinson, G.C.; Hogg, M.K.
  • Consumer Research: Introspective Essays on the Study of Consumption
    Holbrook, M.B.
  • How Brands Become Icons: The Principles of Cultural Branding
    Holt, D.B.
  • Heroes: Saviours, Traitors and Supermen
    Hughes‐Hallett, L.
  • Controversy in Marketing Theory: For Reason, Realism, Truth and Objectivity
    Hunt, S.D.
  • Historiography in the Twentieth Century: From Scientific Objectivity to the Postmodern Challenge
    Iggers, G.G.
  • Rethinking History
    Jenkins, K.
  • The Postmodern History Reader
    Jenkins, K.
  • The Nature of History Reader
    Jenkins, K.; Munslow, A.
  • Historiographic paradigms in marketing
    Jones, D.G.B.
  • Biography as a methodology for studying the history of marketing ideas
    Jones, D.G.B.
  • Pioneers in Marketing
    Jones, D.G.B.
  • Early development of the philosophy of marketing thought
    Jones, D.G.B.; Monieson, D.D.
  • The myth of the marketing revolution
    Jones, D.G.B.; Richardson, A.J.
  • History in Practice
    Jordanova, L.
  • The History Men: The Historical Profession in England Since the Renaissance
    Keynon, J.
  • Adversaries of consumption: consumer movements, activism and ideology
    Kozinets, R.V.; Handelman, J.M.
  • Dynamic Characters: How to Create Personalities That Keep Readers Captivated
    Kress, N.
  • The theory‐practice divide: thoughts from the editors and senior advisory board of EJM
    Lee, N.; Greenley, G.
  • On microhistory
    Levi, G.
  • The M‐R snake dance
    Levitt, T.
  • Marketing myopia
    Levitt, T.
  • The marketing imagination
    Levitt, T.
  • History of qualitative research methods in marketing
    Levy, S.J.
  • The consumption of stories
    Levy, S.J.
  • The Art of Fiction
    Lodge, D.
  • Two approaches to historical study: the metaphysical (including ‘postmodernism’) and the historical
    Marwick, A.
  • The eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte
    Marx, K.
  • Recounting the past: description, explanation, and narration in historiography
    Megill, A.
  • Spent: Sex, Evolution and the Secrets of Consumerism
    Miller, G.
  • Macaulay
    Millgate, J.
  • The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing a Novel
    Monteleone, T.
  • Deconsructing History
    Munslow, A.
  • Ideas of History
    Nash, R.H.
  • How Not to Write a Novel
    Newman, S.; Mittelmark, H.
  • Marketing accountability and marketing stature: an examination of senior executive perspectives
    O'Sullivan, D.; Butler, P.
  • Politics and the English language
    Orwell, G.
  • George Orwell and the detective story
    Parrinder, P.
  • Guest editorial: is marketing academia losing its way?
    Reibstein, D.J.; Day, G.; Wind, J.
  • Historians I Have Known
    Rowse, A.L.
  • Theatres of Memory Volume One: Past and Present in Contemporary Culture
    Samuel, R.
  • Sold on Language: How Advertisers Talk to You and What This Says about You
    Sedivy, J.; Carlson, G.
  • Understanding Scientific Prose
    Selzer, J.
  • Understanding consumption from a narrative perspective
    Shankar, A.; Elliott, R.; Goulding, C.
  • A.J.P. Taylor: A Biography
    Sisman, A.A.J.P.
  • Hugh Trevor‐Roper: The Biography
    Sisman, A.
  • Does Marketing Need Reform?
    Sisodia, R.; Sheth, J.N.
  • The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution
    Snow, C.P.
  • The Elements of Style
    Strunk, W.; White, E.B.
  • Fifty Literature Ideas you Really Need to Know
    Sutherland, J.
  • The ordering of marketing theory: the influence of McCarthyism and the Cold War
    Tadajewski, M.
  • Critical marketing: a limit attitude
    Tadajewski, M.; Brownlie, D.
  • Why practitioners don't read our articles and what we should do about it
    Tapp, A.
  • Historians on History
    Tosh, J.
  • Clio, a muse
    Trevelyan, G.M.
  • History: professional and lay
    Trevor‐Roper, H.
  • Arnold Toynbee's Millennium
    Trevor‐Roper, H.
  • History and imagination
    Trevor‐Roper, H.
  • The invention of tradition: the Highland tradition of Scotland
    Trevor‐Roper, H.
  • The Literary Mind: The Origins of Thought and Language
    Turner, M.
  • Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing
    Vargo, S.L.; Lusch, R.F.
  • The Past and Its Presenters: An Introduction to Issues in Historiography
    Warren, J.
  • Teach Yourself Writing a Novel
    Watts, N.
  • A Brief History of History: Great Historians and the Epic Quest to Explain the Past
    Wells, C.
  • Wannabe a Writer?
    Wenham‐Jones, J.
  • A writer's guide to historical research in marketing
    Witkowski, T.H.
  • Farmers bargaining: buying and selling as a subject in American genre painting, 1835‐1868
    Witkowski, T.H.
  • World War II poster campaigns: preaching frugality to American consumers
    Witkowski, T.H.
  • Qualitative historical research in marketing
    Witkowski, T.H.; Jones, D.G.B.
  • How Fiction Works
    Wood, J.