Marketing's Changing Social Relationships

Abstract

What are marketing's boundaries in a highly automated, industrialized society? What are marketing's social responsibilities today? These and other important questions are raised by the author. He contends that in an economy of abundance, marketing is more than a technology of the firm, and that marketing responsibilities extend beyond the profit realm. Marketing is viewed as an institution of social control instrumental in reorienting a culture from a producers’ to a consumers’ culture. Appraisal of the many complex issues raised in this article requires a broader conception of marketing than commonly used.