ASSOCIATION FOR CONSUMER RESEARCH

Labovitz School of Business & Economics, University of Minnesota Duluth, 11 E. Superior Street, Suite 210, Duluth, MN 55802 An Alternative Approach to Gender and Consumer Behavior: Memetics

T.J. Olney, Western Washington University [to cite]:

T.J. Olney (1998) ,"An Alternative Approach to Gender and Consumer Behavior: Memetics", in GCB - Gender and Consumer

Behavior Volume 4, eds. Eileen Fischer, San Francisco, CA : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 69 to 80.

[url]:

http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/15635/gender/v04/GCB-04

[copyright notice]:

This work is copyrighted by The Association for Consumer Research. For permission to copy or use this work in whole or in

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An Alternative Approach to Gender and consumer Behavior: Memetics

T.J. Olney, Western Washington University

Memetics, a relatively rcw disciplittc, provides an exciting tool for tlu sndy of social

phenomena.It combincs tlc cognitive siiiiiiliii i*'innding of ilw fields of'evoltrrionary

uiotogy'ittd'ip1a"iiaot"g2'.Tl* '*'*4 ap-p'ryh n a subiect area allows a

non-traditiorntvrettr;;;Ir*;tur tw;h^'iiii":ibna continrcs io evolve' Gender

provi.dcs o*o*rtorr^frfiiiaii"ogti.mernetic concepts y.it it aplwrnmernnclcarly'oripinntry

rooted i" D"ry;;;;;;ufrival i;;;;,'-b;; onfinirn has iust as clearly sociallv

o uig r o*it pr ehi s to r ic imp e r ativ e s'

ThispaperisaMindVirwtlwtwiltattempttoinfect'ryr:l*"twitht|wnwta-metneofmenus'and aaanionaiy n i'igt;i}} pr tfit 'oitptuatfranuwork can provide insight into

problems of gender and corsumer betu'vror'

WHAT IS MEMETICS?

,,Personally you did not create even the smallest microscopic fragment of the materials out

of which you, op,rrion'it iii"&; *A p"t*nJfy youcannoi claim"wen the slender merit of

puuing the borrow;;;h;'togrtrt"r. rrtiioJ^ done automatically -. by youlmental

machinery, ,n *rr,"fr"";;d;";:th th; fu* oi that machinery's construction' And you not

onlv did not make that machin"ry youtr.ti, uui you have not euen any command over it'"

Sariruel Clemens, 1917

REPU CATI NG INFORMATION PATTERNS

Memes live in minds as replicatinS?atterns of information' They *: tl:14':Ihatact

as if they have a lit;;iti;J;"*n."f"r"ntiur iouno"rrtuttdi.ne how memetics differs

from other ways of studying l,ury* thg$ht;q U"tt;1i9it1-the notion that it makes

sense ro say that ";;;h; its host-Thi word meme wry coined by Richard

Dawkins (1976) l"iiir L*F"Jf"O "The Seffish Gene"' Memes are analogs to genes

but of the mental and cultural world *,i"r-rii*-trre uiotogical world. The study of

memes, their mutations, replicationt, *J"iii*iiont cto-sely parafeJs the s-Tly of

evolutionary g"n"tiJr.-ih,:;, it makes sentt to talk about-successful memes as those

that soread to the most minds with the g;i"ri n6lity. . The spread of memes within

an existing population follows the patterns ol eptclemtotogy'

Just as genes can be bundled into pactages that infect biological hosrs.::q::l"t,*

viruses or bacten;;;;il;ti"dG-iffi f*tug"t known as mind viruses' Mind

viruses -. "o*po.;J;i;"Mly dependent memes, analogous t9 sVm!1o1t-c--

relationships in uioiJg;cai ;;ilt;gl i;il;;;;io" oustunoing and eis;� to appreciate

examples "r mto""if,til';;;;Ai"tuy nt<l*t41r1rg.,P1,n cult member to new recrutL

Harder to acknowl;;;;ilpprehJndaie the hind virus configuraligr-rs of enormous

complexiry ttrat rffient sucirtuftlSf institutions as consumer capitalism'

gouernments, universities, or any organized religion'

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]'

If you, in reading this paper, or having listened to a presentation, further investigate thememe of memes and pass it along to someone else, then the meta-meme of memeticswill have successfully replicated one more time. Not all memes are as complex as themeta-meme of memes, proverbs and maxims provide a good counter example.

Another characteristic of memes is that they are typically capable of causing behaviorchanges in their hosts, even if the only behavior changed is to pass along the meme tosomeone else. So, ajoke would be a meme that gets passed along, doing little tochange the behavior of its various hosts exept that they re-tell the joke. Other memescan have much more profound effects on behavior. For example, a woman holding thememe that "a woman should marry a man who can support her" might choose to maf,rysomeone she really did not like because of that belief.

One counter-intuitive result of memetic theory is that a successful meme need not bebeneficial to its host. It only needs to be configured such that its host will pass it on.The highly successful memes of astrology and astrological prediction provide aninteresting case where there is arguably no tangible benefit to the host, and arguablysome harm. Some memes are so virulent that thev cause their own self-destructionwithin the span of a human lifetime. The meme cbmplex of nazi Germany provides aninteresting example (Lynch l997)

While host benefits are not necessary, most long term successful memes confer somebenefits to their hosts, either through enabling or encouraging greater genetrcreproduction and subsequent transmission of the memes to offspring, or throughpreventing the death or destruction of the host by helping them to behave in a lifeassuring manner. Agricultural techniques provide a simple example of the former casewhile the "learn to swim" meme might provide an example of the latter. For a meme tohave long term success, replicating in many hosts, it cannot have severe negativeconsequences to its host. For example, the memes that defined Shakerism haveessentially died out. Central to the set of Shaker memes was celibacy and no children.Consequently, over time, the rate of adoption of the meme was slower than the deathsof the hosts.

MLTTATI ONS OF THE PATTERNS

Like genes, memes do not always replicate with perfect fidelity. Hence, any meme issubject to change as it passes from one individual to another. Thejoke that changessubtly from telling to retelling exemplifies this phenomenon. The mutation may-beaccidental as when the quality of the transmission or storage of the original meme failst9 be adequate. ,Or, memes can be intentionally mutated in that are consciouslydesigned by self interested parties. Such memes are often subtle mutations of onginalmemes that had other social agendas in mind. For example, the cooption by the fashionlndu.stry of counter-cultural symbols usually involves some mutation of the originalfashion to make them acceptable to a wider audience. The grunge phenomenon-provides an ideal example, as the only thing required of the fashion industry was tomake the clothes new, and put high prices on them. The pricing alone served !o sanitizethe dumpster diver look into high fashion.

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CATEGORIES OFMEMES

Memetic theory has applied some of the standard memes of positivism !o the meme of

il;;;. One sictt uppfi"A meme categorizes memes into types based on their tyPical

functions in the realities of the hosts.

DistinctionMemes

These are rhe memes that we use to divide uple{ity into the organization that we

know. This part of memetic the,ory isa straightforward outgrowm ot years oI

;;;ojil6n tlt"*tut",parti.culally illuminated by.dif{:t:ry-t iq.calego.nzation across

cultures. The meme of OiviOing thihgs into categories is itself a distinction meme'

Association Memes

These are the linking ideas that we hold to say that for instance, "After-work is Miller

iime." They expreis the relationships between two or more memes. Much copy

wntlng attempts to "ngtn"".associati,on memes between existing memes that people

;;;"d; fr"f O inA " n"fi meme that causes the person to purchase a product or service'

SrategYMemes

Strategy memes tell us how to behave in a given context to achieve some result' For

instance, the strategy -"." that says "Go ivith the flow of traffic, and you won't get

;i;;"Jioi.p""Oin'i.;rnigtiinforft our dnving behavior. Or, nnever go to bed with a

;;'; a firsi date"-mightlnform our sexual behavior'

Resistance Memes

Resistance memes are thought complexes ttrat reduce the-probability that a host will

acquire new memer tt "i *iiO threiten th" *"t"t atryaOy lretd by ihe host' Because of

their key imporlance in meme transmission, these will be discussed in greater detail

belou'.

MEME TRANSMI SSION AND REPLI CATI ON : TFIE SPREADI NG OF MEMES

Memes spread by communication. That's the short answer. But the communication of

memes can take many forms.

Observation

When we see a new thing, or behavior, for example- a new fashion, the meme that

entails that fashion has #en communicated to us. If we adopt the new fashidn, or tell

others about it, then the meme has been replicated successfully.

Word of Mouth

When someone tells us that something is so, they have transmitted a meme to us that

we may or may not accePt. To the extent that the meme gets past our memetlc

defenses, we rvill become hosts to the meme.

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Parental Transmission

Parents dominate the meme acquisition of their children. The children's minds start outdevoid of memes, and fill first ivith the memes of the caretakers closest to them.(Nanny-users beware.) For lnany cultural memes, things that appear only vaguely ornot at all, but rather seem to form the texture of reality,

-parental'tiansmission irovides

the route. Ernpirically, it can be demonstrated that religi'ons that promot" -*'v childrengrow fastgr than those that are silent on the subject, paient to child being the d6minanttransmission mode for religion.

Outside the Family

Pcers, bosses, teachers,.caretakers, and authority figures with whom people make9it"."t contact also provide a.ready ayenue for m-emi hansmission by ivorh of mouth.ln this area, there already exists a substantial literature on best comniunication methodsforintentional transmission, but not much is said about the characteristics of themessages that will tend to be successfully copied and passed along to others.

Mass Media (lncluding Bools)

The rise of mass media, along with increasing population densities, has enabledextremely rapid transmission of new memes ario varianc of older memes. Inparticular, radio has been singled out as a particularly effective medium fortransmission of political memes because the radio audience often consists of peoplelistening together at work. (Lynch 1997)

Evangelism

A meme can be considered to be evangelic if it includes as part of ltself, the idea thatit is imporrant to tell other pegp.le. Hence, when the meme o'f an impending hurricanereaches a cerlain place, all residents will be likely to evangelically spread tlhe word toany Yltg ryiqht have been out of the normal information i-oop. wheir someone enjoys anovel kind of sexual behavior, and attemps to convince othdrs to participate in ittutbehavior with them, evangelism is at woik. Similarly, people whir consirme somebrands (e'g. Maclntosh) will often evangelically utt"fiif,t n convince others to consumethe same brand. Cnsis memes, religiouls mem6s, and iommercial memer "*"-plifythe class of memes that spread evanfelically.

Crisis

DependinS on lhe severity of the crisls, people-who accept the crisis's meme are likelyto feel more or less inclined actively and effortfully spredd the meme. Contrast theimpending hloi".*g to the cnsis of ecological disistir following y"*r Ji"ittr"harvesting of a rainforest.

Religious

These are the memes we-generally think of as evangelic, hence the term. Theadmonition to go out and save others with this m"tie or'mind virus is part and parcel tothe message.

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Commercial

To the extent that a commercial establishment can successfully generate either positiveword of mouth about its offering, or negative word of mouth (abogt the competition orfailure to adopt the offering;, that commercial interest has designed an evangelic meme.

ISSUES IN MEME SPREADING

Rate of Spread

As with germs like viruses and bacteria, memes spread by communication from onehost to aiother. If the meme contains a sub-part that says that everyone shouldbe sureto pulss it along, it acts the same as the sneeze does for the common cold virus. Densityof lopulationiiso affects spread rales, as well as type and availability of mass media.

Intention

An aspect of memetic transmission just beginning tobe explored surrounds thequesti,on of purpose or intention of the host. This perhaps provides the most direct linktb marketin!, if not consumer behavior, as producers of products use engineeredmemes in thl form of advertising to anempf to consciously increase the adoption rate of

the meme represented in the product or service bing advertised. In a very real sense,rhe offering bf " "ornpuny, that includes its q4vertising-iq a ryt of symbiotic memes that

have been intentionaliy d-esiened to spread. The skill of the designer will affect the

transmission rate, the iepeaimte andihe meme adoption rate. These will of course be

ufi""t O by the size of the promotional budget and the effectiveness of public relations

team in secunng additional exposure for the memes.

I ndirect Meme Transmission

There are times and kinds of memes that pass from host to host via rather indirectmeans, either lying latent in the minds oltheir hosts, or lyi18 fallow as a hidden.text.One such case, tt it of generation skipping, provides food for specllation about howother such memes might propagate. Tne-eiample given in several sources cites atendency for lenient chitO redring practices in one generation to be followed by stnctchild reiring practices in the next generation and a subsequent reversion to lenientpractices in the thrrd.

Fallow ideas in forgotten texts, such as the genetic ideas of Gregol tt4"n9ql which wereignored until many years after his death, or religious writings of the Druids, can be"rediscovered" and lead memetically rich new lives.

Susceptibility of Host

The acceptance of new memes by any one individual dependsto a large degree on theirsusceptibility to the new meme. Susceptibility depends not only on the nature of thememe, but aiso on the state of the individual in terms of currently held memes. Just aspeople's biological immune system provides mechanisms for resisting mpy infectiousigents, a mind develops a mernetic immune system that protects it from invasion by"foreign" memes. Hence, most mature minds resist colinization by most new memes'

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but some memes have characteristics that make them more virulent and better able totake residence in any mind, regardless of immunity.

Preexisting Meme Set

The degree of mmpatibility with an existing set of memes srongly effects whether ornot we adopt them. This phenomenon has much empirical support from the persuasionliterature.

Resistance Memes

There are two memes, faith and skepicism, that most of us acquire at som€ time, thatby their nature, act as a sort of memetic immune systsm for the rest of the memes thatwe hold against any potentially disruptive memes that we encounter. A third category ofresistance meme, the taboo, appears much more explicitly in some cultures than in ourown, but taboos do exist at many levels of analysis, from individual, through familyand social group, to general cultural taboos. Advemative memes form a fourth type ofresistance meme, using intimidation as a primary means of suppressing competingmemes.

Faith

Faith represents any meme that you believe without queslion. Because you accept it asreality, it is very resistant to attack or modification by existing memes.

SkePticism

Skepticism forms a shield against n€w memes that can _be just-as potent as faith. Withskefticism built into our meme set, we take nothing at face value, but seek furtherverification of new memes and their potential value. Cleverly composed memes,however, can and do slide right past our skeptical barriers. The scientific methodforms perhaps the penultimale skeptical meme set, providing a strong shield againstadoption of new memes without adequate evidence, much to the dismay of aspiringdoctoral candidates.

Taboo

Any subject that generates a response like, "We really don't like to talk about thalorepresents at least a mild taboo. The existence of taboo memes provides a passive formof resistance whereby not talking about something makes it harder to pass along memesrelated to the taboo, hence the first memes to colonize a mind, usually transmitted fromparents, have a survival advantage. By forbidding discussion of certain topics, eachtaboo acts as an antibody against a small set of memes: Often, taboos find very littlepositive expression, but rather are prCIpagated by negative sanctions surroundingdiscussion of the taboo subjecr While the taboo does not directly counler the memesthat it is set against by replacement or competition, the taboo generally slows the spreadof the circumscribed memes. Taboo, however, may have interesting side effects,planned or desired by the agencies setting them up as taboo. For example, a tabooagainst talking about sex and sexuality, including birth control, tends to be associatedwith a higher incidence of unplanned pregnancies. (Lynch,l9g7)

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A dversarial/l ntimidation

The last form of resistance meme, the adversative meme, sets uP atalltonlltic-;;";;;f porition in i;;;;h&t-againstqgTpes.ns T9,T"t.-In

doing this the.hostof

;;--p"rfi;;; bec"res intimiOa6l by the lioldeiof theadvetsarial meme, thereby

suppressing *V **iru"i*-ti"" tf thq mfrpeting meqe tg the holder of the adversative

,ni*", and'in ixtreme cases, supPrcssmg alY co-mmunigtign of the compefing meme

;;;t ;h;ipotentia hosts. t"t<iit -emJr thit advocate the incarceratio-n of a particular

nrou6 use this adversative form to gain reproductiveadvantage' The advantage comes

;;;?i# iliilir"pri*iion of the ud'u"rsufine meme, but from thequPpr,T_s-t_?:l9f.thei"pfi*U* .i"onip"titte ;;'oo qrolgh mechanisms of intimidation. Usually, the

esDouser of memes *tn"p"ting with thiadversative meme linds themselves in the

;ffiffo}i;i;i-ri6"ti'5ib"irg uour.o of being exactly.what the adversative meme is

tr.ntngio "tuOi..ht., 6.-it "omminists, feminists,-guyt, lesbians' or intellectuals'

HOT BLTTONS

One controversial assertion made by some authors writing on memetics contends that

we have certain trard wireA and earfy wired kinds of memes that have at their roots

survival of the species and of individuals within social group (Brodie, 1996)'

Primary Hot Buttons: The Four Fs

Any meme will command at least a modicum of attention if it somehow deals with one

l,itri,i"ef; i;"; d, i".d, righting, fleeing, Td.;.. tutlg_ a mate. As a species we

t "*i""fi"0-p"rt upr tru* rt feneticatly/chEmically.encoded that these are important

i't,"gr ;;u"rlO. fnly Ut_inufiu" states-of emotional arousal related to hunger, anger,

fear, and lust. Becau'se of this, memes that use one or more of the four f's as integral

;;;;i rffiselves will have a greater chance of being received by a new host'

Secondary Hot Buttons

In addition to the four fls, memes that tap into the realms of belonging, identity'uppio"ur uv others fi""l;ai;; *T" in authonty, and caring fig,-'9,1TltTt]111ill A1rifli"ut" f*t"t. This in particllar foTot a rich area for research that ltnKs the Persuaslonlitbrature with the memel.ic way of viewing problems'

Physical and Emotional State

The classic case o[ enhancing susceptibility to new memes by manipulation of

emotional states comes in cult and military brainwashtnS, wherg by m_eans oI

;;,;;;;i;, ""4 *."ti."r p1*gre/pain techniques, inlividuals are nprogrammed"

with the desired new meme. To a lesser degree, anyon" can be cauglrt with.tlreir guard

down, and find themselves agreeing to meires and even replicating them without

having so intended.

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T

VALLIE OF A MEMETIC APPROACH TO GENDER AND CONSUMERBEHAVIOR

Asidefrom being an exciting way to think about thinking and'behavior, memeticsProvldgf some additional, more rational incentives to its use as a conceptual frameworkfor dealing with gender issues..

Breaking Out of Our Box of Using SEX not Gender

Perhaps the. single most important^contribution that memetics offers the study of genderis a way to break out of oui box of thinking about gender in terms of sex. Wittr i'fewnotable exceptions (Fischer and Arnold, tq94t moJt research directty involved withconsumer behavior and gender measures sex and not gender. Bv exlaminins thevarious memes of gender, and hoJv they are interrelat&, we gaii a perspecti-ve thattruly examines gender as a social phenomenon first.

Understanding How Gender ldeas Spread

Me.ryeti.c approaches.must necessarily.include the arbitrariness of a particular meme,and look not only at its value to individuals, but also at its fitness as a meme. Doesit resist mutation? Is it passed along to offspring? Is it passed along evangelically?Memetic approaches can begin to answer questions ab6ut what mal<es soire ideasanathema to some, while being quite acceptable to others.

Explaining How Gender Ideas Change

Ir, i! clear that people hold many differing ideas of gender, of gender roles, and holddiffering attitud-es toward gendered subjects. How those ideas came to hold sway inone individual, how cefiain groups have adopted one set of ideas over another, oi howone group comes over lime to split off from its parent group are all questions amenableto memetic-11alysr1. When a random change in-a genefic sCquence occurs that enhancesthe survivability of the whole gene sequen&, we iay that th6re is a positive mutation.Similarly,.w-hen a random (either accidental or intentional) change ih a set of memesoccurs which causes ejthel {*Et spread or better resistanie to o6mpeting memes, wehave a memetic mutation. Not all riemetic mutations will increase the sufoival of thebase meme set. However, those that do will come to dominate the original meme setThe precise mechanism for mutation of memes can be intentional, moilvated bybiological or eccnomic imperatives, or it might be accidental, caused by a

r

misunderstanding or faulry replication of thJpal-ent gene.

I eoflUt: example of such a faulty transmission of gender role memes would be theindividual who has at once embraci:d ntraditional* geider roles that dominated duringthe l95o's and also embraced newer feminist ideaslf equality and interchangeabilitfofgender roles.The former memes were transmined to thim by parents, while"the latiermemes have been lPreg by.evangelism through friends anci feacheri. If the person is awoman, for example, she Tigtrt have taken on-the masculine role of providing incometo support ahousehold and found a stay at home man to care for theii childrei. ttreman, to.participate in the.arrangement, will have adopted similar memes. Now, thergaljtllhat the woman still feels compelled to do the housework and to spend a sreardeal of her non-work time caring for ihe children and the man's feelingsbf inad"equacy

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for not being a breadwinner, represent aflllty transmission of the feminist equalitymemes to both parties. (c.f. Mahoney 1996)

Explaining Resistance to Change Cybemetically

Feedback loops between existing gendgr notions, commercial interests, flfttyinlerests, and gender memes thai people choose-to adopt or Pass ul."lg reinforceixisting m".is to the disadvantale of ryw gender.memeg. A{vgrtsing in mainstream"wome"n's" magazines provides tli-e perfect example of this reinforcement p.henomenon.Women who riad the magazines piik them up because they believe there will be value

in io"f.ing ar the magazinE and because they ftrinkttnt the paruqn{ maga:rne lits with

their senft of who tfiey -e. The magazine then reinforces certain ideas of gendcr roles

and behaviors. to the 6xclusion of olher ideas. The feedback loop continues if friendstalk about the ads or articles and agree wittr the advice or fashion ideas.

Facil i tating Mul tiple Conceptual i zations of Gender

As a way to allow true multiplicityin definitions-of ge-nder, gender roles, and genderorientation, memetics has no peer. The biological analogy of species provides us with

different gender species that rbally don't have much to do with one another except tio

see the other as a ihreat or as a possible symbiotic partner.

POSSIBLE PITFALLS OF A MEMSIIC APPROACH TO CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

The Nothing New SYndrome

As is often the case with new ideas, they are mutations of already existing ideas'

Memetics suffers this and doing work trased around memetic themes exposes the

researcher to the skeptical resisiance memes ofjournal editors and department glairsffr" Uigg"*t danger of th"r" resistance memes siemsfrom the inherent bias to defend

existin!"1held bime the reviewer) memesagainst all comers. To overcome this, we

need tdacknowiedge that for consumer behavior, these ideas have their roots inexisting social scieice theories. Simultaneously, we need to emphasize.the benefits to

be gain"ed from the "new" parts, those drawn frtrm Senetics and epidemiology.

The "Not Scienceo' SYndrome

Memetics, as an infant discipline, and one which seeks to be a-meta-discipline,threatens many in social sciences as a usurper. Tlg understandable reaction of manyhas been, anO will continue to be dismissal out of hand, as not science. The greatestdifficulties lie with definitions and with a lack of generally accepted methodologies forempincal research. More than most paradigms, memeticd is fraught with possibilities ofindetermin'acy, as the act of observation changes the state of the system.

Holds Itself as a Purely Positivist Paradigm

Even while subject to criticism from those calling it not science., people working inmemetic areas seem to be predominantly positivists, bent on objective reductiorustexplanations for phenomena. This seems to extend to the fact that most will notacknowledge science or the scientific method as memes in their own right' This typicalsemiotic diificulty of framing one's own paradigm as natural makes unlikely any

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cooperativ_e collaboration between memehcists of a positivist stripe, and memeticistsmore comfortable with a phenomenological approaih to explanation.

AVENUES FOR RESEARCH IN GENDER AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR USINGMEMETICS

The Memes of Gender

Gender memes qlrJle siqRly constitute the set of beliefs that anyone holds that causet'hem to behave differently because they are xx or xy and to behave differently towardxx or xy people. Also included in the set are memes about the roles of peopl! otherthan one's self that one deems as appropriate because of the genotype o? tfr! on.tperson-. Notice that this does. not prectriOe masculine xx's oifemiirine xy;s, Uui meretyputs a large boundary around gendered memes."Appropriate" means_ of course, in the mind of the person holding the meme, and doesnotcast any social value judgement on anyone's behaviors. Each'individual will filterthe behavior of others and their own behavior through their own gender memes.Included are all "appropriate" behavior':s, all "approp-riaten pmseslions, anO atJiet"uuntstrategy memes as to how they should behave io accompliih their ownends in thecontext of a world constituted of xx,s and xy's.

The description and mapping of gendermemes, and more particularly consumptionmemes with gendel componqnts, provides the most immediate appliiation of dieconcepts of memetics in the field of consumer behavior. No list'that included herecould possibly be complete, (What are you.wearing today?), but a few examples mightillustrate the potential of memetic reseaich into gendered-consumer behavior.

Investi gating Gendered Distinction Memes

The simple questions of what constitutes appropriate behavior given xx or xychromosomes and what possessions and cdrisumption patterns ire deemed appropriatehave caused endless debare amolg scholars and iay p"iuo* atike. wh;; "iffAmemetically,S."rg questions yield'tosome fairly siriightforwaro anarysi;. $;;anaf yses like this have already appeared in the literatuii (giodie, rg96', Lyn"i'igg7)but there remain many gendeied,bnsumer behaviors thai have yet to be so analvzed.Furthermore, existing analyges practically invite r"rut"tion and;fiir"l. trt!frr'.,*t ",answered here will relate- to how people divide up the world into male/femalemasculine/feminine and how thoie divisions change ou". tiri *;;;6;Jo mutationsof these distinction memes

Cataloging Gendered Association Memes

Il::"^l:ry: "f qTdtr probably cause the moat heated debares ilnongst otherwise likemlnoed people, as they.are the ones that link or associate xx and xy g"-notvp"s to whatwe.commonly have called attitudes. So, when ameme spreads *6,fid t#i-b"vs will

P_Py''' :1 that "egls are sweer" or any other comm." ifi"tE, ;;;;;;!'"A'"LO

assoclatlon meme. The extent of these kinds of memes in the population strlutO Uedocumented and tracked over time.

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Cataloging Gendered Strategy Memes

Probably the most problematic of issues that face people in a world of ambiguous sexroles ani diverse difinitions of gender are those that deal with how to ggl what tlpYwant vis a vis mating and survival. Strategy memes are those th{ provide rules forbehavior under certin conditions. The strategy memes surrounding, getting all the sexyou desire, the children you want, and the standara of hving ygu-d:sg.e have changedbramaticaliy over the yeirs, especially since the invention of reliable birth control in theform of ne pitt. Wh*e once'iThe Rules" (Fein and Schneider, 1996), might havebeen well accepted" they are now rejected by most.

Examples of gendered strategy memes that beariwestigating follow:In-order to get the kind of life that you want, find a - to - you.Follow the "rules.nMen should neverTo get what they want women should ---# .Yoir clothing sliould accentuale your masculinity/feminity.

Study of Mutations of Gender Ideas

Memetics provides a venue to examine how variants of successful gender memes eitherdie out or become more successful than the onginal memes. Forexample,

Study of Socialization to Gender

Here fruitful areas of inquiry for consumer research would revolve around such thingsas how shopping methods and procedures are differentially communicated by parentsbased on the sex of the child.

Investigations of How Consciously Mutating Gender Memes Can Work to ChangeBehavior

This now takes us into the realm of investigating memetic engineering. Alarea that those in the field of memetics seem to think we should be intimately familiarwith as consumer researchers are often associated with marketing deparunents' Studyin this area can provide us with empirical evidence as to which characteristics of memesdo the most to flcilitate accurate trinsmission of memes. We also need to study whichcharacteristics of memes facilitate rapid transmission of memes.

SUMMARY

Memetics provides a useful reshuffling of our cognitive deck. Vie-wing ideas as havinga life of their own, and chilacteristics that improve their chances of repeated accuratetransmission from mind to mind gives us a nbw window through whlch to viewconsumer behavior problems. In particular, memetics gives us a sligltly lessemotionally loaded way to speak dbout inherently sensitive subjects like gender and therole of gender in consumer behavior.

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