| The market is often quite adept at marching into previously personal, noncommercial spheres of life. However, its march is not inevitable, and this dissertation asks why attempts to commercialize personal settings might be more difficult than previously recognized. Paradoxically, I find as the answer the very thing past studies have identified as facilitating successful commercialization --- i.e., a euphemistic discourse that cloaks market actors' commercial objectives in the values of the personal sphere they wish to enter. Because past work has focused on retrospective studies of successful commercialization attempts, it has stopped with the observation that such discourses help neutralize societal discomfort with market encroachment and recruit potential customers. This dissertation, however, considers an ongoing and, in certain instances, struggling case of commercialization and discovers that a euphemistic discourse can severely complicate an organization's commercialization project when it is co-opted by employees.;The dissertation draws on an intensive ethnography of Motherhood, Inc. (MI), a for-profit company attempting to commercialize the support and guidance new mothers have traditionally received from their families and communities. First, I analyze the external cultural environment in which MI operates -- that of contemporary American motherhood -- and ask how MI's commercial project emerged from that broader context and why, given that context, the project is succeeding with target customers. As predicted by past research, MI frames its commercial activities in a euphemistic discourse, marketing itself as a safe haven for women during the stressful transition to motherhood. Also as expected, this discourse works well in neutralizing public discomfort with market encroachment and attracting target customers. However, despite this external success, MI's commercialization attempt faces resistance from an unexpected source -- its own employees. By analyzing the nature of this resistance and leveraging insights from anthropological linguistics, I develop a general theoretical framework for how an organization's external discursive commitments can set off a series of unintended consequences inside the organization that complicate its commercial activities. I conclude by developing the implications of this study for sociological understanding of the commercialization of personal settings and, more broadly, the relationship between culture and organizations. |
