Social contagion—the spread and adoption of affects, behaviors, cognitions, and desires within a social group due to peer influence—is a widely studied phenomenon that continues to have a significant impact on commerce. When social contagion occurs within a culture of consumption, brands and branded products are not only adopted by the community, but they are also normalized and elevated from a strictly utilitarian function to identity-markers. Brands become important components of cultural meaning. Despite this impact, the specific details of the processes of social contagion are still relatively unknown. This dissertation studied social contagion within the hip hop culture of consumption, a multi-billion dollar marketplace. Using data from the Reddit social networking platform, the research provided empirical evidence that non-linear social contagion exists within the hop hip community for multiple brands. A netnography determined the processes by which brands and branded products spread within the hip hop community. Building on the established social processes of evaluation and legitimation that are known to drive the community coordination necessary for social contagion, the research uncovered four underlying mechanisms—responding, recontextualizing, reconciling, and reinforcing. These four mechanisms of evaluation and legitimation not only provide a richer understanding of social contagion but also enable the embedding of brands into culture and culture into brands. This theory-grounded empirical analysis of social contagion and meaning-making in the hip hop culture of consumption provides practical insights to marketers on how to better curate signals and communications to drive cultural meaning. / Business Administration/Marketing

In today’s consumption landscape the market hall is a place of luxury and authenticity. However, the idea of the market hall has changed several times during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. When the first market hall was constructed in Stockholm, in 1875, the objective was to provide the consumers with safe food in a neatly organized environment that would foster civic pride and propel Stockholm into modernity. By the 1930s, the market halls in Stockholm were rundown and outmoded. These rundown retail spaces had been replaced by neighborhood stores at a convenient distance from the consumer. The market halls seemed like old dinosaurs, waiting to be swept away by the river of time. But the market halls remained, and in due course experienced a renaissance as sumptuous food temples, more genuine and inviting than the bland standardization and cold rationality of mainstream food retail. To address the long time-period, the dissertation is divided into three separate parts, with different methods and materials. The first part is a historical exposé based primarily on archival material. The second part relies more on secondary sources, but draws on contemporary documents as well. For the third part ethnographic fieldwork was the chosen method. This dissertation examines the role of the market hall in Stockholm and how the links between production, distribution and consumption of food have been organized in time and space during the past hundred and fifty years. How was the market hall recoded during this period? The relevance of this question lies in what this can tell us about urban food retail and the cultures of consumption linked to it. It also allows us to reflect upon the effects of the choices we make for the future of food production, distribution and consumption. / I dagens konsumtionslandskap är saluhallen en plats för lyx och autenticitet. Men saluhallens betydelse har ändrats flera gånger under 1900- och 2000-talen. När den första saluhallen byggdes i Stockholm år 1875, var målet att ge konsumenterna säkra livsmedel i en hygienisk och välordnad miljö som både skulle kännas elegant och göra Stockholm till en modern världsstad. Vid 1930-talet var saluhallarna i Stockholm både nedslitna och omoderna. De hade ersatts av kvartersbutiker som låg på bekvämt avstånd från konsumenten. Saluhallarna verkade vara gamla dinosaurier, som bara väntade på att svepas bort av tidens gång. Men saluhallarna blev kvar, och i sinom tid upplevde de en renässans som överdådiga mattempel, som var mer genuina och inbjudande än den vanliga dagligvaruhandelns standardiserade och hyperrationella konsumtionsmiljöer. För att hantera den långa tidsperioden, är avhandlingen indelad i tre delar, med olika metoder och material. Den första delen är en klassisk historieskrivning baserad på arkivmaterial. Den andra delen förlitar sig mer på sekundärlitteratur, men gör även ett utsnitt av samtidens källor. Den tredje delen består av ett etnografiskt fältarbete. Denna avhandling undersöker den roll saluhallen har spelat i Stockholms konsumtionslandskap och hur sambanden mellan produktion, distribution och konsumtion av livsmedel har set ut i tid och rum under de senaste hundrafemtio åren. Hur har saluhallen kodats och omkodats under denna period? Denna frågas relevans ligger i vad den kan berätta om stadens dagligvaruhandel och de konsumtionskulturer som är knutna till denna. Vad är effekterna av de val vi gör för framtida livsmedelsproduktion, distribution och konsumtion?