Home is Where the Work is Women, Direct Sales, and ...

Home is Where the Work is Women, Direct Sales, and Technologies of Gender

by Tiffany Lamoreaux

A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Approved April 2013 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee:

Ann Hibner Koblitz, Chair Mary Fonow Karen Leong

ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY May 2013

ABSTRACT

This dissertation examines how direct selling organizations compel women to believe that direct selling is, among other things, centered on the needs of women. Drawing upon feminist interdisciplinary methodologies, this dissertation brings together qualitative, archival, and ethnographic materials to analyze direct selling through a technologies of gender framework. I argue that multi-level marketing direct selling companies (like Avon, Tupperware, Mary Kay, etc.) are able to turn belief into profits because they strategically tap into gender ideologies. I show that discursive technologies of gender coalesce with race and class discourses and are put to work by direct selling companies to construct a specific type of direct seller.

This dissertation attempts to unpack the complex technologies of gender that direct selling women engage with while constructing their identities as workers and women. I argue that the companies in this study deliberately tap into women's anxieties and desires to blend their perceived gender roles with their need for income. I find that direct selling companies are exceptional at branding their businesses as uniquely suited for women and that this branding hinges upon the construction of a direct sales imaginary. I argue that the direct sales imaginary taps into powerful discourses of race, class, and gender to market the American dream to women who are seeking out a space that is empowering and inclusive. Because the direct selling industry tends to see an increase in profits and recruitment during economic recessions, it is likely that the current economic situation has channeled even more women toward direct sales as a fallback for uncertain economic futures. While some women may be inclined to view direct sales as

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an attractive employment alternative it is not a realistic means of supporting families during difficult economic times and this study might help some women make more informed decisions. Furthermore, this study brings to light how gender might be used to organize structural relationships between markets, people, and businesses.

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DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my son Devon Lamoreaux. Thank you for giving my life direction.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank those who have helped me in the completion of this dissertation. First, I am grateful for the financial support of the dissertation fellowships funded by Margery Myers Mary Rothschild, the Women and Gender Studies program, and the Arizona State University Graduate College. I am grateful for the support from many faculty members in the Women and Gender Studies program at Arizona State University. I would like to personally thank my advisor Professor Ann Hibner Koblitz for her helpful notes and advice always written in the margins of my numerous drafts. The past few years have not been easy and I am eternally grateful that Professor Koblitz showed me patience when I required but firmness when I needed to be motivated to move forward. I am lucky to have selected her to chair this dissertation as she was always timely in all of her responses and available to assist me when I needed. She gives tough love with humor and she inspires me to a better student and professor. I truly thankful for my committee members and would like to thank Professor Karen Leong for encouraging me to push my analysis further and Professor Mary Margaret Fonow for reminding me that this work is valuable. I would also like to give genuine thanks to my cohort members. I cannot imagine my how my graduate experience would have been without the support of my dear friend Debjani Chakravarty and our nonsensical concept maps and pseudo anthropological investigations. I thank Alicia Woodbury for always being there with the offer of chocolate during times of stress. I would like to also thank Mary Jatau and her sweet young daughter for bringing a smile to my face and encouraging me to keep moving forward. I also appreciate the help

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