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Abstract
This article critically reviews the interaction between production and consumption in the apparel industry, focusing on changes that have occurred in the past decade. Specifically, we examine connections between supply and demand for products in a market noted for its volatility and product life cycles that can be measured in weeks. Many studies have examined how supply chain rationalization has imposed greater demands upon manufacturers to meet cost, quality, and delivery mandates. However, fewer studies examine how changing consumer demand both affects and is affected by the resulting retail revolution of Fast Fashion − a new breed of retailers who stock new items more frequently, selling inexpensive 'fashion forward' items to more style conscious consumers. We argue that retailers have realized that enhanced designs provide transient consumer value and a more effective matching of supply and demand. We theorize how consumers, meanwhile, behave strategically by visiting stores more often and increasing the frequency of their purchases, which can correspond with increasingly fluid and contextualized construction of pluralized authentic identities.

AbstractThis review presents an overview of research on Black authenticity. As the definition of Black authenticity is often not made explicit in literature, the complexity and nuance of this cultural resource can be overlooked. We explore two trends of Black authenticity present within literature, which we label as commodifying realness and legitimating membership. Beyond offering a working definition and review of these trends, this review also attempts to highlight the importance of the interconnectedness between controlling images and individuals' negotiations of Black authenticity. We conclude by summarizing the importance of studying Black authenticity and suggesting future directions for research.

In this article, we examine how a group of aging black artists, labeled The Florida Highwaymen, maintained membership in a self-taught art world. Based on fieldwork, interviews, and Web sites, we analyze how the artists constructed identities in ways that enabled them to continue benefiting from the art world, even when they appeared in violation of membership criteria or codes. Such identity work involved affiliating with the artist collective, aligning with the self-taught identity code, and denying and reframing code violations. Rather than adopting racist imagery employed by art-world insiders, they drew from color-blind tactics and cultural discourses to maintain membership in the self-taught art world, and their dignity. Our study demonstrates the usefulness of an identity work approach for the sociology of art worlds and has implications for exploring how people construct selves to maintain membership benefits in other social arenas.

In this article, we address negotiating interactions with hesitant participants who are public figures, yet do not traditionally fit within the category of the advantaged. We target new field researchers and rusty veterans by offering an applied approach to: (1) preparing for the field; (2) managing interactions with hesitant participants via finding common ground while drawing lines, connecting with key informants, and expanding on public information; and (3) working through failed interviews. We discuss the importance of power relationships, positionality, and ethical standards, particularly in relation to negotiating similarities and differences between researchers and participants.

Dominant discourses promote breastfeeding as essential to "good mothering," shown in research to set a difficult standard that many white mothers internalize. Little is known about African American mothers' perceptions of the connection between breastfeeding and mothering ideals. We analyzed perceptions of the relationship between breastfeeding and formula feeding and mothering through in-depth semistructured interviews with 22 predominantly middle-class African American mothers in the southeastern United States who breastfeed. One-third of participants upheld the dominant ideology that breastfeeding is required for good mothering, constructing formula feeding as lazy and selfish. Two-thirds associated breastfeeding with "extraordinary mothering," exceeding good mothering through additional hard work, self-sacrifice, and dedication. These participants were divided, with half (one-third of total) stating that mothers who formula feed are also good mothers and half (one-third of total sample) expressing ambivalence toward formula. Both groups acknowledged structural barriers and personal circumstances that prevent some mothers from breastfeeding, and therefore they either withheld or were conflicted about applying judgment. These findings confirm that although a powerful cultural association between breastfeeding and good mothering is evident, it is not uniform across race and class.

The ideologies of intensive mothering and risk society place increasing burden on mothers to make critical choices regarding infant feeding that are understood as having irreversible consequences for their children's long-term health and emotional well-being. Although research has examined consequences of these ideologies on mothers' decisions to breastfeed or formula-feed their infants, little has focused on consumer decisions regarding formulas, baby food and feeding-related items. This article examines symbolic meanings attached to infant food and feeding-related consumer items among first-time mothers in the United States. Results indicate broad categories of baby-oriented consumerism—qualities and characteristics mothers sought for their babies through feeding-related consumer behaviors—and mother-oriented consumerism—qualities and characteristics mothers sought for themselves through consumer behaviors. Baby-oriented consumerism included health, comfort, taste and development, and mother-oriented consumerism included knowledge/control, compliance, convenience, frugality, relationships and self-image.