Using Sociology in Market Research

Sociologists who work in non-academic organisations often face difficulties connecting back with professional sociological associations because our work is misunderstood or undervalued. Marketing is seen as an especially undesirable field for sociologists to enter. Today, we review the origins of this distrust and useful examples of applied sociology in market research.

A colleague working once told me that, when they visited their university supervisor after many years working in the not-for-profit sector, their former supervisor laughed and said: “That’s not real research.”

Some academics measure the value of sociological research solely in terms of a publishing record in prestigious journals. This research is often hidden behind a pay wall that most “lay” audiences can’t access. Such colleagues are often suspicious of research done outside academia, especially of market research.

From Praise to Distrust

By 1960, sociological contributions to market research were well-documented. However, over the years, some academics began to see this as an “imperfect” methodological practice. I have had colleagues describe this as “quick and dirty” work.

Additionally, academics distrust that applied sociologists can remain impartial in marketing settings. For example, Herbert Gans writes in his 1988 American Sociological Association (ASA) Presidential Address:

“Do sociologists do anything differently in market research firms? Do they cave into internal pressures? Do they have more empathy?”

Sixteen years later, Michael Burawoy hints at a similar distrust in his 2004 ASA Presidential Address. He argues that contract work for market research agencies is that our work “is all too easily captured by clients who impose strict contractual obligations on their funding.” As Burawoy sees it, the danger of doing applied sociology is that sociologists might be forced to “pander to and flatter” their clients, and consequently neglect our professional imperative to be critical of social phenomena. These “distortions” of sociological research “can reverberate back” to academic sociology and weaken the integrity of our overall discipline. He writes:

“If market research had dominated the funding of policy sociology, as Mills feared it would, then we could all be held to ransom. The migration of sociologists into business, education and policy schools may have tempered this pathology but certainly not insulated the discipline from such pressures.”

Elsewhere, Burawoy argued that market research has commodified sociological knowledge:

 “Marketisation turned sociology into opinion polling and market research, while academic programs were as likely as not to be found in the new business schools. Without a solid foundation in professional sociology, a crude policy science prevailed. Critical and public sociology could scarcely be found.”

Rethinking Applied Contributions

Sociology must remain impartial, but it is not automatically corruptible because it happens outside the academy’s gaze. Sociology can enhance market research practices, through our theoretical and methodological contributions. Specifically, by placing individual problems and economic issues in historical and cultural context.

Applied sociologists can shed light on the ways systemic barriers and economic rationalism reproduce inequalities. This critical gaze can be used to transform marketing projects.

For example, I worked on a social marketing project commissioned by a federal government agency. The research examined the knowledge and attitudes towards debt by people receiving social welfare payments. My sociological contribution was to analyse the qualitative data from interviews, to show how:

• welfare recipients managed their debt;
• what knowledge, strategies and resources they had available to manage their money; and
• how they understood their income reporting responsibilities. (In order to receive welfare payments, recipients must report their fortnightly earnings to their welfare agency.)

The project demonstrated that established marketing techniques are ineffective for this cohort, as these often focus on negative emotions and outcomes. Instead of focusing on penalties for not declaring earnings, we argued that social marketing techniques should focus on financial literacy and support services.

Our findings were delivered to the client, to inform public information campaigns, and later published. 

For another example of applied sociology in marketing, see the presentation below.