In Faces at the Bottom of the Well (1992) author Derrick Bell describes the passage of the fictitious "Racial Realism Act".

In Faces at the Bottom of the Well (1992) author Derrick Bell describes the passage of the fictitious "Racial Realism Act". This act of Congres prolongs personal association rights typically accorded to individuals, to private businesses. In power the new law gives businesses and other private organizations the right to practice racial discrimination, provided that they purchase a license for as it was activity from the government. The imagery conjur up by dint of Bell is a provocative the same from a consumer behavior perspective, particularly in light of recurring publicized incidents of marketplace discrimination. For example, the common controversy surrounding gender exclusive membership at Augusta National, given its status as landlord of Professional Golfer's Association (PGA) terminations highlights the persistence of perceived discrimination in businesses and other private associations. For racial and ethnic minorities, the ne to cope with potentially discriminatory interactions is seen as an almost inevitable aspect of "everyday" commercial transactions in the United States (eg Feagin and Sikes 1994 Oliver and Shapiro 1995) This contention hastes counter to the neo-classical assumption that competition between venders should lessen, if not altogether eliminate incentives to discriminate, rendering all buyer equal in the judgments of the market. That is, barely one's relative store of human and financial capital should determine succes in acquiring beneficials and services (see Becker 1957) besides survey evidence, field experiments, journalistic narratives, and judicial opinions in cases about racial discrimination in the marketplace provide ample evidence of actual discrimination faced through racial/ethnic minorities and other assign places tos in the procurement of convenients and services. For instance in a individual conducted by Harvard University and the Kaiser Foundation, substantial majorities of Blacks, Latinos and Asians report they at least occasionally experience poor service in stores or restaurants that they attribute to race or ethnicity (Morin and Cottman 2001)

Differential treatment in the marketplace based in succession group membership rather than individual differences, which we have reference to as marketplace discrimination, has been noted to present itself across a multitude of consumption words immediately preceding [i]or[/i] followings ranging from purchasing automobiles and real estate to browsing at retail or steady hailing a taxicab (Williams, Henderson, and Harris 2001; Oliver and Shapiro 1995; Feagin and Sikes 1994) While evidence of marketplace discrimination has been widely reported, and ne not be reproduc here, the important related question of for what reason consumers perceive and cope with the internal strains produc according to discrimination remains an under-investigated topic in marketing. This is an important oversight, as research in sociology, anthropology and psychology has demonstrated in what way both stereotypes and perceptions of marketplace discrimination can largely composition customer-service provider interactions involving racial/ethnic minorities (eg to leeward 2002; Chin 1998; Inman, Huerta, and Oh 1996) Thus we not absent findings from an exploratory investigation of consumer perceptions of marketplace discrimination and after coping strategies.

We begin our analysis on developing a conceptualization of marketplace discrimination, drawing from extant research forward race-related stressors, strains, and perceived discrimination, as well as literature forward coping strategies. We then describe and instant the results of in-depth interviews with a assign places to of African-American males. These be deriveds are discussed in light of their illustration of race-related stres and strain resulting from perceived marketplace discrimination, as well as the emergent coping strategies these men occupy in response. Finally, the implications of this research for consumer behavior scholarship and public policy are addressed.

CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS OF MARKETPLACE DISCRIMINATION: RACE-RELATED STRES AND PERCEIVED DISCRIMINATION

The investigation of discriminatory treatment involving in-groups and out-group particularly based in succession "master status" social categories, i.e. race, class, and form relative to sex is foundational in sociological analysis. Sociologists discuss discrimination as consisting of "imposing differential treatment onward the group in various fields of social life, a treatment in which the assemblage itself participates, along lines which return it inferior" (Wieviorka 1995, p 54) Following this definition, marketplace discrimination involves the differential treatment of customers in the marketplace based upon perceived group-level traits that furnish outcomes favorable to "in-groups" and unfavorable to "out-groups" Importantly, the arrangement of in-groups and out-group is likely to be consistent with the existing manner of making of racial inequality, such that Whites receive the greatest in number favorable treatment and Blacks the least (see Bobo and Massagali 2001) Of course in a words immediately preceding [i]or[/i] following where such treatment runs reckoner to articulated social norms regarding fairness at least a certain aspects of marketplace discrimination are based upon the situated perspective of its recipients. As like where marketplace discrimination actually be founds it is often subtle and elusive, making its tenors difficult to verify and difficult to document take exception through the eyes of its victims (Dovidio and Gaertner 1999 1991)