The Social Value of Marketing: Bridging Practice and Theory by Integrating the Disciplines

An attempt is made to deal with a number of issues concerning the social context of and social construction of 'marketing' as a management technology and a social process and institution. Just as consumer behaviour has become a legitimate part of marketing theory, and marketing education so should consideration of the social role of the marketer and the social value of marketing. An eclectic range of literature sources is combined with the experience of the researcher, in the hope of sparking some new dialogue and research directions. The author attempts to overcome the partisan view presented in many marketing texts by revisiting other fields of thinking which have contributed ideas to the marketing discipline. Thus evidence of the need to develop a convergence of marketing, social sciences, human resource management and ethics will be presented from efforts to get close to the reality of the field, through a form of 'Delphi' research involving a range of specialist perspectives. It is argued that marketing thinking is still too narrow and that micromarketing and macromarketing ideas go hand in hand to give the theorist and practitioner a more balanced perspective on their craft.