Rate My Professor James Cronin

Professor James Cronin (PhD, FAcSS) serves as Professor in Consumer Culture Studies in the Department of Marketing at Lancaster University Management School and as Director of the LUMS Centre for Consumption Insights. His research centers on the social and cultural aspects of consumer behaviour, including collective and symbolic forms of consumption, marketplace ideologies, consumer escapism, voluntary risk-taking, and the cultural politics of marketing. Much of his current work explores how social structures, socio-ideological fantasies, and interpersonal interactions shape consumption experiences. To investigate these themes, he employs diverse qualitative research methods alongside theoretical perspectives from philosophy, sociology, and cultural theory. Cronin has contributed to interdisciplinary projects such as the UKRI NERC-funded Plastic Packaging in People's Lives (PPiPL) initiative (2020-2024), where he served as co-investigator examining the ideological, socio-cultural, and historical dimensions of plastic packaging in UK households and supply chains. He also co-chairs the annual Cybernetic Culture Workshop (2025 and 2026), hosted by the Centre for Consumption Insights and funded by RISCS, addressing digitalisation's intersections with political economy, consumer culture, crime, radicalisation, and exclusion.

Cronin's career at Lancaster University Management School has progressed from Lecturer and Senior Lecturer to his current professorial position. His scholarly output includes lead authorship on The Little Book of Plastics in Everyday Life (2022) and co-editing a special issue of the Journal of Marketing Management on De-romanticising the Market: Advances in Consumer Culture Theory (2022). Key peer-reviewed publications feature Obeada, I., Cronin, J., Piacentini, M. (2026) From Edgework to Edgeworking: The Interplay of Risk and the Life Course in Sociology; James, S., Cronin, J., Patterson, A. (2024) “If You Like Your History Horrible”: The Obscene Supplementarity of Thanatourism in Annals of Tourism Research; Cronin, J., James, S. (2025) Consumer Culture Gothica: Marx’s Phantasmaterialist Influence on Critical Consumer Research in Consumption, Markets and Culture; and James, S., Cronin, J., Patterson, A. (2024) Revenants in the Marketplace: A Hauntology of Retrocorporation in Marketing Theory. His work has appeared in leading journals such as Annals of Tourism Research, Marketing Theory, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, and Sociology of Health & Illness. Awards include election as Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) in 2026, Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, the Management School Teaching Prize at the 2018 Dean’s Awards, and Highly Commended for teaching at the 2022 University-wide Staff Awards.