ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the marriage metaphor destabilized conventional constructions of the marketing function, directed attention toward the interaction between buyers and sellers and framed market exchanges within the context of relationships and networks. Central to this endeavor is to fully appreciate how metaphor functions as a tool of thought and as a basis for academic discourse. The chapter provides a brief overview of conceptual metaphor theory, and explores the metaphoric roots of Relationship Marketing (RM). It delineates the impact of the marriage metaphor, and outlines the directions for research. RM is an important contemporary discourse in marketing. Discourse captures how knowledge is produced through language and representation, as well as how that knowledge is institutionalized, how it shapes social practices and brings technologies into play. Metaphors are commonly used in professional and academic discourse. They are employed when we have no language or concepts in our repertoire to help explain a particular phenomenon.
