ABSTRACT
Jean-Paul Sartre's major areas of conceptual contribution with direct relevance to consumer research and theory involve identity, desire, gift-giving, and by extension, posthumanism. Sartre's major theoretical work on these topics is found in his most famous and Nobel-winning existential philosophical treatise, Being and Nothingness. As one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century, Sartre's work has also spawned analyses and comparisons by subsequent generations of scholars. Despite his relevance to consumer research topics Sartre's contributions have had limited impact on consumer research. As Smith points out, Sartre's ethical take on the gift went through three distinct phases. In the early 1940s Sartre held a negative view of apparent generosity, seeing it as an aggressive act binding the recipient to reciprocate or to lose face. Given Sartre's theorizations of the key role of objects in identity, desire, and gift-giving, it is tempting to see his focus as being on material objects to the exclusion of immaterial things.
