Speaker: Dr Marcus Phipps
Title: SHALLOW LEGITIMACY WITHIN THE MARKETPLACE FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Date: Thursday, 4 September 2025
Time: 12:00pm – 2:00pm
Venue: Building 26C, CBE, 248, Allan Barton Forum
Anna Hartman is the host of this visitor
Abstract
Amidst the present cost of living crisis, access to, and the stability of, affordable housing, is a significant concern. However, the emergence of new forms of affordable housing is often stymied by the unyielding rules and regulations of existing building codes. This research follows the legitimacy process for an emergent form of affordable housing, Tiny Houses on Wheels (THOWs). THOWs challenge existing legitimacy process assumptions by seeking a form of legitimacy that we theorize as shallow legitimacy. Shallow legitimacy is when a marketplace offering is seemingly legitimate, but there is still active potential for change among the regulatory, normative, cognitive and practical pillars of legitimacy. Through the THOWs context, we show how shallow legitimacy can be desirable versus situations when market assemblages are coded in ways that collapse down the potentialities for change.
BIO
Dr. Marcus Phipps is an Associate Professor of Marketing in the Department of Management & Marketing at the University of Melbourne. His research interests include sustainable consumer behaviour, consumer well-being, routine disruption and the intersections of public policy and the marketplace. Marcus's research is embedded in the field of interpretive consumer research with an emphasis on sustainable consumption and the social well-being of consumers. He has conducted research into areas as diverse as tactical urbanism, the disruption of household routines during severe drought and the branding of politicians. His research has been published in outlets such as Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing and the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing.