The book examines the social processes which have shaped the development and organisation of various marketing practices and activities, and the markets associated with them. Drawing on the figurational-sociological approach associated with Norbert Elias the contributors explain how various markets and related marketing practices and activities are organised, enabled and constrained by the actions of people at different levels of social integration. Collectively, The Social Organisation of Marketing provides insights into topics such as the consumption and of wine in China, the advertising of Guinness, the management of on-line communities in Germany, the corporate social responsibility strategies of multinational energy corporations in Africa, the concept of talent management in contemporary organisations, the child consumer in Ireland, and the constraining and enabling influences of the American corporate organisational structure. 

John Connolly is a Senior Lecturer in the Marketing Group at Dublin City University Business School, Ireland. His research has examined advertising, aspects of sport, and organisational change from a figurational perspective. 

Paddy Dolan is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Languages, Law and Social Sciences at Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland. His research interests include figurational sociology, childhood, sport, emotions and identities.

Chapter 1. The Social Organisation of Marketing: An Introduction; John Connolly and Paddy Dolan.- Chapter 2. Wine and China: Making Sense of an Emerging Market with Figurational Sociology; Jennifer Smith Maguire.- Chapter 3. Figurational Dynamics and the Function of Advertising at Arthur Guiness& Sons Ltd: 1876-1960; John Connolly.- Chapter 4. Unintentional social consequences of disorganised marketing of Corporate Social Responsibility: Figurational insights from the oil and gas sector in Africa; Stephen Vertigans.- Chapter 5. Organisational Dynamics and the Role of the Child in Markets ; Paddy Dolan.- Chapter 6. Ballet for the Sun King: Power, Talent and Organisation; John Lever and Stephen Swailes.- Chapter 7. "Friends and Followers": The Social Organisation of Firms' Online Communities; Ad van Iterson and Johanna Richter.- Chapter 8. Organisations and American Collective Self-Understanding; Stephen Mennell.- Chapter 9. Figurational theory: Moving from description andtechnological empiricism to empirical- theoretical explanations; John Connolly and Paddy Dolan.