Nyhet

Critical Perspectives on Multilevel Marketing

An Introduction to the Field of Critical MLM Studies

AvDeanna Grant-Smith,Claudia Gross

Inbunden, Engelska, 2026

Del i serien The Future of Work and Employment series

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Beskrivning

This timely book critically analyses Multilevel Marketing (MLM) schemes, introducing what they are and why they are often associated with harmful outcomes. Leading experts assess how these exploitative income opportunities continue to attract thousands of people, despite frequently resulting in severe financial losses and compromised personal relationships. Contributing authors investigate how MLM schemes create legitimacy by merging commerce, community and belief, while consumer protection is undermined through opaque business practices, weak regulations and industry lobbying. Chapters outline how MLM has created its own ecosystem of self-employment, masquerading as entrepreneurial freedom while advertising false autonomy and ensuring that few participants ever achieve meaningful economic reward. By emphasising participant experiences and tracing the entanglements of ideology, regulation and organisational strategy, this book advances Critical MLM Studies as a framework for understanding MLM as a global industry. Presenting MLMs as frequently destructive and harmful, Critical Perspectives on Multilevel Marketing is an essential resource for scholars and students of business, economics and finance, management studies, marketing and consumer law. Consumer protection agencies and MLM activists will also benefit from its evidence-based approach.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2026-07-16
Mått:156 x 234 x undefined mm
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Serie:The Future of Work and Employment series
Förlag:Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd
ISBN:9781035344314

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Mer om författaren

Edited by Deanna Grant-Smith, Professor of Management, School of Business and Creative Industries, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia and Claudia Groß, Associate Professor, TIAS Business School, Utrecht, the Netherlands

Recensioner i media

‘“Interested in working from home? No fixed hours? High income with no risk?” These catchy promises are hallmarks of multilevel marketing (MLM) schemes. However, MLM is more than just a product distribution model. In this insightful book, a group of excellent authors explore the phenomenon in depth, offering readers a thoughtful, multidisciplinary and critical perspective on how it really works.’

Innehållsförteckning

Contents1 Critical MLM Studies: an introduction to the field and its faultlines 1Deanna Grant-Smith and Claudia Groß2 Lawful but awful: how the MLM industry has gained andmaintained legitimacy 19Claudia Groß and Dirk Vriens3 Chasing fading rainbows: a brief history of US governmentefforts to regulate MLM 44Douglas M. Brooks4 Information asymmetry in multilevel marketing: candisclosures and disclaimers help? 62Stacie A. Bosley5 Designed for irresponsibility: how multilevel marketingcompanies use their organisational design to exploit gaps inthe legal system 79Claudia Groß, Dirk Vriens and Bettine Wils6 Cultivating connections: how MLMs recruit and socialisetheir participants 100Claudia Groß and Douglas M. Brooks7 Belong, believe, and consume: from the prosperity gospel tonew age spirituality in one MLM 120Melissa Carr8 Motivation or manipulation? How multilevel marketing usespersonal development to attract and retain distributors 136Lucas Dixon9 Femvertising, femwashing, and feminity in multilevelmarketing 157Máire O Sullivan10 Hunzoning: how multilevel marketing messaging strategieson Facebook make targeted women feel 174Naomi Yanike and Máire O Sullivan11 From the field to the field: bearing witness and creatingchange through critical MLM research 191Claudia Groß, Deanna Grant-Smith, Douglas M. Brooks,Melissa Carr, Lucas Dixon and Máire O SullivanEpilogue: What to do about multilevel marketing? An activistperspective 210Robert L. FitzPatrick