Anna Felicia examines smoking and cigarette consumption in her thesis, a monograph within consumer culture theory.

-"Smoking is one of the most interesting topics I can think of: it has always been a symbol for rebelliousness but during the latest decades it has quite drastically lost its former status" says Anna Felicia.

The reason she picked the subject for her thesis was actually justified by theories. When she read consumer culture theory, she realised that it´s often implied that consumption was motivated by a drive to attain pleasurable experiences. These experiences were mainly described as positive and constructive to society and consumers. It is often seen as building social bonds, improving health and enhancing productivity. That is, pleasure derived from consumption is described as rational and constructive. As a result, the consumption that does not adhere to these rules is excluded or described as compulsive.

Chair Associate Professor Susanna Molander opens the dissertation. Opponent Professor Andreas Chatzidakis and Anna Felicia Enhage.

-"Having worked in fashion industry I knew that there is very little rationality in the many consumption decisions we make on a regular basis", Anna Felica says. "Without widening the perspectives, I felt that much of the consumption that happens in the market would get lost and risk not being studied" she continues.

Anna Felicia Enhage defends her thesis "Paradoxical consumer enjoyment: A cultural perspective on cigarette consumption".

The thesis argues that the one-sided view on pleasure in consumer culture theory is the result of a lack of frameworks encompassing ambiguous experiences. To this end, the present thesis builds a framework based on psychoanalytically informed discourse theories’ view of jouissance, a form of paradoxical enjoyment, and apply it on the study of cigarette consumption.

Paradoxical enjoyment

The thesis suggests to move away from pleasures when studying destructive and marginalising consumption and instead suggests paradoxical enjoyment as an alternative. Paradoxical enjoyment, in the case of smoking, further breaks with the assumptions of rationality and constructiveness often present in consumer culture theory.

Paradoxical enjoyment is the type of enjoyment that entails suffering in various ways. The findings of the thesis showed that smoking is a paradoxical enjoyment, as well as in what ways: it is felt as a "truer" enjoyment because it is seen as transgressive and rebellious, but smokers also feel that they had been deprived of their access to pleasure in smoking since its status has decreased lately.

Supervisors Associate Professor Carl Cederström, Professor Jacob Östberg and Anna Felicia Enhage.

Smoking is also interrupting of crisis and anxiety and used as a support during loss e.g., separation or death, at the same time as smokers fear death or illness from smoking. Smokers tend to consume cigarettes without limits and yet they impose many limitations around how, when and how much they are allowed to smoke. And finally, smoking is isolating. Smokers prefer to smoke alone away from others, both non-smokers as well as smokers. Some even hide their smoking from their partner. At the same time, they suffer from feelings of loneliness caused by smoking.

From the left: Associate Professor Niklas Sörum, Professor Andreas Chatzidakis, Associate Professor Nick Butler, Associate Professor Carl Cederström, PhD Anna Felicia Enhage, Professor Jacob Östberg, Associate Professor Susanna Molander and Associate Professor Emma Stenström.

Read the thesis "Paradoxical consumer enjoyment: A cultural perspective on cigarette consumption"