Each Wednesday, I write a post from my dissertation. Excluding scrapbook business owners, industry workers earn close to minimum wage, commission-only, or a combination of the two in addition to discounted supplies. A running joke among brick and mortar employees … Continue reading
Each Wednesday, I write a post from my dissertation. Industry workers emphasize that they do not pressure customers to purchase products, they offer better customer service, and they are more knowledgeable about scrapbooking than the competition. Industry workers focus on … Continue reading
Each Wednesday, I write a post from my dissertation. Direct sellers and brick and mortar industry workers feel the competition from online retailers. The internet makes it much easier for customers to find what they are looking for, but at … Continue reading
Each Wednesday, I write a post from my dissertation. Scrapbook stores do not just sell scrapbook supplies, but also sell (or more accurately, rent) scrapbook space. Scrapbookers expect brick and mortar scrapbook stores to offer some sort of scrapbooking space … Continue reading
Each Wednesday, I write a post from my dissertation. People who work in the scrapbook industry see their way of selling[1] the product as superior to the alternative. I was surprised to find that industry workers overall had little … Continue reading
Each Wednesday, I write a post from my dissertation. Scrapbookers may be artists and historians, but they also are scrapbooking shoppers and croppers. Both shopping and cropping shape the identity of the scrapbooker as a scrapbooker and shape their larger … Continue reading
Each Wednesday, I write a post from my dissertation. Last week, I talked about how scrapbookers are artists. Scrapbookers often are historians—specifically, they are their families’ historians. Not all scrapbookers take on the role of historian in terms of learning … Continue reading
Each Wednesday, I write a post from my dissertation. Many scrapbookers and industry workers consider scrapbookers to be artists and historians, though professional artists and historians may and do disagree (see Helfand 2005). Industry workers, in particular, emphasize the artistry … Continue reading
Each Wednesday, I write a post from my dissertation. It is common for scrapbookers to share their scrapbooks with others at least some of the time. Unlike diaries, scrapbooks can be both public and private at the same time. I … Continue reading
Each Wednesday, I write a post from my dissertation. The main difference between most diaries or journals and scrapbooks is that the latter includes photographs along with words instead of just words. Others argue that journals can also contain photographs, … Continue reading
Stephanie Medley-Rath is a sociologist and scrapbooker who studies scrapbooking and memory keeping. Scrapworthy Lives is a blog focused on her sociological analysis of scrapbooking, with a sprinkling of posts about Stephanie's own scrapbooking projects.
