That's Our Beer! Creating the Contentious Category of Collegiate Beer

Existing categories often blend together to form new categories. To date, research has explored noncontroversial forms of category blending, such as smartphones and nanotechnology, even though category blending can frequently represent a highly contentious activity. Through an inductive field study of collegiate-licensed beer, we develop a theoretical model of contentious category blending. We show that contentious category blending related to and invoked tradition in three important ways. First, as contentiousness arises primarily from the participants involved in the category, opponents framed tradition narrowly-around those for whom the category was contentious (e.g., university students). Conversely, proponents framed tradition more broadly by incorporating stories of alumni, farmers, local craft breweries, and community members. By shifting the emphasis on tradition away from the actors for which the category was contentious and toward actors for which the category was appropriate, category proponents were able to establish a more lenient category and success in blending the categories. Second, whereas theory indicates that members of new categories generally seek to illustrate their novelty and distinctiveness from existing categories, we find the opposite among contentious category proponents. Instead, as contentiousness arouses questions about whether a product should exist, proponents draw from history, heritage, and tradition to demonstrate how elements of the product already exist. Third, we find the importance of tradition, culture, and community mean the legitimacy of a blended category does not so easily transfer but instead extends only to those communities that can uniquely stand on the traditions of their own community to gain support.

Automated summary

This study explores the relationship between contentious category blending and tradition, finding that in instances of controversy, proponents of blended categories strategically interpret tradition in a broader sense to gain support and success. Additionally, it reveals that contentious category proponents draw from history and tradition to demonstrate the existing elements of their product, contrary to the general notion that new categories should emphasize their novelty and distinctiveness.