The CAFM is a validated measure of consumer alienation from the marketplace — the estrangement, helplessness, and disengagement consumers experience in their relationship with the marketing system and its institutions. Allison (1978) adapted Seeman's (1959) five-dimension social alienation framework to the consumer context, operationalising four dimensions most relevant to marketplace participation. Powerlessness captures the degree to which consumers feel unable to influence marketing practices, protect their interests, or make meaningful choices — the sense that the marketplace is controlled by large corporations against which individuals are helpless. Meaninglessness captures the degree to which consumers feel unable to make sense of marketplace information, understand pricing, evaluate quality claims, or navigate the complexity of available products and brands. Normlessness captures the belief that marketplace actors — businesses, advertisers, and retailers — routinely violate ethical and social norms, and that deceptive or manipulative practices are institutionalised. Isolation captures the degree to which consumers feel disconnected from and unrepresented by the mainstream marketplace — particularly relevant for consumers whose values, identity, or needs are poorly served by mainstream market offerings. The CAFM dimensions predict consumer complaint behaviour, marketplace withdrawal, anti-consumption, susceptibility to consumer fraud, and engagement with the consumerism movement. Alienated consumers are more likely to boycott companies, seek alternative or non-commercial consumption solutions, and express political discontent with corporate power.
Allison, N.K. (1978). A psychometric development of a test for consumer alienation from the marketplace. Journal of Marketing Research, 15(4), 565–575.
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