Narrowing the Concept of Marketing

Abstract

SUMMARY The misapplication of marketing to major American social institutions-education, religion, health care, the media, government and the legal system-has frequently undermined the fundamental purposes of those institutions, to the point that Laczniak and Michie's (1979a; 1979b) worst fears about marketing as a force for social disorder may have become a reality. Even more perplexing is a deeper question that marketers have yet to address adequately: Is the customer metaphor, which is so central to business and consumer marketing, fundamentally incompatible with the nature of a productive social institution? KEYWORDS: Misapplicationsocial disordercustomer metaphorproductive social institution