Life at the edge: a phenomenological examination of the communal, embodied and material dimensions of high-speed motorcycling

This thesis begins by introducing the concept of experience and delineating its place within the discourses of marketing. To reach a more holistic appreciation of high-speed motorcycling, I situate this study within the experiential domain of Consumer Culture Theory. I take a look back at some of the foundational theories that have influenced the development of this experiential domain in CCT. We learn about how these theories have used to illuminate consumers immersions in extraordinary and high-risk leisure experiences. In chapter two, I focus on the context of motorcycling and provide an outline of academic understandings of motorcycling culture. This outline demonstrates that academic understandings of this culture are predominantly grounded in North-American perspectives of history, media, popular culture and technological advancement. These accounts are invariably influenced by the mythologised image of the outlaw biker. In turning back to CCT research, we see that representations of this leisure activity are also dominated by this stereotypical representation. This study starts out by attempting to broaden our understanding of motorcycling culture by investigating the lived experiences of a group of Irish high-speed motorcyclists. In combination, Merleau Ponty’s (1962) and Crossley’s (2001) work on embodiment and Pink’s (2009) approach to sensory ethnography provides a novel way of conceptualising the motorcycling body and also an innovative means of addressing motorcyclists’ embodied experiences. We reach an understanding of motorcycling that is grounded in bodily experiences of emotions and sensations. This body is a source of knowledge, it acts instinctually, it seeks spontaneity but most importantly it is central to the consuming experience. We also identify the emerging significance of the embodied relationships that develop between these riders and their motorcycles. This assemblage signals a dynamic and interactive relationship between the consuming subject and the consumption object (Dant 2004). In this assemblage we witness the consuming objects boundaries emerging through its interactions with the rider. These findings demonstrate that the connection between consumers and consumption object is forged through a combination of bodily knowledge and sensory perception. This understanding highlights the active role of the consumption object in terms of influencing consumption patterns and practices.