Dr. Thomas Clayton O'Guinn is a professor of marketing and the Irwin Maier Distinguished Chair in business. He received his Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to coming to Wisconsin, he was at The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Dr. O'Guinn's research is broadly sociological. His work is often near the intersection of sociology and social psychology, or micro-sociology. Among his most notable works are several multi-method pieces, including survey data, content analysis and ethnography. His work is sociologically and theoretical substantive. The work began with studies of special groups of consumers, such as Mexican-American immigrants, then moved to those consumers who used consumption in a compulsive manner and then transitioned to how various strata were affected by television viewing in terms of their beliefs about others, or economic and consumption norms. Dr. O'Guinn co-founded (along with then doctoral student, Albert Muniz, Jr.) a research stream on consumption and brand-centered communities. More recently, Dr. O'Guinn's work explores social strata, particularly social class, as it relates to the use and value of physical space within commercial settings, and the value of objects and services delivered with them. He is also currently working on social class and consumption within new American urban neighborhoods, institutional responses by marketers to social disruption and a sociological model of brands.
