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Critical Perspectives on Multilevel Marketing: An Introduction to the Field of Critical MLM Studies (The Future of Work and Employment series) - Hardcover

 
9781035344314: Critical Perspectives on Multilevel Marketing: An Introduction to the Field of Critical MLM Studies (The Future of Work and Employment series)
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 1035344319 ISBN 13: 9781035344314
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, 2026

Synopsis

This timely book critically analyses Multilevel Marketing (MLM) schemes, introducing what they are and why they are often associated with harmful outcomes. Leading experts assess how these exploitative income opportunities continue to attract thousands of people, despite frequently resulting in severe financial losses and compromised personal relationships.



Contributing authors investigate how MLM schemes create legitimacy by merging commerce, community and belief, while consumer protection is undermined through opaque business practices, weak regulations and industry lobbying. Chapters outline how MLM has created its own ecosystem of self-employment, masquerading as entrepreneurial freedom while advertising false autonomy and ensuring that few participants ever achieve meaningful economic reward. By emphasising participant experiences and tracing the entanglements of ideology, regulation and organisational strategy, this book advances Critical MLM Studies as a framework for understanding MLM as a global industry.



Presenting MLMs as frequently destructive and harmful, Critical Perspectives on Multilevel Marketing is an essential resource for scholars and students of business, economics and finance, management studies, marketing and consumer law. Consumer protection agencies and MLM activists will also benefit from its evidence-based approach.

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About the Author

Edited by Deanna Grant-Smith, Professor of Management, School of Business and Creative Industries, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia and Claudia Groß, Associate Professor, TIAS Business School, Utrecht, the Netherlands

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd
Publication date
2026
Language
English
ISBN 10 
1035344319
ISBN 13 
9781035344314
Binding
Hardcover
Number of pages
248
Editor
Grant-Smith Deanna, Gross Claudia