Dr Liz Moor

Staff details

Position Senior Lecturer in Media and Communications
Email l.moor (@gold.ac.uk)
Phone +44 (0)20 7919 7831
Dr Liz Moor

My research looks at the way different forms of communication shape our economic lives. My most recent book, ‘Communication and Economic Life’ (to be published in 2021 by Polity), argues that Media and Communications scholars have typically construed ‘the economy’ too narrowly: by focusing most attention on media representations of the macroeconomy, we often ignore the more subtle ways in which different communicative forms and media knit our economic lives together.

The book traces out a variety of these communicative forms – from bank notes to price personalisation algorithms, and from literary narratives to self-promotion in the workplace – to offer a more wide-ranging account of everyday economic communication.

I have also recently published work on the communicative history of money and payment, on price personalisation and discrimination, and on women’s talk about money and relationships. I also have a working paper on the way people talk about receiving financial help from family members (the ‘bank of mum and dad’).

My previous work on communication and economic activity focused on two main areas: brands and branding, and the design industry. My book The Rise of Brands (Berg, 2007) examined the emergence of the branding industry in the UK, and traced its connection to changing trade regimes, new modes of governance and a more developed media culture. The book also looked at the relationship between branding and intellectual property regimes, and at the global, national and local dynamics at play in various types of brand communications.

A second (edited) book, Design and Creativity: policy, management and practice (Berg, 2009, with Guy Julier), looked at the use of different design methods and practices by business and government, the forms of audit, management and accountability associated with this, and their implications for traditional understandings of creativity. I have also published work exploring the extension of market logics into the public realm, and the use of ‘social marketing’ techniques by governments. Before joining the department, I taught Media and Cultural Studies at Middlesex University. I did my PhD – about the spatial and architectural dimensions of branding, and the growth of the branding industry – in the Sociology department at Goldsmiths.

Areas of supervision

I am interested in supervising postgraduate research about the communicative aspects of economic activity, particularly from the perspectives of economic sociology and the sociology of markets. Previous PhD students have written about the rise of ‘embedded branding’ on television and online in the UK and Israel, the branding of Hezbollah, and the ‘economic imaginaries’ of civil servants and journalists.

I am part of the Charisma network, and on the editorial board of the Journal of Cultural Economy, and Valuation Studies.

Publications and research outputs

Book

Moor, Liz. 2007. The Rise of Brands. Oxford, New York: Berg. ISBN 9781845203849

Edited Book

Moor, Liz and Julier, Guy, eds. 2009. Design and Creativity: Policy, Management and Practice. Oxford, New York: Berg. ISBN 978-1-847-88306-3

Book Section

Moor, Liz. 2014. Branding. In: Jennifer Smith Maquire and Julian Matthews, eds. The Cultural Intermediaries Reader. London: SAGE, pp. 77-88. ISBN 978-1446201336

Moor, Liz. 2011. Neoliberal Experiments: Social marketing and the governance of populations. In: Detlev Zwick and Julien Cayla, eds. Inside Marketing. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 299-319. ISBN 9780199576746

Moor, Liz. 2011. The Making of Place: Consumers and Place-affiliated Brands. In: Andy Pike, ed. Brands and Branding Geographies. London: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, pp. 75-91. ISBN 978-1781001493

Lury, Celia and Moor, Liz. 2010. Brand Valuation and Topological Culture. In: Melissa Aronczyk and Devon Powers, eds. Blowing up the Brand. New York: Peter Lang, pp. 29-52. ISBN 978-1-433-10867-9

Moor, Liz. 2009. Designing the state. In: Liz Moor and Guy Julier, eds. Design and Creativity: Policy, Management and Practice. Oxford, New York: Berg, pp. 23-39. ISBN 9781847883063

Moor, Liz and Julier, Guy. 2009. Introduction: Design and Creativity. In: Guy Julier and Liz Moor, eds. Design and Creativity: Policy, Management and Practice. Oxford, New York: Berg, pp. 1-20. ISBN 978-1-847-88306-3

Julier, Guy and Moor, Liz. 2009. Conclusion: Counting Creativity. In: Guy Julier and Liz Moor, eds. Design and Creativity: Policy, Management and Practice. Oxford, New York: Berg, pp. 256-272. ISBN 978-1-847-88306-3

Article

Moor, Liz and Friedman, Sam. 2021. Justifying inherited wealth: Between ‘the bank of mum and dad’ and the meritocratic ideal. Economy and Society, 50(4), pp. 618-642. ISSN 0308-5147

Moor, Liz and Kanji, Shireen. 2019. Money and relationships online: communication and norm formation in women’s discussions of couple resource allocation. The British Journal of Sociology, 70(3), pp. 948-968. ISSN 0007-1315

Moor, Liz and Lury, Celia. 2018. Price and the person: markets, discrimination and personhood. Journal of Cultural Economy, 11(6), ISSN 1753-0350

Moor, Liz. 2018. Money: communicative functions of payment and price. Consumption Markets & Culture, 21(6), pp. 574-581. ISSN 1025-3866

Moor, Liz and Uprichard, Emma. 2014. The Materiality of Method: the case of the Mass Observation Archive. Sociological Research Online, 19(3), pp. 1-11. ISSN 1360-7804

Moor, Liz. 2012. Beyond Cultural Intermediaries? A socio-technical perspective on culturalization and the market for social interventions. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 15(5), pp. 563-580. ISSN 1367-5494

Moor, Liz and Lury, Celia. 2011. Making and Measuring Value: Comparison, singularity and agency in brand valuation practice. Journal of Cultural Economy, 4(4), pp. 439-454. ISSN 1753-0350

Moor, Liz. 2009. Global Brands. Global Media and Communication, 5(1), pp. 99-111. ISSN 1742-7665

Moor, Liz. 2008. Branding Consultants as Cultural Intermediaries. The Sociological Review, 56(3), pp. 408-428. ISSN 0038-0261

Moor, Liz and Littler, Jo. 2008. Fourth Worlds and neo-Fordism: American Apparel and the cultural economy of consumer anxiety. Cultural Studies, 22(5), pp. 700-723. ISSN 0950-2386

Moor, Liz. 2007. Sport and Commodification: a reflection on key concepts. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 31(2), pp. 128-142. ISSN 0193-7235

Moor, Liz. 2006. 'The Buzz of Dressing': commodity culture, fraternity, and football fandom. South Atlantic Quarterly, 105(2), pp. 327-347. ISSN 0038-2876

Moor, Liz. 2004. Brands, Property and Politics. Soundings, 28, pp. 49-61. ISSN 1362-6620

Moor, Liz. 2003. Branded Spaces: the scope of 'new marketing'. Journal of Consumer Culture, 3(1), pp. 39-60. ISSN 1469-5405

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