Introduction

In this chapter the ontological and epistemic underpinning of this book will be explored. Ultra-realist criminology and its transcendental materialist roots of subjectivity and zemiology will be introduced to provide a framework for understanding the multi-faceted cultural and corporeal motivations for buying, selling and using counterfeit illicit beauty products and services. Raymen and Smith's (2019) deviant leisure perspective that follows ultra-realism's ontological roots will also be outlined and its relevance to assess harms arising from the industry will be made clear. By drawing on these theoretical frameworks, the pernicious interconnection between the increasingly unstable and fluid job market, a culture of hyper-competitive consumer capitalism and hyper-comparison will be unpacked to better understand the research participants’ involvement in illicit markets.

Ultra-realism, subjectivity and motivation

Liberal capitalism often leads us to believe that we are self-aware, logical and autonomous individuals who freely choose to act in our best self-interest without regard for others. Such a conceptualization of the individual as having pure agency and consciously entering the nexus of social, economic and political relationships comprising ‘society’ fails to engage with the complexity of human subjectivity and the unequal distribution of resource and opportunity. In failing to consider this complexity it is impossible to fully grasp how and why individuals continually and knowingly engage with a consumer culture that perpetuates harm for themselves, for others and for our shared environment.