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Critical MLM Studies: an introduction to the field and its fault lines
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Critical MLM Studies: an introduction to the field and its fault lines

Deanna Grant-Smith
Critical Perspectives on Multilevel Marketing: An Introduction to the Field of Critical MLM Studies, pp.1-18
The Future of Work and Employment series, Edward Elgar Publishing
2026
url
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Abstract

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. [Book Synopsis]

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