Great, Madama Butterfly Again! How Robust Market Identity Shapes Opera Repertoires

Abstract

We develop a theoretical framework to explain how two aspects of market structures—divergent and convergent audience preference and within- and between-category competition—shape market identities. We focus specifically on robust market identities, an underresearched type of identity defined as balanced membership in divergent social categories. We argue that these identities are most prevalent in markets with more divergent audiences and less within-category competition. We test our arguments in the U.S. opera market. Statistical analyses of 96 opera companies’ opera repertoires from 1995 to 2005 support our arguments: U.S. opera companies enact robust market identities by systematically balancing conventional and unconventional operas depending on the divergence of their audiences and the competitive pressure from other opera companies.