This thesis aims to understand the position of divorcing consumers with regard to their needs and experiences within a financial service provision context. Underlying the study is a question of whether they represent a marketing segment with unique and identifiable service needs that can be understood and met. The historical developments of consumption theory are explored and related to the roles of the consumer and the prodi t in socially constructed realities. Goods have meaning and consumers, acting as drivers to those meanings justify consumption and shape the contexts within which goods can be marketed. The perspectives of consumption are applied to families and their cultural significance as consumer units is explored. The family as a site for identity formation and for gender consumption roles is discussed as a precursor to understanding the implications of divorce.