Abstract
Political consumerism was developed during the 19th century and expanded at the turn of the century through social movements aimed at empowering civil society in the market. Many of these movements succeeded in building power on the consumption side. Today, we still witness several forms of political consumerism. This contribution explores the possibilities and limits of consumer involvement in sustainable consumption. The main finding of this study of the political organization of consumers is that the market may not be the only arena for changing consumer behavior. Instead, social constraint and political empowerment seem to be rather more efficient.
Highlights
Since the World Summit for Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg in 2002, consumption has been stressed as one of the main issues that developed countries should focus on
Earlier I presented two avenues for political consumerism that are proposed to consumers in France: first, through the government’s prescriptions and guidelines for changing consumption patterns regarding transportation and the use of energy or water, in home improvement or ordinary consumption; second, through the ethical products supplied by NGOs, cooperatives, alternative producers, and retailers
As in many other countries where consumer movements have been captured in the institutionalization of their representations, these movements strongly contribute to extending the functioning of a mass consumption system by organizing an expert and efficient advocacy of consumers’ rights
Summary
Since the World Summit for Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg in 2002, consumption has been stressed as one of the main issues that developed countries should focus on. As was shown by historians, several types of political consumerism always occur simultaneously: some try to target individual consumers and their purchasing power, others aim to build collective power through protest actions; some are very critical, others accept some kind of institutionalization These different forms of political consumerism still exist today, and they contribute differently to the genesis of new norms with respect to sustainable consumption. We want to show that the social control coming from the group provides specific incentives for consumers to collectively change their consumption behaviors This contribution intends to use the ethnographic interpretation of consumption behaviors [15,16] to explore the possibilities and limits of consumer involvement in sustainable consumption, by analyzing the contemporary conditions of political consumerism. Social constraint and political empowerment seem to be rather more efficient
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