Recent trends indicate diminishing public engagement with formal electoral politics in many advanced liberal democracies, especially among the younger generations. However, evidence also suggests that there has been a simultaneous interest by many young citizens in political consumerism. In large part, this interest is shaped as a response to the individualisation and strict 'economism' driven by the underlying forces of neoliberalism. Disenfranchised and disillusioned by the seeming incapacity of the purely political sphere to respond to their individualised claims, and having internalised the neoliberal critique of democracy, these young empowered citizen-consumers often search for the 'political' within the bounds of the marketplace and are increasingly attracted to consumerist methods of political participation, such as boycotting and buycotting. Given the susceptibility of political consumerism to a neoliberal modus operandi, the lack of available literature problematising its emergence as a response to neoliberal principles is somewhat surprising. The present article will address this gap by connecting the declining levels of electoral participation among younger generations in post-crisis Europe to the rise of political consumerism within the neoliberal ideological hegemony of the 'marketopoly'. We distinguish between two antithetical, but complimentary effects. Firstly, the internalised neoliberal critique of democracy emphasises the 'push' out of the public into the commercial sphere. Secondly, the emerging individualisation of modern 'liquid' politics advanced by the postmaterialist sensitivities of young people's previously affluent socialisation call attention to the existence of a parallel 'pull' effect into the 'marketopoly', as a habitus of youth political participation. In both cases, the reorganisation of political participation as consumption, and the re-styling of young citizens as 'empowered' consumers, delineates political consumerism as an efficacious response to their political disengagement in an increasingly marketised world.
Political consumerism consists of buycotting and boycotting and refers to the conscious and consistent use of the market for ethical, environmental and eventually political considerations. Nevertheless, at present there is no academic consensus about how best to conceptualise and empirically measure this form of political participation. The aim of this article is to address this gap by constructing a comprehensive survey instrument to measure political consumerism, in the form of the ‘Political Consumerism Index’ (PCI). This PCI is tested for validity and reliability and applied to a primary sample of young people in the UK and Greece, to shed light on the differing underlying motivations of young political consumers in the two countries. A combination of linear regression analysis and a series of non-parametric tests reveal the distinct advantages of this PCI over the commonly-used dichotomous behavioural measures of political consumerism. Our analysis reveals that political consumerism in both the UK and Greece is driven by young people’s conviction about the effectiveness of their consumer behaviour, their environmental motivations and their willingness to sign online petitions or join protests. There are also important differences across the two groups. Young UK political consumers are more likely to be female, relatively older, with a stronger local community outlook and postmaterialist sensitivities. Instead, young political consumers in Greece demonstrate both a generalised rejection of partisan politics and believe that market competition brings out the worst in people, while they perceive political consumerism as a means to support their national economy.
Political consumerism refers to citizens’ use of boycotting and buycotting as they seek to influence political outcomes within the marketplace rather than through more traditional routes such as voting. However, given the pressure that neoliberalist forces exert on the marketplace, the lack of literature problematising the relationship between political consumerism and neoliberalism is somewhat surprising. Addressing this gap, we examine how neoliberalism impacts youth political consumerism in the UK and Greece. Focus-group findings suggest the existence of two inter-connected effects. Firstly, we detect a neoliberal ‘push effect’ away from electoral politics. Secondly, we discern a parallel ‘pull effect’ as young people seek the ‘political’ within the marketplace. In Greece, youth political consumerism seems to result primarily from distrust of institutional political actors. In contrast, young political consumers in the UK appear to be principally driven by confidence in the capacity of the market to respond to their pressing needs.
This commentary reflects on Huttunen and Albrecht’s exploration of the representations of young people’s environmental citizenship within the framing of the Fridays for Future (FFF) movement in the Finnish news media and on Twitter. In particular, it problematises the issue of the recognition of young people’s agency by their adult contemporaries, at a watershed moment for global environmental activism. It argues that although young people actively bring the climate change in the forefront of political discussion aiming to shape how environmental responsibility is being understood, the success of the movement will largely depend on the acknowledgement of their political message by its intended recipients; namely their adult contemporaries and politicians.
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