Political consumerism and food activism

Abstract

Some citizens refuse to buy brands that do not comply with specific environmental or social norms, others buy fair-trade clothes or join community-supported agricultural projects, and still others adapt their whole lifestyle to avoid consuming animal products. Whatever form it takes, citizens increasingly use their purchasing power to support and advance a variety of political values, such as environmental protection, animal rights, fair working conditions, and childfree labor. Political consumerism is a central mode of political participation that has attracted much scholarly attention in the last decades. Some scholars view political consumerism as a way to mobilize citizens who are disconnected from politics and who seek individualized modes of action (Bennett, 2012;Stolle and Hooghe, 2011). Others criticize political consumerism for its narrow understanding of politics based on individual interests (Johnston, 2008), for draining resources away from other political actions (Berglund and Matti, 2006), and for reinforcing the power of ever-expanding markets (Jacques, 2016). Environmental researchers point to the narrow understanding of social change that accompanies political consumerism (Maniates, 2001). They show how corporations highjack the concept of sustainability through green consumption (Dauvergne and LeBaron, 2014) and how they influence the environmental movement through financial support (Assadourian, 2016). Altogether, these studies enquire about the capacity of political consumerism to bring about social change in the face of multiple environmental challenges. Yet political sociologists devote limited attention to question the democratic imagination that these forms of action carry. Hence, the following research question guides the reflections presented in this chapter: how political consumerism contributes to shaping citizens' relation to politics. To answer this question, I argue that we need to distinguish different forms of political participation that broadly fall under the label of political consumerism in order to examine specific conceptions of citizens' participation and democratic social change that prevail in each action form.The hybrid consumer-citizen is a central actor in contemporary democracies. Ever-expanding markets shape individuals' everyday life across multiple life spheres. Want to cook a meal for your friends? Hire a chef. Want to graduate? Pay someone to write your thesis. Want a baby? Rent a uterus. Want to become president? Invest millions in a political campaign. In advanced capitalism, everything appears to be for sale, and this phenomenon does not spare democratic life (Sandel, 2000). Commodification processes affect democracies at different levels, influencing the selection of elected representatives but also the shape of public policies (Bartels, 2009;

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