Food consumption and political agency: on concerns and practices among Danish consumers

Increasingly ordinary individual consumers are expected to perform some kind of societal or political agency. In the debates about political consumption it is a recurrent topic to what degree consumption practices can be seen as political practices and how many consumers perform such practices. The aim of this article is to empirically qualify the demarcation of the political in individual consumer activities by integrating the concept of political agency in the definition of political consumption. On the basis of empirical results from a representative survey among food consumers in Denmark, the article suggests that by supplementing the criteria of consumers performing specific consumption activities with a criteria of consumers expressing political agency, a more precise empirical delimitation of political consumption can be achieved. Three groups of food consumers are identified: those who perform political consumption practices; those who perform politicized consumption practices; and those who vocalize the discourse of political consumerism.     

Dark times for cosmopolitanism? An ethical framework to address private agri-food governance and planetary stewardship

The scholarly tradition of cosmopolitanism (illustrated by the old saying, “I am a citizen of the world”) offers important insights into the examination of agri-food multinational corporations (MNCs) as powerful global actors. Acknowledging that agriculture is the business sector with the highest planetary environmental impact, in this paper, we advance existing discussions around cosmopolitanism and the normative implications of considering agri-food MNCs as political actors. Relying on an integrative literature review, we propose a tripartite ethical framework that gives a new momentum to the ideals and tenets of cosmopolitanism. This novel lens offers an integrated, seamless ethical approach and revolves around three dimensions: culture, morality, and governance. The first dimension examines key agri-food cultural and social-ecological issues, the second acknowledges interdependence and causality as central to understanding MNCs’ ethical responsibilities, and the third outlines several governance parameters around legitimacy, planetary reach and efficiency. Hence, our integrative framework resituates the planetary geographical imagination of cosmopolitanism within the biophysical parameters outlined by the planetary boundaries concept, advancing key issues on private agri-food environmental governance and planetary stewardship.     

Personal values associated with political consumption: an exploratory study with university students in Brazil

Emerging countries have witnessed an incredible change in their societal structure in the last few years. In Brazil, the economical rise of the middle class brought more that 100 million people to the marketplace. This stimulus to consumerism (i.e. the social and economic order that encourages the purchase of goods and services in ever‐greater amounts) is accompanied by a notable growth in social movements and mobilization of citizen‐consumers, which indicates changes in the values of individuals and concerns with the direction the society is taking. Conscious and political consumption consequently arises as an alternative way. Especially among young consumers such issues are interesting to address from a theoretical and social point of view, as this new generation will shape the future of the nation. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to analyse socially conscious and political consumption in terms of consumers’ civic engagement as political citizens. We argue that the young political consumer is value‐oriented. The study relied on quantitative research, conducted through an internet‐based survey where 458 valid questionnaires were obtained. Schwartz's Portrait Values Questionnaire was used to measure personal values of the interviewees. Conscious and political consumption were measured through eight questions addressing alter‐ and anti‐consumption actions. The results indicated significant differences among the personal values of the university students that were classified as political consumers. Universalism and benevolence stood out among the core values of this group, with prominence of self‐transcendence, appreciation for equality and concerns for the well‐being of others. However, a gap was observed between the discourse and action of interviewees, once only one‐third of the sample undertook some form of political consumption. The conclusion was that most of the university students interviewed show the will to change society with individual actions, but demonstrate very little political commitment, and currently do not act politically in their purchases.     

Ambiguous framings of political consumerism: means or end,product or process orientation?

For dealing with various societal problems, ‘political’/‘ethical’/‘responsible’ consumerism is often discussed as an effective democratic and participatory tool. However, political consumerism – along with its tools, such as product labelling – is often conceived and discussed in oversimplified ways. Instead, the tension between scientific complexity, knowledge uncertainty and a codified, standardized label involves extensive political strategy, interest conflicts and simplified framings of the consumers’ roles as political decision makers. The purpose of this paper is to analyse how criteria for organic food labelling have been simplified, or framed, within various versions of political consumerism in policy debates. The more general purpose is to examine variations of what consumerism may entail theoretically and practically. Examples are chosen of organic food labelling in the US. The analysis is based on framing theory. The first distinction is made between framings surrounding the extrinsic and intrinsic values of consumerism (i.e. consumer empowerment towards an external goal, or as an overriding principle of democracy). The second distinction is between product‐ and process‐oriented consumerism (i.e. consumer empowerment with regard to the purchased goods or concerning the ‘invisible’ production and disposal processes). These distinctions may facilitate critical examinations of criteria, processes and communication of consumer‐related policies.     

An examination of the values that motivate socially conscious and frugal consumer behaviours

This article extends social psychological research on the motivations for sustainable consumption from the predominant domain of ecologically conscious consumer behaviour to socially conscious and frugal consumer behaviours. A UK‐based survey study examines relationships between socially conscious and frugal consumer behaviours and Schwartz's value types, personal and socio‐political materialism, and demographics among the general public. Socially conscious consumer behaviour, like its ecological counterpart, appears to be an expression of pro‐social values. In contrast, frugal consumer behaviour relates primarily to low personal materialism and income constraints. As such, it does not yet represent a fully developed moral challenge to consumerism.     

Factors affecting non‐green consumer behaviour: an exploratory study among Chinese consumers

The purpose of this study was to explore the factors that affect a typical non‐green consumption behaviour among Chinese consumers. A conceptual framework was developed and an empirical study was conducted using a geographically diverse sample of Chinese consumers. Based on the consumer choice theory, the conceptual framework in the current study included both economic and non‐economic factors. Ten research hypotheses were developed under the framework. A survey was conducted among 600 consumers in four cities in China in 2013. Confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical regression analysis were used for hypothesis testing. The empirical results showed that consumer preference, reference groups, and face perception have a significantly positive effect on the consumers’ non‐green consumption behaviour; whereas budget constraints and social responsibility consciousness have a significantly negative effect on the consumers’ non‐green consumption behaviour. Furthermore, the current research demonstrated that the relationships between consumer non‐green behaviour and its four antecedents – budget constraint, reference groups, social responsibility consciousness and face perception – are significantly moderated by extravagant atmosphere; whereas the relationship between consumer non‐green behaviour and consumer preference is not moderated by extravagant atmosphere.     

Political consumerism between individual choice and collective action: social movements,role mobilization and signalling

The notion of political consumerism has two implications. First, consumers wield some kind of power that they can use to effect social change through the marketplace. Second, political consumerism refers to and somehow combines the rationalities of two subsystems, politics and the economy. Yet regarding their everyday, individualized shopping decisions, consumers do not appear to command a great deal of power. What kind of influence, then, can individual economic decisions have on producers? Is that influence robust enough to attribute power to consumers? And if consumers do indeed have power, how can we conceive the implied translation of political concerns into the monetary logic of the economy? An answer to those questions needs to take into account the societal context of political consumerism. This paper analyses how political consumerism relates to the functional differentiation of modern society and how social movements are fundamental to understanding it. Through what I shall call role mobilization, social movements turn the role sets of their supporters into transmission belts for political objectives, and by authoritatively communicating those objectives, they provide signals to producers, who otherwise would not know a great deal about their consumers’ preferences.     

In search of status through brands from Western and Asian origins: Examining the changing face of fashion clothing consumption in Chinese young adults

Consumption for many is increasingly underpinned by the search for and creation of identity and status through specific consumption practices, including consumerism and placing a high priority on brands. One product category where such consumption practices underpin its growth and marketing is fashion clothing. The expressive nature of clothing makes it particularly important in societies where consumerism and status seeking is a priority. In picking up the significance and the role of fashion clothing, this study explores the impact of Chinese young adults’ consumerism, their status consumption tendencies and decision-making style on their perceptions of fashion clothing brands’ status, with origins from the West versus Asia. The results show that Chinese young adults prefer fashion clothing brands with Western origins over those with Asian origins. The levels of consumerism, status consumption and decision-making styles were major contributors to how they perceived the brands, and in this sense western fashion clothing brands may communicate status and wealth better than Asian brands. Further, the findings show a willingness on the part of young Chinese adults to buy more than what they need and look for prestigious-symbolic brands of fashion clothing.     

A cosmopolitan return to nature: how combining aesthetization and moralization processes expresses distinction in food consumption

This article investigates how foodies' adoption of New Nordic Food enables them to combine aesthetic and moral cosmopolitanism ideals. It demonstrates that consumers integrate aesthetic and moral cosmopolitan discourses through two complementary processes: the re-aesthetization of nature and the re-moralization of the exotic. These processes combine in a cosmopolitan interest for one of the last unexplored foreign contexts: nature. The findings of this article contribute to existing research by showing that moral cosmopolitanism reflects a more individualized and less engaged form of consumption than ethical consumption. They illustrate how urban consumers perform distinction in contexts where nature is the most exotic unexplored context, highlighting further the reterritorialization of global cosmopolitan consumption, where food trends can only be consumed authentically in their context of origin. Finally, this article shows how moral cosmopolitanism can support consumers who acknowledge the need for ethical consumption yet struggle with its adoption.     

An extension of the benefit segmentation base for the consumption of organic foods: A time perspective

Abstract

Benefit segmentation is a long-standing marketing approach that emphasises the ‘what’ and ‘how’ dimensions of consumer benefits; that is, what benefits consumers perceive in product/service consumption, and how such benefits are perceived. This research proposes a fresh time-based approach to benefit segmentation – namely, focusing on the ‘when’ element or when in time benefits take effect. Drawing upon a survey of UK consumers, it explains and discusses consumption motivations through examining antecedents of temporally dominated benefits in application to organic food. Specifically, the study investigates why some consumers predominantly seek present-based benefits vis-à-vis future-based benefits or vice versa in organic food purchase and consumption behaviour. Using correlation and regression analyses, the research findings establish significant associations of level of involvement, prior knowledge level, and product usage level, and some association of time orientation with the temporally emphasised consumption benefits consumers ultimately pursue. Overall, the research highlights the added contribution of a time perspective in a benefit segmentation approach which can assist marketers in understanding better and communicating more effectively with consumers through drawing up consumer profiles based on when in time their dominantly pursued benefit for an offering is perceived to take effect.     

Experiential liminoid consumption: the case of nightclubbing

This study addresses a lack of holistic understanding of experiential consumption by developing and empirically testing a conceptual model that investigates the process of experiential consumption – antecedents, the experience itself, and emotional responses. We explore Victor Turner’s anthropological concept of the liminoid to create an Experiential Liminoid Consumption (ELC) model, examining the relationships between experiential marketing and consumption constructs. The study adopted a quantitative methodology using a survey method and a sample of students. The conceptual model was analysed using partial least squares (PLS). Conclusions, implications, future directions, and limitations are suggested.     

Pet‐related consumption as a consumer identity constructor

The objective of this paper was to analyse how pet‐related consumption can be connected to consumer identity construction. This objective is based on the idea that consumers use symbolic meanings from possessions to construct and communicate their identities. Objects of attachment have especially been found to be closely connected to the formation of consumer identity. Furthermore, it is often assumed that consumers struggle to maintain a true sense of self or personal identity while retaining a feeling of belonging and social identity. This may be portrayed through layers of identity, which are composed of personal identity, social identity and other people. Empirical research was conducted using focus groups to create individual collages. The findings indicated that pet‐related consumption was used in the following six ways to construct consumer identity: ‘character developer’, ‘source of well‐being’, ‘means to connect’, ‘status communicator’, ‘object of devotion’ and ‘intermediary’, all of which found their places in the layers of identity. Each of these ways of using pet‐related consumption was paired with one other so that the extremes formulated three dimensions in a consumers' identity construction: the personal dimension, the social dimension and the dimension of emotional attachment. In conclusion, it was proposed that consumer identity construction illustrated via pet‐related consumption as created within both social interactions with meaningful others and those three dimensions is multi‐levelled and multifaceted. The paper invites future research to study both identity construction and emotional attachment, being such multifarious phenomena, and to explore the dynamic interactions that may exist.     

Exploring social change through social media: The case of the Facebook group Indignant Citizens

This study examines the role of social media in facilitating the network of a social movement, the novel forms of exchange networks that are fashioned by participants of this movement and the drivers and effects of individuals’ engagement therein. Specifically, using the lens of political consumerism, we look at the movement of self‐described Indignant Citizens in Greece to reveal the underlying motivations for participants to engage in this social movement, the dynamics of their engagement and the ways in which Indignant Citizens’ online presence enables identity expression, community building and social change. We draw on interpretive analysis of findings from eight focus groups with members of Indignant Citizens. The findings reveal how this movement and the shared identity developed amongst its members empower our participants by giving them a voice and engage them in role mobilization, drive specific actions towards the conceptualization of a shared utopia and provide them with a platform to organize action and employ desired practices for the co‐creation of useful and gratifying exchanges.     

Creative industries and Britpop: the marketisation of culture,politics and national identity

Do contemporary governments adapt to rising social movements or do they actually cause them? This paper endeavours to argue that although it is often difficult to determine the origins of social transformations, there are reasons to believe that there exists not only a co-option but also a conscious shaping of social changes by political projects or governments for their own benefit. Building on other contributions that state that popular culture and youth consumerism are used in favour of nation branding, the present study moves beyond this to analyse the active role that governments play in the marketisation and consumption of culture, thus artificially multiplying the effective impact of some cultural waves that ultimately serve political purposes. In particular, I examine the so-called “Cool Britannia” phenomenon that, founded on the flourishing of new creative industries, with Britpop in the lead, had a significant historic impact in Britain.     

Bio-politicizing consumption: neo-liberal consumerism and disembodiment in the food marketplace

How consumerism proliferates in society is central to consumer culture studies, yet little research has examined the power of consumerist discourses in shaping consumption at the intersection of marketing with State regulation. Drawing on Foucault's notions of governmentality and bio-power, a discourse analysis is conducted of food date labeling regulation. The study problematizes how labeling actualizes a form of neo-liberal consumerism within manufacturing and retail in which consumption is enacted as a site of bio-political control. Labeling, it is argued, fosters unsustainable excess consumption in the name of life and health of people by temporalizing and standardizing consumption, as well as disembodying the marketplace as an area for knowledge creation in consumption. Accordingly, the study discusses two processes “bio-politicizing” consumption that seek to dispense responsibility and re-distribute embodied consumption competence. Finally, it highlights the potential in people to resist such consumerism by developing alternative subjectivities and embodiments in the marketplace.     

Quantitative and qualitative insights into consumers’ sustainable purchasing behaviour: a segmentation approach based on motives and heuristic cues

The present study draws on the concepts of motives and heuristics to thoroughly understand consumers’ sustainable consumption behaviour in the context of personal care products. The mixed-methods approach combines real purchasing data with in-depth qualitative data to generate insights with a high external validity. In the first section of the study, quantitative analysis is applied to actual purchasing behaviour (n = 10,772,477) to identify market trends. Three main groupings, along with specific heuristic cues, are established. In the second step, a qualitative study (n = 21) provides deeper insights into consumers’ motives and decision-making processes. By synthesising the quantitative and qualitative research findings, a segmentation approach is developed. Relevant motives and values, and corresponding specific heuristic cues are identified for each consumer segment. Analysis suggests that consumers are motivated by self-interest and environmental motives, and that they use simple heuristic cues to make quick and satisfying purchasing decisions. Both retailers and manufacturers can leverage these insights to seize the opportunities of the developing market for sustainable personal care products.     

促进消费者合理消费的研究

随着经济的快速发展,我国消费者的心理与行为较以往发生了很大的变化。由于受西方消费主义和舆论宣传等方面因素的影响,消费领域存在许多不合理的消费现象,奢侈消费、炫耀性消费、盲目从众消费及冲动性消费等。政府、企业都应采取积极措施如正确引导消费,促使消费者树立科学的消费观,使消费行为趋于理性,从而进行合理消费。