Table Of ContentVARIETIES OF POLITICAL
CONSUMERISM
From Boycotting to Buycotting
CAROLIN V. ZORELL
Varieties of Political Consumerism
Carolin V. Zorell
Varieties of Political
Consumerism
From Boycotting to Buycotting
Carolin V. Zorell
University of Mannheim
Mannheim, Germany
ISBN 978-3-319-91046-8 ISBN 978-3-319-91047-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91047-5
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P
reface
It is not uncommon that the amount of research that is being done into a
subject and its real-life weight differ from each other remarkably. Green
and Hale show in the April 2017 issue of PS: Political Science & Politics
that this appears to be the case particularly for political science research
into subjects related to environmental politics. As they point out, while
climate change is among the top three most important rated policy issues,
fewer than around 4 per cent of political scientists identify it as their pri-
mary research interest. Equally, publications on the subject remain scarce
compared to the study of elections, policies or international security, for
example. This book is about a concept which reflects this counterintuitive
trend particularly well.
Political consumerism has become one of the most popular modes
through which citizens articulate their political preferences besides voting.
In 2003, Michelle Micheletti published the constituent book Political
Virtue and Shopping, in which she notes the rise of individuals who base
their shopping decisions on ethical, ecological and societal considerations.
Since then, the number of citizens who ‘boycott’ the buying of a product
because they reject particular market practices, or who deliberately buy or
‘buycott’ a product to approve of a firm’s conduct, has sharply increased
and continues to do so. The survey which I conducted in Germany in
2014 for the study presented in this book, illustrates the impressive rele-
vance well. Also, it reconfirms the high figures obtained in other recent
studies: around 60 per cent of the German general population make their
everyday purchases with political considerations in mind. Similarly, recent
figures for the UK, for example, suggest that more than 50 per cent of the
v
vi PREFACE
population uses their consumption decisions for political purposes. To put
these figures in context: depending on which country and which type of
elections one looks at, voting turnout usually reaches around 60 to 80 per
cent. Thus, the pervasiveness of political consumerism comes very close to
that of the most popular form of political participation, electoral
participation.
Furthermore, it is often argued that political consumerism is a phenom-
enon of the wealthy, living in individualistic, saturated democracies.
However, as Echegaray showed in 2015 for several Latin American coun-
tries, and as a Nielsen survey reveals which was conducted in 2014 among
30,000 people in 60 countries, in fact, similar tendencies are visible world-
wide. Around the world, many citizens are aware of the political back-
ground of their purchases, and they take this into consideration when
deciding what to buy or not to buy. Likewise, on the supply side, sales of
‘ethical’, ‘sustainable’ and ‘organic’ goods are consistently growing in
spite of economic turmoil, and they are more rapidly expanding than con-
ventional products. Prominent boycotts of Nestlé and Shell, for example,
and widely expressed consumer disaffection with companies such as
H&M, have noticeably affected their and other firms’ policies. In addi-
tion, these developments have stirred attention in politics. Product label-
ling schemes, production regulations, and consumer information and
protection measures have mushroomed in recent years. In short, the polit-
ical backgrounds and consequences of production and consumption have
become mainstream political concerns.
Political consumerism mirrors particularly well current developments in
science and society. The ‘political consumer’ is a person who takes into
account political concerns when deciding what to purchase or to explicitly
not purchase. It is a person who unifies individual needs and desires with
political aspirations, common societal concerns, and apprehensions.
Therewith, the phenomenon reflects the multidimensionality, intertangled
character and ambiguous nature of the world in which we live and act.
Likewise, it reflects the complex nature of a world centred on consump-
tion and economic growth, which at the same time needs to face chal-
lenges such as the overharvesting of natural resources, climate change and
human abuses; these circumstances demand the individuals to reflect on
their behaviours.
But the path which the concept has taken in research illustrates the
tragedy of science. Inquiries into political consumerism started to take a
dynamic development at the turn of the century. We learned much about
PREFACE vii
the political consumer and her (since political consumers were—in the
beginning—found to be mainly women) motivations, her socio-economic
background, her ethical rationales and her political orientations. The
beginnings were promising and illuminating. However, as research into
the phenomenon evolved, ‘political consumerism’ was fractionalised into
sub-concepts such as ‘green’, ‘sustainable’, ‘environmental’, ‘ecological’,
‘ethical’ or ‘conscious’ consumption, each of which is studied in new
detail. But by studying the same explanations for each of the sub-concepts,
the advancement and delivery of new revelations appear to have become
stagnant.
In addition, the fractionalisation can blur the relevance of political con-
sumerism and may be one reason for its weak position in research vis-à-vis
other forms of political participation, despite its immense relevance.
Indeed, political consumerism is shown to constitute its own new mode of
political participation, rather than being the extension of existing ones
such as protest politics or civic involvement. Thus, the weight of political
consumerism on the repertoire of political participation forms is compara-
tively large. Notwithstanding this importance, the number of books pub-
lished on the subject has been fairly limited. Moreover, neither can the
hitherto prevalent variables satisfactorily account for the dramatic differ-
ences that exist across countries, both in the scope of involvement in boy-
cotting and buycotting and in their relative distribution. Nor can they
explain why individuals evidently distinguish between boycotting and
buycotting.
Decision-making is a complex process. Besides the individual back-
ground, a multiplicity of factors are influential that emanate from the spe-
cific circumstances in which the decision is immersed. Furthermore, in
addition to their personal background and attitudes, citizens make their
participatory choices based on factors which are related to the external
environment they grow up and live in. Yet, little systematic research has
been done on the link between individual boycotting and buycotting deci-
sions and the macro-societal context in which these decisions take place.
This book is intended to close this gap.
In Chaps. 1, 2 and 3 of the book, I bring together theoretical insights
from political science, sociology and social psychology research and inter-
weave them into a model explaining why boycotting and buycotting
develop differently in and across countries. The fundamental idea guiding
me therein is that boycotting and buycotting are two inherently different
forms of action. To make this explicit distinction between the two permits
viii PREFACE
me to systematically study how boycotting and buycotting are related to
individual decision-making and to the macro-societal environment in
which they occur. As Joseph A. Schumpeter notes, whenever factors do
not act in one way only, ‘the necessity arises of going into the details of its
modus operandi’ (1947, 149). In a world where politics, economics and
societal concerns become progressively more entwined, where shared nat-
ural resources are depleting and media are disseminating information and
awareness, politically motivated consumption can gain further bearing.
But in order to study the impacts, developing an appropriate understand-
ing of the concept itself is essential. As I will show, studying boycotting
and buycotting as two separate and at the same time related concepts
facilitates this more precise comprehension of the phenomenon of ‘politi-
cal consumerism’. In addition, it reveals the manifold ‘varieties’ of political
consumerism that exist, and the fascinating complexity underlying indi-
vidual behaviour and general societal developments. By unravelling the
concept, I present to the reader a general explanation for why varieties of
political consumerism exist, both at the level of individuals and across
countries. Thereby, the book will contribute to attaining an accurate
appreciation of the relevance of political consumerism in the future world
of politics and, with it, in political science research.
It is time to expand our understanding of political consumerism. With
this book, I hope to inspire and to lead the way to further investigation into
this highly relevant, fascinating and yet under-researched phenomenon.
Mannheim, Germany Carolin Zorell
a
cknowledgements
Like many books before, this book grounds on countless hours of disci-
pline, endurance and despair. Yet, perhaps more importantly, it would not
exist without the support, patience and cooperation of and with a good
number of people.
The book builds on my doctoral thesis, which, to begin with, I might
never have pursued without my grandfather’s inspiration and belief in me.
Therefore, I owe him my first and dearest gratitude. But no less important
is the position and academic support that permits one to pursue such
endeavours. So, I also would like particularly to thank my supervisor and
key mentor, Jan W. van Deth. He believed in me and my project, asked the
right questions at key moments, and pushed at decisive times, thereby
helping me to accomplish the enterprise very efficiently, successfully and
quite satisfactorily.
Furthermore, I want to thank Sebastian Koos, with whom I had many
encouraging conversations about the work. And, crucially, it is him who
introduced me to Sigrid Baringhorst and Mundo Yang, and thereby estab-
lished the beginning of a series of great collaborations. One of them the
reader will get to know in this book: a survey which we conducted together
in 2014. The study in Chap. 5 uses the data from that survey to investigate
the varieties of political consumerism at the level of individuals. Our col-
laboration permits me to present original insights into the modes of, and
developments in, political consumerism in Germany. Also, the survey proj-
ect was an experience of both academic importance and personal value for
which I am very grateful.
ix
x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Speaking of the survey, I must also thank my colleagues at the Chair of
Political Science and International Comparative Social Research in
Mannheim for the invaluable discussions and feedback on my work. Their
input helped with the structuring of our questionnaire, my analyses and
my written work immensely. At the same time, I thank the Stiftung der
Deutschen Wirtschaft (sdw) for their financial support as Doctoral Fellow,
which not only gave me the great privilege of being able to fully concen-
trate on my research project, but also enabled me to widen my interdisci-
plinary understanding and perspective immeasurably. Certainly, this
contributed to the scope of the present book.
Then, there is of course my family, in particular my parents and my
brother. Countless discussions with them, their immense patience and
their incredible support were and continue to be the anchors of my work.
I owe the same immense gratitude to my brilliant flatmates and friends
from Robert-Blum-Straße and Riedfeldstraße, for both the inspiring early
bird discussions and the provisions of diversion, which helped me to get
through those recurring phases in which work seemed endless, insur-
mountable and hollow. Lastly, I want to thank my dear friend, colleague
and key discussion partner Sarah Ciaglia for her priceless honesty, reflec-
tion and constructive question-marks. And, not less importantly, for the
many walks and talks along rivers, sea-sides and city streets, which con-
tinue enriching my work and ideas.
Indeed, throughout the work on my thesis and on this book manu-
script, I valued the liberty and intellectual autonomy which characterise
work in research repeatedly. Nevertheless, a good book is relatively easy to
read. Writing a good book, in turn, can be a test of nerve, strength and
skill. I thank Ambra and a great reviewer for their belief in the book, and
I now hope that it is a ‘good’ read, easy to understand and illuminating.
