SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION

Sustainable Consumption

Sustainable Consumption

Ethical consumption, fair trade, consumer protests, brand backlashes, green goods, boycotts and downshifting: these are all now familiar consumer activities - and in some cases, are almost mainstream. They are part of the expanding field of 'radical consumption' in a world where we are encouraged to shop for change. (Littler, 2008)

But just how radical are these forms of consumption? This book offers an interdisciplinary approach to examining contemporary radical consumption, analyzing its possibilities and problems, moralities, methods of mediation and its connections to wider cultural formations of production and politics.

Jo Littler argues that we require a more expansive vocabulary and to open up new approaches of enquiry in order to understand the area's many contradictions, strengths and weaknesses. Drawing on a number of contemporary theories, terms and debates in media and cultural studies, she uses a range of specific case studies to bring theory to life. (Littler, 2008)

By analysing practices of radical consumption, the book explores a number of key questions:

Is ethical consumption merely a sop for the middle classes?

What are the contradictions of green consumption?

Should we understand corporate social responsibility as a form of consumer-oriented greenwash?

Who benefits from the new forms of cosmopolitan caring consumption?

Can such forms of consumption ever move beyond their niche market status to become an effective political force?

Can we really buy our way to a better, more equitable or sustainable future?

Radical Consumption is important reading for cultural, media and sociology students.

The phrase “sustainable consumption” was not much used until “Our Common Future”, The Brundtland report, was issued in 1987. The concept was an immediate success, and the world “sustainable” has since been used in a number of contexts, more or less completely changing the rhetoric of environmentalism. During the last decades we have witnessed a shift in the environmental focus from nature to society, and from the natural sciences to the social sciences. (Littler, 2008) While the focus in the 70ties was placed on pollution and biodiversity it has more or less been replaced by eco-efficiency and energy use, within the concept of factor four or factor 10.

During this process the centre of attention has also gradually shifted from production processes and manufacturing towards consumption. Thus, the Oslo-declaration on sustainable consumption from 2008 has put the main challenge for a sustainable development on consumption and consumer praxis.

To some degree we have also recognised a shift from consumption, as an economic and material category, to consumers as economic and political actors. One reason behind this shift is the fact that eco-efficiency of products has been countered by increased consumption. The results have been that the environmental impact of consumption in many areas has increased, in spite of substantial technical innovations. This phenomenon is called the rebound effect in the economic literature, but is also recognised within other disciplines. (Littler, 2008) Uiterkamp has the following reference to the phenomenon: “This seems to be a common finding: technological improvements are offset by volume effects resulting from behavioural, ...