Politics by other means: Marketing, consumption and engagement

Materialism and consumer culture are often criticized for the deleterious effects they are assumed to have on civic connectedness. The rising trend of socially conscious consumption, such as buying fair-trade products, offers a challenge to this view of consumer behavior. However, little research exists testing the relationship between socially conscious consumption and traditional measures of civic and political engagement. In particular, the role of consumer-oriented mass media messages in connecting consumption with citizenship remains underexplored.;Using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, this study seeks to clarify the role mass media play in orienting consumer behavior to the civic realm. Data are drawn from three experiments and a series of depth interviews to explore how one particular kind of consumption, what I term socially conscious consumption, can encourage civic and political engagement and prosocial attitudes.;The data suggest that, rather than replacing conventional political behaviors, socially conscious consumption serves as an effective gateway to political and civic participation among certain groups of people. Those who are more involved with the consumption moment and who are more satisfied with their lives are more likely to respond to socially conscious consumption in political ways, for example by voting, volunteering or joining a demonstration. The data also reveal that it is through attending to private, individual concerns that consumers address moral and ethical issues at the collective level. Socially conscious consumption taps into and encourages a kind of enlightened self-interest whereby concern for the self, as expressed through consumption, breeds concern for the collective. This study challenges ingrained distinctions between citizenship and consumption, demonstrating that the dichotomy between selfless, other-oriented citizens and selfish, materialistic consumers is false and misleading. Instead, it offers empirical support for claims that consumer behavior can be a site of expanding and meaningful citizenship, with salutary implications for civic renewal and political socialization.