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The article shares the author's views about groovology and its importance to the music industry in the U.S. It states that groovology is created as a useful anthropological science for understanding musicking, performance practices and it can illuminate social action where non-participatory discrepancies stop the flow or groove. It mentions that learning to move and groove is a vital protection if children are immunized against passivity and consumerism.

This paper is about the literary representation of supply chains: the political‐material pathways by which goods are produced and delivered to consumers. It considers the ethical and aesthetic problems posed by the fact that the daily lives of people living in consumer societies in the Global North are deeply dependent on material networks that sustain violent relations between people and with earth's ecologies. How can we be ethical global citizens when we are already material global subjects? The paper considers how literature confronts this ethical‐representational challenge, and asks whether literature might help us take responsibility over the material economic networks that structure our everyday lives. I examine two novels that make use of strikingly similar techniques for narrating their characters' immersion in globalized economies: Ben Lerner's 10:04 (2014) and Ling Ma's Severance (2018). Both novels strive to represent the incomprehensible global economy by calling attention to their inability to represent it. I argue that this technique—which I call the "supply chain sublime"—ultimately reflects the incapacity of current forms of collective political agency to manage our material lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Catholics personalist authors have been always concerned about consumerism, which is considered a radical dissatisfaction that compulsively tries to fill the emptiness of the inner self. It is a form of idolatry where malls are modern cathedrals. What are the antecedents and consequences of this moral approach, inducing consumers' engagement in anti‐consumption behaviors? This conceptual paper updates the literature review about this research topic, acknowledging the thoughts written in encyclical letters of three Popes of Catholic Church: John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis. This paper also proposes a new model of ethical decision‐making model that aims to describe the implications of recognizing consumerism as a moral/spiritual issue according to the Catholic Church teaching. This paper provides useful insights into the influence of Catholic teaching on the adoption of anti‐consumption behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ecological impacts of consumption are well acknowledged, and most people worldwide are likely to have encountered proofs for or information about it. Likewise, online and offline media seem to be full of information on the issue. Even so, large numbers of people are 'non‐political' consumers, inconsiderate of the ethical and ecological implications of what they buy and consume. Using representative survey data from Sweden collected in 2019, this paper shows that a major reason for non‐political consumerism can be seen in the lack of interpersonal 'recruitment' efforts; that is, deliberate attempts by some to influence another's consumption. Moreover, the analyses show that for a person having faced such attempts by others to influence their consumption is distinct from them discussing political consumption issues. With this, the paper also provides one of the first large‐N studies confirming recent theoretical propositions of an extended definition of political consumerism: discussion, that is, discursive action, is a sub‐form of political consumerism next to boycotting, buycotting, and lifestyle change. Interpersonal influence, in turn, is a key predictor of political consumerism. Altogether, the results suggest that spreading information may feed discursive actions. Yet, to get more people change their consumption choices and engage in political consumerism, what is needed is that people influence each other to do so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conceptual analysis contributes to extending the transformative potential of mindfulness for consumers and society by creating a mindfulness matrix that uncovers new linkages across previously siloed mindfulness literatures and by arguing that next‐generation mindfulness research and practice should draw on underexplored synergies between these. The paper makes three key contributions: First, it illustrates how a shift in understanding mainstream mindfulness from a predominate focus on the Self may create new opportunities for individual and collective wellbeing. Second, its mindfulness matrix offers an integrative mapping of relevant literatures to different motivations for engaging in mindfulness, suggesting opportunities for integration between diverse schools of thought. Finally, it argues that to broaden the scope of mindfulness to generate wisdom and transformative capacity in one and all, we need a stronger emphasis on understanding mindfulness as prosocial engagement. This offers new opportunities for research and interventions that promote consumer, organizational, and societal wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the ethical or moral turn of the social sciences, especially in sociology in the works of Zygmunt Bauman and in anthropology in the works of Didier Fassin. These scholars have embarked on relating morals or ethics to their particular area of specialization. We note that their contributions have highlighted the moral or ethical questions in their respective field works and empirical observations and have produced moral or ethical discourses or frameworks in their respective area or field. Ethics or morality (sometimes) morals is not just a theory but also practice in their respective disciplines and advocacies. This moral or ethical practice is translated into questioning our cognitive frameworks and political consequences of globalization or consumerism affecting some groups or individuals in contemporary world. We shall consider morality as human actions while ethics is the reflections on those actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary profit‐oriented development and consumption cultures have led to unsustainable behaviours and lifestyles and prevented our achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). This article explores how arts and aesthetics could form a trend of thought to reshape current production and consumption patterns. I argue that the Arts and Crafts movement of 19th‐century Britain provides many clues for today's industries and societies to create sustainable values, including its defence of labour value, promotion of arts education, and pursuit of nature and honest aesthetics. This article analyses the movement's historical contexts and vital propositions and associates them with the United Nations' SDGs. The implications are multidimensional and interconnected. Firstly, developing small‐scale and customised products or services that meet customers' cultural and life experiences might extend product longevity. In addition, such manufacturing transformation requires incorporating craft ideas into various industries and techniques and forging cross‐sector collaboration to enable open innovation and employment equity. Finally, enterprises could work with public sectors and cultural institutions to promote community empowerment and everyday aesthetics, cultivating public awareness of responsible production and ethical consumption. This paper provides interdisciplinary discourse to turn arts and crafts values into tangible schemes for sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contemporary economic growth models have directed the economies on an unsustainable trajectory where the present generation seems disenchanted with the heap of waste, debt, and insufficiency inherited from their forefathers. The present paper is an attempt to analyze the cause of consumerism and recommend an eco‐spiritual policy perspective for ensuring sustainable development. The paper analyzes that the United Nations recently announced Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) cannot lead the economies towards sustainable development. Ensuring sustainable development will require curbing consumerism consciously through exploring the unexplored spiritual dimension, which can inspire humanity to lead a life of simplicity, moderation, and minimum desires for sustainable and all‐inclusive development. It has been stressed that aspiration of breakthrough result requires moving away from the external to the inward synthesis of the spiritual aspects, which believes in co‐existence, acknowledging care, and concern for both human beings and the nature. The paper argues for an eco‐spiritual perspective for furthering the goal of sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines Generation Z consumers' perceptions of a good life beyond consumerism and how their perceptions and practices have evolved during crises and the cultural context in which they live. We present a unique theoretical and empirical cross‐cultural investigation which focuses on the ecological crisis and COVID‐19 pandemic, and the changes they have caused to Gen Zs' daily lives in the United States (California) and Finland. Two large qualitative data sets were collected through focus group interviews and open‐ and closed‐ended surveys before and during COVID‐19 and analyzed via the PERMA framework. Findings revealed that Gen Zs' pathways that lead to a good life include: healthy behaviors and balance; positive and meaningful relationships; happiness and positivity; meaningful things; productivity and goals; and daily routines. Findings also indicated that since COVID‐19, Gen Zs are increasingly shifting toward virtuous behaviors and eudaimonic‐oriented life, in which moderation, meaningfulness, and self‐realization play key roles. Gen Zs are characterized as a global consumer cohort and a driver of change for a sustainable future, thus understanding how these future professionals, leaders, and mainstream consumers perceive a good life provides theoretical and practical insights into how to provide ecologically sustainable well‐being for nature and future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports that the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff is holding the first research conference since the formation of the Institute of Consumer Sciences incorporating home economics. Organizations which merged to form the Institute of Consumer Sciences; Theme of the conference.

This paper extends the discussion on alternatives to consumerism by examining how consumers may distance themselves from the market by entering communal interdependency, aspiring to create alternative social structures and culture. We apply the lens of ideological work to analyse how an eco‐community in Turkey attempts to achieve a communally agreed ideal. A participatory ethnography allowed us to observe how this aspiring collective of individuals manage the tensions that arise between the variously derived ideals and the efforts to communally achieve the ideal. Specifically, our ethnography uncovers how aspirations for transformation from market dependence to communal interdependence are brought into existence through practical and symbolic ideological work. The paper presents the community members, their ideals and aspirations, and the community's activities. It discusses the challenges faced when the symbolism and practicalities of ideological work come together in quotidian life. The paper shows the role of ideological work in generating communally agreed alternatives to consumerism and in managing moral dilemmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 pandemic has led to an increase in the factors that typically facilitate the endorsement of materialistic values (e.g., higher media consumption, stress and anxiety, loneliness, death anxiety, and lower moods). In this paper, we examine how contextual changes affecting the antecedents of materialism influence its advocacy with a mixed‐method approach. First, a correlational study (Study 1) suggests that increases in media consumption and stress and anxiety during the pandemic predicted current levels of materialism, however, these effects were limited. Second, contrary to our expectations, a longitudinal study (Study 2) shows that people's focus on money decreased during the pandemic. Last, a social media content analysis (Study 3) reveals a downward trend in users' online discourses about consumption‐related behaviors, but an upward trend in brands promoting spending as a way to attain well‐being. The observed effects could fuel deeper societal change in the labor market and in consumer behavior, and have further implications for individual and societal well‐being in a post‐pandemic world. We recommend future interventions aimed at diminishing materialistic attitudes to examine the effects of decreasing media consumption and to explore how other factors introduced by the pandemic (e.g., a health or well‐being focus) might moderate its advocacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the higher education literature surrounding happiness and related notions: satisfaction, despair, flourishing and well-being. It finds that there is a real dearth of literature relating to profound happiness in higher education: much of the literature using the terms happiness and satisfaction interchangeably as if one were tantamount to the other, such conflation being due to the move towards consumerism within higher education and the marketisation of the sector. What literature there exists that actually deals with the profound happiness of students in higher education, generally argues that in the United Kingdom institutions do not currently do enough to promote happiness in higher education. These findings imply that flourishing, contentment and well-being should be regarded as legitimate goals of higher education, alongside satisfaction and related economic outcomes that are currently promoted across academic and policy literature, university rankings and the National Student Survey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewal and reformation are indispensable for the growth of person or an institution. Every Christian as an individual and as a member of the church community is in need of renewal to proclaim boldly the gospel of Christ and bear witness through their lives. Secularization and depravity of moral values poses serious challenges to the faith life of a Christian. Moreover, the rise in fundamentalism, jingoism, consumerism, social and political inequity, and environmental degradation are breeding a state of hopelessness, angst, and ennui in the society. Christians and the church need spiritual renewal and transformation to be the salt of the earth and the light to the nations. The Holy Spirit is the principal agent of all genuine spiritual renewal and evangelization. Pope Francis, in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, invites all Christians and the church itself to seek renewal in the Holy Spirit by having a personal encounter with Jesus Christ and grow in his discipleship. In this paper, I shall examine the concrete steps the church and Christians need to take for genuine renewal in the Holy Spirit to do the work of evangelization, in the light of the teachings of Evangelii Gaudium. The main source for this paper is Evangelii Gaudium and other church documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I advance Odera Oruka's insights on the ethics of consumerism in order to draw relevant implications of his thoughts on rethinking the problem of obesity. I argue that Oruka's ethics of consumerism and his right to human minimum theory entail some salient ideas that might serve as a better ethical model for reducing the global obesity prevalence. Though Oruka's African moral philosophy is yet to receive universal attention it arguably deserves, the interests of the international and 'globesity' community would be better served learning from the contributions of an African moral theory to contemporary bioethical discourse on obesity. Oruka's moral thoughts are by constitution, a deontological and cosmopolitan call for reducing hunger in globalized world, while also indirectly, addressing obesity of the poor. I show the limitations of his ethics of consumerism, and the shortcomings of such ethics in the context of obesity of the poor. Consequently, I develop a neo-Orukan virtue based ethics that is worthy of attention in efforts towards addressing the obesity tide. No such perspective currently exists in the context of obesity; yet the exigent need for one is necessitated by the defects of the libertarian and harm principle approaches in Western bioethical discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Executive governmental authorities contribute a discourse, making-up, outlining and configuring the consumer. The objective of this paper is to elaborate on the discursive construction of the consumer provided by governmental institutions. Exemplified by Finnish and German policy documents, this paper tries to provide an insight on the consumer as the subject that is governed by politics. Thus, a discourse analytic approach reveals according to what rationale the consumer is discursively constructed on a dichotomous sovereignty-vulnerability-continuum. Hence, this paper provides actors and institutions that are involved in consumer policy deliberate basic principles for the understanding of consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes a critical look at progress and prospects regarding the sociology of pharmaceuticals over the years. Key themes examined include: (i) medicalisation and pharmaceuticalisation; (ii) regulation; (iii) consumption and consumerism; (iv) expectations and innovation. Papers in the monograph are also introduced and discussed in relation to these themes. The paper concludes with some further comments and reflections on progress and prospects in this field, emphasising the continuing importance of sociological engagement with these personal and political issues in the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The premise of this paper is that the consumption behaviour of ‘Northern’ citizens places Majority World citizens at great risk. A theoretical evolution suggested in this paper is the extension of the notion of risky consumption to include the impact of consumption on the human security of others. Until people can envision that their consumption behaviour places others at risk of exposure to harm, they will not see the need to perceive, assess and manage the risk. The paper tenders a preliminary reconceptualization of risk perception, using the conventional consumer behaviour model constructs of personal, distribution channel and situational factors. From this new perspective, instead of judging whether the good or service is risky for a ‘Northern’ citizen to consume, risk perception scholars would examine people's perceptions of whether their consumption places fellow citizens at risk, the people labouring and producing the goods and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the status quo regarding the interface between marketing, social and environmental issues, culture and consumers, and strategic management by integrating sustainability. A qualitative display network technique, based on the bibliometric methodology of co‐citation analysis, was applied to examine research clusters. An integrative review was conducted to explain the connections within these clusters. To evaluate potential patterns among the studies through citations, different sets of relationships among applicable sustainability theories in marketing practice were paired in different sets and analyzed. After mapping the scientific structure of journal publications and intellectual linkages, six cluster groups emerged, reflecting the important role of marketing in linking sustainability, society, environment, consumers, and corporate sustainable development. This study contributes to social and marketing research and corporate sustainability practice by categorizing the intellectual structural network within various streams and indicating the influence of social and cultural notions on consumer‐focused sustainable marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overconsumption is a widely used term in science, media and among concerned consumers. What do we mean by this term? This study is based on the assumption that both the public debate on consumption and consumer research could benefit from better understanding how this term is used and from clarifying the definition. The primary aim of this study was to describe how the term 'overconsumption' is being used in the contemporary scientific debate in fields related to consumer studies. This was done by studying the use of the term in scientific journal papers between 2010 and 2012 using qualitative content analysis. It is concluded that overconsumption is often described as consumption of hedonic goods by individuals with undesirable personality traits, low moral or belonging to minority groups. Furthermore, overconsumption is described as having detrimental effects both on the individual consumer, the society and the environment; however, direct individual effects are more frequently mentioned in the studies. The term is seldom defined explicitly. This might lead to confusion and misunderstanding between research fields and between different stakeholders. A structured framework for generating clear and useful definitions is suggested in this study, based on the reviewed papers and a theoretical framework from moral philosophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased policy emphasis on the 'patient experience' places the health consumer in centre stage as the driver for healthcare delivery. This poses challenges for service providers to meet the needs of more vulnerable groups, notably those with disabilities, who are often more likely to be both in greater need of services and, at the same time, less able to access them. This paper reports an interpretive synthesis of qualitative research studies in the UK and US on the experience of vulnerable patient groups using a broad range of health services. An interpretive review method was adopted to capture the complexity of the data. Eighteen papers were identified as meeting the inclusion criteria for the review. Seven key themes were identified: life experience, service design, point of delivery, accessibility, availability, specialist education/training and consumer typology. Although policy makers and providers often refer to the need for greater consumerism in the development of health services, our review suggests that it may be appropriate to consider a model of 'mediated consumerism' for some groups of service users. While some concerns are common to both mainstream and vulnerable consumers, others such as accessibility of services, and the resulting experience of health care, are particular to specific vulnerable groups. Accessing the experiences of these more vulnerable groups therefore warrants close attention in the development of both policy and practice in health service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on elements of critical discursive psychology in order to explore some of the issues and concerns raised by parents' responses to the policy and practice of school choice. Drawing on data from a group of mothers of diverse social class and racial backgrounds, this paper examines the dilemmas some mothers engage with in their role as chooser-reconciling competing rationalities for choosing or trying to manage contradictions. A central argument of this paper is that the policy and political context shaping the emergence of school choice in Britain has provisionally secured the development of certain trends in education-consumerism, individualism and competition. Alongside and coupled with this has been the veneration of a narrow utilitarian conception of parents as consumers of education services, defined as people who share the capacity and willingness to maximize the utility of their decisions in a rationally self-interested way. This paper questions the value of this approach as a framing for understanding the aspirations, motivations and fantasies informing parents' school choice and highlights instead the ways in which some mothers articulate the importance of community in their decision-making practices. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumption, ‘to use up, to destroy’, is a dirty word. It conjures piles of rubbish; it suggests an extravagant attitude. We, each one of us hoping to be a unique, careful individual, can feel offended at being referred to as ‘the consumer’. Yet, ‘to consume’ is not only a human activity, it is one of the fundamental processes of nature, a natural aspect of the creative process. In this paper, I will emphasize connections between the creative research process, poetics and consumerism. I suggest that research can be envisioned as a cycle of consumption and renewal. Our tools in such a natural philosophy are the contemplation of natural events, and the insights that a poetic understanding of language can give us. To this end, I draw on the ancient Epicurean philosophy, as demonstrated in De rerum natura, written by the Roman poet, Lucretius, in the first century BCE. Lucretius gave a scientific explanation of the universe, in poetry, to demonstrate that natural laws can be derived by reason, contemplation and by the use of the senses. Further, Lucretius' use of language, as a creative medium, modelled the actions of the universe. This insight provides a link between poetry, science and research, one which is still relevant to twenty-first-century scientific research generally. In this paper, I will suggest that it is also specifically relevant to the design and practice of consumer research. For instance, both research and creativity are aspects of that urge to move beyond subjectivity, towards knowledge that is whole and shared. In Epicureanism, subjective engagement provides access to that which is universal. We can conceive of consumerism, and of consumer research, in the same terms, as a striving for completion, and as a poetic, natural and reciprocal act, involving the transformation of the consumer, and that which is consumed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from the literature on the analytics of government, the paper discusses marketing as a form of government, elaborating and illustrating the many ways in which consumer choice is shaped, modified and directed in the market through practices and techniques of consumer marketing. The aim is to critically reflect upon and render problematic the individualistic ideas of the green consumer as a powerful market force and to provoke discussion on the conceptualization – and construction – of consumer subjectivity and social problems in marketing. Taking examples particularly from the fashion and clothing industry, the paper discusses the ways in which marketing activities come to shape consumer conduct by operating through the choice of individuals who freely pursue their needs and desires, and by working on the environment within which this freedom of choice is exercised. The paper contributes to the literature on green consumerism by systematically interrogating and elaborating on the modes and practices of marketing thought and expertise through which consumers and consumption are rendered intelligible and actionable in the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper illustrates the growing interest in understanding consumer behaviour through a social learning theory (SLT) lens, and explains the recently launched United Nations Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Then, the discussion turns to an overview of a recently developed ESD/SLT integrated theoretical framework, which is then applied to consumer education via an authentic pedagogy. The paper highlights the rich potential of authentic intellectual work in the form of observational learning by augmenting ESD within authentic consumer education curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moving away from paternalism to more equal forms of interaction in the patient–doctor relationship has been seen in positive light by policymakers, patients' rights advocates and scholars alike. Nonetheless, against the background of commercialisation and consumerism, empirical research showcases how reduced asymmetries bring in tensions and friction between patients and doctors (Greenfield et al. 2012). This paper contributes to the discussion through the examination of the patient–doctor relationship in the niche setting of private transnational healthcare markets which involve patients travelling overseas for care and where commodification, consumerism and care go hand‐in‐hand. It is geographically focused on two large cities in South‐Eastern Europe as settings where health care is provided to foreign patients – Athens and Istanbul – and empirically draws on qualitative interviews with doctors who run small/medium practices. The findings highlight that, despite excessive consumerism, power asymmetries are not mitigated but patient vulnerability shapes the patient–doctor relationship. In the transnational context, the patient faces an additional source of vulnerability: a condition of foreignness. As such, the findings stress that one relationship model (the consumerist) does not, per se, replace an older one (e.g. the Parsonian). Instead, the consumer–provider dimension co‐exists with the client–expert, patient–doctor and, finally, host–guest relation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A central theme underpinning the reform of public-sector services in western economies since the 1980s has been the emphasis on reorienting service provision around the user. Public-sector organizations have been forced to reappraise the design of the service delivery process, in particular the service encounter, to take account of the resultant changes in service users' expectations. Such focus on the service user has fundamental implications for public-sector professionals, specifically challenging the dominance of service professionals in the design and delivery of services. Based on a survey of patient attitudes towards service provision in the National Health Service in Scotland (NHSiS) and in-depth interviews with senior hospital clinicians and managers, the paper critically examines the reaction of both patients and professionals to politically driven initiatives to reorientate the delivery of health-care services. Specifically the paper explores the emerging perspectives of both patients and professionals towards the consumerization of health care and the changing nature of the relationship between patients and professionals within a publicly funded health-care system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social habits and economies driven by profit are opposing efforts to reach a path of sustainable development. In addition, many communities worldwide have diverged away from nature through consumerism and technology. In the context of the escalating risks and consequences related to global challenges such as the climate crisis and ecosystem degradation, education for sustainable development and science‐driven decision‐making offer tremendous opportunities for improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the social organisation of risk within online drug‐related communities. Drawing on in‐depth interviews with participants from two Norwegian Internet drug forums, the paper illustrates how participation in such forums influenced notions of risk, and how it supported notions of participants as being informed, responsible and empowered. First, the forums facilitated an easy exchange of user‐generated drug information, which helped members present themselves as informed and competent. Second, members used the communal resources on the forums to negotiate their drug‐using identities, in which they resisted stigma and argued for a responsible drug‐using identity. Third, the social inclusion and sense of community within the forums formed the basis for collective support, which helped empower those involved. Conceptualised as community‐consumerism, these findings highlight the social mechanisms involved in the information self‐sufficiency and decentralisation of authority on the Internet, in which members created an alternative frame of reference for drug use and associated health. The concept of community‐consumerism offers a perspective on the social organisation of risk within online communities and ought to be of relevance for future studies on online health‐related discourses, not only those related to drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Veblen's status emulation theory in the background, but essentially engaged in theoretical debates on the transition to capitalism and modernity, this paper attempts to provide a comparative account of different forms of domination in Western European feudal society and the Ottoman Empire. In contrast, an individualistic representation of reality gained prevalence in social conflicts in Western Europe, precisely because forms of exploitation associated with European serfdom were far more severe and un‐tempered than was true for the Ottoman Empire. Due to being short of a legitimate claim to genuine nobility, Western European feudal aristocracy was driven into an insatiable hunger for luxury and waste. In the absence of a powerful central authority, members of this class "turned inward" for their ever‐increasing exploits and waged war against their servants, living and working under their private jurisdictions. The peasants, both free and serf, not only revolted repeatedly, but also ran into the cities to have "fairly secure property rights" so that they would be "the lord" or "dominus" of their own lives and morality. Out of this, a new justice notion had grown, that of natural rights law, which equated all human individuals within one single concern, that of "the right to self‐preservation," eventually dragging the whole social fabric into heightened self‐centeredness. The Ottoman ruling class could not turn inward and wage an open class war against its servants. This was the land of peace, dar‐al Islam. All people, Muslim and non‐Muslim lived, or were supposed to live, in peace and harmony under the supreme order of Hakk. The transition to an individualistic justice notion along the lines of natural rights law was on the whole clogged in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rise of neoliberalism, a corporate-dominated state-assisted deregulated growth strategy, which has caught most countries in the throes of what can be termed a 'growth trap', has indeed yielded significant economic gains for many but has also entailed inexorable social, moral and environmental adversities. This paper argues that the reason we experience the incongruities between economic growth and social nourishing is the fact that we treat economy over society as our end goal. We regard economic growth as the end-all sum. Given the social and other costs this obsession with growth has inflicted upon societies, it is important that we escape the neoliberal growth trap and recalibrate our focus from the economy to society, to ensure that neither growth nor 'development', but rather formation of what this paper terms 'good societies', those that nurture and thrive on values of equity, empathy, social justice and environmental sustainability, should be the end goal. By drawing lessons from several philosophical and practical ideas, the paper offers policy options relevant to the implementation of the 'good society' concept both within and across nations. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rise of neoliberalism, a corporate-dominated state assisted deregulated growth strategy, which has caught most countries in the throes of what can be termed a 'growth trap', has indeed yielded significant economic gains for many, but at the same time has also entailed inexorable social, moral and environmental adversities. This paper argues that the reason we experience the incongruities between neoliberalism induced economic growth and social nourishing is because we give economy primacy over society, sometimes to its cost. Given the colossal social, environmental and moral damage that the pursuit of neoliberal economic growth has caused to society, it is important that we recalibrate our focus from the economy to society and ensure that neither growth nor 'development', but rather formation of what this paper terms 'good societies'-- entities that nurture and thrive on values of equity, empathy, social justice and environmental sustainability -- constitutes the end goal of all public actions. By drawing lessons from several philosophical and practical ideas, the paper offers several policy options relevant to implementation of the 'good society' concept both within and across nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper extends the growing research on the influence of religion and spiritualism on consumer behaviour by exploring the relationship between spirituality and religiosity (intrinsic vs. extrinsic) as well as their effects on consumers' purchase of Fast Moving Consumer Goods brands promoted by spiritual leaders (spiritual brands). Results from an online survey of 238 Indian consumers across four food product categories (honey, cheese, biscuits and cooking oil) shows that both intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity have significant positive effects, but spirituality has no significant effect on the purchase of spiritual brands. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings as well as some limitations of our study and useful directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non‐confrontational engagement practices like ethical consumption are a popular form of everyday politics. Existing research into these practices offers positive evaluations (highlighting the value of everyday engagement in public life) and critical perspectives (questioning whether myriad small acts can address structural barriers to equity and sustainability). Meanwhile, less emphasis has been placed on understanding the underlying ideals and motivations for political action that seeks to avoid traditional politics. In order to advance such understanding, this case study uses participant observation and semi‐structured interviews with 57 individuals whose daily paid or unpaid leadership roles shape eat‐local initiatives. We find that in the local food realm, participants idealize pleasurable, convivial and pragmatic engagement and these ideals culminate in a particular form of everyday action we term 'small‐p politics'. The paper offers a theoretically and empirically informed investigation of non‐traditional political engagement in eat‐local movements, concluding that it emerges from a site where: (a) cultural change is prioritized above contentious politics; (b) rejecting traditional political activity is linked with achieving tangible outcomes; and (c) consumers are deemed the ideal agents of change. Non‐traditional politics play a prominent role in the landscape of contemporary civic engagement. This research advances our existing knowledge of such practices by providing a thick description of the political ideals that endorse consumption‐based approaches to change in the realm of local food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Green electricity tariffs are one means by which green consumers can contribute to a more sustainable future. This paper profiles potential adopters of green electricity tariffs. Potential adoption is measured in terms of respondents' willingness to pay a premium for green energy in a national survey of the UK population. Hypotheses based principally on the cognitive-behavioural literature on green consumerism and green energy markets are developed. These are tested using a broad range of variables, which are grouped into three categories (demographic, attitudinal and behavioural). Consistent with past research, the empirical analyses find that attitudinal variables best characterize potential adopters. Further, potential adopters are found to have higher income, be better informed with respect to energy matters, show concern for the environment and believe that individual actions can make a difference to environmental decay. The implications of these findings for marketing and environmental policy are explored. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumer participation in the evidence-based health-care movement is largely seen as important by those who promote evidence-based health care but is surrounded by a range of competing discourses that variously critique medicine, nursing or health-care systems; situate consumers as powerless players within systems characterized by controlling health professionals; or politicize the role of the consumer as activist and defender of patient rights. This paper explores these competing discourses and develops an argument that asserts that the social construction of the evidence-based movement has rendered previously accepted terminology regarding the user or receiver of health services relatively meaningless. The result has been the ‘politicisation’ and ‘professionalisation’ of consumer participation and the time has come to reconstruct consumer participation in evidence-based health care – from the generation of evidence to guideline development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper elaborates on the motivational complexity of green consumerism using a simple model of motivation as an analytical tool. The objective is to provide insights into the challenges that environmentally concerned ‘green consumers’ may face in the markets, as well as to illustrate the limitations of framing and targeting environmental policy measures in terms of individual motivation and morally responsible decision making. On the whole, the paper argues that as a private lifestyle project of a single individual, ‘green consumerism’ is much too heavy a responsibility to bear. Therefore, the author joins the growing number of scholars who argue that in environmental policy the focus on individual consumers is limited and thus needs to be problematized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how trusting relations between consumers and vendors of organic fresh fruits and vegetables (FFVs) in a particular type of farmers’ market (FM) in Ireland are established and maintained, and what the implications of this are. First, the food system is outlined, and then its attendant problems. These problems have led to various solutions, two of which are organic food and FMs. Then, the growth in these two areas is outlined, as is the accompanying growth in the academic literature on these two areas, some of which overlaps. Various pressures, including in particular the increasing distance food travels and disconnected stallholders and products at the FM, are suggested. In light of this, a need to apply an understanding of the reflexive consumer, trust and social movements is suggested. It is found that the consumers interviewed act reflexively by choosing to go to these FMs. They prioritize the trusting relationships built up through repeated personal contact at these FMs over and above organic certification. Along with and as part of this, they prioritize local, fresh, seasonal ‘chemical-free’ FFVs over and above imported certified organic produce. Various aspects of collective identity formation, including modes of behaviour, objects and stories, and language, are involved in this process. These elements, to some extent, act as a buffer against the pressures of distance and disconnection. Along with this, the essential meaning of the word organic is, in this particular context, reconstructed to include various socio-environmental values missing from some certified organic produce. The word postorganic is suggested. The main methodologies used are semistructured in-depth interviews and participant observation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses 'digital consumerism,' which is the application of traditional concepts of consumerism to consumer vulnerabilities in digital markets. The relationship of digital consumerism to paradigms of consumer empowerment and consumer vulnerabilities is discussed using examples from the relevant literature. The findings of this literature survey identify new aspects of consumerism in digital markets that have the potential to enhance consumer well-being. The literature survey also revealed that consumer vulnerabilities have grown in complexity faster than regulative efforts. Therefore, there is a need for a reconceptualization of consumerism in order to improve consumer protections and to develop better functioning and healthier digital markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will also will argue that the NHS, despite its aspirations to provide a universal service of excellence, has not been historically very responsive to the consumers it serves. Under the present Government this attitude has ostensibly changed. "Patients First" has become a catch phrase both nationally and at the local level in Brighton Health District. A recent CHC survey of consumers' reactions to service revealed however that many elderly patients were not consulted in any meaningful way about their needs on discharge from hospital. Why does the reality of consumerism not match the rhetoric? A number of potentially explanatory factors are identified and their relevance evaluated in the context of Brighton CHC's research. It is suggested that the currently fashionable consumerism represents a different concept from active participation which would necessarily involve a fundamental realignment of the NHS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By introducing political consumerism into the vocabulary of the anti-Mafia movement, Addiopizzo activists - a group of post-grad students formed in 2004 - have been able to effectively encourage a growing number of entrepreneurs and shopkeepers to join together to oppose the extortion racket systems in the city of Palermo, Italy. By referring to social movements approaches, the paper discusses how a small, locally-based Social Movement Organization (SMO) has succeeded in mobilizing different segments of society by connecting its symbolic, material and structural dimensions. Data for the analysis came from several sources: interviews with the activists themselves, participant observation, media analysis and a structured questionnaire distributed to 277 entrepreneurs who had joined the mobilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumer education is an integral part of the European Community's consumer policy. It plays a key role in consumer empowerment, helping consumers gain the skills, attitudes and knowledge they need to be able to gear the choices they make as consumers to their economic interests and to protecting their health and safety. In its policy statement, the Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection states that the European Community is aware that joint measures at national and Community levels should be more structured, in order to achieve maximum effectiveness. This presentation/paper aims to set out the current policy and strategic context for consumer education and empowerment in the UK; review the role of UK government bodies and other agencies concerned with developments; review recent literature; present the results of interviews with an extensive range of key stakeholders and the results of a survey of service heads for Trading Standards throughout the UK. It will consider implementation, partnership, resources, ideas and opportunities. The research found that the agenda for consumer education in the UK is at an interesting stage of development. The Enterprise Act 2002 gives the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) a statutory power to carry out educational activities. Consumer education is also moving up the agenda in the Trading Standards Service. In addition, the teaching of citizenship in English schools is already stimulating new developments in consumer education. The paper will consider the need for organisations like these to work together to build on these policy developments and ensure that consumer education gains the profile it needs to influence consumer attitudes and behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay departs from the figure of exoticism to theorize chinoiserie for the twenty-first century, so we may better address the new realities and forces at work in the context surrounding the (re)creation and redefinition of the 'orient.' The paper takes as its focus the cult of posthumous Mao that became fervent in the 1990s and has since the turn of the millennium created a nexus in which global capitalism and 'effective authoritarianism' negotiate conflicting interests and, together, create a line of development in their search for a global modernity. I argue that Chinese state capitalism in the twenty-first century took advantage of cultural consumerism made possible by global capital while working upon and with the genealogy of orientalism, of chinoiserie, in the so-called West. I seek to show that the commodity industry of posthumous Mao today witnesses chinoiserie's transformation from a western fantasy into a policed imagination - a chinoiserie with Chinese characteristics. For the first time, perhaps, in the case of 'China,' the orient constructs itself, for its own purposes, as the 'Orient,' the product of a new chinoiserie that serves the state along the lines of its nationalist and universalizing ambitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent trend toward health care consumerism is largely the product of market practices, which have instilled the notion of health care as a product to be purchased by informed, empowered consumers, rather than a service bestowed upon a patient by a paternalistic provider. In recent years, health care consumerism has been facilitated by direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of pharmaceutical products. In this paper, we use the case of DTCA for antidepressant medications to examine medicalization techniques used to promote consumerism and establish and expand the antidepressant market. We used content analysis of DTCA from the 1997-2006 issues of a broad sample of women's, men's, and common readership magazines to identify techniques of medicalization, and we analyzed in-depth interviews with magazine readers and antidepressant users to examine how such messages are received. Findings are presented within a framework of economic sociology, which allowed us to unveil the links between emotions and social action that undergird responses to medicalization techniques and consumption of advertised products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco‐certifications offer consumers the opportunity to vote with their money for more sustainable methods of production. While consumer‐facing eco‐labels are mostly recognized and consumed in western countries little is known about their performance in expat societies. This study applies world society theory to a sample of Arab, Western, and South Asian United Arab Emirates (UAE) residents to test whether globalization causes assimilation of familiarity, attitudes, and buying frequencies for major eco‐labels. The results show that respondents with Western ethnicities are more familiar with eco‐certifications. However, Arab, and South‐Asian citizens report similar or higher levels of importance for the purported benefits of eco‐certifications. Among respondents familiar with eco‐certification, we found no differences in buying frequency by ethnic group. Findings related to ethnicity support world society theory because social, environmental, and quality ideals converge among different ethnic groups in the UAE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green consumption attempts to reduce capitalism's environmental impacts by influencing consumer behaviour. It is based on the premise that consumers can be provided with information about the environmental conditions of production through 'eco' labels and brands, enabling them to make choices about their consumptive patterns. In response to the growth in green consumerism, there has been a flourishing theoretical and empirical body of work in a wide range of social science disciplines critiquing green consumption from a broadly Marxian perspective and raising questions about capitalism's environmental limits. In this paper, I explore how recent scholarship has advanced Marxian and Green Marxian theory and consider its implications for green consumerism. I focus on the following three arguments: (i) that capitalism's emphasis on profit and a relentless pursuit of economic growth tends to create a 'metabolic rift' so that people are increasingly separated, spatially and socially, from the ecosystems that support them; (ii) whilst green consumerism plays up the ability of individual consumers to influence production, power tends to lie with large producers and retailers; and (iii) whilst in principle green consumption empowers consumers by providing with them greater information about the conditions of production, it tends to obscure more fundamental problems such as the intensity of resource consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how variations in the notion of public sector consumerism become embedded in diverse governance practices. To this end, we extend the literature on public governance logics with insights from research on public sector consumerism and hybridization in public sector management reforms. Through a comparative, multi-level analysis we trace the development of two governance logics largely corresponding to the distinction between New Public Management (NPM) and New Public Governance (NPG) in Swedish transport infrastructure policy. In contrast to research predicting or prescribing a relatively radical shift between such governance logics we show how they partly co-evolved along two reform paths entailing notable variations in the degree of hybridization and the embedding of consumerist notions in emerging governance practices. In doing so, we draw attention to how the hybridization of governance logics is contingent on the alignment of diverse interests and differences in the process through which such logics are brought together. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research into public sector consumerism and hybridization in public sector management reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Medical tourism' has frequently been held to unsettle naturalised relationships between the state and its citizenry. Yet in casting 'medical tourism' as either an outside 'innovation' or 'invasion', scholars have often ignored the role that the neoliberal retrenchment of social welfare structures has played in shaping the domestic health-care systems of the 'developing' countries recognised as international medical travel destinations. While there is little doubt that 'medical tourism' impacts destinations' health-care systems, it remains essential to contextualise them. This paper offers a reading of the emergence of 'medical tourism' from within the context of ongoing health-care privatisation reform in one of today's most prominent destinations: Malaysia. It argues that 'medical tourism' to Malaysia has been mobilised politically both to advance domestic health-care reform and to cast off the country's 'underdeveloped' image not only among foreign patient-consumers but also among its own nationals, who are themselves increasingly envisioned by the Malaysian state as prospective health-care consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumption is a major driving force in China's economy. The consumer society is particularly emerging in the more urbanized and affluent regions in China. Given the rise of consumerism on the one hand, and the rise of overweight and obesity on the other, this study explored whether the proliferating consumer culture is a threat to the traditional health culture in China. The lifestyle-oriented approach used in this study does not confirm a straightforward relationship between an upward trend in Chinese with (economic) assets to join the consumer society and a downward trend in health interest among urban Chinese. The result that the rise of the consumer society is not directly accompanied by a devaluation of health issues does not imply that lifestyle research is of no use. On the contrary, this paper successfully identified four dimensions of health-related lifestyle for urban China, namely Food-health Belief, Perceived Knowledge, Health Careless and Group Conformity. This result is informative with respect to the complexity of sociocultural factors influencing the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]