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'In the context of the tourism and hospitality industry, this book aims to offer a comprehensive blend of theoretical insights and empirical research. It delves into sustainable practices, customer experiences, co-creation dynamics, technology-driven tourism encounters, and emerging paradigms in digital marketing. By fostering a deeper comprehension of the evolving market dynamics, this book empowers the tourism and hospitality sector to proactively embrace the challenges and seize the opportunities that define the present era. Specifically, it provides an understanding of new tourist behaviors and how the tourism and hospitality industry can adapt and improve their business strategies'--

Presenting a contemporary reflection on ethical and sustainable consumption, this insightful Research Handbook explores the challenges and complexities of living an ethical and sustainable life, and for the researchers who study them. Featuring cutting-edge, multidisciplinary research from authors with unique perspectives and expert insights, this Research Handbook takes a deeper look at the past, present, and future of ethical and sustainable consumption. Chapters explore, among other topics, sustainable solutions to improve responsible seafood consumption, modern slavery, edible insects and the future of planet-friendly proteins, and the influence of austerity in normalising sustainable consumption. Additionally, the Research Handbook analyses consumer engagement with sustainability labelling in the food industry and the role of shared e-micromobility in sustainable transportation. Empirical and conceptual in its approach, the Research Handbook provides significant managerial implications and reviews the compelling questions in ethical and sustainable consumption research. With contemporary reflections on ethical and sustainable consumption, this interdisciplinary Research Handbook will be essential reading for students and scholars across business management, economics, geography, environmental sociology and marketing.

In this edited volume, the leading scholars in the field engage with consumers, marketers, corporations and policymakers as well as space dynamics and network formation to provide an in-depth examination of anti-consumption: a voluntary behavioural inclination to minimise rather than grow, to decelerate and simplify and to reduce the unnecessary exploitation of resources fuelled by consumer culture. This book does not place anti-consumption on the high moral ground but rather demonstrates its complexity to spur innovative and critical thinking on how people, organisations, businesses and governments can treat consumption more as a necessity for survival than as a tool for self-expression, pleasure and economic growth.The first part of this book looks at anti-consumption from a diversity of perspectives. It analyses voluntary simplicity, a self-motivated engagement in consumption reduction, and boycotting, a politically-motivated reaction against unacceptable corporate practices, as distinct manifestations of anti-consumption that nonetheless remain rooted in the logic of the market. Paving the way to critical perspectives on the interface between anti-consumption, people and the environment, the second part of the book projects anti-consumption to issues of waste production and provides possible answers to global challenges of resources depletion, social inequalities and global warming. In this section, anti-consumption is critically assessed as an actor of change, both in terms of social change and paradigm change. To move the field forward, the third part of this book presents several theoretical frameworks that help set a roadmap for future research.Anti-Consumption will be of direct interest to scholars and researchers within the fields of marketing, consumer research, business studies, environmental studies and sustainability. It will also be of value to those researching the economics and/or sociology of markets.

Arising from foundations in green and eco-consumerism, ethical consumption is a multidisciplinary area of research. This shortform book presents an expert view of the empirical evidence on ethical consumption, incorporating perspectives from marketing, psychology and sociology.It takes both a historical and a thematic perspective, covering definitions of ethical consumption, typologies of ethical consumer practices, successes brought about from consumer actions and the current challenges. It also focuses on the emergence of contemporary perspectives on ethical consumer behaviour from three discrete perspectives: those focusing on consumer segmentation (the profiling of ethical consumers), those which take a psychological approach (the decision- making processes which underpin ethical consumption) and those which are sociological in nature (the identities and practices which underpin ethical consumption). The book finally synthesises these perspectives in the context of the ‘problems'that are often claimed to exist, such as the existence of the ‘attitude– behaviour gap', and provides conclusions which make recommendations for practice and further research.It will be of interest to academics and students of marketing, consumption and related fields, as well as to practitioners and policymakers who want to understand more about the evidence pertaining to ethical consumers, what motivates them, and how to encourage and educate them to consume more ethically.

Consumers are becoming more conscious of the ethical footprint of the products they buy. In the age of hyper-connectivity and globalisation, numerous consumers are aware of what companies do and how they produce. Thus, sustainability and CSR can no longer be used as'greenwashing'strategies to attract customers and improve a company image. Products for Conscious Consumers is a guide for academics, students and professionals who want to influence responsible consumer behaviour and attain genuine Green Marketing. Written by researchers and marketing professionals, each chapter explores the relationship between the consumer and the marketer, discussing their relative responsibilities towards reaching a sustainable world. Illustrated with real cases, Products for Conscious Consumers helps marketers understand how they can inspire consumers towards more ethical behaviour by educating and nudging their choices using examples from different sectors and world regions to identify factors that influence sustainable consumption, from poverty to personal values. Products for Conscious Consumers guides the reader from ethical product development and marketing plans to eco-friendly production and responsible marketing mix execution, thereby encouraging a sustainable value chain and ethical profitability.

From boycotts of plastics and palm oil by consumers, to the tracking of carbon footprints and modern slavery in their supply chains by businesses, buying ethically has now fully captured the public interest. The Handbook of Ethical Purchasing is designed to help both ordinary people and industry professionals to understand this new movement, its political background and, most importantly, how to become involved more effectivelyBy looking in turn at sustainable supply chain management by companies, green public procurement by governments, and the ethical choices made by consumers, this book operates as a practical handbook for people across all industries and sectors to become involved in the important changes that need to be made. It provides the key principles, language, and techniques that companies, campaigners, certification schemes, and regulators are beginning to use to address the moral, practical, and political problems that commonly occur in this transition to more ethical economies. Written by a leading authority on ethical consumption, Rob Harrison, the book provides the reader with the tools to operate with confidence and effectiveness in an easy-to-access format. It also provides a useful structure to understand this new subject area for students of marketing, supply chain management, and business studies generally.

Master's Thesis from the year 2020 in the subject Business economics - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,3, Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences (Business School), language: English, abstract: The responsible use of resources and the environment as well as further aspects of sustainability play an important role in the modern world of trade. This thesis aims to present the most important aspects and factors regarding these aspects and to research the underlying consumer behaviour. In the first part, the findings from the literature that relate to the topics of sustainable development, Corporate Social Responsibility and green consumption are described. Furthermore, consumer behaviour and the associated connections between attitude, purchase intention and buying behaviour are examined and introduced to the neuromarketing concept of Limbic®. In the second part, current insights are gained through the method of quantitative research, which should generate a better understanding of the modern customer. Finally, the theoretical findings are related to the new survey results and further analysed focusing the various Limbic® Types. Finally, a development of the CSR-fields in Retail is given as well as recommendations for action and possibilities for retailers are derived and optimisation potentials are presented.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS 2022 Does ‘woke capitalism'improve capitalism's image or does it threaten the future of democracy? From Nike's support for Colin Kaepernick, to Gillette's engagement with the toxic masculinity debate, the 21st century has seen a sharp increase in corporations taking over public morality, a phenomenon which has come to be known as ‘woke capitalism'. Carl Rhodes takes us on a lively and fascinating history of woke capitalism – from 1950s corporate social responsibility, through 1980s neoliberalism, tracing it alongside the adoption and mutation of the term ‘woke'from Black American culture – and brings us right up to current-day debates. By examining the political causes that woke capitalism has co-opted, and the social causes that it has not, he argues that this surreptitious extension of capitalism has serious implications for us all.

Our lives are defined by a story of endless growth and consumption. Now a climate crisis demands that we change. Can we write new stories? In All We Want, award-winning author Michael Harris dismantles our untenable consumer culture and delivers surprising, heartwarming alternatives. Drawing on the wisdom of philosophers, scientists, and artists, Harris uncovers three realms where humans have always found deeper meaning: the worlds of Craft, the Sublime, and Care. Past attempts to blunt our impact on the environment have simply redirected our consumption—we bought fuel-efficient cars and canvas tote bags. We cannot, however, buy our way out of this crisis. We need, instead, compelling new stories about life's purpose. Part meditation and part manifesto, All We Want is a blazing inquest into the destructive and unfulfilling promise of our consumer society, and a roadmap toward a more humane future.

Get the Summary of Vivek Ramaswamy's Woke, Inc. in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. Original book introduction: Vivek Ramaswamy is a traitor to his class. He's founded multibillion-dollar enterprises, led a biotech company as CEO, he became a hedge fund partner in his 20s, trained as a scientist at Harvard and a lawyer at Yale, and grew up the child of immigrants in a small town in Ohio. Now he takes us behind the scenes into corporate boardrooms and five-star conferences, into Ivy League classrooms and secretive nonprofits, to reveal the defining scam of our century. The modern woke-industrial complex divides us as a people. By mixing morality with consumerism, America's elites prey on our innermost insecurities about who we really are. They sell us cheap social causes and skin-deep identities to satisfy our hunger for a cause and our search for meaning, at a moment when we as Americans lack both.

In this New York Times bestseller, a young and successful entrepreneur makes the case that politics has no place in business, and sets out a new vision for the future of American capitalism. There's a new invisible force at work in our economic and cultural lives. It affects every advertisement we see and every product we buy, from our morning coffee to a new pair of shoes. “Stakeholder capitalism” makes rosy promises of a better, more diverse, environmentally-friendly world, but in reality this ideology championed by America's business and political leaders robs us of our money, our voice, and our identity. Vivek Ramaswamy is a traitor to his class. He's founded multibillion-dollar enterprises, led a biotech company as CEO, he became a hedge fund partner in his 20s, trained as a scientist at Harvard and a lawyer at Yale, and grew up the child of immigrants in a small town in Ohio. Now he takes us behind the scenes into corporate boardrooms and five-star conferences, into Ivy League classrooms and secretive nonprofits, to reveal the defining scam of our century. The modern woke-industrial complex divides us as a people. By mixing morality with consumerism, America's elites prey on our innermost insecurities about who we really are. They sell us cheap social causes and skin-deep identities to satisfy our hunger for a cause and our search for meaning, at a moment when we as Americans lack both. This book not only rips back the curtain on the new corporatist agenda, it offers a better way forward. America's elites may want to sort us into demographic boxes, but we don't have to stay there. Woke, Inc. begins as a critique of stakeholder capitalism and ends with an exploration of what it means to be an American today—a journey that begins with cynicism and ends with hope.

A young entrepreneur makes the case that politics has no place in business, and sets out a new vision for the future of capitalism. The modern woke-industrial complex divides us as a people. By mixing morality with consumerism, corporate elites prey on our innermost insecurities about who we really are. They sell us cheap social causes and skin-deep identities to satisfy our hunger for a cause and our search for meaning, at a moment when we lack both. Vivek Ramaswamy is a traitor to his class. He's founded multibillion-dollar enterprises, led a biotech company as CEO, trained as a scientist at Harvard and a lawyer at Yale, and grew up the child of immigrants in a small town in Ohio. Now he takes us behind the scenes into corporate boardrooms and five-star conferences, into Ivy League classrooms and secretive nonprofits, to reveal the defining scam of our century. But this book not only rips back the curtain on the new corporatist agenda, it offers a better way forward. Corporate elites may want to sort us into demographic boxes, but we don't have to stay there. Woke, Inc. begins as a critique of stakeholder capitalism and ends with an exploration of what it means to be a member of society in 2021 – a journey that begins with cynicism and ends with hope.

Every year nine million people are diagnosed with tuberculosis, every day over 13,400 people are infected with AIDs, and every thirty seconds malaria kills a child. For most of the world, critical medications that treat these deadly diseases are scarce, costly, and growing obsolete, as access to first-line drugs remains out of reach and resistance rates rise. Rather than focusing research and development on creating affordable medicines for these deadly global diseases, pharmaceutical companies instead invest in commercially lucrative products for more affluent customers. Nicole Hassoun argues that everyone has a human right to health and to access to essential medicines, and she proposes the Global Health Impact (global-health-impact.org/new) system as a means to guarantee those rights. Her proposal directly addresses the pharmaceutical industry's role: it rates pharmaceutical companies based on their medicines'impact on improving global health, rewarding highly-rated medicines with a Global Health Impact label. Global Health Impact has three parts. The first makes the case for a human right to health and specifically access to essential medicines. Hassoun defends the argument against recent criticism of these proposed rights. The second section develops the Global Health Impact proposal in detail. The final section explores the proposal's potential applications and effects, considering the empirical evidence that supports it and comparing it to similar ethical labels. Through a thoughtful and interdisciplinary approach to creating new labeling, investment, and licensing strategies, Global Health Impact demands an unwavering commitment to global justice and corporate responsibility.

In Philosophical Essays on Free Stuff, Robyn Ferrell depicts figures of freedom in consumer culture, a world made image by the internet and globalization. Through word and image associations, Ferrell links the question of'free'to the effects of instrumentalism in the political sphere. The discussion proceeds through these images which allow the question to come into focus through diverse perspectives. Each essay is autonomous, and all are linked. Grounded in critical theory, continental philosophy, and cultural studies, Ferrell explores ideas of free gift, free thought, free time, free choice, free love, free market, free speech, and free world.

The reality of runaway climate change is inextricably linked with the mass consumerist, capitalist society in which we live. And the cult of endless growth, and endless consumption of cheap disposable commodities isn't only destroying the world, it is damaging ourselves and our way of being. How do we stop the impending catastrophe, and how can we create a movement capable of confronting it head-on?In Alternative Prosperity, philosopher Kate Soper offers an urgent plea for a new vision of the good life, one that is capable of delinking prosperity from endless growth. Instead, she calls for a renewed emphasis on the joys of being, one that is capable of collective happiness not in consumption but by creating a future that allows not only for more free time, and less conventional and more creative ways of using it, but also for more fulfilling ways of working and existing. This is an urgent and necessary intervention into debates on climate change.

The Reading Augustine series presents short, engaging books offering personal readings of St. Augustine of Hippo's contributions to western philosophical, literary, and religious life. Mark Clavier's On Consumer Culture, Identity, The Church and the Rhetorics of Delight draws on Augustine of Hippo to provide a theological explanation for the success of marketing and consumer culture. Augustine's thought, rooted in rhetorical theory, presents a brilliant understanding of the experiences of damnation and salvation that takes seriously the often hidden psychology of human motivation. Clavier examines how Augustine's keen insight into the power of delight over personal notions of freedom and self-identity can be used to shed light on how the constant lure of promised happiness shapes our identities as consumers. From Augustine's perspective, it is only by addressing the sources of delight within consumerism and by rediscovering the wellsprings of God's delight that we can effectively challenge consumer culture. To an age awash with commercial rhetoric, the fifth-century Bishop of Hippo offers a theological rhetoric that is surprisingly contemporary and insightful.

It is a serious mistake to think that all we need for a just world is properly-structured organizations. But it is equally wrong to believe that all we need are virtuous people. Social structures alter people's decisions through the influence of the restrictions and opportunities they present.Does buying a shirt at the local department store create for you some responsibility for the workplace welfare of the women who sewed it half a planet away? Many people interested in justice have claimed so, but without identifying any causal link between consumer and producer, for the simple reason that no single consumer has any perceptible effect on any of those producers.Finn uses a critical realist understanding of social structures to view both the positive and negative effects of the market as a social structure comprising a long chain of causal relations from consumer/clerk to factory manager/seamstress. This causal connection creates a consequent moral responsibility for consumers and society for the destructive effects that markets help to create. Clearly written and engaging, this book is a must-read for scholars involved with these moral issues.

Offering a novel view on morality in consumption, this book creatively examines how the seven deadly sins - pride, greed, lust, gluttony, envy, wrath, and sloth - are embodied in contemporary consumer society. Each of the seven chapters summarizes previous literature of the sins across disciplinary boundaries, and explores how consumption is likely to change in the future.The sins are presented as social, historical, cultural and political constructs, relying on the underlying assumptions of cultural consumer research. Each is elaborated on within particular consumption and marketing-related spheres, including advertising, retail environment, convenience food consumption, poverty, and ethical consumption. Consequently, the book provides a new way to understand contemporary consumer culture. Although beginning with the dark notions of sinfulness, the authors conclude with a hopeful tone for positive transformations in consumption.This fascinating book will be of significant interest to consumer researchers and post-graduate students studying the effects of consumption in social science disciplines, including marketing, business and sociology. Contributors include: L. Alhonnoro, P. Berg, P. Borisov, J. Gummerus, K. Hellén, A. Huuhka, M.-M. Jaskari, H. Kauppinen-Räisänen, P. Laaksonen, H. Leipämaa-Leskinen, H.T. Luomala, A. Norrgrann, C. Rodríguez Santos, J. Sihvonen, H. Syrjälä, M. Sääksjärvi, L.L.M. Turunen, C. von Koskull

This book engages with the topic of ethical consumption and applies a critical-realist approach to explore the process of becoming and being an ethical consumer. By integrating Margaret Archer's theory of identity formation and Christian Coff's work on food ethics, it develops a theoretical account explicating the generative mechanism that gives rise to ethical consumer practices and identities. The second part of the book presents the findings from a qualitative study with self-perceived ethical food consumers to demonstrate the fit between the proposed theoretical mechanism and the actual experiences of ethically committed consumers. Through integrating agency-focused and socio-centric perspectives on consumer behaviour, the book develops a more comprehensive and balanced approach to conceptualising and studying consumption processes and phenomena.

Der Megatrend Konsumethik bringt seit Jahren wachsende Umsätze in vielen Bereichen des Handels mit sich. Doch welche Konsumformen sind tatsächlich relevant und weisen Potenziale für den Markt auf? Welche Auswirkungen ergeben sich aus dem Trend für Unternehmen, Politik oder Gesellschaft und wie können Akteure der Warenkette aktiv das Marktgeschehen beeinflussen? Vor allem aber, was erwarten Verbraucher von ihrem Einkauf und worauf legen diese heute und in Zukunft besonderen Wert? All diese Fragen und Weitere arbeitet Andreas Reger konzeptionell auf und beantwortet sie mittels qualitativer Verbraucheranalysen. Denn nie war es wichtiger, sich vom zunehmend standardisierenden Handel abzuheben und auf die Bedürfnisse der Konsumenten verstärkt einzugehen. Ökologische sowie soziale Faktoren werden für diese immer bedeutender und können somit ausschlaggebend für Kaufentscheidungen sein. Aus diesem Grund gilt es nicht nur den Trend hin zu nachhaltigem und sozialverträglichem Verhalten als Tatsache anzunehmen, sondern Konzepte zu entwickeln, die beispielsweise Konsumenten bei ihrer Informationsgewinnung unterstützen oder auf ihr Bedürfnis nach mehr Produktvertrauen eingehen. Dabei lässt sich Konsumethik nicht allgemein für alle Güter, Märkte oder Verbraucher analysieren, vielmehr müssen die jeweiligen Formen der Konsumethik betrachtet werden, da sich diese durchaus unterschiedlich entwickeln und in der Akzeptanz der Verbraucher variieren. Der Autor geht auf wesentliche bzw. verbreitete Formen des nachhaltigen Konsums ein, analysiert diese und stellt sie in Relation zu Verbraucherverhalten und Konsumentenwünschen. Das daraus abgeleitete Modell für ethisches Konsumentenverhalten gibt Aufschluss über Anknüpfungspunkte für Einflussnahmen durch Akteure der Wertschöpfungskette.

Being a consumer is now integral to the human experience, something none of us can avoid. At the same time, many of the products that we buy come to us with histories steeped in highly unethical practices, such as worker exploitation, animal suffering, and environmental damage. Consuming Choices considers the ethical dimensions of consumer life by exploring several basic questions: Exactly what sorts of unethical practices are implicated in today's consumer products? Does moral culpability for these practices fall solely on the companies that perform them, or does it also fall upon consumers who purchase the products made with such practices? And most importantly, do consumers ever have moral obligations to avoid particular products? To answer, David T. Schwartz provides the most detailed philosophical exploration to date on consumer ethics. He utilizes historical and fictional examples to illustrate the types of wrongdoing currently implicated by consumer products in this age of globalization, offers a clear description of the relevant moral theories and important ethical concepts, and provides concrete suggestions on how to be a more ethical consumer.

Auf der Grundlage eines integrativen Theorierahmens untersucht Patrick Schenk die Motive des Kaufs fair gehandelter Produkte und den Einfluss unterschiedlicher Formen der sozialen Einbettung auf diese Konsumpraxis. Die Resultate zeigen, dass die Kaufentscheidung unmittelbar durch normative Überzeugungen und wahrgenommene Restriktionen bestimmt ist. Diese Handlungsdeterminanten sind wiederum durch Werte, die sozialstrukturelle Position und das Angebot an fair gehandelten Produkten erklärbar. Der Beitrag verdeutlicht den Erkenntnisgewinn einer Perspektive, die den Kauf fair gehandelter Produkte aus dem Zusammenspiel von individuellen Überzeugungen und sozialem Kontext begreift.

Fair trade, ecovillaggi, transition towns, banche del tempo, slow fashion: è il vocabolario del consumo critico, in cui contano non solo il prezzo e la qualità dei prodotti ma anche il comportamento dei produttori e la sostenibilità ambientale e sociale della filiera produttiva. Una rivoluzione degli stili di vita, che può trasformare i processi decisionali promuovendo la capacità di creare nuovi legami di solidarietà dentro e fuori il mondo del lavoro.

Si l'on connait depuis longtemps la dimension centrale de la marchandisation dans le développement de la plupart des civilisations, on ne supposait pas qu'en quelques décennies elle impacterait avec autant de force la société, la santé et l'environnement. À l'heure de la mondialisation, la possibilité de s'émanciper, de se soigner ou de préserver la nature, est de plus en plus compromise par les dégâts de l'actuelle révolution culturelle techno-économique libérale. Sauf à travailler, comme le propose l'auteur, à l'émergence d'une nouvelle éthique, d'une contre-culture et d'une autre Révolution.

What does it mean when consumers'shop with a conscience'and choose products labeled as fair or sustainable? Does this translate into meaningful changes in global production processes? To what extent are voluntary standards implemented and enforced, and can they really govern global industries? Looking behind the Label presents an informative introduction to global production and ethical consumption, tracing the links between consumers'choices and the practices of multinational producers and retailers. Case studies of several types of products—wood and paper, food, apparel and footwear, and electronics—are used to reveal what lies behind voluntary rules and to critique predominant assumptions about ethical consumption as a form of political expression.

Stuffocation is a movement manifesto for “experiential” living, a call to arms to stop accumulating stuff and start accumulating experiences, and a road map for a new way forward with the potential to transform our lives.Reject materialism. Embrace experientialism. Live more with less. Stuffocation is one of the most pressing problems of the twenty-first century. We have more stuff than we could ever need, and it isn't making us happier. It's bad for the planet. It's cluttering up our homes. It's making us stressed—and it might even be killing us. A rising number of us are already turning our backs on all-you-can-get consumption. We are choosing access over ownership, and taking our business to companies like Zipcar, Spotify, and Netflix. Fed up with materialism, we are ready for a new way forward. Trend forecaster James Wallman traces our obsession with stuff back to the original Mad Men, who first created desire through advertising. He interviews anthropologists studying the clutter crisis, economists searching for new ways of measuring progress, and psychologists who link stuffocation to declining well-being. And he introduces us to the innovators who are already living more consciously and with more meaning by choosing experience over stuff. Experientialism does not mean giving up all of our possessions. It is a solution that is less extreme but equally fundamental. It's about transforming what we value. Stuffocation is a paradigm-shifting look at our habits and an inspiring call for living more with less. It's the one important book you won't be able to live without. Praise for Stuffocation “The revelations come fast and furious as he asserts that acquiring ‘stuff'is often just an easy way to ignore the tougher questions of life, dodging ‘why am I here?'and ‘how should I live?'for ‘will that go with the top I bought last week?'Tart and often funny... [Stuffocation] will be an eye-opener for those long ago persuaded that more is better. A scintillating read that will provoke conversation (or at least closet cleaning).”—Booklist“James Wallman deftly hits upon a major insight for our times: that acquiring ‘stuff'and ‘things'is not nearly as meaningful as collecting experiences. Some of the happiest days of my life were when I had nothing and lived on a houseboat. Without stuff to tie me down, I felt completely free.”—Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS and author of the New York Times bestseller Start Something That Matters “A must-read... We think that more stuff will make us happier, but as the book nicely shows, we're just plain wrong. A great mix of stories and science, Stuffocation reveals the downside of more, and what we can do about it.”—Jonah Berger, author of the New York Times bestseller Contagious “Wallman offers a deeply important message by weaving contemporary social science into very engaging stories. Reading the book is such a pleasure that you hardly recognize you're being told that you should change how you live your life.”—Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice “With a sociologist's eye and a storyteller's ear, Wallman takes us on a tour of today's experience economy from the perspective not of businesses, nor even of consumers per se, but of everyday people.”—B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore, authors of The Experience Economy

Luxury. The word alone conjures up visions of attractive, desirable lifestyle choices, yet luxury also faces criticism as a moral vice harmful to both the self and society. Engaging ideas from business, marketing, and economics, The Vice of Luxury takes on the challenging task of naming how much is too much in today's consumer-oriented society.David Cloutier's critique goes to the heart of a fundamental contradiction. Though overconsumption and materialism make us uneasy, they also seem inevitable in advanced economies. Current studies of economic ethics focus on the structural problems of poverty, of international trade, of workers'rights—but rarely, if ever, do such studies speak directly to the excesses of the wealthy, including the middle classes of advanced economies. Cloutier proposes a new approach to economic ethics that focuses attention on our everyday economic choices. He shows why luxury is a problem, explains how to identify what counts as the vice of luxury today, and develops an ethic of consumption that is grounded in Christian moral convictions.

A funny and touching story about how to deal with the struggles of adulthood, how to live a good life, and how money can complicate it all.Michael Baughman's hope was to send his oldest grandson off to his first year of college in the fall of 2012 with an informed and thoughtful attitude toward what has long been a powerful American fixation: the frantic quest for money. Complicating the issue was the fact that income disparity in America was increasing alarmingly, and a political campaign featuring a wealthy Republican presidential candidate who told transparent lies on a daily basis was well underway.Baughman, now an emeritus professor of English, has visited forty-nine states. As a youth he attended Punahou, the private Honolulu prep school that graduated Barack Obama. During subsequent travels he washed dishes, pumped gas, butchered meat, sold women's lingerie at Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, and served as an enlisted man in the Army.Because of these diverse experiences, Baughman's friends and acquaintances have included the very poor as well as the very rich. Throughout most of his adult life his own income has been close to the national average. He brought all of this, and more, into his parting conversations with his grandson Billy.Money Sucks is the culmination of those discussions, rumination on the haves and the have-nots and a frank, thought-provoking look at some of the toughest questions life throws our way: What makes us happy? How much is enough? Funny and inspiring in equal measures, it's a must-read for anyone who cares about the future of their children, grandchildren, and the friends and family they love.

How much is acceptable to consume? What is appropriate to consume and which goods fall into the disapproved category? Answers to these questions vary widely across time and space. This book examines the sources of this variation by providing an account of how everyday consumption norms develop, why they differ and why they change.

Stamped on productsfrom coffee to handicrafts, the term “fair trade” has quickly become one oftoday's most seductive consumer buzzwords. Purportedly created through fairlabor practices, or in ways that are environmentally sustainable, fair-tradeproducts give buyers peace of mind in knowing that, in theory, how they shopcan help make the world a better place. Buyinginto Fair Trade turns the spotlight onto this growing trend, exploring how fair-tradeshoppers think about their own altruism within an increasingly global economy. Using over 100 interviews withfair-trade consumers, national leaders of the movement, coffee farmers, andartisans, author Keith Brown describes both the strategies that consumers useto confront the moral contradictions involved in trying to shop ethically and theways shopkeepers and suppliers reconcile their need to do good with theever-present need to turn a profit. In addition to his in-depth analysis of thefair-trade market, Brown also provides a how-to chapter that outlinesstrategies readers can use to appear altruistic.This chapter highlights the ways thatsocially responsible markets have been detached from issues of morality. Afascinating account of how consumersfirst learn about, understand, and sometimes ignore the ethical implications ofshopping, Buying into Fair Trade shedsnew light on the potential for the fair trade market to reshape the world intoa more socially-just place.

Welche Rolle spielt Moral beim Kauf und Konsum von Lebensmitteln? Um diese Frage zu beantworten, untersucht Jonas Grauel den Alltag ›gewöhnlicher‹ Menschen - anstelle vordefinierter Gruppen wie z.B. Bio-Käufer. Er arbeitet vier Orientierungsmuster heraus (Verantwortung, Authentizität, Selbstsorge, Bescheidenheit) und zeichnet nach, wie sich moralische Urteile in sozialen Beziehungen entwickeln. Schließlich zeigt der Autor, dass Konsummoral auch zur Distinktion von Gruppen mit höherem bzw. niedrigerem Sozialstatus dienen kann. Die Ergebnisse offenbaren: Moral ist in routinisierte Praktiken ›eingeschrieben‹, doch aufgrund der praktischen und ethischen Komplexität des Alltags liegt ein ›richtiger‹ Konsum keineswegs auf der Hand.

This book explores the politics borne of consumption through the case of coffee activism and ethical consumption. It analyses the agencies, structures, repertoires and technologies of promotion and participation in the politics of fair trade consumption through an exploration of the relationship between activism and consumption.

Where public policy fails, can consumer choices lead the way to more ethical and sustainable production practices?“Buy local,” “buy green,” “buy organic,” “fair trade”—how effective has the ethical consumption movement been in changing market behavior? Can consumers create fair and sustainable supply chains by shopping selectively? Dara O'Rourke, the activist-scholar who first broke the news about Nike's sweatshops in the 1990s, considers the promise of ethical consumption—the idea that individuals, voting with their wallets, can promote better labor conditions and environmental outcomes globally. Governments have proven unable to hold companies responsible for labor and environmental practices. Consumers who say they want to support ethical companies often lack the knowledge and resources to do so consistently. But with the right tools, they may be able to succeed where governments have failed. Responding to O'Rourke's argument, eight experts—Juliet Schor, Richard Locke, Scott Nova, Lisa Ann Richey, Margaret Levi, Andrew Szasz, Scott Hartley, and Auret van Herdeen—consider the connections between personal concerns and consumer activism, challenge the value of entrusting regulation to consumer efforts, and draw attention to difficulties posed by global supply chains.

Increasingly, consumers in North America and Europe see their purchasing as a way to express to the commercial world their concerns about trade justice, the environment and similar issues. This ethical consumption has attracted growing attention in the press and among academics. Extending beyond the growing body of scholarly work on the topic in several ways, this volume focuses primarily on consumers rather than producers and commodity chains. It presents cases from a variety of European countries and is concerned with a wide range of objects and types of ethical consumption, not simply the usual tropical foodstuffs, trade justice and the system of fair trade. Contributors situate ethical consumption within different contexts, from common Western assumptions about economy and society, to the operation of ethical-consumption commerce, to the ways that people's ethical consumption can affect and be affected by their social situation. By locating consumers and their practices in the social and economic contexts in which they exist and that their ethical consumption affects, this volume presents a compelling interrogation of the rhetoric and assumptions of ethical consumption.

Globalizing Responsibility: The Political Rationalities of Ethical Consumption presents an innovative reinterpretation of the forces that have shaped the remarkable growth of ethical consumption. Develops a theoretically informed new approach to shape our understanding of the pragmatic nature of ethical action in consumption processes Provides empirical research on everyday consumers, social networks, and campaigns Fills a gap in research on the topic with its distinctive focus on fair trade consumption Locates ethical consumption within a range of social theoretical debates -on neoliberalism, governmentality, and globalisation Challenges the moralism of much of the analysis of ethical consumption, which sees it as a retreat from proper citizenly politics and an expression of individualised consumerism

A critique of the lifestyles of today's ultra rich bolstered by old-fashioned muckraking, Crass Struggle provides a sharp, original, and often humorous commentary on'the bad side of the good life, the underbelly of the potbelly.'Taking the reader inside today's luxury trades, R.T. Naylor visits gold mines spewing arsenic and diamond fields spreading human misery, knocks on the doors of purveyors of luxury seafood as the oceans empty, samples wares of merchants offering top-vintage wines (or at least top-vintage labels), calls on companies running trophy-hunting expeditions and dealers in exotic pets high on endangered lists, and much more. What stands out is that so many high-priced items glitter on the outside, but have more than a spot of rot at the core. Through a series of outrageous but all too true stories, Crass Struggle reveals the appalling consequences of consumerism run amok and its links to repetitive financial swindles and the alarming degradation of the biophysical environment.

In der jüngsten Zeit hat sich das Verhalten von Konsumenten stark verändert: Immer mehr Verbraucher legen Wert auf nachhaltige Produkte, die Einhaltung von Sozialstandards und faire Handelsbeziehungen. »Verantwortung« ist zu einem wichtigen Faktor des Konsums geworden. Doch worin genau besteht die Verantwortung des Konsumenten, welche Bedeutung hat sie für die Entwicklung der Marktwirtschaft und der Konsumgesellschaft? Der Band wirft einen aktuellen Blick auf die Grenzen des Wachstums und entwickelt Vorschläge für die nachhaltige Gestaltung der Zukunft.

Get an Ethical Life is a short, simple and to-the-point guide to the basic principles behind ethical, sustainable living, in a few short steps. Even if you are completely new to this way of life, in just 96 pages you will discover some essential ideas and strategies that will make a huge difference if you want to live a more sustainable, balanced life - without having to spend months learning how._x000D_ Reduce waste_x000D_ _x000D_ Save energy_x000D_ _x000D_ Shop responsibly_x000D_ _x000D_ Make a difference _x000D_ _x000D_ _x000D_ _x000D_

This book shares a collection of novel ways to re-conceptualize and envision the moral imperatives of consumption, thereby providing invigorating insights for future dialogue and intellectual and social action. It privileges a consumer moral leadership imperative, which augments the conventional management imperatives of sustainability, ethics, simplicity and environmental integrity. There are 13 chapters, including first-ever discussions of non-violent consumption, transdisciplinary consumption, consumer moral adulthood, integral informed consumption, conscious and mindful consumption, biomimicry informed consumption, and consumer moral leadership as a new intellectual construct. The book strives to intellectually and philosophically challenge and reframe the act, culture and ideology of consuming. The intent is to foster new hope that leads to differently informed activism and to provocative research, policy, entrepreneurial and educational initiatives that favour the human condition, the collective human family and interconnected integrity. This book strives to move consumers from managing for efficiency to leading for moral efficacy, the ability to use their existing moral capacities to deal with moral challenges in the marketplace. The very core of what it means to be a morally responsible member of the human family is challenged and re-framed through the lens of consumer moral leadership.

Being a consumer is now integral to the human experience, something none of us can avoid. At the same time, many of the products that we buy come to us with histories steeped in highly unethical practices, such as worker exploitation, animal suffering, and environmental damage. Consuming Choices considers the ethical dimensions of consumer life by exploring several basic questions: Exactly what sorts of unethical practices are implicated in today's consumer products? Does moral culpability for these practices fall solely on the companies that perform them, or does it also fall upon consumers who purchase the products made with such practices? And most importantly, do consumers ever have moral obligations to avoid particular products? To answer, David T. Schwartz provides the most detailed philosophical exploration to date on consumer ethics. He utilizes historical and fictional examples to illustrate the types of wrongdoing currently implicated by consumer products in this age of globalization, offers a clear description of the relevant moral theories and important ethical concepts, and provides concrete suggestions on how to be a more ethical consumer.

A classic exposé in company with An Inconvenient Truth and Silent Spring, The Story of Stuff expands on the celebrated documentary exploring the threat of overconsumption on the environment, economy, and our health. Leonard examines the “stuff” we use everyday, offering a galvanizing critique and steps for a changed planet.The Story of Stuff was received with widespread enthusiasm in hardcover, by everyone from Stephen Colbert to Tavis Smiley to George Stephanopolous on Good Morning America, as well as far-reaching print and blog coverage. Uncovering and communicating a critically important idea—that there is an intentional system behind our patterns of consumption and disposal—Annie Leonard transforms how we think about our lives and our relationship to the planet. From sneaking into factories and dumps around the world to visiting textile workers in Haiti and children mining coltan for cell phones in the Congo, Leonard, named one of Time magazine's 100 environmental heroes of 2009, highlights each step of the materials economy and its actual effect on the earth and the people who live near sites like these. With curiosity, compassion, and humor, Leonard shares concrete steps for taking action at the individual and political level that will bring about sustainability, community health, and economic justice. Embraced by teachers, parents, churches, community centers, activists, and everyday readers, The Story of Stuff will be a long-lived classic.

'Do consumers really care where products come from and how they are made? Is there such a thing as an'ethical consumer'? Corporations and policy makers are bombarded with international surveys purporting to show that most consumers want ethical products. Yet when companies offer such products they are often met with indifference and limited uptake. It seems that survey radicals turn into economic conservatives at the checkout. This book reveals not only why the search for the'ethical consumer'is futile but also why the social aspects of consumption cannot be ignored. Consumers are revealed to be much more deliberative and sophisticated in how they do or do not incorporate social factors into their decision making. Using first-hand findings and extensive research, The Myth of the Ethical Consumer provides academics, students and leaders in corporations and NGOs with an enlightening picture of the interface between social causes and consumption'--

Would the world be a better place if human societies were somehow able to curb their desires for material goods? Saleem Ali's pioneering book links human wants and needs by providing a natural history of consumption and materialism with scientific detail and humanistic nuance. It argues that simply disavowing consumption of materials is not likely to help in planning for a resource-scarce future, given global inequality, development imperatives, and our goals for a democratic global society. Rather than suppress the creativity and desire to discover that is often embedded in the exploration and production of material goods—which he calls “the treasure impulse”—Ali proposes a new environmental paradigm, one that accepts our need to consume “treasure” for cultural and developmental reasons, but warns of our concomitant need to conserve. In evaluating the impact of treasure consumption on resource-rich countries, he argues that there is a way to consume responsibly and alleviate global poverty.

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.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.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.

This book presents five related studies, each dealing with the issue of the motivations behind ethical choices of consumption and discussing their implications on marketing strategy. The fields of investigation range from organic food to genetically modified products, from bio-fuels to new low-emission transport technologies, the consumption of each of which has by its very nature a recognized ethical validity. On these themes, this volume offers a European point of view and, in particular, an Italian one, either extending studies undertaken in various countries, or proposing new and original lines of research into the antecedents of purchase intentions that have never before been explored.