The Cultures of Consumption Programmefunds research on the changing natureof consumption in a global context.The Programme investigates the differentforms, development and consequences ofconsumption, past and present. Researchprojects cover a wide range of subjects,from UK public services to drugs in eastAfrica, London’s fashionable West End toglobal consumer politics. The £5 millionCultures of Consumption Programmeis the first to bring together experts fromthe social sciences and the arts andhumanities. It is co-funded by the ESRCand the AHRC.

The aims of the Cultures of ConsumptionProgramme are:

● to understand the practice,ethics and knowledge ofconsumption

● to assess the changingrelationship betweenconsumption and citizenship

● to explain the shifting local,metropolitan and transnationalboundaries of cultures ofconsumption

● to explore consumption in thedomestic sphere

● to investigate alternative and sustainable consumption

● to develop an interfacebetween cutting edge academicresearch and public debate.

Findings

For further details take a look at our websitewww.consume.bbk.ac.uk

or contact Professor Frank TrentmannProgramme directortelephone+44 (0)20 7079 0603emailesrcConsumepd@bbk.ac.uk

orStefanie NixonProgramme administratorCultures of Consumption

Research ProgrammeBirkbeck CollegeMalet StreetLondon WC1E 7HXtelephone+44 (0)20 7079 0601facsimile+44 (0)20 7079 0602emailesrcConsume@bbk.ac.uk

CULTURES OF CONSUMPTIONRESEARCH PROGRAMME

the Bristol Fairtrade City Campaign’, InternationalJournal of Urban and Regional Research (Forthcoming,2008).

CONTACTDr Clive BarnettFaculty of Social SciencesThe Open UniversityWalton HallMilton KeynesMK7 6AAtelephone +44 (0)1908 659 700email c.barnett@open.ac.ukproject websitehttp://www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/research/spaces-of-ethical-consumption.php

4 Findings:The Subjects and Spaces of Ethical Consumption

Project team:Clive BarnettPaul ClokeNick ClarkeAlice Malpass

In debates about climate change, human rights, sustainability, and publichealth, patterns of everyday consumption are identified as a problem requiringconsumers to change their behaviour through the exercise of responsiblechoice. This project explores the contemporary problematization of consump-tion and consumer choice. We investigated the institutional, organisational andsocial dynamics behind the growth in ethical consumption practices in the UK,focussing in particular on a series of initiatives around fair trade and globaltrade justice. Ethical consumption is best understood as a political phenomenonrather than simply a market response to changes in consumer demand. Itreflects strategies and organisational forms amongst a diverse range of governmental and non-governmental actors. It is indicative of distinctiveforms of political mobilisation and representation. And it provides ordinary people with pathways into wider networks of collective action, ones which seekto link the mundane spaces of everyday life into campaigns for global justice.

KEY FINDINGS● People bring a range of ethical concerns to theireveryday consumption practices. These range from the personal responsibilities of family life to more publiccommitments such as membership of particularfaith communities, political groups, and professionalcommunities.● Ethical consumption campaigns problematize everyday practices of consumption by shaping theterms of public debate and by getting people to reflecton the relationship between ‘choice’ and ‘responsibility’in everyday consumption routines.● People respond critically and sceptically to demandsthat they should take personal responsibility for various‘global’ problems by changing their everyday consump-tion practices.● The capacity of citizens to actively contribute to concerted action to transform consumption practicesis socially di◊erentiated by both material resourcesand cultural capital: by income levels, residential location, and personal mobility, and by involvementin social networks and associational practices.● Ethical consumption initiatives are successful whenthey succeed in enabling changes in practical routinesof consumption. This might include changes at the levelof domestic practices or changes at the level of wholesystems of urban infrastructure.● There is little evidence that people adopt ethical

consumerism as an alternative to other forms ofcivic involvement or public participation. Ethical consumerism can provide pathways into involvementin broader political campaigns.

HIGHLIGHTSGlobalising the consumerConsumerism is often held to be inimical to collectivedeliberation and decision-making of the sort requiredto address pressing environmental, humanitarian andglobal justice issues. Policy interventions and academicdiscourse alike often assume that transforming consumption practices requires interventions thataddress people as consumers. This research projectshows that this connection between consumption andconsumers is a contingent achievement of strategicallymotivated actors with specific objectives in the publicrealm. Focussing on the discursive interventions usedin ethical consumption campaigns, the research foundthat that these are not primarily aimed at encouraginggeneric consumers to recognise themselves for the firsttime as ‘ethical’ consumers. Rather, they aim to provideinformation to people already disposed to support orsympathise with certain causes; information thatenables them to extend their concerns and commitmentsinto everyday consumption practices. These acts of consumption are in turn counted, reported, surveyedand represented in the public realm by organisations

The Subjects and Spaces ofEthical Consumption:doing politics in an ethical register

Nick Clarke, University of Southampton and Dr AliceMalpass, University of Bristol.

PUBLICATIONS INCLUDEBarnett C., Cafaro P. and Newholm T. ‘Philosophy and

Ethical Consumption’, in Harrison R., Newholm T.and Shaw D.(eds.) The Ethical Consumer (London:Sage, 2005).

Barnett C., Clarke N., Cloke P. and Malpass A. ‘The PoliticalEthics of Consumerism’, Consumer Policy Review15(2)(2005), pp. 45–51.

Barnett C., Cloke P., Clarke N. and Malpass A.‘Consuming Ethics: Articulating the Subjects andSpaces of Ethical Consumption’, Antipode 37(1)(2005), pp. 23–45.

Clarke N., Barnett C., Cloke P and Malpass A. ‘Globalisingthe Consumer: Doing Politics in an Ethical Register’,Political Geography 26(3)(2007), pp. 231–249.

Malpass A., Barnett C., Clarke N. and Cloke P. ‘Governance,Consumers, and Citizens: Agency and Resistance inContemporary Politics’, in Bevir M. and Trentmann F.(eds.).(Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, in press 2007).

Malpass A., Cloke P., Barnett C. and Clarke N. ‘FairtradeUrbanism: The Politics of Place Beyond Place in

circulates as a term of public debate only in and throughthis register of responsibility for the self and for others.These campaigns seek to problematize the consequencesof everyday consumption by encouraging people toreflect, deliberate, and discuss the ‘ethical’ dilemmas oftheir routine practices. In turn, people negotiate thesedemands for them to take personal responsibility bydeploying the vocabularies of citizenship to delineatethe scope of their own actions they consider it possibleand legitimate to change.

Fairtrade urbanismUnderstandings of ethical consumption often assumea relationship between placeless western consumersand place-specific producers in the third world. Usingan ethnographic study of the Bristol Fairtrade CityCampaign in 2004–2005, this research project showshow fairtrade consumption is aligned with place-basedinterests and identities. The Fairtrade City Campaignbecame a vehicle for enlisting the ordinary people ofBristol into awareness of and identification with fairtradeissues. Citizens of Bristol were enrolled into re-imaginingthe expansive scope of the city’s responsibilities. Throughthe introduction of fairtrade procurement practices inpublic organisations and private companies alike,

employees, residents and visitors became fairtrade consumers, knowingly or unknowingly, when visitingthe canteens and restaurants of the local authorityand other significant organisations in the city.

MESSAGES FOR POLICY AND PRACTICEThe ‘consumer’ is NOT the key agent of change in e◊ortsto change consumption practices!● Ethical consumption campaigning is most e◊ective intransforming policies and infrastructures of collectiveprovision, rather than changing individual behaviourthrough the provision of information.● Ethical consumption campaigns do not seek to engage‘consumers’, understood as abstract, self-interested utility maximizers. They engage members of communitiesof practice, for example, members of faith groups,schoolchildren, or residents of distinctive localities.

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY The Subjects and Spaces of Ethical Consumption wasfunded by the ESRC/AHRC Cultures of Consumptionresearch programme and ran from October 2003 toOctober 2006 (grant number: RES–143–25–0022–A).The project team consisted of Dr Clive Barnett, The OpenUniversity; Professor Paul Cloke, University of Exeter; Dr

who speak for the ‘ethical consumer’. These campaignsalso provide supporters and sympathisers with storylines.The predominant storyline re-inscribes popular discours-es of globalisation into a narrative in which people areascribed various responsibilities by virtue of their activities as consumers but also empowered to act ethically and politically in and through these activities.

Problematizing choiceFar from ‘choice’ being straightforwardly championed andpromoted, it is increasingly circulated as a term in policydiscourse and public debate by being problematized.How to ensure that the choices of putatively free individuals are exercised responsibly – in terms bothof those individuals’ own good and the good of broadercommunities – has become a recurrent theme of concern.For example, ‘choice’ is problematized in terms of thepotential of increased individual choice to conflict withpublic interest goals of sustainability and conservation;in terms of increased choice leading to greater anxietyand reduced quality of life, even reduced levels of happiness; or in terms of the limitations of choice inincreasing or maintaining equity in social provision andaccess to public services. Ethical consumption campaignsare actively contributing to this process whereby ‘choice’

Findings:The Subjects and Spaces of Ethical Consumption

Findings:The Subjects and Spaces of Ethical Consumption

2 3

Right:Shoppers in theBishopston areaof Bristol arespoilt for ‘ethical’consumer choice,while those inHartcli◊e live ina veritable ‘fooddesert’Below:Responsibleconsumption ina Bristol suburb Photos: Jon Tooby

Regina Joseph,a banana growerfrom the WindwardIslands, helpscelebrate Bristolbecoming FairtradeCity in March 2005.Photo: BristolFairtrade Network

‘The predominant storyline in ethical consumption campaignsre-inscribes popular discoursesof globalisation into a narrativein which people are ascribed various responsibilities by virtueof their activities as consumersbut also empowered to act ethically and politically in andthrough these activities’

circulates as a term of public debate only in and throughthis register of responsibility for the self and for others.These campaigns seek to problematize the consequencesof everyday consumption by encouraging people toreflect, deliberate, and discuss the ‘ethical’ dilemmas oftheir routine practices. In turn, people negotiate thesedemands for them to take personal responsibility bydeploying the vocabularies of citizenship to delineatethe scope of their own actions they consider it possibleand legitimate to change.

Fairtrade urbanismUnderstandings of ethical consumption often assumea relationship between placeless western consumersand place-specific producers in the third world. Usingan ethnographic study of the Bristol Fairtrade CityCampaign in 2004–2005, this research project showshow fairtrade consumption is aligned with place-basedinterests and identities. The Fairtrade City Campaignbecame a vehicle for enlisting the ordinary people ofBristol into awareness of and identification with fairtradeissues. Citizens of Bristol were enrolled into re-imaginingthe expansive scope of the city’s responsibilities. Throughthe introduction of fairtrade procurement practices inpublic organisations and private companies alike,

employees, residents and visitors became fairtrade consumers, knowingly or unknowingly, when visitingthe canteens and restaurants of the local authorityand other significant organisations in the city.

MESSAGES FOR POLICY AND PRACTICEThe ‘consumer’ is NOT the key agent of change in e◊ortsto change consumption practices!● Ethical consumption campaigning is most e◊ective intransforming policies and infrastructures of collectiveprovision, rather than changing individual behaviourthrough the provision of information.● Ethical consumption campaigns do not seek to engage‘consumers’, understood as abstract, self-interested utility maximizers. They engage members of communitiesof practice, for example, members of faith groups,schoolchildren, or residents of distinctive localities.

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY The Subjects and Spaces of Ethical Consumption wasfunded by the ESRC/AHRC Cultures of Consumptionresearch programme and ran from October 2003 toOctober 2006 (grant number: RES–143–25–0022–A).The project team consisted of Dr Clive Barnett, The OpenUniversity; Professor Paul Cloke, University of Exeter; Dr

who speak for the ‘ethical consumer’. These campaignsalso provide supporters and sympathisers with storylines.The predominant storyline re-inscribes popular discours-es of globalisation into a narrative in which people areascribed various responsibilities by virtue of their activities as consumers but also empowered to act ethically and politically in and through these activities.

Problematizing choiceFar from ‘choice’ being straightforwardly championed andpromoted, it is increasingly circulated as a term in policydiscourse and public debate by being problematized.How to ensure that the choices of putatively free individuals are exercised responsibly – in terms bothof those individuals’ own good and the good of broadercommunities – has become a recurrent theme of concern.For example, ‘choice’ is problematized in terms of thepotential of increased individual choice to conflict withpublic interest goals of sustainability and conservation;in terms of increased choice leading to greater anxietyand reduced quality of life, even reduced levels of happiness; or in terms of the limitations of choice inincreasing or maintaining equity in social provision andaccess to public services. Ethical consumption campaignsare actively contributing to this process whereby ‘choice’

Findings:The Subjects and Spaces of Ethical Consumption

Findings:The Subjects and Spaces of Ethical Consumption

2 3

Right:Shoppers in theBishopston areaof Bristol arespoilt for ‘ethical’consumer choice,while those inHartcli◊e live ina veritable ‘fooddesert’Below:Responsibleconsumption ina Bristol suburb Photos: Jon Tooby

Regina Joseph,a banana growerfrom the WindwardIslands, helpscelebrate Bristolbecoming FairtradeCity in March 2005.Photo: BristolFairtrade Network

‘The predominant storyline in ethical consumption campaignsre-inscribes popular discoursesof globalisation into a narrativein which people are ascribed various responsibilities by virtueof their activities as consumersbut also empowered to act ethically and politically in andthrough these activities’

The Cultures of Consumption Programmefunds research on the changing natureof consumption in a global context.The Programme investigates the differentforms, development and consequences ofconsumption, past and present. Researchprojects cover a wide range of subjects,from UK public services to drugs in eastAfrica, London’s fashionable West End toglobal consumer politics. The £5 millionCultures of Consumption Programmeis the first to bring together experts fromthe social sciences and the arts andhumanities. It is co-funded by the ESRCand the AHRC.

The aims of the Cultures of ConsumptionProgramme are:

● to understand the practice,ethics and knowledge ofconsumption

● to assess the changingrelationship betweenconsumption and citizenship

● to explain the shifting local,metropolitan and transnationalboundaries of cultures ofconsumption

● to explore consumption in thedomestic sphere

● to investigate alternative and sustainable consumption

● to develop an interfacebetween cutting edge academicresearch and public debate.

Findings

For further details take a look at our websitewww.consume.bbk.ac.uk

or contact Professor Frank TrentmannProgramme directortelephone+44 (0)20 7079 0603emailesrcConsumepd@bbk.ac.uk

orStefanie NixonProgramme administratorCultures of Consumption

Research ProgrammeBirkbeck CollegeMalet StreetLondon WC1E 7HXtelephone+44 (0)20 7079 0601facsimile+44 (0)20 7079 0602emailesrcConsume@bbk.ac.uk

CULTURES OF CONSUMPTIONRESEARCH PROGRAMME

the Bristol Fairtrade City Campaign’, InternationalJournal of Urban and Regional Research (Forthcoming,2008).

CONTACTDr Clive BarnettFaculty of Social SciencesThe Open UniversityWalton HallMilton KeynesMK7 6AAtelephone +44 (0)1908 659 700email c.barnett@open.ac.ukproject websitehttp://www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/research/spaces-of-ethical-consumption.php

4 Findings:The Subjects and Spaces of Ethical Consumption

Project team:Clive BarnettPaul ClokeNick ClarkeAlice Malpass

In debates about climate change, human rights, sustainability, and publichealth, patterns of everyday consumption are identified as a problem requiringconsumers to change their behaviour through the exercise of responsiblechoice. This project explores the contemporary problematization of consump-tion and consumer choice. We investigated the institutional, organisational andsocial dynamics behind the growth in ethical consumption practices in the UK,focussing in particular on a series of initiatives around fair trade and globaltrade justice. Ethical consumption is best understood as a political phenomenonrather than simply a market response to changes in consumer demand. Itreflects strategies and organisational forms amongst a diverse range of governmental and non-governmental actors. It is indicative of distinctiveforms of political mobilisation and representation. And it provides ordinary people with pathways into wider networks of collective action, ones which seekto link the mundane spaces of everyday life into campaigns for global justice.

KEY FINDINGS● People bring a range of ethical concerns to theireveryday consumption practices. These range from the personal responsibilities of family life to more publiccommitments such as membership of particularfaith communities, political groups, and professionalcommunities.● Ethical consumption campaigns problematize everyday practices of consumption by shaping theterms of public debate and by getting people to reflecton the relationship between ‘choice’ and ‘responsibility’in everyday consumption routines.● People respond critically and sceptically to demandsthat they should take personal responsibility for various‘global’ problems by changing their everyday consump-tion practices.● The capacity of citizens to actively contribute to concerted action to transform consumption practicesis socially di◊erentiated by both material resourcesand cultural capital: by income levels, residential location, and personal mobility, and by involvementin social networks and associational practices.● Ethical consumption initiatives are successful whenthey succeed in enabling changes in practical routinesof consumption. This might include changes at the levelof domestic practices or changes at the level of wholesystems of urban infrastructure.● There is little evidence that people adopt ethical

consumerism as an alternative to other forms ofcivic involvement or public participation. Ethical consumerism can provide pathways into involvementin broader political campaigns.

HIGHLIGHTSGlobalising the consumerConsumerism is often held to be inimical to collectivedeliberation and decision-making of the sort requiredto address pressing environmental, humanitarian andglobal justice issues. Policy interventions and academicdiscourse alike often assume that transforming consumption practices requires interventions thataddress people as consumers. This research projectshows that this connection between consumption andconsumers is a contingent achievement of strategicallymotivated actors with specific objectives in the publicrealm. Focussing on the discursive interventions usedin ethical consumption campaigns, the research foundthat that these are not primarily aimed at encouraginggeneric consumers to recognise themselves for the firsttime as ‘ethical’ consumers. Rather, they aim to provideinformation to people already disposed to support orsympathise with certain causes; information thatenables them to extend their concerns and commitmentsinto everyday consumption practices. These acts of consumption are in turn counted, reported, surveyedand represented in the public realm by organisations

The Subjects and Spaces ofEthical Consumption:doing politics in an ethical register

Nick Clarke, University of Southampton and Dr AliceMalpass, University of Bristol.

PUBLICATIONS INCLUDEBarnett C., Cafaro P. and Newholm T. ‘Philosophy and

Ethical Consumption’, in Harrison R., Newholm T.and Shaw D.(eds.) The Ethical Consumer (London:Sage, 2005).

Barnett C., Clarke N., Cloke P. and Malpass A. ‘The PoliticalEthics of Consumerism’, Consumer Policy Review15(2)(2005), pp. 45–51.

Barnett C., Cloke P., Clarke N. and Malpass A.‘Consuming Ethics: Articulating the Subjects andSpaces of Ethical Consumption’, Antipode 37(1)(2005), pp. 23–45.

Clarke N., Barnett C., Cloke P and Malpass A. ‘Globalisingthe Consumer: Doing Politics in an Ethical Register’,Political Geography 26(3)(2007), pp. 231–249.

Malpass A., Barnett C., Clarke N. and Cloke P. ‘Governance,Consumers, and Citizens: Agency and Resistance inContemporary Politics’, in Bevir M. and Trentmann F.(eds.).(Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, in press 2007).

Malpass A., Cloke P., Barnett C. and Clarke N. ‘FairtradeUrbanism: The Politics of Place Beyond Place in