Critically Engaging with “Solutions” to the Problems of Consumerism
Critically Engaging with “Solutions” to the Problems of Consumerism
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b) Critically Engaging with “Solutions” to the Problems of Consumerism
This option requires you to critically assess and analyse a dominant way of thinking about environmental “solutions.” Choose one of the two options: green consumerism or individual responsibility.
a) Green consumerism: This is the proposition that buying “green” and ethically produced products is an important contribution that consumers can make to the environment.
b) Individual responsibility: this is the line of argument that says that if we want to help the environmental crisis we all have to take responsibility for our actions and “do our bit.”
This task requires you to consider the merits and the limitations or problems with one of these proposed solutions. It wants you to consider the arguments for and against, and then ultimately to take some kind of a position.
Suggestions
This critical analysis task requires you to consider arguments, so you will need to draw on readings about responsibilisation; ecological modernisation; neoliberalism; sustainability; “greenwashing” and so on. Some suggested readings are at the end of this instruction sheet.
I also strongly suggest that you ground these broad arguments in concrete examples – whether by analysing one particular case in detail or by using numerous small examples along the way. For example, you could choose to analyse “doing your bit” by focusing on the example of recycling, or by looking at a host of small examples.
Of course, there is some overlap between green consumerism and individual responsibility, since proponents of “doing one’s bit” will often include green consumerism as part of the ways we can do so. So you may prefer to think of the two options not so much as completely different approaches but more in terms of how much emphasis you want to place on the ideology (individual responsibilisation) or one proposed solution mechanism (green consumerism).
There is no right conclusion to reach, but any analysis worth its salt will need to take seriously the critiques of these proposed solutions.
Further Reading
There are many readings on green consumerism and individual responsibility. Here are some, but you don’t need to be restricted to titles on this list:
Barendregt, Bart, and Rivke Jaffe, eds. Green Consumption: The Global Rise of Eco-Chic. London Bloomsbury Academic, 2014.
Chatzidakis, Andreas, Gretchen Larsen, and Simon Bishop. “Farewell to Consumerism: Countervailing Logics of Growth in Consumption.” Ephemera: Theory and Politics in Organization 14.4 (2014): 753-64.
Classen, Constance. “Green Pleasures: Sustainable Cities and the Senses.” Harvard Design Magazine 31.Fall/Winter (2009/10): 66-73.
Connolly, John, and Andrea Prothero. “Green Consumption: Life-Politics, Risk and Contradictions.” Journal of Consumer Culture 8.1 (2008): 117-45.
Gabriel, Yiannis, and Tim Lang. “New Faces and New Masks of Today’s Consumer.” Journal of Consumer Culture 8.3 (2008 ): 321-40.
Hird, Myra J., et al. “Making Waste Management Public (or Falling Back to Sleep).” Social Studies of Science 44.3 (2014): 441-65.
Hobson, Kersty. “Bins, Bulbs, and Shower Timers: On the Techno-Ethics of Sustainable Living.” Ethics, Place & Environment: A Journal of Philosophy & Geography 9.3 (2006): 317-36.
Jackson, Tim. “Sustainable Consumption and Lifestyle Change.” The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Economic Behaviour. Ed. Lewis, Alan. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2008. 335-62.
Kennedy, Emily Huddart, et al. “Why We Don’t ‘Walk the Talk’: Understanding the Environmental Values/Behaviour Gap in Canada.” Human Ecology Review 16.2 (2009): 151-160.
Lane, Ruth, and Andrew Gorman-Murray, eds. Material Geographies of Household Sustainability. Farnham: Ashgate, 2011.
Lewis, Tania, and Alison Huber. “A Revolution in an Eggcup?” Food, Culture & Society 18.2 (2015): 289-307.
Lewis, Tania, and Emily Potter, eds. Ethical Consumption: A Critical Introduction. London: Routledge, 2011.
Malpass, Alice, et al. “Problematizing Choice: Responsible Consumers and Sceptical Citizens.” Consumers, Governance and Citizens: Agency and Resistance in Contemporary Politics. Eds. Bevin, M. and F. Trentmann. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007. 213-56.
North, Richard. Life on a Modern Planet: A Manifesto for Progress. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1995.
Schor, Juliet. “Tackling Turbo Consumption.” Cultural Studies 22.5 (2008): 588-98.
Strengers, Yolande, and Cecily Maller, eds. Social Practices, Intervention and Sustainability: Beyond Behaviour Change. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2015.
Todd, Anne Marie. “The Aesthetic Turn in Green Marketing: Environmental Consumer Ethics of Natural Personal Care Products.” Ethics and the Environment 9.2 (2004): 86-102.
Young, W., et al. “Sustainable Consumption: Green Consumer Behaviour When Purchasing Products.” Sustainable Development 18.1 (2010): 20-31.
Assessment Criteria
Demonstrated ability to think conceptually and/or critically.
Ability to mount a clear and persuasive argument.
Ability to think complexly and to canvass a range of viewpoints, before arriving at a conclusion. This doesn’t mean you have to spend equal time on “for” and “against” views, but it does mean you have to demonstrate that you understand what the different views might be.
Further reading: essays that effectively make use of a number of readings (at least 2-3) from within and outside the unit reader will be rewarded.
Clear, correct English, essay formatting, and referencing.
