Current rhetoric of democratic citizenship invokes an ideology of consumerism. In this article, I adopt a feminist/critical cultural studies perspective to explore the extent to which the relationship between consumption and citizenship is both part of the strategy of globalization and a historical association. I begin by reviewing a mainstream discourse on citizenship, as well as feminist and other critical responses to it. I then discuss the historical role of consumption as a marker of and, increasingly, a stand-in for citizenship under contemporary neoliberal, consumerist ideologies. Scholars from diverse disciplines and fields have brought the concepts of citizenship and consumption together, now routinely using terms such as citizen-consumer. I close with a discussion of problems with the notion of consumer-citizenship, notably the outstanding concern about equality, a fundamental aim of democratic citizenship, and the limitations of consumption as a strategy of resistance in previous eras and to the contemporary project of globalization.

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In this paper the author connects conceptual and methodological development, typically presented as distinct processes. She argues that these processes are—or should be—underpinned by a common philosophical and theoretical stance. Using Gramsci's The Prison Notebooks (1971), usually considered for its theory of social relations, the author outlines the work's epistemological tenets. She then discusses the methodological ramifications of Gramsci's perspective, relating his ideas to contemporary scholarship, especially by those working from feminist, critical race theory, and other critical perspectives. Because social theory and research methodology tend to be discussed as separate spheres and Gramsci's work generally is taken up for its social theory, much of the methodological work reviewed here is not identified as Gramscian. Nonetheless, Gramsci's ideas can have currency especially for qualitative researchers. An important message to take from The Prison Notebooks is to consider epistemology, theory, and methodology together rather than sequentially.

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