Several recent studies have shown an increase in political consumerism (boycott and buycott) and a tendency towards a new 'politics in the supermarket'. These developments are usually seen as a transformation of forms of political action towards more individualized participation forms. Little attention has focused on the role of social movement activity in this transformation. In this contribution, which is based on a case study of political consumerism in the clothing sector in Switzerland, I fill this gap by analysing the ways in which political agency and mobilization shape political consumerism. I suggest taking into account the role of campaigningthat is, intentional and coordinated collective action and framing activities -as an incentive, if not a determinant, of individual political consumption. I show how different contentious performances mobilize citizens and consumers and make the consumption and production of clothing a public and political issue. I analyse the mobilizing strategies of a campaign regarding action repertoires and framing activities and ask how they contribute to provide political content to consumer products, creating a venue for political participation in the marketplace.

This article describes the distinctive features and structural properties of ‘moralized markets’, that is, markets in which producers set higher moral standards than those governing conventional market practices, and consumers buy products that respect those higher moral standards. Starting from a critical discussion of existing theoretical conceptualizations in terms of conventionalization/co-optation, quality conventions and resource partitioning, this article conceptualizes moralized markets as fields where actors are in strategic interaction. Using illustrations from several empirical studies, it suggests that all moralized markets are composed of a plurality of actors whose understanding of and commitments to moral principles vary. It reveals the main dimensions of the field, characterizes typical positions, and identifies and describes the core strategies used in struggles around field boundaries and the issues of policing and regulation of field settlements. The article concludes by offering six propositions regarding different possible outcome scenarios for the dynamics of moralized market fields, highlighting the role of the state for the stabilization of field settlements.

Ethical consumption can take different forms, some more contentious like boycotts or public campaigns, some aiming at the establishment or promotion of alternative consumption practices (buycotts). This study looks at how these tactics are articulated by analyzing the development of an ''ethical shopping map,'' an action situated in the latter category of ''supportive'' actions. In 2007, a Swiss nongovernmental organization published this map as part of its ongoing campaign fighting for the respect of social standards in the global garment industry. A project pursued by a regional group of volunteers of the organization, the map listed stores where ethical clothes can be purchased in a big Swiss city. This article consists of an ethnographic analysis of the process of elaboration of the map and discusses its inclusion into the tactical repertoire of the antisweatshop campaign. Based on participant observation and interviews with volunteers and campaign staff, it examines what drives the activists' concern with alternative forms of consumption. It looks at the rationales and meanings the volunteers put behind the map and the different uses of the map that are suggested, and examines the ultimate ''failure'' of making it a lasting part of the campaign's tactical action repertoire. Doing so, the article reveals the inherent tension of ''ethical consumption,'' between supportive action forms based on buycotts and denunciatory actions of public shaming of firms whose practices are criticized.

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This paper studies how ordinary people in Switzerland represent and engage with environmental issues in daily practices. Bringing together conceptual developments in cultural sociology and social practice theory, the paper argues that cultural repertoires strongly shape how representations and forms of engagement play out. It identifies two main repertoires of social and environmental change: adaptation and transformation. The adaptation repertoire is reformist and aligned with individualism and the capitalist growth-paradigm; the transformation repertoire consists of a critique of the market society and calls for systemic change. Using qualitative in-depth interviews and a random survey of residents of Western Switzerland, the analyses show that most people’s representations and engagements with environmental issues relate to the dominant repertoire of adaptation, which appears to be very compatible with existing social practices. Although people hint at limits to the adaptation repertoire, only very few of our study participants relate to the transformative repertoire.