Political Consumerism: Its Motivations, Power, and Conditions in the Nordic Countries and Elsewhere

Abstract

This publication can be ordered from www.norden.org/publikationer. On the website you will find more information about other publications and also be able to read and download some of our publications. Homepage: www.norden.org Nordic Council of Ministers Nordic Council Consumer Co-operation in the Nordic CountriesThe aim of the co-operation in the Nordic Committee of Senior Officials on Consumer Affairs is to promote consumer safety, protect their financial and legal interests, inform consumers and promote their education, and promote consumer influence in society. Exchange of information, reports, and research will contribute to the Nordic consumer policy and provides a platform for joint Nordic presentation in international contexts. Nordic co-operationNordic co-operation, one of the oldest and most wide-ranging regional partnerships in the world, involves Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland. Cooperation reinforces the sense of Nordic community while respecting national differences and similarities, makes it possible to uphold Nordic interests in the world at large and promotes positive relations between neighbouring peoples.Co-operation was formalised in 1952 when the Nordic Council was set up as a forum for parliamentarians and governments. The Helsinki Treaty of 1962 has formed the framework for Nordic partnership ever since. The Nordic Council of Ministers was set up in 1971 as the formal forum for cooperation between the governments of the Nordic countries and the political leadership of the autonomous areas, i.e. the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland.Political Consumerism: Its motivations, power and conditions ... Late modern consumers do more than just think about their own wellbeing when doing their daily shopping. Increasingly, consumers express non-economic values through the market arena, especially with regard to such issues as human rights, animal rights, global solidarity and environmental responsibility. What we see in the Nordic countries and elsewhere is that people are active in boycotting and "buycotting" (i.e. positively choosing) products and producers for ethical and political reasons. Old and new civil society actors also shoulder responsibility for problems earlier considered exclusively a state concern. They initiate and participate in the development of new consumer-oriented policy instruments such as eco-or fair trade labels. New social movements are mobilized with new "cultural jamming" tactics; i.e. directly targeting and making ridiculous the names and logos of transnational corporations. The concept of political consumerism draws on the observation that consumer choice and the rising politics of products is an increasingly important form of political participation that exists parallel to conventional party-centered and national state level politics Sø-rensen 2004). Political consumerism has formally been defined as consumer choice of producers and products with the goal of changing objectionable institutional or market practices. It...