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Coffee on The Run: Cultural and Institutional Factors in Waste Behaviors
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Disposable paper cups comprise typical single-use plastic items, as they are lined internally with a thin plastic coating for waterproofing. They are consumed at a staggering rate worldwide, with the UK alone consuming around 7 million cups daily, thus annually producing around 30,000 tonnes of paper cup waste. Contrary to popular belief, less than 1 in 400 paper cups is currently recycled in the UK, which is in stark contrast to the waste hierarchy and the European Commission’s ambitious Circular Economy Action Plan. Paper cups typically end up in landfill sites or even improperly disposed of, contributing to (micro)plastic waste and potentially polluting the world’s oceans. The implications of the latter are not fully known yet and cannot be quantified by existing life cycle impact assessment methods. By employing the life cycle assessment methodology, UK’s annual carbon footprint from paper cup consumption was found to be 75 kt of carbon dioxide equivalents, which is similar to that of manufacturing 11,500 mid-size passenger cars. Globally, their environmental footprint was found to be comparable to that of some 1.5 M average European inhabitants, indicating the nature and extent of the single-use plastics problem, which paper cups are just a typical example of. Paper cup recycling could reduce this environmental footprint by up to 40%, whereas switching to reusable cups appears to be more environmentally sustainable, achieving a threefold reduction in carbon emissions, which at global scale is more than twice Malta’s annual carbon footprint. Results indicate that consumerism along with small daily choices, such as using reusable cups or bags instead of their disposable counterparts, could play a huge role in climate change. At policy level, no concrete measures to curb the superfluous consumption of paper cups, as well as of other single-use plastic items that are becoming increasingly ubiquitous, have materialised. Furthermore, it appears that decision- and policy-makers tend to step in to curtail wasteful and polluting practices only when environmental problems have started to generate widespread concern, instead of undertaking preventative policy measures.
This paper extends arguments about the potential for reflexive governance in agri-food sustainability by linking food ethics to the notion of ‘unintended consequences’ and ‘responsibilisation’. Analysis of sustainable consumption governance shows the way authorities and intermediaries use food waste reduction projects to ‘responsibilise’ the consumer, including recent examples of shared responsibility. This paper takes this argument further by developing a ‘strategies of responsibilisation’ framework that connects relations between food system outcomes, problematisation in public discourse and strategies of responsibilisation in agri-food governance. A food and drink waste case study of strategies to introduce reusable coffee cups in UK coffee shops and food retail chains is examined to exemplify relations between problematisation and responsibilisation. We examine problematisation and responsibilisation discourses that have emerged in relation to the issue, particularly in relation to single-use plastics, together with emerging governance arrangements and their underlying rationalities. The case study shows two key things: firstly, how ethical questions about food in public discourses connect to wider environmental planetary concerns (in this case packaging in relation to the environment); and secondly, how responsibility has emergent and dynamic properties, which we term ‘cycles of responsibilisation’. The paper concludes by assessing the wider value of applying a responsibility framework to examine governance responses to increasingly complex agri-food system sustainability challenges.
Although most people claim to prefer a more sustainable product, only a limited number of ‘green buyers’ act on their words at the moment of purchase. To find out how to get mainstream buyers to buy more sustainable products, we used data on 950 Western European buyers of 32 different vacuum cleaner models. The issue was why three out of four consumers bought a less sustainable high input power model when an energy-efficient model with equal specifications was also on offer at the same price. Only 6% of buyers bought their vacuum cleaner for environmental reasons. The remaining 94% of buyers stated that their purchase decision was mainly based on reliability, durability, key features, the brand and value for money, regardless of whether they bought an energy-efficient or -inefficient model. The 73% who bought energy-inefficient vacuum cleaners opted for heavier models (perceived as more robust) featuring bags for dust collection, and were more sensitive to messages addressing technological innovation. Beside energy-efficiency legislation, we see two options to encourage mainstream consumers to buy more energy-efficient products: (1) link technical advancement in innovation to lower power (‘we can create more suction with less energy’) in product branding, and (2) seduce mainstream consumers with models that are redesigned for performance, robustness and durability. With this quantitative consumer research, we add both to the knowledge of buying behaviour in terms of sustainability as well as to the knowledge on how to redesign and market green products in mainstream markets.
It is estimated that 2.5-10 bn disposable coffee cups are used every year in the U.K. Most ofthese cups end up in landfill or as litter, as the majority of poly-coated paper cups are not recyclableor not recycled. Here, we report on a field experiment that was conducted at twelve universityand business sites to examine whether the use of reusable cups can be promoted through easilyimplementable measures. The study found that both environmental messaging and the provision ofalternatives increased the use of reusable cups. While a charge on disposable cups increased their useas well, a discount on reusable cups did not. The effects for the individual measures were modest, butadditive, meaning that the greatest behavioural change was achieved with a combination of measures.None of the measures negatively impacted the total number of hot drink sales. One universitycontinued with the charge after the experiment had finished and distributed more reusable cupsfor free among their students. This boosted the use of reusable cups up to 33.7% across three cafés.This shows that a charge in combination with the provision of alternatives can increase the use ofreusable cups substantially in the long term.
Despite society’s increasing sensitivity toward green production, companies often struggle to find effective communication strategies that induce consumers to buy green products or engage in other environmentally friendly behaviors. To add clarity to this situation, we investigated the effectiveness of negative versus positive message framing in promoting green products, whereby companies highlight the detrimental versus beneficial environmental consequences of choosing less versus more green options, respectively. Across four experiments, we show that negatively framed messages are more effective than positively framed ones in prompting consumers to engage in pro-environmental behaviors. More importantly, we find that anticipated shame is the emotion responsible for this effect. Furthermore, both environmental concern and the type of product promoted serve as moderators; thus, the mediating role of anticipated shame is attenuated when environmental concern is low and the product is a luxury one. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of our work, along with its limitations and some directions for future research.
Introduction to Somebody Else's Problem: Consumerism, Sustainability and Design
The consumer-citizen and more generally, the emergence of active forms of citizenship mediated by consumption point to a change in the relations of production, consumption and distribution. These forms of citizenship come to encompass opposite poles of consumption such as hedonism and social responsibility. When consumption choices are associated with the social and environmental issues connected to manufacturing and distribution processes, the space claimed by the active consumer comes to represents a form of social identity recognition. This 'political' sphere, made up of individual and/or collective claims mediated by consumer society comes in the wake of a long period of market depoliticization. On the basis of these assumptions, this article surveys and evaluates the topics related to critical consumption that are most discussed in the social sciences. Such forms of socially oriented consumption - enacted in the form of individual or collective consumer choices - represent a new form of political participation and are understood as practices of active-citizenship promotion. The findings of this article are based on data gathered from 478 peer-reviewed articles published between 2004 and 2013. The articles were selected from Scopus on the basis of their broad connection to critical consumerism and forms of socially oriented consumerism. A software-based content analysis run through T-Lab software was used to generate an analytical model of the main research axis of the most recent international literature on these arguments. The heterogeneous body of scholarly literature on socially oriented consumption reflects the rich diversity of perspectives adopted to understand the political and ethical role of consumers in contemporary societies.
Providing people with information is considered an important first step in encouraging them to behave sustainably as it influences their consumption beliefs, attitudes and intentions. However, too much information can also complicate these processes and negatively affect behaviour. This is exacerbated when people have accepted the need to live a more sustainable lifestyle and attempt to enact its principles. Drawing on interview data with people committed to sustainability, we identify the contentious role of knowledge in further disrupting sustainable consumption ideals. Here, knowledge is more than just information; it is familiarity and expertise (or lack of it) or how information is acted upon. We find that more knowledge represents a source of dilemma, tension and paralysis. Our data reveal a dark side to people’s knowledge, leading to a ‘self-inflicted sustainable consumption paradox’ in their attempts to lead a sustainable consumption lifestyle. Implications for policy interventions are discussed.
Using a mixed methods design, we examine the role of self-evaluations in influencing support for environmental issues. In Study 1—an inductive, qualitative study—we develop theory about how environmental issue supporters evaluate themselves in a mixed fashion, positively around having assets (self-assets) and negatively around questioning their performance (self-doubts). We explain how these ongoing self-evaluations, which we label “situated self-work,” are shaped by cognitive, relational, and organizational challenges individuals interpret about an issue from a variety of life domains (work, home, or school). In Study 2—an inductive, quantitative, observational study—we derive three profiles of environmental issue supporters' mixed selves (self-affirmers, self-critics, and self-equivocators) and relate these profiles to real issue-supportive behaviors. We empirically validate key constructs from Study 1 and show that even among the most dedicated issue supporters, doubts play an important role in their experiences and may be either enabling or damaging, depending on the composition of their mixed selves. Our research offers a richer view of both how contexts shape social issue support and how individuals' self-evaluations play a meaningful role in understanding the experiences and, ultimately, the issue-supportive behaviors of individuals working on social issues.
The book takes a holistic approach to sustainability. Acknowledging the Brundtland definition, that sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, the book is specifically concerned with the ethics of contemporary social and environmental sustainability activity and thinking. It is concerned with the role of institutions–both local and global in achieving sustainability initiatives. All twelve chapters extend sustainability–conceptually, empirically and theoretically, and in doing so provide insights into linking local and global sustainability. The book refocuses sustainability as a series of interwoven and dynamic relationships, backed by just ethical decision-making, which begin locally, and reach out to impact the global level.
Corporate social responsibility can prove challenging for traditional businesses as a profit-making agenda may well be in conflict with the wishes and expectations of other stakeholders. Nevertheless, if organizations can align the incentive of better business performance with beneficial outcomes on a wider social and/or environmental level, so called doing well by doing good, conflict ceases between the two aims. This paper investigates a particular global problem within the context of the fast-food industry. Discarded fast-food packaging is the fastest growing type of litter in many Western countries. The paper establishes, by using a quasi-experimental method (n = 1000), that multiple levels of a brand's evaluation are negatively affected when that brand's packaging is seen as litter. This paper also quantifies the financial impact of the litter effect on a company.
This article contributes to an analysis of the origins of contemporary post-modern consumer culture, centred on the notion of lifestyle choice. It presents a case study of Piaggio's marketing strategies for their motor scooters – the Vespa being the most famous one – during the 1960s and 1970s. Although the Vespa had become an icon of the international youth culture already at the beginning of this period, it is argued that Piaggio's advertising agency did not appropriate the counterculture on account of its quantitative importance. Rather, countercultural attachments were mobilized and made part of Piaggio's advertising discourse first when they harmonized with visions for a future ‘postmaterialistic' consumer society harboured by advertising professionals. They subsequently used new techniques of market research, like motivation research, to translate such countercultural attachments into a consumer culture centred on individual self-realization rather than collective rebellion. In the 1970s, it is argued, this new consumer culture was transformed into what is now known as ‘life-style consumerism'.
Purpose
Increasing numbers of consumers are expressing concerns about reports of questionable corporate practices and are responding through boycotts and buycotts. This paper compares competing theories of consumer empowerment and details findings that examine the applicability of the theory to “ethical consumer” narratives. The nature and impact of consumer empowerment in consumer decision making is then discussed.
Design/methodology/approach
The study takes an exploratory approach by conducting semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with a purposive sample of ten consumers. These were recruited from an “ethical product” fair in Scotland.
Findings
Results indicate that the participating consumers embraced a voting metaphor, either explicitly or implicitly, to view consumption as an ethical/political domain. Setting their choices within perceived collective consumer behaviour, they characterised their consumption as empowering. This results in an ethical consumer project that can be seen as operating within the market. It, therefore, suggests some tensions between consumer power and sustainable living.
Research limitations/implications
This small‐scale study relates to a single country and location. A particular group of accentuated consumers was recruited. Studies of the narratives of other consumer groupings would clearly be valuable.
Practical implications
To the extent that political democracy is perceived as failing, it appears that the profile of the market as a site of consumer engagement is raised. Marketers would be wise, therefore, to take increasingly account of “empowered” consumers.
Originality/value
Little attention has been paid to the theory of consumption as voting. However, a continuing rise in the consideration of ethics among consumers and producers suggests its rehabilitation and further exploration would be worthwhile.
The historical and structural connections between auto-centered transport and fast food franchising are analyzed as comprising a synergistic contemporary mode of consumption. It is a mode that is rooted in individualized, private convenience, and it is implicated in a number of growing public health and environmental problems, including obesity and climate change. Emerging in the US after World War I, this mode of consumption, ‘fast cars/fast foods,’ developed rapidly after World War II, based on the application of mass production techniques to food, and in the development of the Interstate highway system. The analysis suggests that this mode of consumption is associated with a particular socio-material landscape, motorized urban sprawl, and that both promote hyperconsumption.
The recovery of solid waste is required by waste legislation, and also by the public. In some industries, however, waste is mostly disposed of in landfills despite of its high recoverability. Practical experiences show that the fast food industry is one example of these industries. A majority of the solid waste generated in the fast food industry is packaging waste, which is highly recoverable.The main research problem of this study was to find out the means of promoting the recovery of packaging waste generated in the fast food industry. Additionally, the goal of this article was to widen academic understanding on packaging waste management in the fast food industry, as the subject has not gained large academic interest previously.The study showed that the theoretical recovery rate of packaging waste in the fast food industry is high, 93% of the total annual amount, while the actual recovery rate is only 29% of the total annual amount. The total recovery potential of packaging waste is 64% of the total annual amount. The achievable recovery potential, 33% of the total annual amount, could be recovered, but is not mainly because of non-working waste management practices. The theoretical recovery potential of 31% of the total annual amount of packaging waste cannot be recovered by the existing solid waste infrastructure because of the obscure status of commercial waste, the improper operation of producer organisations, and the municipal autonomy.The research indicated that it is possible to reach the achievable recovery potential in the existing solid waste infrastructure through new waste management practices, which are designed and operated according to waste producers’ needs and demands. The theoretical recovery potential can be reached by increasing the consistency of the solid waste infrastructure through governmental action.
Littering is a packaging-related problem where the environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainability meet. Litter is likely to be harmful for wildlife, looks untidy and is expensive to clean up. Research into reducing litter has focused primarily on the litterer and on the surroundings in which the littering occurs, but the influence of the littered object has so far been ill addressed. This research focused on understanding how the characteristics of an object influence its probability of being littered and how this insight can be used to improve the design of these objects, in particular packaging. Both eco-feedback and scripting approaches were examined in four experimental setups. It was found that the design of a packaging does have a significant influence on waste behaviour of consumers. However, applying this insight to packaging design in order to reduce littering was found to be less than straightforward. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Environmental quality strongly depends on human behaviour patterns. We review the contribution and the potential of environmental psychology for understanding and promoting pro-environmental behaviour. A general framework is proposed, comprising: (1) identification of the behaviour to be changed, (2) examination of the main factors underlying this behaviour, (3) design and application of interventions to change behaviour to reduce environmental impact, and (4) evaluation of the effects of interventions. We discuss how environmental psychologists empirically studied these four topics, identify apparent shortcomings so far, and indicate major issues for future research.
How the success and popularity of recycling has diverted attention from the steep environmental costs of manufacturing the goods we consume and discard.
Recycling is widely celebrated as an environmental success story. The accomplishments of the recycling movement can be seen in municipal practice, a thriving private recycling industry, and widespread public support and participation. In the United States, more people recycle than vote. But, as Samantha MacBride points out in this book, the goals of recycling—saving the earth (and trees), conserving resources, and greening the economy—are still far from being realized. The vast majority of solid wastes are still burned or buried. MacBride argues that, since the emergence of the recycling movement in 1970, manufacturers of products that end up in waste have successfully prevented the implementation of more onerous, yet far more effective, forms of sustainable waste policy. Recycling as we know it today generates the illusion of progress while allowing industry to maintain the status quo and place responsibility on consumers and local government.
MacBride offers a series of case studies in recycling that pose provocative questions about whether the current ways we deal with waste are really the best ways to bring about real sustainability and environmental justice. She does not aim to debunk or discourage recycling but to help us think beyond recycling as it is today.
Homebuyers today are faced with a spectrum of choices when deciding to build a new home. However, encouraging more sustainable choices in housing and construction decisions has been challenging. In this paper, we apply the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to investigate the factors predicting homebuyers’ intentions to purchase a dwelling with a sustainability certification. Three hundred and thirty Australian residents who had recently purchased property were recruited via an online panel provider. Attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and green consumer identity each independently predicted higher intentions to purchase a sustainability-certified dwelling, and in combination accounted for 65% of the variance in intentions. Green consumer identity also significantly moderated the effect of subjective norms on intentions. In a separate analysis, the two strongest predictors of willingness to pay for a sustainability certification were familiarity with current sustainability certifications and subjective norms. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Consumption levels and environmental deterioration have increased dramatically in recent years. However, green consumption is a form of consumption that allows people to participate in environmental protection. Previous research has focused on single influences at the individual level and ignored the impacts of nested individual behaviors on the social environment. Using individual microdata and interprovincial macro data, this study develops a multilevel structural equation model (MSEM) that encompasses individual and provincial levels to explore the factors and mechanisms that motivate green consumption and examines the entire consumption process—choosing, using, and disposing. The results show that, at the individual level, population factors and the external environment have a greater impact on green consumer behavior. For psychological factors, environmental attitudes and environmental awareness promote green consumption. Environmental issues affect green consumption indirectly by affecting environmental knowledge in the external environment. In the external environment, environmental pressure and environmental knowledge have a positive impact on green consumption behavior. Media preferences influence green consumption through environmental perception. Among demographic factors, education affects green consumption through environmental perception; age and urban or rural household registration also affect green consumption behavior. At the level of environmental pollution, environmental tendencies positively influence green consumption. Of these, urbanization has the strongest impact on green consumption. Consumption levels and the rates of greening and Internet penetration have no significant impact on green consumption.
Several green consumer behaviour models have sought to explain the relationship between green attitudes and individual behaviours interrelating with green consumption based on traditional theories. Nevertheless, there have been difficulties in developing an optimum or even a consensual model able to predict green consumer behaviour. This paper thus seeks to examine the links between a set of constructs in order to propose a model for green consumer behaviour based on a different set of buying behaviour antecedents: a prosocial attitude, the value placed on green and green communication. We developed a survey, in a self-administered questionnaire format, to gather data before applying Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) for the analysis. The results returned convey how general prosocial attitudes have a direct influence on green consumption values, and that green values positively influence green buying behaviour and receptivity to green advertising. However, green advertising generates only a weak influence on green buying behaviours. The relationship between these concepts becomes important whenever considering how best to develop green marketing campaigns and communication strategies able to further nurture green behaviours.
Green consumption has become an important academic and practical topic. However, a recurring theme in the literature has been the attitude‐behavior gap in green consumption. Taking the cognitive view in studying consumer behaviors, this study theoretically developed and tested two key moderators to the relationship between green consumption intention and behavior, namely green product availability and perceived consumer effectiveness. Under high levels of the moderators, the relationship between the intention and the behavior were hypothesized to be stronger. Our data sample of 416 consumers in two large cities in Vietnam provided support for the hypotheses. Our study results thus contribute to the green consumption literature by explaining the attitude‐behavior gap. Our study also contributes to the broader literature by explaining the inconsistency in consumer behavior. Implications and recommendations for further research are also discussed.
As new roles emerge in organizations, it becomes critical to understand how organizational structure can impede or enable the managerial discretion available to role incumbents. We leverage the rich context provided by the emergent role of sustainability managers to examine the interplay between the top-down forces of structure and the bottom-up influences of managerial discretion in shaping new organizational roles over time. We analyzed qualitative data collected from in-depth interviews with sustainability managers in 21 case study organizations in India and Australia, supplemented with archival and observational data. We identified three organizational configurations, with varying levels of top-down structural and bottom-up managerial discretion dynamics at play. Each configuration had different implications for the manager’s role. Our analysis suggests that the third configuration—with semi-structured formalization and a decentralized sustainability program—provided the most conducive conditions for managers to use their discretion to champion innovative sustainability initiatives. New managerial roles in the other configurations, however, do not have to be static. With the maturation of organizational programs and active championing by managers, the structuring of organizational functions and managerial roles can co-evolve. Our findings describe a process of “shaping and being shaped,” as structure and managerial discretion co-evolve over time.
The increase in population, the high consumption of food and products, as well as the generation of domestic and industrial waste has triggered impacts on the environment, which compromises the maintenance of natural resources for a sustainable future. Cleaner Production, Social Responsibility and Eco-Innovation aim at sustainability, where Environmental Awareness and Sustainable Consumption include the principles and values linked to the environment issues that contribute to a sustainable future. This study aims to measure the Environmental Awareness antecedent relations, considering the constructs of Cleaner production, Social Responsibility and Eco-Innovation. The study also analyzes the relationship between Environmental Awareness and Sustainable Consumption, as well as their moderating effect on the Baby boomers and the X and Y generations on the relationships between the constructs. The research is based on the perception of 1123 participants from different generations from the region of south Brazil (the States of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná) and the method includes a quantitative and descriptive research, through modeling of structural equations. The results highlight that there is an important relationship between Cleaner production, Social Responsibility and Eco-Innovation, which positively influences Environmental Awareness and consequently, Sustainable Consumption through generations. The study also shows a strong correlation between Cleaner production and Eco-Innovation. In this context, both generations present different perceptions about these constructs; however, the Baby boomers generation presented a greater perception from the Cleaner production actions carried out by the companies. Consequently, it is evident for the companies to start disclosing Cleaner production as an opportunity window, which stimulates Sustainable Consumption and benefit the environment. Such positioning may become fundamental for the maintenance of natural resources and the quality of life for future generations.
Rapid economic growth and resulting overconsumption have accelerated environmental deterioration worldwide, prompting escalated consumption-related environmental concerns. This study attempts to explore the antecedents of ecologically conscious consumer behavior (ECCB) among young urban consumers in India – an emerging market experiencing rapid economic growth with increased urbanization and changes in consumption patterns that are contributing to environmental hazard. The empirical study including a literature review uses Theory of Planned Behavior integrating environmental attitudes, subjective norms, perceived consumer effectiveness, and behavioral intention in the model to investigate their influence on ECCB. The results suggest that attitudes and perceived consumer effectiveness both have a significant direct and indirect positive influence on ECCB. In addition, it would appear that the subjective norm, a measure of social demand, does not have any significant influence on behavioral intention leading to ECCB – contrary to established findings in a collective society considered in this study. This paper concludes with policy implications of the findings for marketers and policymakers, as well as potential directions for further research.
Products of convenience are playing an increasingly large role in today's society. These products provide a competitive advantage over their conventional counterparts by requiring less time and effort to produce a similar service or experience. At the same time, these products are often also more materials intensive to produce and create a greater amount of waste. A comparative midpoint life cycle assessment of different coffee brewing systems is presented in order to explore the comparative impact of three different systems: drip filter, french press, and pod style (a product of convenience). Utilizing a comparative functional unit, the drip filter system method was found to have the greatest environmental impact in all impact categories, whereas the pod style had the least in six of the impact categories (with the french press having the least in two of the impact categories, and a tie between pod style and french press in a single impact category). This suggests that contrary to popular belief, the pod style coffee may be the more environmentally friendly option. The two most significant contributors to environmental impact in all of the categories considered was the amount of dry coffee utilized and the energy needed to brew the coffee, although in some categories considered transportation was also significant. There is the potential for the environmental impact of coffee brewing to shift if coffee wastage occurs (likely in the case of the drip filter and french press system) or if substantial changes in materials or energy consumption were to occur (in the case of the pod-style brewing system). From the perspective of industrial ecology, this analysis suggests that, in regard to products of consumer convenience, the convenient alternative may not have a significantly greater environmental impact than its conventional counterpart, and that it may be time to question that often-held assumption.
This paper reviews the pitching template proposed by Faff (2015). The article highlights the usefulness of this template for researchers. It is observed that there is scope for adapting this tool, with a template suitable for qualitative researchers being proposed. In the light of the various methodological differences through different research paradigms, it is envisaged that this adaptation will assist in bridging the schism between qualitative and quantitative research. It is also hoped that the proposed enhanced template will encourage qualitative researchers to submit to mainstream accounting journals and quantitative researchers to comprehend the value of qualitative research.
Has consumer culture got out of hand? Are the costs of universal access and pollution too great to bear?This comprehensive, lively and informative book will quickly be recognized as a benchmark in the field. It brings together a huge set of resources for thinking about consumer culture and examining its origins and consequences within a global context. Adept in handling a complex range of theories, Consumer Society scrupulously uses examples throughout to inform and enhance understanding. Smart writes with verve and feeling and has produced a book that simultaneously covers and enlarges our understanding of consumer culture. Clear, engaging and original, this book will be important reading for all those interested in our global culture of consumption including students of sociology, social geography and cultural studies.
Fair trade is a fast-growing alternative market intended to bring better prices and greater social justice to small farmers around the world. But is it working? This vivid study of coffee farmers in Mexico offers the first thorough investigation of the social, economic, and environmental benefits of fair trade. Based on extensive research in Zapotec indigenous communities in the state of Oaxaca, Brewing Justice follows the members of the cooperative Michiza, whose organic coffee is sold on the international fair trade market. It compares these families to conventional farming families in the same region, who depend on local middlemen and are vulnerable to the fluctuations of the world coffee market. Written in a clear and accessible style, the book carries readers into the lives of these coffee producer households and their communities, offering a nuanced analysis of both the effects of fair trade on everyday life and the limits of its impact. Brewing Justice paints a clear picture of the complex dynamics of the fair trade market and its relationship to the global economy. Drawing on interviews with dozens of fair trade leaders, the book also explores the changing politics of this international movement, including the challenges posed by the entry of transnational corporations into the fair trade system. It concludes by offering recommendations for strengthening and protecting the integrity of fair trade.
This article analyzes a co-branding venture between a Swedish railroad company and a coffee company that resulted in a disposable coffee cup. The aim is to relate it to environmental marketing, contextualize it as a cultural object, and trace its media history. Landscape representation
in railroad marketing, coffee marketing, and conservation photography is discussed. What does the cup show and what does it exclude from view? The theoretical approach is actor-network theory.
Within contemporary social thought, the slow food movement is commonly construed as a growing, organized protest against the development of high-speed lifestyles. The primary aim of this article is to query the limits of such an interpretation. To highlight aspects of the slow food movement that may not be as incongruous to a high-speed society as commonly thought, I explore how the slow food movement relates to the phenomenon of time shortage. I undertake a discourse analysis of slow food texts in the English language to reveal that the aims and activities of the slow food movement may not wholly address the three sources of feeling ‘hurried’, as set out by Southerton and Tomlinson. I find that a more sophisticated analysis of the slow food movement emerges if we avoid thinking of fast and slow in dichotomous terms.
This essay explores the rise of ''speciality'' coffees over the past two decades, examining the changing structure and organization of the coffee trade. It concentrates on the shaping of consumption as retailers have moved from mass to niche marketing, imagining a class and generational map of the United States in their attempts to capture a segment of a shrinking market. Shifts in the consumption and marketing of a single commodity, such as coffee, are related to a wider set of social and cultural changes, and the essay concludes with a consideration of these changes and of an anthropology that attends to them.
The role of consumers in driving organizations to be environmentally responsive is currently contentious. It is, however, important to understand the role that consumers play, because they can be a crucial pull factor for organizations. In this paper, we re-examine the role of consumers in driving business organizations to be environmentally responsive. Our analysis suggests that, despite the growth and interest in green consumerism, it has not yet matured to the stage where it is viewed by managers as driving corporate environmentalism. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
The green consumer has been the central character in the development of green marketing, as businesses attempt to understand and respond to external pressures to improve their environmental performance. Marketing practitioners and academics are attempting to identify and understand green consumers and their needs, and to develop market offerings that meet these needs. So far there is little consensus about the identity and nature of green consumers, except that they have been something of a disappointment to the marketers who have pursued them. These difficulties perhaps reflect the folly of trying to understand green consumption and green marketing by viewing it as simply a variation on conventional marketing. This article proposes some different ways of looking at green consumption and green marketing, which have the potential to prevent the hunt for the green consumer from deteriorating into a wild goose chase. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment
Many commentators analyse green consumption as if it were an expression of individual environmental commitment. Such approaches suppose that the adoption of more sustainable ways of life depends upon the diffusion of "green" beliefs and actions through society. In this article, the author explores the idea that patterns of resource consumption (especially of energy and water) reflect what are generally inconspicuous routines and habits. Are such conventions evolving or standardising in ways that are increasingly resource intensive? In addressing this question with reference to three domains of daily life: comfort, cleanliness, and convenience, four simple models of change are outlined, two of which imply an inexorable escalation of resource consumption, two of which do not. The purpose of this illustrative exercise is to demonstrate the importance of understanding the systemic redefinition of "normal practice." Rather than taking individual behaviour to be the central unit of analysis, the case is made for an approach that concentrates on the construction and transformation of collective convention. This theoretical reorientation opens the way for programmes of research and policy informed by an appreciation of the technological and the commercial as well as the symbolic and cultural dimensions of more and less resource-intensive ways of life.