Is Consumer Activism Economic Democracy?

Abstract

The Second Gilded Age is also a golden era for consumer activism. As the nation state and organized labor have both diminished in their ability to translate public attitudes into resource outcomes, civil society groups have turned to a third axis of social power, consumer behavior, to bring multinational corporations to heel. We are witnessing historically high levels of participation in market-based campaigns, boycotts, and conscientious shopping. Recent waves of consumer activism recall the frequent Boycotts that characterized the early American labor movement.

Yet it remains controversial whether consumer power actually furthers the project of economic democracy — that is, social control over economic production. This Article argues that two forms of consumer activism, which I call organized buying and ethical consumption, differ fundamentally in their democratic potential. Organized buying refers to a targeted effort to use consumer power to achieve a discrete goal; ethical consumption refers to the more diffuse preferences of individual consumers for morally favored goods. I illustrate these distinctions through case studies from food politics: the United Farm Workers’ grape boycotts, and the contemporary market for organic food.

Only organized buying has the potential to subordinate economic power to democratic control. Ethical consumption, on the other hand, aligns with a market fundamentalist view that all political preferences can and should be satisfied through individual purchasing decisions. Although this Article does not deal with doctrinal questions, a more nuanced understanding of the political economy of consumer activism should inform discussions about product labeling, the regulation of secondary labor activity, and free speech protections for consumer behavior.

Keywords: Consumer Activism, Organized Labor, Labor Rights, Economic Democracy, Capitalism, Liberal Democracy, Cesar Chavez, Boycott