Responsible consumption
Themes : Alternative forms of entrepreneurship, production and consumption
Responsible, socially committed, ethical and critical consumption constitute a series of responses to the social and environmental consequences of a society based on overconsumption that has taken root since the post-WWII boom period. Fair trade, short circuits, organic and community-supported farming, AMAP in France, GAS in Italy and consumer cooperatives are all alternative systems for producing, distributing and/or consuming, offering an alternative economic approach rooted in partnerships between producers and consumers. They aim to create a process whereby the risks and benefits linked to healthy, ethical and collaborative production that respects natural and cultural heritage is shared between these economic actors. They take into account the social conditions underpinning production as well as its methods. A number of initiatives, such as the Seikatsu clubs in Japan, have a wider scope than the collective purchase of foodstuffs. For example, work cooperatives are emerging for the production of meals for the elderly, and Seikatsu club members are standing for election on local councils and/or taking part in events concerning the global issues linked to food. For several years, the Gruppi di Acquisti Solidale (GAS) in Italy has formed the backbone of the Italian solidarity economy movement.
Based on the principles of sustainable development, food security and sovereignty, strengthening social ties and cooperation, as well as refocusing on local, healthy and well-balanced food, the experiments in alternative consumption, self-production, sharing, recycling and simple living are at the heart of a socio-political construction centred on satisfying needs, happiness, prosperity, redistribution, pooling resources at the global level, environmental protection and social justice. By making consumers active rather than passive, responsible consumption is part of daily life, feeding into democratic reflections on the meaning of economic activities.
17 publications | 2 Videos | 4 case studies | 13 Analyses/working papers/articles | 3 public contributions | A thesis
17 publications
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Ethical Consumption. Social Value and Economic Practice.
Edited by James G. Carrier, Peter G. Luetchford, Bergham 21, New York, Oxford, October 2014
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Exploring linkages between Consumer Food Co-operatives and Domestic Fair Trade in the United States
Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems / Volume 29 / Issue 02 / June 2014, pp 151-160, Cambridge University Press 2013
Leslie Duram, Amber Mead, June 2014
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Can’t buy me happyness ! How voluntary simplicity contributes to subjective wellbeing
Working paper n°29. Bath Papers in International Development and Wellbeing A working paper series of the Centre for Development Studies, University of Bath, UK
Nadine van Dijk, January 2014
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Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition Volume 9, Issue 1, 2014
Kylie Markow, John Coveney, Sue Booth, 2014
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Food Community Networks as Leverage for Social Embeddedness
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics October 2013
Giuseppina MIGLIORE, Giorgio SCHIFANI, Giovanni Dara Guccione, Luigi Cembalo, October 2013
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Beyond Alternative Food Networks Italy’s Solidarity Purchase Groups
Cristina Grasseni, Bloomsbury Publishing, May 2013
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Sustainability and New Models of Consumption: The Solidarity Purchasing Groups in Sicily
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics February 2013, Volume 26, Issue 1, pp 281-303
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Consumers in Postmodern Society and Alternative Food Networks: The Organic Food Fairs Case in Sicily
NEW MEDIT N. 3/2012
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NEW MEDIT N. 3/2011
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in International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 18(1): 28-53.
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Rethinking Prosperity: Forging Alternatives to a Culture of Consumerism
Bahá’í International Community’s Contribution to the 18th Session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development
May 2010
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The Slow Food Story: Politics and Pleasure
Geoff Andrews, Pluto Press, London, UK., July 2008
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Who are organic food consumers? A compilation and review of why people purchase organic food
Journal of Consumer Behaviour Volume 6, Issue 2-3, pages 94–110, March - June 2007
Renée Shaw Hughne, Pierre McDonagh, Andrea Prothero, Clifford J. Shultz II, Julie Stanton, June 2007
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Sustainable Consumption, Ecology and Fair Trade
Edited by Edwin Zaccai, Taylor&Francis Publishers,United States/UK., April 2007
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Alternative Strategies in the UK Agro-Food System: Interrogating the Alterity of Farmers’ Markets
Sociologia Ruralis Volume 44, Issue 4, pages 395–415, October 2004
James Kirwan, October 2004
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Sociologia Ruralis Volume 42, Issue 4, pages 347–369, October 2002
Mary K. Hendrickson, William D. Heffernan, October 2002
2 Videos
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C.R.I.E.S. associaton Responsible Consumption & FairTrade
August 2014
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Nyeleni Europe 2011 - European Forum on Food Soveeignty - Krems, Austria 16-21 August 2011
August 2011
4 case studies
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Transforming our world: A cooperative 2030 Cooperative contributions to SDG 12
ILO Briefs
June 2018
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Nekasarea: a Basque network serving the everyday struggle for Food Sovereignty
A network of consumers and producers organized beyond community supported agriculture (CSA)
Jocelyn Parot, December 2010
International Newsletter of Sustainable Local Development, Urgenci
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Stéphane Girou, May 2008
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Linking the Global and the Local: the vision the Seikatsu Club Consumers’ Co-Operative Union (Japan)
Yvon Poirier, July 2007
13 Analyses/working papers/articles
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Consumer Culture, Sustainability and a New Vision of Consumer Sovereignty
European Society for Rural Sociology. Sociologia Ruralis, Vol 55, Number 4, October 2015
Roberta Sassatelli, 2015
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JAPANESE CONSUMERS’ CO-OPERATIVE UNION. COOP 2013 Facts and Figures
2014
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Submitted to the Asian Solidarity Economy Council, on the occasion of the 5th RIPESS International Meeting of SSE, Manila, Philippines, October, 15-18, 2013.
Sung Ming Chow, October 2013
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OSSERVATORIO CORES - WORKING PAPER SERIES 3 : 2013
Elisabetta CANGELOSI,, 2013
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Social and solidarity based economy, what opportunities for sustainable consumption in times of crisis and beyond? Marlyne Sahakian, pp.190-206
Sylvia Lorek, Julia Backhaus, May 2012
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Annals of The American Academy of Political and Social Science, Issue 644, 2012: 121-133
Francesca Forno, Paolo Graziano, 2012
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Citizenship and Consumption: Mobilisation in Alternative Food Systems in France
Sociologia Ruralis 51, 3 (2011) 304-323
Sophie DUBUISSON-QUELLIER, Claire Lamine, Ronan Le Velly, 2011
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A Brief Chronicle of the Modern Japanese Consumer Cooperative Movement
Yoshiaki Saito, June 2010
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From value to values: sustainable consumption at farmers markets
Agriculture and Human Values December 2008, Volume 25, Issue 4, pp 487-498
Alison Hope Alkon, December 2008
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Exploring the application of the Ecological Footprint to sustainable consumption policy
John Barrett, Nia Cherret, Rachel Birch, January 2007
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Bartering for a Better Future? Community Currencies and Sustainable Consumption
Gill Seyfang, 2004
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A 35(3) 393 – 411
Henk Renting, Terry K. Marsden, Jo Banks, 2003
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Proposal Paper for the 21 century: Ethical Consumption
This Proposal Paper is a summary of the work by the Ethical Consumption Workshop.
Flavia Soares, November 2001
3 public contributions
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The World of Community Supported Agriculture
Keynote for Urgenci Kobe Conference 2010
Elisabeth Henderson, February 2010
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Fair Trade, Consumer Responsibility and the Cooperative Movement
Summary of the round table and workshops on Fair Trade, Consumer Responsibility and the Cooperative Movement during the 2003 World Social Forum, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Pierre W. Johnson, January 2003
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Ethical and responsible consumption
Synthesis of reflections on contemporary consumption culture and of the individual and collective actions for promoting a ethical and responsible consumption. The synthesis was presented during the plate-form for " Ethical consumption " for the Alliance for a responsible and united world.
Nelson Dielh, October 2000
A thesis
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Simply happy? Voluntary simplicity and subjective wellbeing
Dissertation for the Degree of MSc in Wellbeing and Human Development
Nadine van Dijk, September 2012