Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
things with food, cooking, canning. Actually, last summer I was determined to do
the 100-mile diet.
In contrast to eco-shopping, an ecological citizenship perspective focuses on aligning
everyday life activities and consumer choices, as much as is possible, with principles,
values, and morals. When contradictions are identified, they are described as unaccept-
able, a source of guilt, or as inspiration to become more committed to one's principles.
Put another way, the ecological citizenship perspective focuses less on “win-win” sce-
narios within the marketplace (e.g., accessing delicious food that is good for the planet
and for the consumer), and more on problematizing and reforming one's consumption
habits in relation to personal politics. For example, Chris, a 31-year-old working in edu-
cation, described how he enjoyed shopping at Whole Foods, but he became increasingly
concerned that the environmental claims that were made were not substantiated, espe-
cially their claim to sell naturally raised meat. He then made a point of writing a letter to
the company, seeking greater clarification on their policies for animal husbandry, and
ultimately made a choice to buy more of his meat from local butchers, which he per-
ceived as being less convenient and more expensive, but more trustworthy.
Finally, because an ecological citizenship perspective is skeptical of the role of con-
sumerism, this perspective is more critical of consumer-focused models of social
change. In the words of Janet, a 33-year-old employee of a nonprofit group, as long as
people “are just not willing to make a change in their life, they just [accept that] life is like
this.” Similarly, Julie, a 34-year-old human rights lawyer, critiqued the idea that simply
giving consumers more information would necessarily change their behavior: “I just see
social justice more about conduct and action as opposed to about knowledge, although
it's somewhat informed through knowledge.” Although Julie described enjoying the
experience of shopping at Whole Foods, she also described how she and her husband
tried to shop elsewhere because of their concerns about the company's problematic role
in the food system.
In sum, we have presented a typology of consumer meaning and motivation that
maps out the varied meanings behind food politics, and that moves beyond a simple
characterization of political versus apolitical food consumers. We have identified two
key quadrants of analysis: degrees of politicization, and degrees of critical engage-
ment with consumerism. As noted above, our typology tries to acknowledge the com-
plexity of consumer perspectives. Even though consumers may identify strongly with
one particular perspective (e.g., Trina's and Phillipe's interview transcripts tended to
exemplify the eco-shopping and ecological citizenship categories, respectively), con-
sumers can manifest different perspectives in different instances, depending on their
stage in the life course, their current economic situation, and the particular food they
are purchasing (e.g., buying a birthday cake versus shopping for a staple food like
milk). Our typology draws out the complexity in consumer food politics by identify-
ing the varying salience of meanings in relation to consumerism and politicization.
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