Political Consumerism captures the creative ways in which citizens, consumers and political activists use the market as their arena for politics. This book theorizes, describes, analyzes, compares and evaluates the phenomenon of political consumerism and how it attempts to use market choice to solve complex globalized problems. It investigates theoretically and empirically how and why consumers practice citizenship and have become important political actors. Dietlind Stolle and Michele Micheletti describe consumers’ engagement as an example of individualized responsibility taking, examining how political consumerism nudges and pressures corporations to change their production practices, and how consumers emerge as a force in global affairs. Unlike other studies, it also evaluates if and how consumer actions become effective mechanisms of global change. Stolle and Micheletti offer a candid discussion of the limitations of political consumerism as a form of participation and as a problem-solving mechanism.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Political Consumerism is well-argued, well-researched, and presents a good deal of original information. Engaging with the political science literature on governance and participation, it offers arguments for expanding conventional political science theory and concepts to better accommodate this growing pattern of contemporary politics. The idea that consumers are an increasingly important and organized political force on the planet seems at once obvious and woefully underdeveloped academically, particularly in political science. Dietlind Stolle and Michele Micheletti go a long way toward remedying this situation. This is a fine book.” W. Lance Bennett, Ruddick C. Lawrence Professor of Communication, and Professor of Political Science, University of Washington, Seattle
“Political consumerism has become a growing form of social and political activism in recent decades, and Dietlind Stolle and Michele Micheletti have produced the authoritative study of the use and impact of political consumerism in politics today. This book should be the standard citation in the growing debate about political consumerism and other new forms of citizen action.” Russell J. Dalton, University of California, Irvine
Book Description
Political Consumerism captures the creative ways in which consumers and citizens turn to the market as their arena for politics.
About the Author
Dietlind Stolle is a recognized expert on political participation, youth engagement, social capital and diversity. She has conducted or contributed to numerous national, local and comparative surveys. Most importantly, she has been the principal investigator of the Canadian Youth Survey. She is currently the principal investigator, co-investigator or collaborator on eight other national and international funded projects, including the 2011 and 2015 Canadian Election Studies. She is also the principal investigator of the Student Issues and Protest Survey in Quebec. She has previously served as the Associate Director of the US Citizenship, Involvement and Democracy Survey. Stolle is a past co-winner of the American Political Science Association’s Award for the best paper on European politics. Her scholarly achievements have been recognized in recent invitations to serve as an affiliated researcher at Stockholm University’s Department of Political Science and as a senior research partner at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Ethnic and Religious Diversity in Göttingen, Germany. She has also been invited to serve on the advisory board of the Institute for the Study of Democracy in Aarau, Switzerland. She was recently a guest at the NCCR Institute at the University of Zürich and has been invited as guest professor at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin, where she received the prestigious Karl W. Deutsch Professorship.
Michele Micheletti is Lars Hierta Professor of Political Science at Stockholm University. She was a member of the SNS Democratic Audit and the scientific boards of the Swedish Consumer Agency and the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation. She has contributed to several parliamentary investigations in Sweden and conducted research for and advised Swedish civic associations and political parties. Her publications include The Swedish Farmers’ Movement and Government Agricultural Policy (1990), Civil Society and State Relations in Sweden (1995) and Political Virtue and Shopping: Individuals, Consumerism, and Collective Action (2003). Her research has been published in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the Journal of Consumer Policy, Cultural Studies, Governance, Swedish Political Studies, Sociologia Ruralis and West European Politics, among others.
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