Sustainable Consumption

With practices such as organic shopping, boycotts, advertising boycotts, eco-villages and veganism, socially conscious consumption is transforming the marketplace into a forum for political protest against the excesses of capitalism and consumer society. The idea that citizens, by combining their individual efforts, can influence harmful trends in society first emerged in the 18th century. Since then, the movement has continued to grow and broaden its scope.

In addition to social justice concerns, it now includes the fight against environmental degradation, for short supply chains, against animal suffering, for ethical trade, etc. Both critical of and part of the market, with which it has an ambiguous relationship, socially conscious consumption is now establishing itself in the public sphere as a means of influencing economic actors and governments. But can consumers really change the rules of the game?

During the second session of the Rendez-vous Salariés-Chercheurs, organised by the Institute for Environmental Transformations as part of the TIERED project, Sophie Dubuisson-Quellier, CNRS Research Director, Director of the CSO and author of La Consommation engagée, among other books, spoke with Alexia Krief, programme manager at Sciences Po Executive Education.

Selected references by Sophie Dubuisson-Quellier

ANANTHARAMAN, Manisha. Recycling class: the contradictions of inclusion in urban sustainability. Cambridge, Massachusetts London. The MIT Press. 2023. 275p. (Urban and industrial environments). Available at the library (printed version) and online

BOSTRÖM, Magnus. The Social Life of Unsustainable Mass Consumption. 1st ed. Lanham. Lexington Books/Fortress Academic. 2023. 246 p. (Environment and Society Series). Available at the library (printed version)

BOSTRÖM, Magnus, Michele MICHELETTI, et Peter OOSTERVEER (eds.). The Oxford handbook of political consumerism. New York, NY. Oxford University Press. 2019. 930 p. Available online

COHEN, Lizabeth. A Consumers’ Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America. New York. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. 2008. 567 p. Available at the library (printed version)

FUENTES, Christian et Niklas SÖRUM. « Agencing ethical consumers: smartphone apps and the socio-material reconfiguration of everyday life », Consumption Markets & Culture. 4 mars 2019, vol.22 no 2. p. 131 156. En ligne : https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10253866.2018.1456428  [accessed on 6 December 2024].

GLICKMAN, Lawrence B. Buying power: a history of consumer activism in America. Chicago. University of Chicago press. 2009. 403 p. Available at the library (printed version)

SAHAKIAN, Marlyne, Henrike RAU, et Grégoire WALLENBORN. « Making “Sustainable Consumption” Matter: The Indoor Microclimate as Contested Cultural Artifact », Cultural Sociology. décembre 2020, vol.14 no 4. p. 417 437. En ligne : https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1749975520932439  [accessed on 6 December 2024].

SCHWARZKOPF, Stefan. « The Consumer as ‘‘Voter,’’ ‘‘Judge,’’ and ‘‘Jury’’: Historical Origins and Political Consequences of a Marketing Myth », Journal of Macromarketing. mars 2011, vol.31 no 1. p. 8-18. En ligne : https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0276146710378168  [accessed on 6 December 2024].

TRENTMANN, Frank. Empire of things: how we became a world of consumers, from the fifteenth century to the twenty-first. First U.S. edition. New York. HarperCollins Publishers. 2016. 862 p. Available at the library (printed version)

WELCH, Daniel et Dale SOUTHERTON. « After Paris: transitions for sustainable consumption », Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy. 1 janvier 2019, vol.15 no 1. p. 31 44. En ligne : https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15487733.2018.1560861   [accessed on 6 December 2024].

(*) The project “Transforming Interdisciplinary Education and Research for Evolving Democracies” (TIERED), which gave rise to the Institute for Environmental Transformations, is a winner of the Excellence call under the 4th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. Sciences Po, together with its partners, the CNRS, INRIA, INED, INSERM, IFREMER, INALCO, Université Paris Cité and IDDRI, receive state aid managed by the National Research Agency under France 2030, reference ANR-22-EXES-0014.

Organising Committee for the Rendez-vous salariés-chercheurs : Marie-Hélène Caitucoli (Department of Studies and Partnerships), Jean-Philippe Cointet (médialab), Nathalie Gastone (Institute of Environmental Transformations), Carly Hafner (Open Institute for Digital Transformations), Charlotte Halpern (CEE & LIEPP), Maxence La Violette (Department of Human Resources), Héloïse Lammens (Department of Sustainability and Campus Life), Delphine Lereculeur (Department of Resources and Scientific Informations).