Protest Politics in the Marketplace: Consumer Activism in the Corporate Age
Caroline Heldman
Abstract
This book is the first to analyze the democratic effects of consumer activism, defined as boycotting, socially responsible investing, social media campaigns, and direct consumer actions. America has had a long and unique history of consumer activism, starting with the Boston Tea Party. Since the founding, activism in the marketplace has been used as a political tool for those who are politically disenfranchised, including the colonists who lacked formal representation in the British parliament, women before suffrage rights, and Black Americans during Jim Crow. More recently, consumer activism ... More
This book is the first to analyze the democratic effects of consumer activism, defined as boycotting, socially responsible investing, social media campaigns, and direct consumer actions. America has had a long and unique history of consumer activism, starting with the Boston Tea Party. Since the founding, activism in the marketplace has been used as a political tool for those who are politically disenfranchised, including the colonists who lacked formal representation in the British parliament, women before suffrage rights, and Black Americans during Jim Crow. More recently, consumer activism has become a countervailing force against overbearing corporate power in politics. This book blends democratic theory with data, historical analysis, and an examination of consumer campaigns for civil rights, environmental conservation, animal rights, gender justice, LGBT rights, and conservative causes. Consumer activism is a democratizing force that improves political participation, self-governance, government accountability, and corporate political accountability.
Keywords:
consumer activism,
democracy,
corporate power,
boycotts,
socially responsible investing,
racial justice,
environmental conservation,
animal rights,
gender justice,
LGBT rights
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2017 |
Print ISBN-13: 9781501709203 |
Published to Cornell Scholarship Online: May 2018 |
DOI:10.7591/cornell/9781501709203.001.0001 |