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Cited by 613Consumer behavior in food and healthFoucault, Power, and EthicsEnvironmental Sustainability in Business

Creating the Responsible Consumer: Moralistic Governance Regimes and Consumer Subjectivity

Giesler, Markus, Veresiu, Ela·2014·Journal of Consumer Research
DOI 10.1086/677842
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Abstract

Responsible consumption conventionally stems from an increased awareness of the impact of consumption decisions on the environment, on consumer health, and on society in general. We theorize the influence of moralistic governance regimes on consumer subjectivity to make the opposite case: responsible consumption requires the active creation and management of consumers as moral subjects. Building on the sociology of governmentality, we introduce four processes of consumer responsibilization that, together, comprise the P.A.C.T. routine (personalization, authorization, capabilization, and transformation). After that, we draw on a longitudinal analysis of problem-solving initiatives at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to explore the role of P.A.C.T. in the creation of four, now commonplace, responsible consumer subjects: the bottom-of-the-pyramid consumer, the green consumer, the health-conscious consumer, and the financially literate consumer. Our analysis informs extant macro-level theorizations of market and consumption systems. We also contribute to prior accounts of responsibilization, marketplace mythologies, consumer subjectivity, and transformative consumer research.

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Crossref · 10.1086/677842

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70 of 70 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • Countervailing discourses of cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation fuel a tension between the ethnic consumer subject and the responsibilized consumer subject.

    “Countervailing discourses of cultural appreciation versus cultural appropriation are fueling a tension between the ethnic consumer subject, who views the consumption of cultural difference as a valorized identity project, and the responsibilized consumer subject, who is tasked with considering the societal impacts of such consumption.”

    From Between Cultural Appreciation and Cultural Appropriation: Self-Authorizing the Consumption of Cultural Difference (2024) · cites this paper as Giesler and Veresiu 2014

  • Consumers are hailed as responsibilized consumer subjects exhorted to take responsibility for how their actions intersect with cultural diversity, equity, and inclusion.

    “In a sociocultural zeitgeist politicized through the lens of 'wokeness' and 'cancel culture' (Kanai and Gill 2020), consumers are hailed as responsibilized consumer subjects (Giesler and Veresiu 2014)exhorted to take responsibility for how their actions intersect with issues of cultural diversity, equity, and inclusion (Arsel, Crockett, and Scott 2022; Bajde and Rojas-Gaviria 2021; Giesler and Ver”

    From Between Cultural Appreciation and Cultural Appropriation: Self-Authorizing the Consumption of Cultural Difference (2024) · cites this paper as Giesler and Veresiu 2014

  • Consumers are increasingly held accountable for the broader societal impact of their individual practices across a range of consumption domains.

    “Prior literature shows that consumers are increasingly held accountable for the broader societal impact of their individual practices across a range of consumption domains (Bajde and Rojas-Gaviria 2021; Giesler and Veresiu 2014; Gonzalez-Arcos et al. 2021).”

    From Between Cultural Appreciation and Cultural Appropriation: Self-Authorizing the Consumption of Cultural Difference (2024) · cites this paper as Giesler and Veresiu 2014

  • As the cultural appropriation discourse filters into popular culture and public discussions, individuals become constituted as responsibilized consumer subjects with respect to cultural appropriation.

    “The outcome of the cultural appropriation discourse is that, as it increasingly filters from academic literature into popular culture and public discussions (Finkelstein and Rios 2022; Mosley and Biernat 2021), individuals become constituted as responsibilized consumer subjects (Giesler and Veresiu 2014) with respect to the issue of cultural appropriation.”

    From Between Cultural Appreciation and Cultural Appropriation: Self-Authorizing the Consumption of Cultural Difference (2024) · cites this paper as Giesler and Veresiu 2014

  • The responsibilized consumer subject is tasked with considering the societal impacts of consuming cultural difference.

    “the responsibilized consumer subject, who is tasked with considering the societal impacts of such consumption”

    From Between Cultural Appreciation and Cultural Appropriation: Self-Authorizing the Consumption of Cultural Difference (2024) · cites this paper as Giesler and Veresiu 2014

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Authors
Giesler, M., & Veresiu, E.
Affiliations
York University (CA)
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Consumer Research
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2014-10-01
Volume
41
Issue
3
Pages
840-857
ISSN
  • 0093-5301 (ISSN-L)
  • 1537-5277
DOI
10.1086/677842
OpenAlex
W2135085173
Cited by
613
References
72
Citations by year
2026: 57 · 2025: 61 · 2024: 64 · 2023: 73 · 2022: 58 · 2021: 65 · 2020: 61 · 2019: 42 · 2018: 52 · 2017: 32 · 2016: 30 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 1
FWCI
86.91
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Journal of Consumer Research (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Consumer behavior in food and health
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Foucault, Power, and Ethics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Environmental Sustainability in Business
Keywords
responsible consumption, consumer subjectivity, governmentality, bottom of the pyramid consumers, green consumers, health-conscious consumers, financial literacy, World Economic Forum, transformative consumer research

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