The DOI matches its Crossref record; 70 of the 72 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Creating the Responsible Consumer: Moralistic Governance Regimes and Consumer Subjectivity
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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In the citing paper
“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
In the citing paper
“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
In the citing paper
“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
In the citing paper
“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
In the citing paper
“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
In the citing paper
“Although consumers carry comparatively less power than institutional actors such as the state and multinational corporations to shape market practices, responsibilization positions the consumer on par with these institutional actors.”
From Between Cultural Appreciation and Cultural Appropriation: Self-Authorizing the Consumption of Cultural Difference (2024) · cites this paper as Giesler and Veresiu 2014
In the citing paper
“Consumer responsibilization toward the issue of cultural appropriation, which has filtered into public consciousness via mainstream and social media (Kanai and Gill 2020), manifests a more 'organic' responsibilization that differs from the institutionally driven process described in Giesler and Veresiu's (2014) work.”
From Between Cultural Appreciation and Cultural Appropriation: Self-Authorizing the Consumption of Cultural Difference (2024) · cites this paper as Giesler and Veresiu 2014
In the citing paper
“Reflecting the disproportionate impact of responsibilization on the individual consumer (Giesler and Veresiu 2014), Livy directs the moralistic mandates of the cultural appropriation discourse at themselves, ultimately bearing both the costs of disciplining their own consumption choices and the costs of failing to do so.”
From Between Cultural Appreciation and Cultural Appropriation: Self-Authorizing the Consumption of Cultural Difference (2024) · cites this paper as Giesler and Veresiu 2014
In the citing paper
“The reforming strategy reflects less a morality conflict between insiders and outsiders than an emergent 'inside out' responsibilization of consumers (Bajde and Rojas-Gaviria 2021; Giesler and Veresiu 2014).”
From Between Cultural Appreciation and Cultural Appropriation: Self-Authorizing the Consumption of Cultural Difference (2024) · cites this paper as Giesler and Veresiu 2014
In the citing paper
“As consumers become more responsibilized for societal issues (Giesler and Veresiu 2014), the responsibilized consumer subject is extended to the consumption of cultural difference, repoliticizing it through the cultural appropriation discourse.”
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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Sorted by citations
Consumer behavior and purchase intention for organic food: A review and research agenda
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“Ethical consumerism falls under the umbrella of consumer activism which either involves purchasing ethical products with low social and environmental costs or institutes a moral boycott of unethical products (Giesler and Veresiu, 2014).”
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Bardhi, F., & Eckhardt, G. M. (2017) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1093/jcr/ucx050 · Cited by 473
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BackgroundResearching corporate social responsibility communication: Themes, opportunities and challenges
Crane, A., & Glozer, S. (2016) · Journal of Management Studies · doi:10.1111/joms.12196 · Cited by 418
“This type of theoretical approach to understanding the implications of the discursive field of CSR has begun to be used to study CSR phenomena across a range of disciplines including OS (Vallentin and Murillo, 2012), consumer research (Giesler and Veresiu, 2014) and CSR (Bookman and Martens, 2013).”
Secrets and Likes: The Drive for Privacy and the Difficulty of Achieving It in the Digital Age
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Background
Metadata
- Authors
- Giesler, M., & Veresiu, E.
- Affiliations
- York University (CA)
- 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
- 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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