Political consumerism: A comparative analysis of established and developing democracies
| Date | 01 March 2020 |
| Author | Birte Gundelach |
| Published date | 01 March 2020 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0192512118819211 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512118819211
International Political Science Review
2020, Vol. 41(2) 159 –173
© The Author(s) 2019
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/0192512118819211
journals.sagepub.com/home/ips
Political consumerism: A
comparative analysis of established
and developing democracies
Birte Gundelach
University of Zurich, Switzerland
Abstract
Research on political consumerism has focused predominantly on highly developed democracies. This focus
has led to theoretical explanations closely connected to the social and political transformations of advanced
industrialized democracies. In times of globalization and individualization, political consumerism is assumed
to originate in political distrust stemming from perceived governance gaps. Recently, political consumerism
has become a more frequent form of political participation in the Global South and a research topic attracting
increased attention. The inclusion of the Global South requires a re-evaluation of political distrust as a
general stimulus for political consumerism because of its conceptual links to socio-economic contexts in
the Global North. This article provides such a re-evaluation and thereby advances the comparative analysis
of political distrust as an important impetus of political consumerism in established as well as developing
democracies.
Keywords
Political consumerism, political trust, developing countries, globalization, political participation
Introduction
Research on political consumerism – that is, the active consumer choice or avoidance of produc-
ers, products and services based on political, social, ethical or ecological considerations – has
mainly focused on highly developed democracies. In the face of growing new middle classes in
developing democracies, political consumerism in the Global South has recently become a more
frequent phenomenon and an increasingly interesting research topic. Whereas citizens in the
South have been perceived predominantly as victims of globalized markets and inequities of
trade, recently, their own role as conscious consumers has begun to attract explicit attention
(Gregson and Ferdous, 2015).
Corresponding author:
Birte Gundelach, Centre for Democracy Studies Aarau, University of Zurich, Küttigerstrasse 21, Aarau, CH-5000,
Switzerland
Email: birte.gundelach@uzh.ch
819211IPS0010.1177/0192512118819211International Political Science ReviewGundelach
research-article2019
Article
To continue reading
Request your trial