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Not Just for Christmas

Advent Calendar Juliane Reinecke

"There are many ways to have an ethical, green, or sustainable Christmas. If there was one thing you would want people to do every day as well, what would it be?"

"There are many ways to have an ethical, green, or sustainable Christmas. If there was one thing you would want people to do every day as well, what would it be?"

Juliane Reinecke is a PhD candidate at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. Her research topic is corporate social responsibility, ethical consumption, moral agency versus market rationality. Her background is in philosophy and economics, and she is the co-convenor of the Business and Society Research Group. Back to the NJfC Advent Calendar	"Regarding the ethical promises that accompany this year's Christmas shopping adventure, it seems that we might have never been able to celebrate a more ethical, green and sustainable Christmas. But then, when I think of accelerated environmental pollution and growing social injustice, I'm nevertheless inclined to think it might be the least ethical Christmas... In my research on Fairtrade and ethical consumption, one of the main questions is the "ethics" of ethical products. There are many interrelated issues to this question, but a friend of mine, who worked for an ethical label herself, summed it up in one sentence: "It's all about whether the (ethical) label generates questions or whether it shuts down questioning." Shifting the focus to the capacity of and demand for everyday critique is illuminating. Do ethical labels create a more critical consumer culture, where people in their everyday life start asking fundamental questions about the invisible qualities of products? Or do they make consumers more complacent to rely on ethical labels as guarantors of capitalist goodness? Do consumers go to the supermarket and ask: Who produced this product? How was it produced? Did producers earn a fair share? Did they enjoy human working conditions? How many miles did the product travel before reaching the supermarket shelf? Do consumers even become self-critical and start questioning their own consumption habits? We are at a crossroad. Ethical consumption puts the ethics of production, trade, use and disposal back on the agenda. At the same time, the rise of the ethical market might make us believe that the free market is indeed able to find the solution to its own problems. The financial crisis is the strongest evidence that this is an illusion. I therefore wish that we use the possibility that is potentially being opened up by the increased focus on the ethical, green and sustainable dimension of everyday life. I wish that we start asking more questions to look behind what the complexity of global trade chains conceals."

Juliane Reinecke is a PhD candidate at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. Her research topic is corporate social responsibility, ethical consumption, moral agency versus market rationality. Her background is in philosophy and economics, and she is the co-convenor of the
Business and Society Research Group.

Back to the NJfC Advent
Calendar

"Regarding the ethical promises that accompany this year's Christmas shopping adventure, it seems that we might have never been able to celebrate a more ethical, green and sustainable Christmas. But then, when I think of accelerated environmental pollution and growing social injustice, I'm nevertheless inclined to think it might be the
least ethical Christmas...

In my research on Fairtrade and ethical consumption, one of the main questions is the "ethics" of ethical products. There are many
interrelated issues to this question, but a friend of mine, who worked for an ethical label herself, summed it up in one sentence:
"It's all about whether the (ethical) label generates questions or whether it shuts down questioning." Shifting the focus to the capacity of and demand for everyday critique is illuminating. Do ethical labels create a more critical consumer culture, where people in their everyday life start asking fundamental questions about the invisible qualities of products? Or do they make consumers more complacent to rely on ethical labels as guarantors of capitalist goodness? Do consumers go to the supermarket and ask: Who produced this product? How was it produced? Did producers earn a fair share? Did they enjoy human working conditions? How many miles did the product travel before reaching the supermarket shelf? Do consumers
even become self-critical and start questioning their own consumption habits? We are at a crossroad. Ethical consumption puts the ethics
of production, trade, use and disposal back on the agenda. At the same time, the rise of the ethical market might make us believe that the free market is indeed able to find the solution to its own problems. The financial crisis is the strongest evidence that this is an illusion. I therefore wish that we use the possibility that is potentially being opened up by the increased focus on the ethical,
green and sustainable dimension of everyday life. I wish that we start asking more questions to look behind what the complexity of global trade chains conceals."

DamianSutton	Latest page update: made by DamianSutton , Dec 19 2008, 5:33 AM EST (about this update About This Update Edited by DamianSutton 6 words added 1 image added view changes - complete history)
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