Seminar: ‘We’re all Fairtrade consumers now!’: The meanings, moralities and politics of Fairtrade consumption

Katy Wheeler from Department of Sociology, University of Essex

Date: Thursday 3rd December 2009

At 16:00 in Room 6.345 (Department of Sociology).

Abstract:

If I do my shopping at Sainsbury’s and I buy a banana, I will be consuming Fairtrade whether I like it or not, whether I am aware of it or not.  In recent years, we have witnessed an increasing tendency for businesses, public institutions and organisations to adopt Fairtrade provisioning policies removing the choice of non-Fairtrade items. Existing research into Fairtrade consumption tends to portray the growth of the movement as the result of thousands of individual citizen-consumers making the conscious choice to ‘vote’ for fairer trade (Goodman, 2004; Lyon, 2006; Micheletti, 2003).  However, due to changes in provisioning policies, people are often consuming Fairtrade without even knowing they are doing it.

Seminar – Buying Morality: Shopping and the Good Life

CRESI’s  12th February 2009 seminar will be given by Dr Andrew Fagan (Human Rights Centre, University of Essex). Seminars are held in Room 6.345, are open to all staff and students and are followed by a reception in the Sociology Common Room (6.341).. NB: Starts at 17:00, 1 hour later than usual.