The citizen-consumer hybrid: ideological tensions and the case of Whole Foods Market

Ethical consumer discourse is organized around the idea that shopping, and particularly food shopping, is a way to create progressive social change. A key component of this discourse is the “citizen-consumer” hybrid, found in both activist and academic writing on ethical consumption. The hybrid concept implies a social practice – “voting with your dollar” – that can satisfy competing ideologies of consumerism (an idea rooted in individual self-interest) and citizenship (an ideal rooted in collective responsibility to a social and ecological commons). While a hopeful sign, this hybrid concept needs to be theoretically unpacked, and empirically explored. This article has two purposes. First, it is a theory-building project that unpacks the citizen-consumer concept, and investigates underlying ideological tensions and contradictions. The second purpose of the paper is to relate theory to an empirical case-study of the citizen-consumer in practice. Using the case-study of Whole Foods Market (WFM), a corporation frequently touted as an ethical market actor, I ask: (1) how does WFM frame the citizen-consumer hybrid, and (2) what ideological tensions between consumer and citizen ideals are present in the framing? Are both ideals coexisting and balanced in the citizen-consumer hybrid, or is this construct used to disguise underlying ideological inconsistencies? Rather than meeting the requirements of consumerism and citizenship equally, the case of WFM suggests that the citizen-consumer hybrid provides superficial attention to citizenship goals in order to serve three consumerist interests better: consumer choice, status distinction, and ecological cornucopianism. I argue that a true “citizen-consumer” hybrid is not only difficult to achieve, but may be internally inconsistent in a growth-oriented corporate setting.     

Scoring Ecstasy: MDMA,Consumerism and Spirituality in the Early Fiction of Irvine Welsh

Ecstasy (MDMA) is a drug whose short-term dangers have been demonstrated by a number of deaths, and whose long-term effects are still unknown. It is also illegal. Nevertheless, people continue to take it. This essay aims to address the question of why they do so. I argue that MDMA's ability to enhance communication and offer people a version of religious ritual means that the drug has the potential, at least, to modify subjectivity and intersubjective relationships. In particular, I study how one contemporary novelist and commentator on the club/rave scene, Irvine Welsh, explores this potential in his work. I focus mainly on his novel Marabou Stork Nightmares, the novella “The Undefeated” (from the collection Ecstasy) and the title story of the collection The Acid House. I am especially concerned with how Welsh reads MDMA's problematic relationships to consumer capitalism and to the ecstatic or otherworldly states that are loosely described by his characters as “spirituality.” I also address Welsh's accounts of LSD experience in the same stories in order to show how he situates the identity of the drug user as poised between the sense of self-affirmation and empathy offered by MDMA and the sense of self-annihilation (via an encounter with subjectless language, or Foucault's “thought of the outside”) offered by the LSD experience. I argue that the reason for this bipolar construction of subjectivity in Welsh's work is his wish to explore the drug-using subject's conflicting relationship to consumerism, which offers neither selfaffirmation nor self-annihilation, but a merely passive relation to experience, in which the subject's task is to absorb (consume) images and material goods. I will suggest that in playing out these conflicts, Welsh's stories show how the literary and philosophical tradition linking drug use and mysticism refuses to die; in effect, his work revitalizes the ideas of de Quincey, Huxley, Leary and others, reshaping them for the consumerist age while never being uncritical of house culture or the illicit drug scene. Like Derrida in “The Rhetoric of Drugs”, Welsh seeks a position on the issue that avoids the oversimplifications of much pro- and anti-drug rhetoric. Welsh's work is as much about consumerism and spirituality as about drugs, and his exploration of the subject positions of MDMA users is bound up with a dual critique of late capitalism and house culture that exposes the problematic connexions between them. His work shows, for instance, that Ecstasy does not offer an escape from the cash nexus: it is, is in many ways, just another consumer product tied to the leisure industry. While Ecstasy can initiate a new spiritual awareness in some users, this is best sustained by distancing oneself from the “chaos” of hedonistic excess and reducing the frequency of MDMA use. I conclude that Welsh is not so much an apologist for dangerous illegal drugs as an intelligent critic of consumerism.     

Introduction: Self in South Asia

The so called western, rational, individual, autonomous, self marked by freedom, potential and choice and deemed essential for modernity has predominantly been juxtaposed with the presumed collective, static, bounded, “identity” of the “non-west” and its inhabitants. Anthropological scholarship has thus been marked by its focus on the “identity” of its subjects (drawn from a collective and shared with others) instead of a self. Nowhere has this theorisation between the self and the collective been so fraughtly interrogated as in the Anthropology of South Asia. A common place occurrence in academic, policy and everyday discussions, South Asian personhood has been comprehended only through various collective categories like gender, kinship, religion, caste, community following the Dumontian holism that there are no individuals and only caste and hierarchy in India. The discussions of self have also remained understudied in historiography inspite of being intrinsic to the Indian post-colonial public life. Recently, historians have turned to individual sensibilities and life stories while others have argued that the self is a product of history transformed in a public debate. It is important to reflect on the methodological connotations of using such person-centred self-representations – narratives, novels, biographies and memoirs – which are often deemed to be inadequate sources of anthropological and ethnographic value. Theoretically and methodologically these articles on self in South Asia distinctly depart from the existing anthropological and historical literature by bringing together at the same juncture both synchronic and diachronic accounts in conjunction with psychic and social histories. In this volume we are interested in the practices and conceptual tools behind the self than a definition. The focus here is on the ethnographic examination of the self and personal experience, of the minutae of the interactions of daily life, on the dialogical characters of the self in South Asia rather than a “South Asian” self. The idea of the self becomes particularly pertinent within the shifting contexts of economic liberalization, migration, violent conflicts, consumerism, new media and the role of transnationally affiliated groups in challenging/reifying static, orientalised and essentialising accounts of the self.     

Bridge Leadership: Gendered Consumerism and Black Women’s Political Power within Early 20th Century “Don’t Buy” Campaigns

This research surveys the literature around black consumerism and social movements, exploring the “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work” (DBWYCW) campaigns of the 1920s-1940s. The author examines the integral roles women played (as organizers, agitators, and beneficiaries) in various economic boycotts within the context of Belinda Robnett’s theory of bridge leadership, with a particular focus on consumerism as a major vehicle through which African-American women engaged in movement work during the DBWYCW campaigns. This article challenges the erasure of women’s leadership by reframing “Don’t Buy” as a women’s movement. Applying Robnett’s bridge leadership theory to different eras, regions, and movements, we see how the Great Depression combined with activism in the gendered sphere of consumerism and facilitated the activism of black women. This paper also expands Robnett’s conceptualization of professional and indigenous bridge leaders by identifying urban working class women within the “Don’t Buy” movement who fit these leadership categories.     

The hybridization of organizational culture in tokyo disneyland

Tokyo Disneyland (TDL), a licensed version of the American theme park which was re-made in Japan, is a unique cultural, organizational and consumerist junction where “Japan” meets “America.” Offering an ethnography of this meeting, I focus here on the appropriation of the “Disney Way” into TDL's socialization practices of hiring and training. TDL's organizational culture is divided between an American influence that relates to part-timers and a Japanese tradition that applies to regular workers. It is discussed how local culture facilitated the successful transfer of the Disney Way to Japan while also promoting a modification of specific elements.     

Not to Be Hungry Is Not Enough: An Insight Into Contours of Inclusion and Exclusion in Affluent Western Societies

In its view of the contemporary world, social theory—and particularly its postmodern trends and proponents—attributes a dominant role to the realm of consumption and consumerism in shaping both individual lifeworlds and the system of social hierarchies as a whole. In this article, building on the case of middle‐aged to late‐middle‐aged post–Soviet Jewish immigrants in contemporary Germany and illuminating a particular condition that I call “condemned to consume,” I seek to reexamine this tendency to celebrate consumption and consumerism while downplaying and marginalizing realm of work and employment. I interconnect this examination with questions regarding the distribution of resources and the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion. Drawing on the “condemned to consume” condition, I seek to claim that in affluent Western societies, which are able to provide relative material well‐being or at least subsistence even to those at the margins, the main contours of inclusion and exclusion are not grounded primarily in one's ability to enter the realm of consumption but, rather, in one's ability to participate equally in the realm of work and employment. I underscore this idea by connecting lack of regular, meaningful employment with the concept of exclusive inclusion.     

Bonding and Attachment in Adoption

SUMMARY

The meaning of the words “bonding” and “attachment” as terms related to human connections are examined from an historical perspective and as important tools in the field of adoption. For over three decades there has been confusion between the two words and about the processes which they represented. Because adoption, by definition, changes the usual patterns of family connections, it is especially important that there be common agreement about terminology. Clinical observations have led to the discrete definitions proposed here. The words are defined, for utilitarian purposes, in a way that underscores the qualitative differences. The result is a tool that can improve placement decisions, help resolve controversial custody cases, reduce tensions among the families to which an adopted child has connections, and provide concrete assistance to children in their efforts to learn how to make significant attachments.     

Drug Use and Youth Consumption in West Germany During the 1960s

This article examines the contested meanings of consumption and drug use in Germany during the 1960s. Arguing for an anthropological view of drug consumption, it investigates how youth drug use emerged during a period in which the meaning of consumption and consumerism were undergoing a fundamental change. In Germany during the 1960s, drug consumption was conceived of as part of a larger consumer revolution, both by youth protection advocates and youths themselves, although in a contradictory manner. While proponents of drug control saw drug use as the irrational outcome of rampant consumerism that threatened basic social values, young cultural radicals believed that certain forms of drug consumption could free individuals from the stifling conformity of enforced, coercive consumerism. The article argues that placing drug use in a special category away from “normal” consumerism obfuscates more than it clarifies and challenges scholars to understand drug consumption, consumers, and the production of meaning within specific historical and cultural contexts.     

Students Who Strip: The Benefits of Alternate Identities for Managing Stigma

We apply interactionist theories that highlight the contextual nature of stigma and the relational quality of stigmatization to the case of college students who work as topless dancers. We explore how the “toll of stripping” might be mediated by having an alternate, positive identity like “student.” Our analysis demonstrates that students who strip are distinctive from other strippers in important ways that stem from their salient, positive identity as students. Although they often feel as if they live a “double life” because they hide their occupation from family and friends, they benefit from sharing their student goals and ambitions with club customers. “Student” is a socially acceptable identity to share in routine social interactions and helps student strippers frame dancing as a transient occupation, offering them an opportunity to maintain a positive sense of self while buffering them from some of the negative effects of stripping.     

Red Schools,Blue Schools? Republican and Democratic Student Groups at U.S. Colleges and Universities1

How prevalent are Republican and Democratic student groups, and why are some schools home to Republican and Democratic student groups while other schools are not? Some commentators and scholars suggest that Republican student groups may be less prevalent than Democratic student groups and, when present, will likely be found at “red schools” (rather than “blue schools”) in Republican-leaning areas of the country. However, other scholars argue that both Republican and Democratic student groups should be similar in their overall prevalence and located at a similar set of “engaged schools” (as opposed to “unengaged schools”). Analyzing our original database of Republican and Democratic student organizations across 1,953 four-year, not-for-profit U.S. colleges and universities, we first show that Republican student groups are nearly as common as Democratic student groups: Republican student groups can be found at 39% of campuses, while Democratic student groups are present on 40% of campuses. Employing binary and multinomial logistic regression analyses, we then show that Republican and Democratic student groups tend to be located at the same types of schools, that is, larger, wealthier, public schools that offer political science majors. Our article holds significant implications for theorizing on student organization presence more generally.     

Three Books by Noel Timms

When appropriately used, simulations are powerful educational tools for the social work educator. A simulation permits the student to experience an approximation of reality, thereby generating interest and a more relevant classroom environment When it is not feasible to use extant simulation games, educators need to design their own—ones adapted to particular time limitation and course objectives. Two examples of “homemade” simulations are presented. One focuses on community power, the other on grant writing.     

A Theory of Access*

Abstract The term “access” is frequently used by property and natural resource analysts without adequate definition. In this paper we develop a concept of access and examine a broad set of factors that differentiate access from property. We define access as “the ability to derive benefits from things,” broadening from property's classical definition as “the right to benefit from things.” Access, following this definition, is more akin to “a bundle of powers” than to property's notion of a “bundle of rights.” This formulation includes a wider range of social relationships that constrain or enable benefits from resource use than property relations alone. Using this framing, we suggest a method of access analysis for identifying the constellations of means, relations, and processes that enable various actors to derive benefits from resources. Our intent is to enable scholars, planners, and policy makers to empirically “map” dynamic processes and relationships of access.     

Cultural capital in educational research: A critical assessment

In this article, we assess how the concept of cultural capital has been imported into the English language, focusing on educational research. We argue that a dominant interpretation of cultural capital has coalesced with two central premises. First, cultural capital denotes knowledge of or facility with “highbrow” aesthetic culture. Secondly, cultural capital is analytically and causally distinct from other important forms of knowledge or competence (termed “technical skills,” “human capital,” etc.). We then review Bourdieu’s educational writings to demonstrate that neither of these premises is essential to his understanding of cultural capital. In the third section, we discuss a set of English-language studies that draw on the concept of cultural capital, but eschew the dominant interpretation. These serve as the point of departure for an alternative definition. Our definition emphasizes Bourdieu’s reference to the capacity of a social class to “impose” advantageous standards of evaluation on the educational institution. We discuss the empirical requirements that adherence to such a definition entails for researchers, and provide a brief illustration of the intersection of institutionalized evaluative standards and the educational practices of families belonging to different social classes. Using ethnographic data from a study of social class differences in family-school relationships, we show how an African-American middle-class family exhibits cultural capital in a way that an African-American family below the poverty level does not.     

Formalizing Diaspora–State Relations: Processes and Tensions in the Jamaican Case

In common with many other developing states, the Jamaican government has recently sought to institutionalize relations with its diaspora in order to enhance its development potential. I explore the initiative in this paper. I begin with a definition of diaspora, in which I argue for the need to recognize the multiple meanings of the term, especially as they relate to migrant communities that do not follow the pattern of forced migration. Using Itzigsohn’s distinction between “narrow” and “broad” formations (see Itzigsohn et al., 1999 ), I argue that analysis of the operation of diaspora–state relations can only occur meaningfully using the narrow definition. This is followed by an examination of recent literature on diaspora–state relations, which provides a necessary context for the Jamaican case study. In the second section, I provide background to the 2004 initiative, showing that there was a clear progression from concern about the experiences of returned residents to an engagement with Jamaicans residing overseas. In the third section, I examine the structures created by the Jamaican government and, finally, I provide a critical appraisal of the process as it has unfolded thus far. I argue that tensions remain regarding the role and functioning of the “new” formalized process compared with the pre‐existing bodies, that resources are required to ensure a more equitable functioning of the process and that questions remain about the extent to which the new bodies “represent” the diaspora.     

To ITV or Not to ITV: A Comparison of Hybrid and Web-enhanced Approaches to Teaching a Macro-course in Human Behavior in the Social Environment

Hybrid education includes an online component and interaction between students and teacher by televised sound and image. This approach contrasts dramatically with traditional face-to-face teaching and classroom teaching modalities enhanced by Web-based tools. Should educators in “human behavior and the social environment” (HBSE) use hybrid technologies? This study explores the differences and similarities in student satisfaction and learning outcomes between a hybrid and a face-to-face Web-enhanced macro-course in HBSE. Results suggest that hybrid and Web-enhanced course delivery methods do not differently impact student learning. Students did report greater satisfaction with some but not all aspects of the hybrid sections.     

Does Circular Migration Lead to “Guest Worker” Outcomes?

At first at the level of the European Commission, and increasingly also in the European Union’s member states, it is being recognized that past labour migration management tools have more or less serious drawbacks in that they produce undesired outcomes and do not sufficiently attain the objectives for which they were designed. The welfare states of north‐western Europe are discovering that their desire of the past three decades to restrict labour immigration as much as possible is no longer “in sync” with changing labour market demands, which are growing both for the highly skilled and the unskilled. In order to satisfy the demand for unskilled labour, schemes are being proposed that would allow for circular migration. The European Commission is a forceful promoter of these schemes. Member states such as the Netherlands, which we take as a case in point, are also considering modes by which to allow temporary unskilled labour migration, but seem intent on employing regulatory tools that are not very different from those used in the “guest worker” era, which brought about large‐scale settlement. Up to the present time, the resulting ethnic minority groups are the subject of large integration efforts on the part of the receiving states. This begs the question of the extent to which “circular migration” would be different from “guest worker” schemes, in its management and its outcomes.     

Waterpipe Smoking Among College Students in the United States: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

Objective: To review the literature on college student waterpipe use with a focus on undergraduates in the United States. Participants: Undergraduate students. Methods: Studies were accessed using the databases PubMed, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Academic Search Premier. Searches included combinations of the following keywords: “waterpipe,” “hookah,” “shisha,” “nargila,” “argileh,” “hubble bubble,” “college,” “university,” and “student.” Results: Results demonstrate that approximately 1 in 5 American college students report past-year waterpipe use. Results also suggest that there are a number of established correlates of waterpipe smoking, including male gender, Arab ethnicity, cigarette smoking, and the belief that waterpipe smoking is less harmful than cigarette smoking. Conclusions: Despite its harmful health effects, waterpipe smoking is quite common among college students. Future research with better methodologies and theoretical frameworks are needed to advance the field.     

Selling slumber: American neoliberalism and the medicalization of sleeplessness

Sleeplessness is an ancient and cross‐cultural phenomenon that is socially structured and restructured against a backdrop of ideology and inequality. In an effort to make sense of sleeplessness, some scholars have invoked the medicalization framework, which highlights consumerism, managed care, biotechnology, and physicians as key “engines” that foster the transformation of this formerly “normal” condition to one that people view as a medical problem. However, this burgeoning literature has not answered the call of medical sociologists to situate the medicalization process in a political economic context. In this article, we employ the case study of sleeplessness and the creation of the “Sleep Industrial Complex” to expand the medicalization framework and illustrate how American neoliberalism creates an ideal environment for the primary engines of medicalization. We identify three critical features of American neoliberalism—enhancement culture, commodification of health, and a “productivity imperative”—that act in concert with the driving engines to foster an environment wherein medicalization not only survives but also thrives.     

近年来我国大学生自杀心理剖析

研究自杀大学生的心理变化过程,对预防大学生自杀具有积极的作用。对大学生自杀案例进行剖析的结果表明,大学生自杀行为“因穷至卑”和“因穷自杀”现象不明显;不同原因自杀的心理动机存在差异,并且主要集中在“情感挫折”、“学习就业压力”、“个人心理障碍”、“家庭原因”和“生理健康”5类。自杀大学生的心理状态随着自杀意念的发生发展呈现一定的规律性,他们在实施自杀的过程中都经历了复杂的心理过程。