Issue 4, 2005   

Underestimated consumers? Perspectives on the new consumer's movement

Hubertus Buchstein, From voluntary election assistants to private election-computers, FJ NSB 4/2005, pp.7-16.

Hubertus Buchstein deals in this article with the future of voluntary election assistants. In the first republic of Estonia lots of assistants were replaced by computers. If this could be a role model for other states in the European Union is examined by an analysis - embracing history and democratic theory - on the institution of election assistants in Germany. How the praxis of voting will develope in future depends on the question if a republican understanding of the institution of assistance in elections will attract enough people to conduct elections in the usual way. Only if this institution is able to keep a flair of republicanism there will be a future for it. But as in all actions of civic engagement there is no end of the way but an ongoing trial to animate civic engagement.

Thomas Leif, Blind Mainstream - Five thesises on a differentiated media reality, FJ NSB 4/2005, pp. 17.

Related to the media coverage to the federal elections 2005 the journalist Thomas Leif pleads for a differentiated consideration on media realitiy. Mediatorship of politics has reached a new peak with this election. He demands especially from the media themselves a critical reflection on their role, as this is not at last necessary for their credibility.

Matthew Hilton, Globalisation of consumers. On the history of consumerism as an socio-political movement, FJ NSB 4/2005, pp. 18-29.

This paper will overview the developments in modern consumer associations, from their rise in the United States and Europe from the 1950s through to developments at the international development and the growth of consumerism as a social movement throughout the world. It will examine the rise of the global consumer movement and will demonstrate that consumers played a crucial role in the development of global civil society in the 1970s and 1980s, articulating consumer concerns - based as much on basic needs as on the concerns of the affluent - in bodies such as the United Nations. The consumer movement in the 1980s became a broad-ranging NGO, leading other social movements in world-wide attacks on the use of pesticides, the activities of pharmaceutical companies, the marketing of breast-milk substitutes and in a concerted effort to develop a code of conduct for the activities of transnational corporations. Such a type of consumer agency highlights a very different model that that which has been imagined in models promoted by both economics and cultural studies.

Frank Janning, Cycles of consumer´s power. Political Structures of opportunity within German consumer policy, FJ NSB 4/2005, pp.30-40

Frank Janning analyses the political structures of opportunity within German consumer policy. Concerning the potential of innovation and efforts of reform he is sceptical. Success depends mostly on the focus of the government in charge. The continuity of mostly neocorporatist policy-making within consumer policies has a continuing effect here. Janning concludes that consumer association in Germany are rather weak and can only conditionally organise power within this field of policy. So they cannot be more than a lobby organisation which supports reforms and their actions are restricted to consumer information.

Dietlind Stolle/ Michele Micheletti, Why do consumers become political consumers?, FJ NSB 4/2005, pp.41-52.

The article analyses the phenomenon of political consumer action. Political consumers choose certain products since they intend to alter the behaviour of economic actors. By this, more and more citizens are searching for a possibility to express their opinions aside of the parliamentary system. The article sums up the results of a study on swedish political consumers in order to analyse, what is the motivation of political consumers and why they use the marketplace as an arena of political action. The study shows that political consumers are alienated from their national institutions, are sceptical on actors and symbols of the market and want to alter the face of global capitalism.

Uri Ram, "Don't Drink Stupid, Drink Committed": The Liquidation of Commitments, FJ NSB 4/2005, pp. 53-64.

Mecca-Cola is a new brand of bottled or canned sweet carbonated soft drink, which simulates in taste, shape, appearance and appeal the world-famous American product Coca-Cola. It offers Arab and Muslim consumers an alternative to the American parallel product, which for many of them symbolizes American cultural capitalism and also American imperialism. It calls upon consumers "Don't drink stupid (Coca Cola), Drink committed (Mecca Cola)". This essay analyses the relations between the "Mecca" and the "Cola" in this, and in other cases of an encounter between the global and commodified material culture and local and authentic spiritual culture. Relating to the theoretical controversy between "homogenizers", who predicts Americanization, and "heterogenizers", who predict hybridization between the "Mecca" and the "Cola", this essay proposes a composite model: it differentiates between two societal levels: the material and the symbolic, and argues that global commodification generates homogenization in the material culture, while simultaneously preserving (and even encouraging) heterogenization in the symbolic level. This model is label "glocommodification".

Christoph Bieber/Jörn Lamla, Consumer Networking Online - Innovative Perspectives On consumer movement in the internet, FJ NSB 4/2005, pp. 65-77.

The article unfolds innovative perspectives on various (socio-)political actors and their strategies using the means of online-communication for enhancing information, cooperation and political participation of consumers. The introduction characterizes ways of addressing users within consumer- or politics-orientated online-environments. The main empirical part of the study describes different fields and dimensions of consumer networking online. Among the examined projects are - in a rather political tradition - institutions of official consumer protection, commercially organized product reviewing and rating communities, and consumer-related non-governmental-organizations. In a second dimension, more technology-focused projects such as the online-encyclopedia wikipedia or the movement of 'public wireless networks' is subject to research. In their conclusion, the authors connect both areas by outlining basic principles of 'The Consumers´ Network'.

Holger Backhaus-Maul/Ingolf Schubert, Corporations and consumers: Diffuse responsibility and weak interests, FJ NSB 4/2005, pp. 78-88.

As interpretations of economic action take place on a global scale, the role of corporations assumes special attention. The article describes how corporations search for their new role in civil society by using the relevant ideas of Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Citizenship. Opportunities, conditions and limits for corporations of taking societal responsibility are illustrated by the relation between corporations as producers and citizens as consumers.

Patrick Kammerer, Protecting Consumers, Consumer´s power and corporate action in times of (anti-)globalisation, FJ NSB 4/2005, pp. 89-97.

Patrick Kammerer, responsible for corporate communications at Shell Germany analyses in how far public protest affects corporate policies. As examples he chooses Shell and Nike. Since both confessed sustainable economic action, transparency and continious dialogue with NGOs, they have drawn consequences from their mistakes. The same should be expected from consumers. Often differs the behaviour of consumer associations from the behaviour of the people they represent.

Edda Müller, Consumer policy as a cross-section task!, FJ NSB 4/2005, pp. 98-105.

The chairwoman of the Verbraucherzentralen Bundesverband (federal associon of consumer-agencies) explains in an interview the association´s aims and tasks. There are two main tasks: On the one hand consumers have to be informed and on the other hand there must be a change in perception of consumers. Since consumers are disregarded in economics as part of the economic system this must be changed. Especially as neither capital nor workforce are nowadays able to check each other consumers have to become the third social partner.

Georgios Terizakis, Consumer-Organizations in the EU - Novel Food, FJ NSB 4/2005, pp.106-110.

Regarding their success and importance of their issues consumer movement is underestimated. Political scientists do not pay too much attention compared to e.g. environment movement. The article asks for the role of civil society actor´s within the multi-level-system of the EU in general and looks at consumer-organizations as a part of civil society.

Axel Philipps, Consumer-Power-Nothing?!, FJ NSB 4/2005, pp. 110-115.

Consumers assumed recently more importance regarding risk-management within scandals about food, e.g. BSE. For that reason one should consider the differentiated patterns of socio-cultural perception and behaviour of consumers concerning risks as well as their selfimages as wpart of a culture of protest. Consumers cannot be regarded only as laymen, but as individuals promoting own strategies for dealing with crisises. This view allows seeing consumers as a potential third power.

Martin Schiefelbusch, Public transport: ,Cases of transportation' have a word, FJ NSB 4/2005, pp.116-120.

Public transport is a rather new topic within consumer-politics. This concerns also the question of appropriate forms of representation of interests. The article gives an overview of the consumerpolitics in this field. It assumes a special position of public transport and describes different forms of representation, which are often used. But the focus is on the background of civiv engagement within this sector.