Conceptual Con/fusion in Democratic Societies

Current rhetoric of democratic citizenship invokes an ideology of consumerism. In this article, I adopt a feminist/critical cultural studies perspective to explore the extent to which the relationship between consumption and citizenship is both part of the strategy of globalization and a historical association. I begin by reviewing a mainstream discourse on citizenship, as well as feminist and other critical responses to it. I then discuss the historical role of consumption as a marker of and, increasingly, a stand-in for citizenship under contemporary neoliberal, consumerist ideologies. Scholars from diverse disciplines and fields have brought the concepts of citizenship and consumption together, now routinely using terms such as citizen-consumer. I close with a discussion of problems with the notion of consumer-citizenship, notably the outstanding concern about equality, a fundamental aim of democratic citizenship, and the limitations of consumption as a strategy of resistance in previous eras and to the contemporary project of globalization.