Fashioning Social Justice Through Political Consumerism, Capitalism, and the Internet1

Abstract Consumers, consumer goods, brand names, logos, and corporations are increasingly important in global struggles for social justice. Global social justice networks use a variety of innovative means to encourage shoppers to consider the hidden politics behind consumer goods and corporate brand names. They are using this power of mobilization to push transnational corporations to take more responsibility for the social consequences of their policy and practice. There is also a ‘pull factor’ in late market capitalism in the form of new market actors, structures, and vulnerabilities that are pulling global corporations into progressive social change. This article studies the role of the outside (market external) push factor of political consumerism and the role of the inside (market internal) capitalist pull factor in fashioning global social justice. It discusses the three basic forms of political consumerism and why political consumerism has become a global political force. It uses the contemporary anti-sweatshop movement to illustrate how political consumerism puts claims on the global economy. By drawing on historical scholarship on the importance of the rise of capitalism for anti-slavery in the 1700s and 1800s, the article argues that late capitalism makes buyer-driven corporations consider global social values in their production practices. A special section focuses on how a particular case of culture jamming combines the push and pull factors to capitalize on the vulnerabilities of late capitalism by using innovative corporate Internet marketing to communicate global anti-sweatshop politics. Keywords: political consumerismanti-sweatshopanti-slaveryculture jammingmarket vulnerabilitiessocial justice Notes 1. This article is part of a research project financed by the Swedish Council of Research entitled ‘Political Consumption: Politics in a New Era and Arena’. 2. The concept of collectivist collective action refers to traditional notions of political participation requiring citizens to join and support member-based hierarchical associations. The concept of individualized collective action signals that citizens do not need the same kind of prefabricated political message and home to engage in political participation (Micheletti 2003, pp. 24–34). 3. The entire collection of emails received by Peretti as a result of his culture jam was provided to Micheletti and Stolle for content and discourse analysis.