Affiliation:
1. Dublin City University,
2. University College Dublin,
Abstract
In recent times, much has been written about consumers' co-responsibility for addressing environmental problems, with consumers expected to steer or regulate their consumption in an instrumental way. By drawing on data from in-depth interviews with green consumers in urban Ireland, this article examines how green consumers engage with environmental issues at an everyday level. The article considers green consumption through the theoretical lens of reflexive modernization, particularly its relevance to self-identity. We argue that although green consumption is important to the maintenance and constitution of a green subjectivity, it must be understood within the context of a process of increasing individualization, where individuals feel both responsible and empowered in dealing with environmental risks to both the wider global planet and themselves. However, such feelings are accompanied by doubts and insecurities about the choices to be made, creating a rather dichotomous situation. This challenges the idea that green consumption as some form of politics of choice can unambiguously form part of a strategy for environmental reform as it does not adequately address the fundamental dilemmas that people face.
Subject
Marketing,Economics and Econometrics,Sociology and Political Science,Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous),Social Psychology,Business and International Management
Reference51 articles.
1. Belk, R. (1993) `Materialism and the Making of the Modern American Christmas', in D. Miller (ed.) Unwrapping Christmas, pp. 75—104. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2. Environmental Sociology and the Explanation of Environmental Reform
3. Carrier, J. (1993) `The Rituals of Christmas Giving', in D. Miller (ed.) Unwrapping Christmas, pp. 55—74. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cited by
303 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献