Ethical Consumption : A Realist Approach.

Cover -- Endorsement -- Half Title -- Series Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication Page -- Table of Contents -- Foreword -- Preface -- Introduction -- Ethical consumption, the identity-building consumer, and critical realism -- Clarification of terms -- The scope and structure of the book -- References -- Part 1 Theorising the ethical consumer -- Chapter 1 Analysing consumption: Towards an integrated approach -- A view on consumption: lessons from the past, directions for the future -- References -- Chapter 2 Ethical consumption and critical realism -- Reflexivity: an emergent subjective power -- A realist social ontology: towards a stratified reality -- References -- Chapter 3 Ethical consumption as a reflexive life project -- In pursuit of identity: reflexivity and the internal conversation -- Ethical consumer - unravelling the relationship between commitments and concerns -- References -- Part 2 Studying the ethical consumer -- Chapter 4 Studying consumption: A realist approach -- Epistemological approach: towards the interpretivist paradigm -- Detailed research design -- Data production: the rationale, limitations, and benefits of my chosen research methods -- Reflexivity in research -- Data analysis -- Assessing the validity of research: a realist approach -- References -- Chapter 5 Meeting the ethical consumers -- Vignette 1: Lucy -- Vignette 2: Jason -- Vignette 3: David -- Vignette 4: Darren -- Vignette 5: Mary -- Vignette 6: Maggi -- Vignette 7: Joe -- Vignette 8: Solveig -- Vignette 9: Lila -- Note -- Reference -- Chapter 6 Becoming an ethical consumer: Moral concerns, emotional commentaries, and reflexive deliberations -- On the origins of consumers' moral concerns -- Reflexivity and internal conversation in the context of ethical consumption.

Consumption and the ethical self: on the links between concerns, practices, and identities -- References -- Chapter 7 Being an ethical consumer: Exercising moral agency in the contexts of objective reality -- Contextualising consumer practices -- Reinstating consumer agency -- The many concerns of a single (ethical) consumer: striking the balance -- Reflexivity in ethical consumption: an ongoing imperative -- Maintaining ethical consumer identities: in pursuit of an authentic self -- Accommodating ethics, negotiating morality: the unethical practices of an ethical self -- On values and practices -- References -- Chapter 8 The inner self in the outer world: The social life of an ethical consumer -- References -- Conclusion -- Limitations and further research: beyond individual identities -- References -- Index.

The book engages with the topic of ethical consumption and explores ethical consumer practices and identities from a critical realist perspective. By elaborating Margaret Archer's work on human reflexivity, it develops an original social theory explaining how individuals form, actualise, and sustain ethical consumer identities. It presents the findings from a qualitative study with self-perceived ethical food consumers to demonstrate the fit between a proposed theoretical mechanism and the actual experiences of ethically minded consumers.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.