Consumers, democracy and solidarity. Dilemmas and scope of critical consumption.

The chapter examines the changing relationship between democracy and consumption, focusing on the emergence of critical consumption as a form of political participation. As conventional forms of political engagement have declined or been transformed, consumption has increasingly been invested with civic and political meanings, from campaigns against multinational corporations to fair trade, organic food and alter-globalisation movements. I explore the promise and ambivalence of this development, asking under what conditions consumer choice can become a form of democratic action and contribute to the common good. While critical consumption can make visible the political infrastructures of everyday economic life and open spaces for collective action, the idea of consumer sovereignty is marked by significant inequalities of resources, opportunities and institutional support. Moreover, ethical and political motivations remain intertwined with concerns for quality, pleasure and identity, while market mechanisms may appropriate and commodify critical practices. I argue that consumption cannot substitute for conventional political participation, but can become an important site where the morality of markets, relations of interdependence and the boundaries between economic and political life are negotiated.