Beyond the “deficit discourse”: Mapping ethical consumption discourses in Chile and Brazil
View / Open Files
Authors
Ariztia, Tomas
Kleine, Dorothea
Bartholo, Roberto
Brightwell, Graca
Agloni, Nurjk
Afonso, Rita
Publication Date
2016-05Journal Title
Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space
ISSN
0308-518X
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Volume
48
Issue
5
Pages
891-909
Language
English
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Ariztia, T., Kleine, D., Bartholo, R., Brightwell, G., Agloni, N., & Afonso, R. (2016). Beyond the “deficit discourse”: Mapping ethical consumption discourses in Chile and Brazil. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 48 (5), 891-909. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518x16632757
Description
This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from SAGE via https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X16632757
Abstract
<jats:p>This article challenges the longstanding trend of much empirical material on ethical consumption originating from the global North, offering instead rich data on ethical consumption and practices in Chile and Brazil. Drawing on data generated from 32 in-depth focus groups (179 participants in total) in both countries, the article identifies similarities and differences between these two countries and with the global North. We identify how ethical consumption in Chile and Brazil is conceptualized mainly at two different scales, namely first, the everyday ethics of consumption at household scale and, second, a more global scale of discourse on environmental problems and the negative effects of globalisation. At the household scale, narrative themes include those of prudence, of avoiding overconsumption, family health, and focus on quality. At a more national and international scale, respondents from all classes in both countries discussed labour conditions associated with Chinese imports. Further, particularly university-educated and well-travelled respondents had adopted international environmentalist discourses. Employing a relational geography to discourses, the article calls for research to both include and transcend cross-country comparisons, and binaries of global North and South.</jats:p>
Keywords
ethical consumption, Latin America, everyday consumption, south and north
Sponsorship
This research was made possible by a grant from the UK Economic and Social Research Council and the Department for International Development (RES-167-25-0714).
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518x16632757
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/254759
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
Licence URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Statistics
Recommended or similar items
The following licence files are associated with this item: