Sustainable Citizenship & the

New Politics of Consumption

[Micheletti, Micheletti (Stockholm University) & Dietlind Strolle ( Mc Gill University). 2012. The
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.644(1): 88-120]

 Consumers and corporations have become central to

shaping and expressing notions of citizenship.
 Sustainable citizenship emphasizes new responsibilities
and expectations for individuals and institutions.
 Sustainable citizenship holds the central claim that people
should x x help improve social justice and safeguard
nature to make the world a better place in which to live.”
 Notion of Sustainable Citizenship

 “The notion of Sustainable Citizenship arose from the report “Our Common
Future,” which introduced the idea of sustainable development.
 Sustainable Citizenship refers to the processes and practices that meet ‘the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs’ (United Nations World Commission on Environment
and Development, 1987, 41)
 The main goals of Sustainable Citizenship are “the promotion of good
economic, environmental and equitable development simultaneously and
worldwide.” (PPP)
 Aside from involving governments, sustainable development increasingly
engages individuals, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and
corporations.”
 New Politics of Consumption

 “Sustainable Citizenship formulates a new politics of consumption by

demanding that production and consumption be evaluated as part of the
responsibility of citizenship.
 It expands the framework of citizenship to the safeguarding of the entire
planet and expects individuals, consumers, civic groups, corporations, and
even governments to consider how the past affects their present actions and
how their lifestyles and decisions shape the future.
 Sustainable citizenship expects that individuals and institution will support
and safeguard global equity (social justice) and nature even if they do not
receive a direct reward or pay-off in return.”
 “Itexpects them to give serious attention to how their
beliefs, policies and practices might reflect and
reproduce social and environmental injustices of the past
(e.g., the legacies of slavery and colonialism, and the
discrimination of ethnic and religious groups and women);
 and how their present everyday lifestyles and
consumption choices can have a negative effect on the
well-being of nature, other humans, and animals today
and in the future.”
The notion of Sustainable Citizenship “is
expanding in three significant ways:
1. by addressing concerns about the past and
current injustices and their effects on the
future (broadened temporal dimension);
2. by addressing responsibilities worldwide,
not just within one’s territory (broadened
spatial dimension);
“The studies find that the development
od Sustainable Citizenship is taking
detours. In particular, self-interest
often dominates its non-reciprocal or
other-regarding concerns.”
The authors formulated indicators of the presence of sustainable citizenship
among individuals, in corporations and non-governmental organizations, and
applied those indicators in two empirical studies:

1. Institutions-- Fairtrade International (FI), People for the Ethical Treatment

of Animals (PETA), and Walt Disney Company (WDC);
2. Individuals, particularly those who practice political consumerism and
vegetarianism.