Political Science

Not until recently has consumer culture been a dominant area in the discipline of political science. Traditionally, scholars have studied consumer politics theoretically and empirically through the dominant paradigm in political science that focuses on the inputs, outputs, and outcomes of political action. This paradigm implies careful study of the role of civil society and the state in representing and protecting consumer interest. On the input side of politics, political scientists have studied the role of citizens, social movements, and interest groups in lobbying government to enact laws to protect consumers and to promote consumer rights. This field of investigation has involved theoretical and empirical analysis of how interest groups and social movements mobilize the interests of consumers and lobby government. Interviews with organizational leaders, surveys of ordinary consumers and citizens, analysis of organizational documents, and event analysis form the empirical materials and methodology common to these studies. Political scientists have also traditionally studied political party platforms to discern differences among political ideologies on the role of government in protecting consumers and regulating industry. Frequently, such studies are part of larger ones involving textual analysis of several policy areas found in party platforms and policies. Common [Page 1105]research findings are differences between left and right parties in how far they want to regulate business (with the left having as its goal more regulation and the right less) to promote the interests of consumers. Studies of the output side of politics evaluate governmental consumer policy. Legislative voting on consumer policy making and the stipulations included in legislative acts are studied in a public policy analysis framework. Textual analysis of policy documents helps to typify policy to map the magnitude of government regulation of industry and the economy, how and how well public policy protects and promotes the interests of consumers, the character of regulation (mandatory or voluntary), governmental resources (funding, employees, etc.) allocated to implement consumer policy, and the establishment of governmental regulatory consumer agencies. Consumer product safety policy and policy on commercial advertising has, for example, been studied in this fashion. Political scientists also engage in cross-country comparisons (e.g., between the United States and European countries) or subgovernmental levels (e.g., the states in the United States) on these key aspects of governmental policy of relevance for consumer protection. More recently, they have compared government in the United States, European countries, and the European Union on deregulation of the energy market and genetically modified food policy. Consumer information and consumer mobilization has been one focus in this research. The consumer ombudsman in the Nordic and other countries has attracted political science attention as a sign of governmental commitment to the protection and promotion of consumer interests and rights. The mission and organization of consumer cooperatives has also been investigated. At times, it can be difficult to distinguish political science research on these topics from that conducted in the fields of sociology, history, business study, and law and society.

After decades as a rather dormant research area, the discipline's different subfields (political theory, comparative policy, international relations, political communication, public administration and policy, development studies, and citizen participation in politics) are more interested in studying consumers, consumer policy, and even now consumer culture. Five reasons explain this development. First, a consumer orientation is now central for global governance in sustainable development. Climate change and the role that transnational corporations play globally turn scholarly attention to the role of consumers and levels of private consumption, a problem for politics at the global level. Change in how and changing how consumers perceive the significance of consumption in their lives is seen as an important area for public policy and global problem solving. The opportunities or lack of opportunities that government, civil society, and business provide for consumers to develop and practice more sustainable private consumption is an important research agenda in political science. Second, student, environmental, and international humanitarian civic groups increasingly target consumers and consumer goods in their attempts to raise consciousness about transnational problems associated with production and consumption. Associated with this is, third, increasing scholarly interest in the role of consumer identity in politics. This interest is represented by the concept of lifestyle politics, which shows how the public sphere of politics is meshed with the private sphere of consumption in such holistic movements as downshifting consumption (voluntary simplicity), slow food, and veganism. Fourth, there is both a conscious and incremental interweaving of governmental and nongovernmental policies on human rights, environmental protection, and consumer protection in the world today and particularly in Europe and North America. This policy development recognizes consumers as important actors in politics and gives consumer-oriented civic groups opportunities to play innovative policy-making roles. Fifth, changes in governmental policy, particularly in the fields of social welfare, energy, and transportation, turn scholarly attention to the shift from the rights of citizens to the free choice of users that consume privatized or deregulated public utilities and welfare state service. An underlying commonality in these five reasons for heightened scholarly interest is the role that the logic of market capitalism plays in crafting citizenship and politics in the contemporary world.

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