Political consumerism: Consumer motivation and action with special reference to food consumption and sustainability

Visible ecological impacts of food production, recurring food scandals and extensive information available on the widespread use of cheap, unhealthy and often toxic ingredients illustrate the political role and relevance which consuming certain food can have. Nonetheless, people may be informed and educated, affluent, aware of sustainability and health issues and endorse ecological values, but yet they do not engage in sustainable, healthy and - more generally - political consumption behaviors; or they do so, but discontinuously. 

The project addresses these inconsistencies, shedding light on whether, when and in what ways attitudes and behaviors observed in one’s social environment form (non-)political consumerism in general, and (non‐)sustainable food consumption in particular. Furthermore, the project investigates if and how politics and policy‐making can feed into, buffer or be overplayed by social dynamics.

The project is a part of Örebro University’s focus area Food and Health