Survey Results I: Conscious Consumers and Activism

Margaret is working on a doctorate in Sociology at Boston College

by Margaret Willis, PhD candidate, Boston College

Part I: Is Conscious consumption an end to itself, or does it lead to greater political involvement?

At the end of the summer of 2008, over 1800 New Dream affiliates generously gave their time to complete a detailed online survey about “conscious consumption” – decisions to reduce consumption or to consume in certain ways that are motivated by concerns for sustainability, social justice, or the well-being of communities on a local or global scale.  I, along with Juliet Schor and Amory Starr, asked about everyday consumer decisions, actions that people take in their communities, and the motivations and hopes that are behind these activities.

There are a lot of assumptions about what conscious consumers are doing and what kind of an impact they are able to make through their efforts.  This survey intended to add to the growing research on the phenomenon, and sought in particular to evaluate the perception that consumption is inherently apolitical and asocial.  While some argue that atomized consumers feel satisfied that they have done their part once they leave the checkout aisle, we wanted to see if this was actually the case.

Overall, respondents reported high levels of conscious consumption, though certain practices (such as reducing overall energy use) were more commonly done than other practices (such as using alternative sources of energy).  As in these energy examples, some choices were simply unavailable to many respondents and beyond their control, while others were more widely accessible. And some respondents had more people around them consciously consuming as well: 43% of respondents somewhat to strongly agreed that “most people” in their “social circles also engage in conscious consumption activities” (answered 5-7 on a scale of 1”strongly disagree” to 7”Strongly agree”).

In addition to reducing or altering consumption, respondents also tended to be actively involved in various forms of political activities in support of conscious consumption causes, such as sustainability, health, and justice (Table 1). In comparison to national rates of contacting politicians and participating in civic organizations¹, rates of participation among these respondents were on average higher.

Table 1 The number of times in the past two years that respondents have done the following political activity in support of conscious consumption causes:

†Measured on a scale of 1 (Never) to 7(Often). Only responses for 1=never, 4=sometimes, and 7=often presented.

Look for Part II of the survey results.

1. As assessed by the 2004 General Social Survey