Buying into Fair Trade: Culture, Morality, and Consumption

4. “Who Are We Pillaging from This Time?”: Managing Value Contradictions in Shopping

>> 73 4 “Who Are We Pillaging from This Time?” Managing Value Contradictions in Shopping He who can buy bravery is brave, though a coward. As money is not exchanged for any one specific quality, for any one specific thing, or for any particular human essential power, but for the entire objective world of man and nature, from the standpoint of its possessor it therefore serves to exchange every property for every other, even contradictory, property and object: it is the fraternization of impossibilities. It makes contradictions embrace. —Karl Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 Members of the Ten Thousand Villages marketing department make all their crucial decisions by asking one simple question: “What would Gwen do?” Would Gwen purchase this red vase inscribed with handwritten Bengali script? Would she like these ebony-inlaid silver hook earrings? Or would she prefer a red leather purse designed to look like a cat? Gwen is a thirty-six-year-old mother with a child in preschool who works as an associate professor at a local university. She and her husband have a combined income of more than $90,000 a year. She likes to travel, read, and practice yoga. Gwen and her husband each work hectic schedules but find time to volunteer in the community and support environmental initiatives. But Gwen is not a real person. She is the “ideal-typical” Ten Thousand Villages customer, constructed from an assortment of interview and ethnographic data collected by market researchers at a Ten Thousand Villages store in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Nathan, on the other hand, is a real person who likes to think of himself as a conscientious consumer. He is a thirty-eight-year-old English 74 > 75 to express their moral identities through shopping. They can buy hybrid and electric cars, light-emitting diode (LED) and compact fluorescent lights, fair-trade and shade-grown coffee, and Product (RED) and sweatshop-free clothing. Survey research shows that consumers are increasingly attracted to socially responsible alternatives, and many say they are willing to pay a premium for these types of products.2 In the midst of this ethical turn in markets, interest in socially responsible products seems to be at an all-time high. Given these trends, I expected conscientious consumers to proudly talk about the empowered Indian artisans weaving the popular “tree of life” wall hanging at Ten Thousand Villages. I thought they would discuss the merits of buying fair-trade coffee from farmers working in cooperatives or describe the enormous surpluses that Alex’s Lemonade Stand has generated for cancer research. But this rarely happened. Instead , conscientious consumers deflected attention from ethical issues and toward the functionality of the wall hanging (“It matches the décor of the room”) and the quality of fair-trade coffee (“It just tastes better ”).3 Instead of talking about the benefits of cooperatives for Nicaraguan coffee farmers, they told me how the coffee was priced “competitively ” with other high-quality coffees. In essence, they were hesitant to talk about any of the ethical issues surrounding shopping. Over time, I came to realize that this was an impression-management strategy.4 Conscientious consumers strive to appear to be altruistic (see chapter 5), but they do not want to seem “too preachy” when talking about how other people “should” shop.5 Perhaps more important, appearing altruistic is just one of many concerns that affect consumers. They also want high-quality and functional products that are reasonably priced. If these products come with some form of green or fairtrade label, even better. Survey research suggests that only a small percentage of consumers align their values with almost all their everyday purchases.6 These shoppers, whom I refer to as promoters, treat fair trade and social responsibility as a “way of life.” Each and every purchase serves to reinforce their sense of self. Rarely do these consumers shop outside their (relatively) rigid value system. Another type of consumer, whom I refer to as conscientious consumers, fits the profile discussed in this chapter . Depending on the survey, between 76 and 81 percent of American 76 > 77 a new type of global citizenship in which consumers think critically about how all their purchases impact the environment and the living conditions of producers in far-off lands.11 In this model, consumption would act as a “rough democracy of buying” where citizens can “push” corporations to adopt more sustainable practices. Conversely, markets can also “pull” consumers into a more complex dialogue about social...