ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the notion of consumer democracy as an analytical concept as well as a normative heuristic. It highlights two contradictory aspects within the ambiguous term: in one sense it reflects our political reality, which is, under current conditions of democracy, determined to a great degree by consumer affairs such as wealth, security, privacy, authenticity, the good life and so on – at least in dominant world regions. The chapter outlines a theory of actor-network-pragmatism and its model of democratic experimentalism. It stems from combining Bruno Latour's actor-network-theory (ANT) and John Dewey's pragmatism. The way citizenship is reoriented through global consumer culture, transnational value chains, social and ecological responsibility, or the privatisation of law is also a key factor which influences the institutional reconfiguration of democracy and its transformability or capability to renew its social bond.
