ABSTRACT
Consumption does not exist within a vacuum, that any consideration of consumption must take into account the many structural elements (politics, society, culture) that help to shape what the consumer does. In treating consumption and production as two sides of the same problem, we are also likely to find ways of understanding both sustainability problems and solutions in a more systemic way. This chapter looks at the intersection of production and consumption research, profiling weak and strong sustainability approaches to thinking about change in the context of this relationship. It details a 'green consumerism'-type intervention: the drive towards setting corporate performance standards and transparency, and the resulting certification and labelling of products. In the study of sustainable consumption, strong approaches argue for the need for a systemic explanation of the relationship between producer and consumers. The chapter profiles a series of more systemic perspectives on this relationship.
