ABSTRACT
A number of studies have lamented the decline of social cohesion and civic engagement in Western societies. Since the 1980s, philosophical debates between liberals and communitarians seem to have fostered a revived interest in the theme among political and social scientists. The critics of the communitarian school have provided the people with important insights into potential changes of political action repertoires utilized by citizens in advanced industrialized societies. Like many new forms of political and social participation, political consumerism has not been systematically researched in the social sciences. Private motivation combined with no political action on behalf of consumer issues does not typify political consumerism, even though the consumers involved can rightly be called conscientious consumers. Citizens who purchase labeled products based purely on private motivations, for example lifestyle issues or even diseases/allergies, are not considered political consumers.
