ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the assertion that ethical consumerism can be incorporated into a market liberal perspective and briefly considers the comprehensive political critique of consumer activism set out by Pepper. Recently the term 'ethical consumerism' has been adopted by some activist organisations, market researchers and academics to encompass a range of consumer behaviours where people seem to act upon more than self-interest. 'Consumer sovereignty' is one of the implicit presumptions of market liberalism. The chapter argues that prominent adherents of the grand theory construct scenarios which disregard the notion of 'ethics' in consumption and that, more so than in general consumer situations, it is difficult to conceive an individualised ethical consumer. It suggests that many of the concepts that inform ethical consumers can be shown to be contrary to those of market liberalism and therefore that it is questionable whether the ideology needs or can sustain the inclusion of ethical consumerism.
