ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by explaining how the notion of ethics is indivisible from the notion of civil society, community, or the common good.
It argues that ethical purchasing is on the increase because of globalisation and ‘regulatory capture’ and its effectiveness at creating change. It discusses how ethical purchasing by everyone, from individual consumers to large governments, can now be observed in most countries in the world, including Hungary, Chile, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Canada, India, Brazil, and China.
It explores the notion of ‘purchasing power’ through examples like the Shell and Brent Spar campaign of 1995 and the Alabama bus boycotts over racial segregation in the 1950s. It then looks at the concomitant notion of purchaser responsibility and the concepts of responsible production and consumption and supply chain responsibility that have emerged.
It explains that purchasers are almost always looking at ethics in addition to price and quality. It also looks at how thousands of collective actions addressing ethical issue in markets have now emerged: from eco-labels to ‘supplier seminars’ and boycott campaigns. The remaining chapters of the book explore these in more detail.
