Trends in Political Science Research: Political Consumerism

Political consumerism refers to political activism – often at the individual level – that targets private actors rather than governmental ones. The most studied forms include boycotting and buycotting. Over the past several years, scholars of political consumerism have focused on determining (1) why individuals decide to engage in political consumerism and (2) the potential of political consumerism for effecting democratic change. Articles in the first category focus on psychological factors and social identification factors among others. Work criticizing political consumerism points to the limitations of individualized versus communal, structural efforts.