The “right to consume”? Re-thinking the dynamics of exclusion/inclusion in consumer society

Miller, Jacob and Stovall, Tony (2019) The “right to consume”? Re-thinking the dynamics of exclusion/inclusion in consumer society. Consumption Markets & Culture, 22 (2). pp. 568-581. ISSN 1025-3866

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Abstract

Consumption is a political relationship. This article considers competing political discourses around consumption as different versions of a hypothetical right to consume. In the first section, we consider how the domain of consumption can express the critical potential of the “right to the city,” a concept inspired by Henri Lefebvre that has had widespread influence in urban studies and related fields. In the second section we consider how the right to consume can also become a bulwark for capitalist ideologies of an individualistic and destructive right to consume. A third section concludes on recent trends in consumption studies that point to ways that capitalism seeks to assuage and manage these tensions through ongoing innovations in consumer technology and finance. New questions about rights and democracy must emerge to confront this new techno-economy of consumer relations. In short, while we affirm the right to consume for the most vulnerable, we also insist on deconstructing the system of consumption as it is currently configured.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Right to the city, exclusion/inclusion, critical urban theory, affect, dialectics, race
Subjects:	L700 Human and Social Geography
Department:	Faculties > Engineering and Environment > Geography and Environmental Sciences
Depositing User:	Becky Skoyles
Date Deposited:	31 May 2019 11:12
Last Modified:	10 Oct 2019 15:02
URI:	http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/39430

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