Consumer Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Indicative, Legitimation, and Regulatory Role in Agricultural and Food Ethics |
| |
Authors: | Terry Newholm |
| |
Affiliation: | (1) Centre for Complexity and Change, Technology Faculty, Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK6 7AA, United Kingdom |
| |
Abstract: | Disputes over agriculture and foodproduction have occurred against a background ofdisputed authority with regard to governments,experts, and single issue pressure groups. Consumershave intervened in quite significant ways with manyaltering their buying patterns. The conventionalassessment of consumer ``preferences' throughaggregated purchases fails to reflect the ethicalnature of significant numbers of purchase decisions.Nevertheless, consumers seem to offer a wider basis onwhich to consider ethical issues. The author proposesthat a valuable inclusion of consumer opinion in thedebates would require a move away from neo-classicaleconomics and the selective inclusion of consumeropinion to unravel the complexity of (aggregated)consumer behavior. It is argued that Hirschman'sframework of ``exit, voice, and loyalty' is a moreappropriate tool for the understanding of ethics infood consumption. |
| |
Keywords: | Agriculture consumers ethics food markets regulation |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|