Consuming Choices: Ethics in a Global Consumer Age

by David T. Schwartz

Overview

Being a consumer is now integral to the human experience, something none of us can avoid. At the same time, many of the products that we buy come to us with histories steeped in highly unethical practices, such as worker exploitation, animal suffering, and environmental damage. Consuming Choices considers the ethical dimensions of consumer life by exploring several basic questions: Exactly what sorts of unethical practices are implicated in today's consumer products? Does moral culpability for these practices fall solely on the companies that perform them, or does it also fall upon consumers who purchase the products made with such practices? And most importantly, do consumers ever have moral obligations to avoid particular products? To answer, David T. Schwartz provides the most detailed philosophical exploration to date on consumer ethics. He utilizes historical and fictional examples to illustrate the types of wrongdoing currently implicated by consumer products in this age of globalization, offers a clear description of the relevant moral theories and important ethical concepts, and provides concrete suggestions on how to be a more ethical consumer.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442275478
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	03/21/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	162
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

David T. Schwartz is professor of philosophy at Randolph College.

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1: Ethical Consumerism
Chapter 2: Caveat Emptor?
Chapter 3: The Consumer as Causal Agent
Chapter 4: The Consumer as Complicit Participant
Chapter 5: Toward a Practical Consumer Ethic

Notes
Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

"Professor Schwartz's book offers an instructive view on the ethics of consumption that reaches globally while paying attention to the local. He considers different kinds and cases of individual and collective ethical wrong doing, and he provides causal, consequentialist, and complicit culpability accounts thereof. His multifaceted approach to the subject matter —- using a hypothetical scenario here to illuminate a moral problem, or a historical example there to illustrate an ethical concept, etc. —- allows the reader or student alternative avenues to get at the crux of an issue. The previous edition of Schwartz's book challenged my students to think critically about the complex ethical nature of consumption while thoughtfully considering possible solutions to a variety of problems. For a course in contemporary moral issues, global ethics, or perhaps a bioethics or similarly motivated course, I would certainly recommend the second edition to the instructor who would intend a similar pedagogical effect."

James A. Smith

David Schwartz examines in this book both the 'unethical practices' hidden behind the cornucopia of commodities on offer in our consumerist societies and wether consumers share with companies some of the moral culpability for these practices. The book does a. .. good job.

Environmental Ethics

I know of no other work that has ethically examined the topic of consumer choice in such detail. Schwartz's work can serve nicely as a supplement for a business ethics, political philosophy, or moral problems course.

James P. Sterba

The signature ethical problem of the global consumer society is our responsibility for the unethical practices that lie behind the products we buy. David T. Schwartz probes this problem with well-chosen examples and clear ethical arguments Consuming Choices is a book for teachers to discuss with their students and from which activists and consumers will also learn.

Peter Singer

What are the moral obligations attaching to consumers? Since everyone is a consumer, Schwartz (Randolph College) claims, this is a question of universal significance. The author clearly traces the difficulties of applying consequentialist moral theory to actions where a single consumer seems ultimately invisible to market and production systems or easily hides behind the screen of anonymity—'If I didn't buy it (or do it) someone else would.' Although most of the book treats issues related to consequentialist moral theory, Schwartz's main argument is for moral complicity by all who engage in consumer activity. This draws on deontological ground, and the author adopts Christopher Kutz's notion that 'participants in a collective harm are accountable for the victim's suffering not because of the individual differences they make, but because their intentional participation in a collective endeavor directly links them to the consequences of that endeavor.' Schwartz's use of a broad set of examples, including the Dresden fire bombing, coco production using child slaves, and the dramatic increase in CEO pay, makes this book powerful and current. Summing Up: Highly recommended.

Choice Reviews

What are the moral obligations attaching to consumers? Since everyone is a consumer, Schwartz (Randolph College) claims, this is a question of universal significance. The author clearly traces the difficulties of applying consequentialist moral theory to actions where a single consumer seems ultimately invisible to market and production systems or easily hides behind the screen of anonymity—'If I didn't buy it (or do it) someone else would.' Although most of the book treats issues related to consequentialist moral theory, Schwartz's main argument is for moral complicity by all who engage in consumer activity. This draws on deontological ground, and the author adopts Christopher Kutz's notion that 'participants in a collective harm are accountable for the victim's suffering not because of the individual differences they make, but because their intentional participation in a collective endeavor directly links them to the consequences of that endeavor.' Schwartz's use of a broad set of examples, including the Dresden fire bombing, coco production using child slaves, and the dramatic increase in CEO pay, makes this book powerful and current. Summing Up: Highly recommended.

CHOICE

What are the moral obligations attaching to consumers? Since everyone is a consumer, Schwartz (Randolph College) claims, this is a question of universal significance. The author clearly traces the difficulties of applying consequentialist moral theory to actions where a single consumer seems ultimately invisible to market and production systems or easily hides behind the screen of anonymity—'If I didn't buy it (or do it) someone else would.' Although most of the book treats issues related to consequentialist moral theory, Schwartz's main argument is for moral complicity by all who engage in consumer activity. This draws on deontological ground, and the author adopts Christopher Kutz's notion that 'participants in a collective harm are accountable for the victim's suffering not because of the individual differences they make, but because their intentional participation in a collective endeavor directly links them to the consequences of that endeavor.' Schwartz's use of a broad set of examples, including the Dresden fire bombing, coco production using child slaves, and the dramatic increase in CEO pay, makes this book powerful and current. Summing Up: Highly recommended.

Choice

I know of no other work that has ethically examined the topic of consumer choice in such detail. Schwartz's work can serve nicely as a supplement for a business ethics, political philosophy, or moral problems course.

James Sterba