As sales of fair-trade goods explode across the globe, Fair Trade and the Citizen-Consumer provides a timely analysis of the organizations, institutions and grassroots networks behind this growing movement. Drawing on examples from the UK, Sweden and USA, this book moves away from models of individualized consumer choice and instead explores the collective cultures and practices that motivate and sustain fair-trade consumer behaviour. Although the fair-trade citizen-consumer has been called to action and publicly represented as an individual 'voting' in the marketplace, this book reveals how market interventions are editing the choices available to consumers, at the same time as 'Fairtrade Town' consumer networks are flourishing. Offering new and critical insights into the fair-trade success story, this book also contributes to debates about sustainable consumption behaviour and the growth of 'new' forms of political participation and citizenship.

KATHRYN WHEELER is Senior Researcher at the Department of Sociology, University of Essex, UK. Her research focuses on ethical consumption and moral economies. She is currently working on an ERC-programme exploring 'consumption work and societal divisions of labour' in which she is undertaking comparative research on recycling in the UK and Sweden.

Introduction: The Rise of the Fair-Trade Citizen-Consumer Constructing the Citizen-Consumer The International Fair-Trade Consumer Movement Promoting Fair-Trade The Practice of Fair-Trade Support The Normalisation and Exclusivity of Fair-Trade Consumption The Politics of Fair-Trade Consumption Conclusion: The Ideology of the Citizen-Consumer Appendix: The National Omnibus Survey Questions (Module 236) Bibliography