Education in German Schools to Foster Consumer Citizenship

:Focusing on Ethical Consideration in Consumer Legal Literacy

Abstract

This study focused on one of moral conceptions in “consumer legal literacy”, which is “ethical consideration,” and clarified how German school education cultivated these conceptions, examining their government curriculum and school open classes. This investigation observed that their educational goals were the understandings of ethical, cultural, and social values and the awareness of rights and responsibilities as a member of society. A school subject of “ethics,” which is a counterpart of Dotoku in Japan, and other subjects in German schools provided class contents regarding consumer morality and responsibilities. Ethical consumption was taught as using consumer products with responsibility in the “ethics” class.