Student Activities to Promote Fair-Trade without Emphasizing It

The Difficulty in Constructing the Citizen-Consumer in Japan

Abstract

The citizen-consumer, a concept that is often found in discourse on consumer studies, implies the amalgamation of two polarizing ideologies: consumerism and citizenship. The ideology of consumerism is based on a willingness to satisfy one's desires by purchasing commodities, whereas the ideology of citizenship is based on a collective consciousness to pursue social justice. While the implications of this concept have been empirically examined, they are limited to Euro-American societies. This article offers an account of the implications of the "citizen-consumer" in the Japanese context, where, compared to Western societies, the concept of citizenship is not historically rooted and has not been sufficiently fostered. This is brought forward through a case of student activities that aim to enhance fair-trade.