Philosophy Seminar Series: Ethical consumerism in global supply chains: When are consumers good regulators?
Date | Thursday 9 May 2019 |
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Time | 3:10pm - 4:30pm |
Where | K.G.07 |
Presenter | Ewan Kingston |
Contact | Nick Munn |
Contact email | nick.munn@waikato.ac.nz |
Admission Cost | Free |
All are welcome to attend the upcoming Philosophy Seminar to be held in K.G.07 from 3.10PM to 4.30PM on Thursday, 9 May 2019.
Ewan Kingston (Duke) will present his work:
Ethical consumerism in global supply chains: When are consumers good regulators?
There seem to be numerous cases of consumers intentionally changing the behavior of firms for the better by practicing "ethical" or conscientious consumption. Such conscientious consumers select and avoid products on the basis of the apparent moral value of the production processes which generated those products. Several philosophers and public figures call for increased levels of conscientious consumption in general to regulate business, particularly in global production networks that span several jurisdictions. I call into question this general conclusion. I respond by arguing that, given other incentives businesses might have to comply with moral norms, conscientious consumption is not required for firms to feasibly address moral flaws in their supply chains. Further, I outline three more factors that threaten any general conclusion about the desirability of conscientious consumption in this context. First, I draw on social science research to outline the special features of global production networks that would need to apply for conscientious consumption to be an effective tool to regulate specific global industries. Second, I highlight potentially significant but often overlooked costs of conscientious consumption. Third, I argue that consumers are in a particularly poor epistemic position to make judgements about the two factors mentioned above.