 Tags: commodification, consumption/consumerism, globalization, marketing/brands, social mvmts/social change/resistance, coffee, commodity fetishism, conspicuous consumption, consumer culture, ethical consumption, fair trade, sustainability, 06 to 10 mins
Year: 2008 Length: 8:41 Access: YouTube Summary: Our consumer culture has been linked to many social problems (e.g. see this documentary on consumerism). As discussed in Marx's theory of commodity fetishism, the social relations of capitalism are obscured in the commodity, and we are largely blind to the sweatshop labor, environmental degradation, and related social problems inherent in the commodity's production and consumption. Ethical and sustainable consumption (e.g. Fair Trade) seeks to address these problems and can be a way to encourage students to think about how their own consumption relates to these problems. This video discusses Fair Trade (FT) through the perspectives of small-scale farmers/producers (how FT has benefited them personally), retailers, the certifier (i.e. Fair Trade USA), and consumers (by focusing on campus groups promoting FT). It can also be used to better understand Marx's concept of commodity fetishism by juxtaposing the "Free Trade" and Fair Trade models (although this video is particularly great to discuss commodity fetishism because it emphasizes the social relationship between producer and consumer). This video emphasizes the power of the consumer to effect change through the products they buy every day, but I also encourage students to think critically about whether we can adequately address these social and environmental issues through consumer activism alone. I also have students explore their consumption using GoodGuide's smartphone app and paired this video with a good introductory chapter on Fair Trade: Kimberly Grimes' (2005) "Changing the Rules of Trade with Global Partnerships: The Fair Trade Movement" in this book (see more readings on FT here). You can also access other Fair Trade films at the Fair Trade Resource Network. Submitted By: Paul Dean
2 Comments
Paul Dean
4/28/2011 12:54:39 am
For those of you also interested in research and activism on this topics, you may also be interested in this conference:
Manuel Franco
7/30/2023 05:40:04 pm
I just want to say Thank You to everyone who supported me through the years. My name is Manuel Franco, New Berlin, Wisconsin. My story of how I won the Powerball lottery of $768.4M is a bit of a tale. I have been playing Powerball tickets for 6 years now since I turned 18. I bought my first ticket on my 18 birthday. I was feeling very lucky that day because I had contacted Dr. Odunga Michael to help me with the winning Powerball numbers. I really had that great great feeling that I looked at the camera wanting to wink at it. I only did a tiny part of it and trusted him. He gave me the numbers after I played a couple other tickets along with it for $10. I checked my ticket after the winnings came online and saw the numbers were correct including the Power play. I screamed for about 10 minutes because it felt like a dream. I had won $768.4M. You can check my winning testimony with the lottery officials just with my name search. Thank you Dr Odunga. Well, his email is odungaspelltemple@gmail.com and you can also call or Whats-app him at +2348167159012 so you guys can contact him Leave a Reply. |
Tags
All
.
Got any videos?
Are you finding useful videos for your classes? Do you have good videos you use in your own classes? Please consider submitting your videos here and helping us build our database!
 |
RSS Feed