Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Michelle Micheletti (2003) argues organic consumption qualifies as political consumption in the form of a “positive political consumerist endeavor” that uses certified organic labels to politicize products (p. 98). Rather than attribute a single, political voice to organic consumption defined by a certification scheme, I aim to understand heuristically how individuals and groups talk about and promote organic consumption. Ethnographic discourse analysis of two Internet discussion groups reveals that one group accepts organic consumption as a way to "do something," where organic consumption is a means of "speaking" about "values" and "politics." The other group rejects organic consumption as an accepted means of communication, instead describing it as an alternative to public, political solutions to concerns about genetically modified foods. The rhetorical analysis argues that organic promotion materials constitute two types of organic consumers: tasteful consumers and political actors. Together the ethnographic discourse analysis and rhetorical criticism qualify Micheletti's treatment of organic consumption and suggest alternative voices of organic consumption.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Drawing upon the labor process perspective, this paper extends Edwards’ (1979) thesis of ‘control’, exploring how direct, bureaucratic, and technical forms of control may be used to control consumers and social patterns of consumption. Outlining the role of consumption within Marx’s theory of capitalism, the author presents control as the methods used by capitalists to obtain desired consumer behavior. Significant discussion is given to addressing each type of control, as well as providing examples of such forms in contemporary American society. Concluding remarks suggest that other concepts associated with the labor process – including deskilling and worker consent – may provide additional insight in studies of consumption and consumer behavior.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: One hundred and twenty nine African American women completed a survey which investigated the relationship between media use, media literacy and food consumption. The data indicated that that the frequency of news exposure was positively associated with healthy food choices and negatively associated with unhealthy ones. Further, media literacy was positively related to healthy food consumption and negatively related to unhealthy food consumption including visits to fast-food restaurants.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Childrearing in the U.S. today takes place in an ever more commodifed arena. Who caregivers buy for, under what circumstances, what they consent to buy, what they are forced to buy, what they refuse to buy – these are all crystallizations of relationship, moments from which children and buyers make emotional meaning. This paper seeks to elucidate some of these meanings, to parse out some of the reasons parents and other caregivers buy for children, and to enhance our understanding of the points where parenting and the market intersect. Relying on in-depth interviews of mothers in the San Francisco bay Area, I find seven variations of caring consumption, including consumption as compensation and consumption for recognition. These latter types of consumption are explored, using interview data. I analyze recognition and consumption through the prisms of consumption theories and psychoanalysis, and conclude with a historical and sociological perspective on the drive to consume on behalf of one’s children.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Heroin use among Manhattan arrestees interviewed by the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program has remained steady around 20 percent- from 1987 through 2001. However, a theory of drug epidemics suggests the prevalence should have declined as the Heroin Injection Epidemic that peaked in the 1960s and 1970s drew to a final end and younger arrestees avoided heroin use. Indeed, black arrestees born since 1955 were much less likely to use heroin than those born 1945-54. Hispanic arrestees born since 1970 (but not those born 1955-69) were also less likely to use heroin suggesting that the decline in heroin use started among blacks before Hispanics. During the 1990s, sniffing replaced injecting as the predominant mode of heroin consumption for black and Hispanic arrestees, even among older arrestees. In strong contrast, the prevalence of heroin use among white arrestees did not decline in the 1990s and injection was still their most popular mode of consumption. Heroin injectors were more likely to be daily users, and consumed over twice as much heroin as their heroin sniffer counterparts. The paper highlights other differences in heroin use across race/ethnicity and modes of heroin consumption.