Fair-Trade Coffee and Commodity Fetishism: The Limits of Market-Driven Social Justice

Historical Materialism 15 (4):79-104 (2007)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This paper explores the claims made by various authors that the fair-trade network provides an initial basis for a challenge to the commodification of goods under global capitalism. Proponents of fair trade generally advance two essential arguments in this regard. First, they claim that fair trade reveals the social and environmental conditions under which goods are produced and brings producers and consumers together through 'ethical consumerism', which challenges the commodification of goods into items with an independent life of their own. Second, they argue that fair trade affirms non-economic values of co-operation and solidarity which challenge the capitalist imperatives of competition, accumulation, and profit-maximisation. Drawing from cases in the fair-trade coffee sector, these assertions are critically examined and it is argued that, while fair trade can provide a symbolic challenge to commodity fetishism, in the end this challenge is strictly limited by the power of global market imperatives and the network's market-driven approach.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,221

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Analytics

Added to PP
2010-08-10

Downloads
161 (#109,329)

6 months
12 (#122,242)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

References found in this work

Escape from Freedom.Erich Fromm - 1941 - Science and Society 6 (2):187-190.
Ethical consumerism: The case of "fairly–traded" coffee.Kate Bird & David R. Hughes - 1997 - Business Ethics, the Environment and Responsibility 6 (3):159–167.
No Logo.Naomi Klein - 2007 - Science and Society 71 (3):361-363.
Ethical Consumerism: The Case Of “Fairly–Traded” Coffee.David R. Hughes Kate Bird - 1997 - Business Ethics, the Environment and Responsibility 6 (3):159-167.

Add more references