Abstract
The context of economic globalization has contributed to the emergence of a new form of social action which has spread into the economic sphere in the form of the new social economic movements. The emblematic figure of this new generation of social movements is fair trade, which influences the economy towards political or social ends. Having emerged from multiple alternative trade practices, fair trade has gradually become institutionalized since the professionalization of World Shops, the arrival of fair trade products in the food industry, and the establishment of an official “fair trade” label. With the strength that this institutionalization has generated, fair trade can now be considered a real trade system that questions, as much as it renews, the traditional economic system. In parallel, this transformation has exacerbated the tensions within the movement, which can be characterized as a clash between a “radical, militant” pole and a “softer, more commercial” one. However, it is not the actual institutionalization of fair trade which is being debated among fair trade actors on either side of the fence, but rather the challenges inherent in finding an economic institutionalization acceptable to social economic movements. Therefore the institutionalization process of fair trade should not be seen as mere degradation of social action, but rather as typical of the institutionalization process of new social economic movements. If we need to worry about the highjacking and alteration of the fair trade movement by the dominant economic system, the opposite is no less likely, as new social economic movements contribute to an ethical restructuring of markets.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- ATO:
-
Alternative Trade Organization
- EFTA:
-
European Fair Trade Association
- FLO:
-
Fair Labelling Organization – International
- FSC:
-
Forestry Stewardship Council
- FTO:
-
Fair Trade Organisatie or Fair Trade Organizations
- IFAT:
-
International Federation of Alternative Trade
- ISO:
-
International Organization for Standardization
- FINE:
-
informal umbrella of FLO, IFAT, NEWS!, EFTA
- ILO:
-
International Labour Organization
- MCC:
-
Mennonite Central Committee
- NEWS!:
-
Network of European World Shops
- SAI:
-
Social Accountability International
- SERRV:
-
Sales Exchange for Refugee Rehabilitation and Vocation
- UCIRI:
-
Unión de Comunidades Indígenas de la Región del Istmo
- UNCTAD:
-
United Nations Conference for Trade and Development
References
Auroi C.: 2000, Le commerce équitable, un créneau potentiel pour les petits producteurs des pays en voie de développement. économies et Société, Série Système agroalimentaires 24(10–11), 199–211
Barrat Brown, M. and S. Adam: 1999, ‘Le commerce équitable dans les échanges Nord-Sud’, in J. Defourny, P. Develtere and B. Fonteneau (eds.), L’économie sociale au Nord et au Sud, pp. 105–122
Bowen, B.: 2001, ‘Let’s Go Fair’, Fair Trade Yearbook 2001 (Gand, EFTA)
Bucolo, E.: 2003, `Le commerce équitable', Economie Solidaire et Démocratie, Hermès 36, 109–118
Buccolo E.: 2000, Le commerce équitable, coll. Les notes de l’Institut Karl Polanyi (Impatiences démocratiques, Arles, France)
Cashore B.: 2002, Legitimacy and the Privatization of Environmental Governance: How Non-State Market-Driven Governance Systems Gain Rule-Making Authority. Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions 15(4), 503–529
Champion, E.: 2003, ‘De la responsabilité sociale corporative à la citoyenneté corporative: l’entreprise en quête de légitimité pour assurer un nouveau rôle social’, Symposium international sur l’équité, l’efficience ou l’éthique: les codes de conduite et la régulation sociale de l’entreprise mondialisée (organized by CRIMT, Montréal, HEC Montréal, 30 April–2 May)
Cohen J. L.: 1985, Strategy or Identity: New Theoretical Paradigms and Contemporary Social Movements. Social Research 52(4), 663–716
Eder K.: 1993, The Institutionalization of Social Movement. Towards a New Theoretical Problematic in Social-Movement Analysis?. (European University Institute, Florence)
EFTA: 2001, Fair Trade Yearbook 2001 (Gand, EFTA)
Équiterre: 2005, Homepage, available online at: http://www.equiterre.org/. Accessed on 25 October 2005
FLO: 2004, Homepage, available online at: http://www.fairtrade.net. Accessed on 3 April 2004
Gendron C.: 2001, Émergence de nouveaux mouvements sociaux Économiques. Revue pour 172, 175–181
Gendron C.: 2005, Mouvements sociaux. In: J.-L. Laville, A. D. Cattani (eds.), Dictionnaire de l’autre économie (Desclée de Brouwer, Paris), pp. 395–402
Gutierrez, G. and C. Garcia: 2000, Le café à saveur équitable, Montréal, Oxfam-Québec, Argus Film, 20 min. 44 sec
IFAT: 2003, A Brief History of the Fair Trade Movement, IFAT Briefings, available online at: http://www.ifat.org/fairtrade-res2.html. Accessed on 31 March 2004
IFAT: 2004, Homepage, available online at: http://www.ifat.org. Accessed on 3 April 2004
Kocken, M.: 2003, Fifty Years of Fair Trade: A Brief History of the Fair Trade Movement, available online at: www.gepa3.de/download/gepa_Fair_Trade_history_en.pdf. Accessed on 12 July 2005
Latouche, S.: 2000, ‘De l’éthique sur l’étiquette au juste prix, Aristote, les SEL et le commerce équitable’, Revue du Mauss 15, 346–358
Le Velly, R.: 2004, Le commerce équitable: des échanges marchands contre le marché et dans le marché. Unpublished thesis, Université de Nantes, Nantes
Lemaigre, T. and P. Verbeeren: 1997, ‘The Social Economy and Fair Trade’, Agence Alter et Université de Liège
Littrell M. A., M. A. Dickson (eds): 1999, Social Responsibility in the Global Market: Fair Trade of Cultural Products. Sage, Thousand Oaks, California.
Low W., E. Davenport: 2005, Postcards from the Edge: Maintaining the “Alternative” Character of Fair Trade. Sustainable Development 13, 143–153
Malservisi M., I. Faubert-Mailloux: 2000, Le commerce équitable. (Chaire de coopération Guy-Bernier, Montréal)
Maurais, L. and M.-A. Lafrance: 2003, ‘Une certification environnementale comme objet de régulation sociale: le cas du secteur forestier’, Symposium international sur l’équité, l’efficience ou l’éthique: les codes de conduite et la régulation sociale de l’entreprise mondialisée, organized by CRIMT, Montréal, HEC Montréal, 30 April–2 May
Melucci A.: 1983, Mouvements sociaux, mouvements post-politiques. Revue internationale d’action communautaire 10(50), 13–30
Micheletti M.: 2003, Political Virtue and Shopping: Individuals, Shopping and Collective Action. (Palgrave Macmillan, New York)
Offe, C.: 1985, New Social Movements: Challenging the Boundaries of Institutional Politics. Social Research 52(4), 817–868
Office of the Commissioners for Khadi and Village Industries: 2005, Khadi: Khadi and Freedom Movement, available online at: http://www.kvic.org.in/v4/KHADI2.ASP. Accessed on 23 August 2005
O’Rourke, D.: 2000, Monitoring the Monitors: A Critique of Pricewaterhousecoopers (PwC) Labor Monitoring, available online at: http://web.mit.edu/dorourke/www/PDF/pwc.pdf. Accessed on 15 December 2005
Perna T.: 2000, La réalité du commerce équitable. La Revue du MAUSS 15, 359–372
Renard M.-C.: 2003, Fair Trade: Quality, Market and Conventions. Journal of Rural Studies 19, 87–96
Roozen N., F. Van der Hoff: 2002, L’aventure du commerce équitable. Une alternative à la mondialisation. (éditions JC Lattès, Paris)
SERRV: 2005, ‘About Us: History’, available online at: www.serrv.org/about/index.php?category_id=1317. Accessed on 12 July 2005
SOLAGRAL: 2002, État des lieux et enjeux du changement d’Échelle du commerce Équitable: typologie des filières, marchÉs de consommation, gouvernance internationale et cohÉrence globale du commerce Équitable (SOLAGRAL, Paris)
Stark A.: 1993, What’s the Matter with Business Ethics?. Harvard Business Review 3, 38–48
Stolle, D., M. Hooghe and M. Micheletti: 2003, ‘Political Consumerism: A New Phenomenon of Political Participation?’, an exploratory study in Canada, Belgium and Sweden, ECPR joint session, Edinburgh, 28 March–2 April
Touraine A.: 1973, Production de la société. éditions du Seuil, Paris
Touraine A.: 1978a, Théorie et pratique d’une sociologie de l’action. Sociologie et Société 10(2), 149–188
Touraine A.: 1978b, La voix et le regard. (Seuil, Paris)
Transfair: 2001, Homepage, available online at: http://www.transfair.ca/q/info-fra.html. Accessed on 14 May 2001
Veit, P.: 1997, Commerce équitable entre l’Europe et le Tiers Monde, available online at: http://www.globenet.org/horizon-local/astm/as68eq.html. Accessed on 30 March 2004
Waridel et al.: 1998, L’En Vert de l’assiette. Un enjeu alimen…Terre (Éditions Les Intouchables, QuÉbec)
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC) who financed the research on which this article is based, as well as our colleagues Olga Navarro-Flores and Marie-France Turcotte for their comments, ideas, and participation in all the stages of our reflection. We also would like to thank Annelies Hodge for the translation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This article is translated from the French by Annelies Hodge and reviewed by Claire Valade.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gendron, C., Bisaillon, V. & Rance, A.I.O. The Institutionalization of Fair Trade: More than Just a Degraded Form of Social Action. J Bus Ethics 86 (Suppl 1), 63–79 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9758-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9758-4