Consumerism arises when patients acquire and use medical information from sources other than their physicians. This practice has been hailed as a means of improving quality. This need not be the result. Our theoretical model identifies a channel through which consumerism may reduce quality: consumerist patients place additional demands on their doctors’ time, thus imposing a negative externalit...

An ongoing debate concerns the extent to which political consumerism constitutes political behavior. To address this debate, researchers have examined several predictors of political consumerism, but have not focused on its communicative dimensions, especially with respect to digital media. In this study we conceptualize political consumerism as a form of civic engagement, and we theorize that ...

Althusser’s pioneering concept of “ideological state apparatuses” is extended to the unique role of consumerism as a particular ideology enabling and supporting U.S. capitalism. It is argued that rising levels of worker consumption have functioned effectively to compensate workers for (and thereby allow) rising rates of exploitation and their negative social effects. For such compensation to su...

Critics of mass culture often identify 1950s-style status competition as one of the central forces driving consumerism. Thomas Frank has challenged this view, arguing that countercultural rebellion now provides the primary source of consumerism in our society, and that ‘cool’ has become its central ideological expression. This paper provides a rearticulation and defense of Frank’s thesis, first...

Both anecdotal and case-study evidence have long suggested that consumer behavior such as the buying or boycotting of products and services for political and ethical reasons can take on political significance. Despite recent claims that such behavior has become more widespread in recent years, political consumerism has not been studied systematically in survey research on political participatio...

Purpose – This paper sets out to review the business history of consumerism and to ask whether over-consumption is leading to an unacceptable level of inappropriate social behavior that is detrimental to both society and business. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews Peter Drucker’s writings on management and explores the meaning of consumerism and how it could have led to the over-u...

This paper starts with a characterization of “consumerism” and the idea of “the consumer.” It then explores Buddhist attitudes on wealth and “Buddhist economics” before drawing on these to develop a critical assessment of consumerism as an ineffective and wasteful route to human happiness.

Tara Latimer et al. recently stirred up the debate on health consumerism, so far seen as the promotion of patients’ autonomy, and aimed at improving patients’ choices about their own health. These authors explain that health consumerism was turned into an instrument that, although wearing the clothes of patient-centred care, ‘reflects a philosophy of libertarianism rather than a philosophy of p...

In this present turbulent and dizzily changing global business arena and marketing practice, there is a growing concern for ethics and social responsibility issues. Within this thematic campus " consumerism " is considered as the most salient concept. If we look back into the history of consumerism, it can be observed that the concept was gradually evolving from the social welfare bill initiate...