6. Political Consumerism as a Multi-Layered Process

Boycotting and buycotting constitute a stepwise process, in which individual behaviour is directly influenced by the framework provided for political consumerism in a country, and vice versa—this is the main conclusion with which this chapter opens. In this process, two crucial components necessary for political consumerism to thrive are labelling schemes and CSR. Discussing the insights in light of prevailing explanations of political consumerism, the author illustrates how her theory of the ‘concept of the state’ can connect the distinction between boycotting and buycotting with the country-level context. Thereby, she clarifies ambiguous findings obtained in previous studies and highlights the immense usefulness of assuming a cross-disciplinary and multi-level approach for improving our understanding of political consumerism. The chapter ends with an outlook on the future of political consumerism and its implications for political science research, and for democracy more in general.