Buying Into Fair Trade: Culture, Morality, and Consumption

Stamped on productsfrom coffee to handicrafts, the term fair trade” has quickly become one oftoday's most seductive consumer buzzwords. Purportedly created through fairlabor practices, or in ways that are environmentally sustainable, fair-tradeproducts give buyers peace of mind in knowing that, in theory, how they shopcan help make the world a better place. Buyinginto Fair Trade turns the spotlight onto this growing trend, exploring how fair-tradeshoppers think about their own altruism within an increasingly global economy. Using over 100 interviews withfair-trade consumers, national leaders of the movement, coffee farmers, andartisans, author Keith Brown describes both the strategies that consumers useto confront the moral contradictions involved in trying to shop ethically and theways shopkeepers and suppliers reconcile their need to do good with theever-present need to turn a profit. In addition to his in-depth analysis of thefair-trade market, Brown also provides a how-to chapter that outlinesstrategies readers can use to appear altruistic.This chapter highlights the ways thatsocially responsible markets have been detached from issues of morality. Afascinating account of how consumersfirst learn about, understand, and sometimes ignore the ethical implications ofshopping, Buying into Fair Trade shedsnew light on the potential for the fair trade market to reshape the world intoa more socially-just place.