Ethical Consumption in the UK and Europe: New Developments and New challenges for policy, Practice and Research
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Department Name: Sociology and Philosophy
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Matthias Varul (Principal Investigator) | |
| Paul Cloke (Co-Investigator) |
| Description | The seminar series consisted of three one-day events with seven to nine 30 minutes contributions by both academics and practitioners heard and discussed by 30 to 45 participants from an interdisciplinary academic background (human geography, sociology, business studies, anthropology, cultural studies) and diverse organisations (alternative trading organisations, international campaign organisations, labelling organisations, local councils, European policy making bodies etc.). The first seminar aimed at clarifying the relationship between critical academic research and fair trade practice, asking questions like: How much involvement is needed to respond to research needs in the field? How much distance is to be preserved to maintain the independence of research? How can research be fed back effectively into practice and how can practitioners effectively respond to critical research? The second seminar focused on the development of fair trade from individual purchasing practice to political commitment and institutionalisation in fair trade cities or through ethical procurement policies. Pertinent questions were: What is the legitimacy of public procurement between the obligation to minimise public expenditure and aspirations to ethical standards? What is the role of non-governmental bodies in enforcing fair trade standards in accredited public bodies such as town councils? What are the legal challenges to public procuremnt? The third seminar compared different approaches to fair trade in Europe and also introduced a global perspective on European fair trade, asking: Which are the causes of the different forms and also different levels of success in different countries? Which practices, if any, can be transferred? Academic research and critical research: It was found that there is great interest in fair trade organisations in utilising critical research to improve practice and also to generate legitimacy vis-à-vis stakeholders through independent research. At the same time critical research can benefit from links into practice, but needs to make sure to maintain its independence in what can be a difficult balancing act. Links are important for access to the field, but also to receive feedback on the research results generated. A further function of such contacts is to tailor research projects to the information needs of stakeholders in ethical trade. Research also needs to be communicated more effectively into the fair trade community. The prevailing channel through academic articles needs to be supplemented through online networks as the developing FairnessUK and direct dialogue with contacts in the field. From individual consumers to institutions: The success of the Fairtrade towns, cities, universities and nations constitute a success for the fair trade movement in that it establishes fair trade as political choice and thus goes beyond the vagaries of consumer markets. But there are also new problems emerging creating a need for further research, for example on the role of non-governmental organisations such as the International Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO) in monitoring and enforcing compliance of public bodies, and the balance between legislation and independent labelling. Another important issue emerges from the role of the public sector as purchaser of fair trade goods and the legitimacy of editing choice and also the conflict between an obligation to buy at best price and an ethical public procurement policy. This entails also legal conflicts and is increasingly an issue that is dealt with at European level. European pathways to fairtrade: While fair trade now is a European and global phenomenon and national fair trade organisations have come together in supranational organisations such as the World Fair Trade Organisation and the International Fairtrade Labelling Organisation. But at national level there persist very distinct approaches to fair trade and also different levels of market success, political impact and organisational coherence. This led to the question whether one best practice can be found and generalised. However, models cannot transferred one-to-one as they not only emerge from specific organisational histories but also are embedded in specific political cultures (from the highly conflict ridden case of France to the consensus/negotiation oriented model of Belgium), specific cultures of consumption and also levels of economic prosperity. Greece and in particular Crete emerged as interesting cases between import and export of fair trade goods. The global perspective in all cases is in danger of being marginalised by the dominance of European concerns, so there emerged a need to redirect attention towards Africa, South America and Asia. |
| Exploitation Route | Together with the preceding ESRC KT workshop in Cardiff (whose organiser and I only became aware of each other's events relatively late) this seminar series has contributed to building a broad academic-practice network around the issue of fair trade. The seminar series events have been announced on Alastair Smith's FairnessUK network (http://fairnessuk.ning.com/) and most speakers and many participants have in turn joined FairnessUK. To communicate the seminar series a mailing list on JISCMail (EthicalConsumption) was established and now has 51 subscribers. The first seminar aimed at consolidating trust (building on the work done in the Cardiff workshop) by locating the role of critical research in relation to fair trade. As this was then still a sensitive field, the results of the discussions have been recorded in an extensive report and also a programmatic text on the role of critical research (both uploaded to the ESRC website). Many of the speakers have showcased recently published work or work which has since become available. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Environment,Retail |
| Description | This project has achieved a scientific impact(s)YesThis project has achieved an economic and societal impact(s)YesThis project has had no impact to dateNoPlease summarise below the scientific impact(s) your project has hadThe seminar series helped academic participants develop their own work on ethical consumption through exchange with other academics and by calling in reactions from practitioners and policy makers. Best practice regarding the cooperation between researchers and practitioners was disseminated and new contacts into the field established. Interdisciplinary and international exchanges between subjects such as marketing, human geography, anthropology and sociology were productive in informing further academic work. Being a seminar series, impacts are less tangible than in a research project resulting in publications, but the selection of statements by participants in box B should illustrate the impact of this series on academic practice. Please outline the findings and outputs from your project which have had the scientific impact(s)Attending the seminar on fair trade and public procurement proved to be highly useful in meeting with practitioner representatives from the fair trade movement, discovering the current situation in policy and practice, and also learning about what other academic analysis is being undertaken." (Dr Alastair Smith, ESRC centre for Business, Relationships, Accountability, Sustainability and Society, Cardiff University) "I have attended to the three sessions of the seminar and presented a paper in the second one. It has been a great experience and occasion for me, a French researcher, to meet excellent colleagues from various European nations and to dialogue with Fair Trade practitioners" (Dr Ronan Le Velly, Montpellier Supagro, UMA Innovation) "Having had the opportunity to be part of this project as a foreign PhD student was extremely relevant for me, not only because my academic interest is related to this topic (I am writing the final version of my thesis right now and am mentioning this meeting as a reference) but also because it challenged my view about the notion of ethical consumption itself. " (Dr Josi Paz, then PhD student University of Brasília) "Besides the insightful discussions I had with other presenters and the participants I benefited very much from the mixed audience of academics and the industry. The European wide focus was particularly important for my own study which looks at political consumerism as a form of political participation in Europe. In the seminar I met representatives of the World Fair Trade Organisation and representatives of The Co-operative in the UK and I developed new research ideas. This helped me in my ESRC post-doc application in January 2011 and in my British Academy Post-doc application in October 2011. " (Dr Necla Acik-Toprak, Research Associate CCSR (Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research), University of Manchester Please outline how these impacts were achievedDisseminating published work through dialogue (e.g. contributing to a European exchange) Giving postgraduate researchers a platform to present their work to an expert audience Establishing contacts between academics and practitioners Maintaining an e-mail distribution list (ethicalconsumption@jiscmail.ac.uk) and promoting other networks (such as the FairnessUK network coming out of the ESRC KT event organised by Alastair Smith at Cardiff) "I deeply appreciated its well organized structure with regards to the topics covered; the balanced representation of key speakers and its holistic and critical analytical approach on topics included, guided and supported by the facilitators and organizers. I consider very positive the fact that the seminar had a mixed audience and group of key speakers consisting of academics, practitioners, representatives of international fair trade organizations, students, etc." Eleni Spyridaki, Emeis kai o Kosmos/Nuestro Mundo and Terra Verde (fair trade organizations in Crete, Greece) Please outline who the findings and outputs had an impact uponResearchers in the field of ethical consumption from the following disciplines: human geography, marketing, social anthropology and sociology. Postgraduate researchers from these disciplines developing their expertise. Please summarise below the economic and societal impact(s) your project has hadFair Trade practitioners and policy makers had a chance to reflect on their practices in front of an academic audience and were given insights flowing from on-going or recently concluded research. This may have had an impact on their practices. As the outcomes of seminars tend be diverse and vary from participant to participant, I will let some participants themselves speak in part B Please outline the findings and outputs from your project which have had the economic and societal impact(s)The seminar series was very useful for being able to understand the range of research and insight being developed, to challenge assumptions being made by academics in their approach to research on fair trade, and discuss emerging trends and priorities for future enquiry. []" (Barbara Crowther, Director of Communications and Policy, Fairtrade Foundation) "I found the series an inspiring combination of the work of academic researchers, policy-makers and advocates. I hope similar initiatives will happen in the future, with a focus on delivering recommendations to decision-makers" (Sergi Corbalán, Fair Trade Advocacy Office, Brussels) "Wales is the only Fair Trade nation and in order to make a declaration of our status we met a list of criteria drawn up with the support of an independent panel. At the time of the seminar we were in the process of preparing a second set of criteria that we should maintain/achieve in order to continue with that accolade. I was very anxious to get over key message s from a Welsh perspective but it was valuable for me to hear alternative views and to understand that those of us closely involved with promotion of FT products and discussion of issues from the comfort of a UK base may have limited understanding of some of the wider issues" (Ann E Hemingway, Fair Trade Wales) Please outline how these impacts were achievedThrough three seminars (one at the University of Exeter, one at Kings College London, and one at Scotland House, Brussels) in which between 35 and 50 participants (senior and junior academic researchers, representatives of fair trade organisations and policy makers) heard and discussed contributions from practitioners and academics on topics around marketing and impact assessment (seminar 1), public procurement and fair trade (seminar 2) and European pathways to ethical consumption (seminar 3). The discussions were conducted in a spirit of critical reflection and constructive cooperation. The seminars also afforded the opportunity to forge new contacts between academics and practitioners and expand existing contacts Please outline who the findings and outputs had an impact uponPolicy makers (e.g. on EU level), practitioners in ethical consumption (representatives of organisations such as Traidcraft, Coop, World Fair Trade Organisation, Fairtrade Foundation etc.) Potential Future ImpactsThe mailing list ethicalconsumption is still active and is being used in cooperation with other networks, such as FairnessUK Limited scientific impactIt is very difficult to specify scientific impacts of a seminar series. The seminars will have fed into the ongoing reflections of established academics as well as early career researchers, but it is not possible to pin down how or trace how much a seminar has fed into particular research projectsLimited economic and societal impactAgain, the main difficulty here is to pin down how much the seminars made on the practices of the practitioners and policy makers who have attended and/or presented at the seminars. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2009 |
| Description | Fair trade and critical research : what role for academic comment? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Primary Audience | |
| Results and Impact | Talk given at the Great Western Research Sustainability Seminars |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | |
| URL | http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/unfinishedbusiness/blog/2009/11/02/fair-trade-and-critical-research-what-r... |