Caroline Heldman’s Protest Politics in the Marketplace: Consumer Activism in the Corporate Age is a comprehensive look at how consumers have attempted to use the power of choice in the marketplace to drive social and political change for centuries. Using examples as varied as The Boston Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street, Heldman breaks down consumer activism across multiple eras, each with their own methods and goals. Featuring chapters which focus on social and economic justice, environmental and animal rights movements, gender and LGBTQ rights, and conservative causes, Protest Politics in the Marketplace provides a well-rounded perspective on the various drivers behind consumer activism. Heldman then wraps it up by discussing the varying success rates of such activism, and shares her perspective on what factors will need to be in place for real change to come about.
Protest Politics has been an incredible resource for me as I work this project. I went into this thinking about “cancel culture”. Heldman’s book has been the start of broadening my perspective beyond the recent trends on social media, and to think more about the various types of protests. I’m now not only thinking on what the motivations might be, but also on how companies are using consumer activism to create a competitive edge. Certainly not where I started, but a fun journey nonetheless.
Until COVID-19 forced us all to work remotely, I too worked at an open-concept office. One of the things that struck me as I read the responses to Schwab’s article was whether, as a cis-white-male, I had ever been guilty of making a co-worker feel like some of those who had written in. As someone who was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, open-concept offices are filled with reasons to look up from your work. Dozens of women walked past my desk everyday, and the movement would just about always make me look up. Did those glances make some of my co-workers uncomfortable in any way? I hope not, but as became clear in response after response to the Schwab article, it’s likely that I’ll never know.
It’s hard to say, of course, but certainly cultural criticism readings like this nudge us all to consider how we may be personally implicated in the problems of our society–whether we’ve contributed or perpetuated them, whether and how we’ve been working to correct them, whether we’ve ever thought about them before, etc.