It is a serious mistake to think that all we need for a just world is properly-structured organizations. But it is equally wrong to believe that all we need are virtuous people. Social structures alter people's decisions through the influence of the restrictions and opportunities they present. Does buying a shirt at the local department store create for you some responsibility for the workplace welfare of the women who sewed it half a planet away? Many people interested in justice have claimed so, but without identifying any causal link between consumer and producer, for the simple reason that no single consumer has any perceptible effect on any of those producers. Finn uses a critical realist understanding of social structures to view both the positive and negative effects of the market as a social structure comprising a long chain of causal relations from consumer/clerk to factory manager/seamstress. This causal connection creates a consequent moral responsibility for consumers and society for the destructive effects that markets help to create. Clearly written and engaging, this book is a must-read for scholars involved with these moral issues.

At the forefront of international concerns about global legislation and regulation, a host of noted environmentalists and business ethicists examine ethical issues in consumption from the points of view of environmental sustainability, economic development, and free enterprise. Visit our website for sample chapters!

In 'Consumers and Wage-Earners: The Ethics of Buying Cheap' by J. Elliot Ross, readers are presented with a thought-provoking exploration of the ethical dilemmas surrounding consumer choices in a global economy. Ross delves into the complexities of the relationship between consumers and wage-earners, challenging readers to consider the ethical implications of seeking out cheap goods at the expense of fair wages and working conditions. The book is written in a clear and accessible style, blending theoretical analysis with real-world examples to highlight the impact of consumer decisions on workers around the world. Ross's work sheds light on the interconnectedness of global economies and the ethical responsibilities that come with consumer choices. By addressing issues of exploitation and inequality, 'Consumers and Wage-Earners' serves as a timely and important contribution to the ongoing debate about ethical consumption. Readers interested in ethical economics and social justice will find this book to be a valuable and enlightening read.

Increasingly, consumers in North America and Europe see their purchasing as a way to express to the commercial world their concerns about trade justice, the environment and similar issues. This ethical consumption has attracted growing attention in the press and among academics. Extending beyond the growing body of scholarly work on the topic in several ways, this volume focuses primarily on consumers rather than producers and commodity chains. It presents cases from a variety of European countries and is concerned with a wide range of objects and types of ethical consumption, not simply the usual tropical foodstuffs, trade justice and the system of fair trade. Contributors situate ethical consumption within different contexts, from common Western assumptions about economy and society, to the operation of ethical-consumption commerce, to the ways that people’s ethical consumption can affect and be affected by their social situation. By locating consumers and their practices in the social and economic contexts in which they exist and that their ethical consumption affects, this volume presents a compelling interrogation of the rhetoric and assumptions of ethical consumption.

It is a serious mistake to think that all we need for a just world is properly-structured organizations. But it is equally wrong to believe that all we need are virtuous people. Social structures alter people's decisions through the influence of the restrictions and opportunities they present. Does buying a shirt at the local department store create for you some responsibility for the workplace welfare of the women who sewed it half a planet away? Many people interested in justice have claimed so, but without identifying any causal link between consumer and producer, for the simple reason that no single consumer has any perceptible effect on any of those producers. Finn uses a critical realist understanding of social structures to view both the positive and negative effects of the market as a social structure comprising a long chain of causal relations from consumer/clerk to factory manager/seamstress. This causal connection creates a consequent moral responsibility for consumers and society for the destructive effects that markets help to create. Clearly written and engaging, this book is a must-read for scholars involved with these moral issues.

In this comprehensive collection of essays, most of which appear for the first time, eminent scholars from many disciplines—philosophy, economics, sociology, political science, demography, theology, history, and social psychology—examine the causes, nature, and consequences of present-day consumption patterns in the United States and throughout the world.

Testimony from the Top : Three CEO's Perspectives on Morality and Business / Regina Wentzel Wolfe -- Commerce and Communion : Business, Profit, and the Circulation of Wealth in the History of Christian Thought / Jennifer A. Herdt -- Practical Wisdom and Management Science / Andrew M. Yuengert -- The Importance of Agency and Autonomy for Business / Gregory Beabout -- Why Business Must Resist the Technocratic Paradigm / Mary Hirschfeld -- The Institutional Insight : The Common Good beneath the Shareholder/Stakeholder Model / Kenneth E. Goodpaster and Michael J. Naughton -- How Consumers and Firms Can Seek Good Goods / David Cloutier -- The Responsibility of Businesses for their Moral Ecology / Martin Schlag -- The Social Mortgage on Business / Edward D. Kleinbard -- Assessing the Moral Legitimacy Market Decisions / Martijn Cremers.