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increasingly affordable products. At the end and consumer. Goodman mentions that this
of the World War II, the consumption of would be a case of a progressive replacement
products purchased outside the domestic of the industrial world’s logic of quality –
sphere was also an act of allegiance to the standardization, production/mass consumption,
nation, a patriotic act that indicated, in North cost reduction and deterritorialization – that
America and Europe, participation in the dominates the current representations of con-
American Dream. Consumption thus became sumption, by a logic inspired by the sphere
a normal counterpart to paid work, the rela- of domestic activities. The latter attributes
tionship between the two ensuring reproduc- more importance to localized relations of
tion of the domestic unit. Tastes in food confidence, and to knowledge about the con-
products, at this time, were promoted by the ditions under which food is produced. The
advertising image of technological progress, parameters of product quality are also radi-
of a variety of products and the freedom that cally redefined by normative propositions
this entails. From this flowed an appreciation which are unfavourable to the logic of the
of processed food products, coming from the agro-food industry that has prevailed for the
laboratories of large agro-food industrial past 50 years.
firms. The two alternative conceptualizations of
Using the approach proposed here, the the future of capitalism will entail different
current popularity of fair trade, organic farm- developments in this quality turn. A first
ing, ethical investments and, more generally, approach suggests that the colonization of
of responsible consumerism, could be the world experienced by the logic of the
explained by changes in the mentalities, capitalist market is unavoidable and is enter-
values and aspirations of consumers. Ronald ing its final phase, with almost all aspects of
Inglehart (1990) has already advanced the life segmented and commodified. From this,
strong hypothesis of a cultural transition in we can only proceed to the reform of capital-
Western capitalist societies that would ism by using the means that it offers us, that
lead individuals towards more ecological, is, sanctions by the economic market, codes
pacifist, community-oriented, spiritual yet of conduct for companies, product certifica-
self-indulgent aspirations, what he refers to tion and the lobbying of firms and govern-
as post-materialist values. This change in ments. A second conceptualization considers
individual and social values cannot fail to that other socio-economic systems of organi-
lead to a change in social tastes and con- zation could coexist with capitalism despite
sumer choices. In the food sector, the shift to the latter’s claims to hegemony. This
more self-indulgence, based on personal would then involve a struggle with capitalism
pleasure and influenced by a concern for the and the decolonization of the present
local community and ecology, is brought out world by the creation of relations between
by what a number of researchers have called production and consumption that are ecolog-
the ‘quality turn’ (Buttel, 1997; Goodman, ically, socially and democratically sustain-
2003; Murdoch and Miele, 1999). able alternatives (Goodman and Goodman,
This quality turn is associated with the 2001: 97).
desire to eat better by using better quality The first conception gives responsible con-
foods. It is seen in the proliferation of ‘alter- sumerism a significance similar to that pre-
native agro-food networks’ alongside the net- sented in the first part of this chapter, in the
works of large-scale production-distribution sense that it offers explanations in terms of
(Goodman, 2003: 1). One characteristic market adjustment. ‘With sustainable food
of these alternative networks is that they consumption reduced to production standards
define themselves essentially by their strong and related food-safety claims, it is easily con-
roots at the local level of economic relations signed to the neo-liberal terrain of individual-
and by relations of trust between producer market choice and consumer sovereignty’