Den gröna konsumentmakten - medborgarens ekologiska insats
Green consumer powerEcological citizenshipArlaEcological productionOrganic foodCorporate environmental responsibility (CER).Political and administrative sciencesStatsvetenskapFörvaltningskunskapLaw and Political Science
The aim of this thesis is to form a theory of the green consumer power and to distinguish whether this phenomenon could indicate a movement toward the ecological citizenship. To do so, scientific theories regarding the responsibility of companies have been used, as well as the public choice theory, to link individuals as citizens to individuals as consumers. The motives of corporate environmental responsibility, along with consumers ability to bring pressure in different dimensions, are later drawn on as indicators applied to empirical information. The largest producer of ecological products in Sweden, Arla Foods, is employed as case study to explore if the green consumer power can and does exist. The ecological citizenship uses the ecological footprint, to define in what ways we can minimize our part of environmental degradation.The study seems to strengthen the theory, consumers do have a power to make companies go green and they tend to use it increasingly. If this could be seen as the disguise of the ecological citizenship is, however, obscure. But we might be on our way.