Consumer Choices as Expressions of Identity: Radical Consumerism Demonstrated Through Organics, CSA, and Health Foods

Abstract

Through the approach of the literature review, research from a range of social sciences has been combined to discuss the significance of identity and its role in consumer culture. The research included highlights on post-modernism in consumer culture, consumer activism, and collective identities. Expanding further on this subject points to consumption as a means, for the individual to connect to a particular social movement or micro-culture with an end goal, of exhibiting attitudes and behaviors significant to their identity. Three particular loci or markets for this consumption are presented and their significance in society discussed: organic food products, health food products, and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs.