Buying into the nation: the politics of consumption and nationalism

This chapter undertakes a study of politics of consumption which places the nation at the heart of the examination of consumer culture. From thinking of consumption as a personal act for the purpose of survival or satisfaction to thinking about consumption as a tool for political expression or for fighting against injustice, a convoluted version of the nation and national belonging can be found. In approaching the relationship between nationalism and consumption, there are four key areas of study: ethnocentric consumption, economic nationalism, consumer nationalism and commercial nationalism. There are some tensions in the unraveling of these manifestations of nationalism in consumer culture, concerning: a) power dynamics between the state and/or market actors on the one hand and citizens on the other, b) power asymmetries between campaigners of consumer activism for and against a cause, c) binary treatment of forms of consumer politics as either good or bad.