13 pages., Via online journal, Consumers are increasingly using their purchasing power to enact their politics and activism. I examine how consumption at farmers’ markets fits into this trend. The consumption of local and organic food and the number of farmers’ markets have drastically increased in recent years. This research examines the ways interpersonal relationships, community ties and morality (ethical consumption) relate to commodification at local farmers’ markets. Specifically, this research is framed through Marx’s understanding and critique of capitalism, including his concept of commodity fetishism. Using Radin’s (1996) indicia of commodification, I explore the degree to which relationships, community and morality either are commodifiable or resist commodification. Using a combination of extant literature as well as interview and observational data from a 2011–2012 market study, I discovered that relationships and community ties resist commodification but morality is commodifiable in this space. Specifically, I argue that the contingent and voluntary nature of human communication as a two-way process is one of the key reasons that interpersonal relationships and community ties resist commodification.
Lawson, Laura (author), Drake, Luke (author), and Fitzgerald, Nurgul (author)
Format:
Book chapter
Publication Date:
2016
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D08843
Notes:
Pages 141-158 in Dawson, Julie C. and Morales, Alfonso (eds.), Cities of farmers: urban agricultural practices and processes. United States: University of Iowa Press, Iowa City. 333 pages.
