Ethical consumption and consumer choice are at the heart of public debates today, but consumer activism has a long history. At the end of the nineteenth century, groups of women activists in different countries weaponised their reputation as consumers to mount campaigns against labour exploitation. By the early twentieth century, they had built an international network of Consumers' Leagues that influenced public opinion and achieved legislative change. Analysing the campaign writing of women activists, including both well-known and recently rediscovered historical figures, Flore Janssen provides new insights into the campaigns that underpinned important developments in the rights of workers and the social position of women. Highlighting the social, economic and political influence of women as activists, this book discusses campaign strategies, but also draws attention to problematic politics within these campaigns. Through its critically contextualised analysis of this specific consumer movement, the book reveals the origins of many consumer campaign strategies that remain familiar today.

About the Author
Flore Janssen is Assistant Professor in Comparative Literature at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. She is co-editor, with Lisa C. Robertson, of the collection Margaret Harkness: Writing Social Engagement 1880 1921 (Manchester University Press, 2019) and editor of Margaret Harkness's 1921 novel A Curate's Promise (Shield Books, 2021). Her research interests include marginalisation, activism and archives and she has published widely on these topics.


Book Information
ISBN 9781474497992
Author Flore Janssen
Format Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint Edinburgh University Press
Publisher Edinburgh University Press