Ethical consumption practices: co‐production of self‐expression and social recognition

TLDR

In a postmodern world, the moral climate has fragmented into countless narratives, leaving no essential grand narrative or foundational ethical direction, so the self is free and autonomous, confronting a plethora of possibilities. The article argues that despite this pluralism, clear ethical directions can still be discerned within postmodern theory. © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract

Abstract Ethical considerations regularly demand references to the moral climate, which, as a form of grand narrative or regime of truth, provides direction for choices between right and wrong, good and bad, ethical and unethical. Yet from a postmodern perspective, the moral climate has scattered into countless narratives, such that what is good or ethical may no longer be certain everywhere and in every situation. In a postmodern world, no essential grand narrative, regime of truth, or foundational ethical direction exists, because the self has been rendered free and autonomous from traditional values. As an independent agent, the postmodern self confronts a plethora of possibilities. Although the confrontation of multiple narratives appears in radical postmodern theory as saturating and disorienting, this article posits that clear signs of ethical directions within postmodern pluralism remain. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.