<p>Coffee is a much enjoyed everyday-luxury in many parts of the world. It is not only enjoyed as a stimulant but also for social activities. “Fika” is a Swedish word which is difficult to translate and basically means to-have-coffee-with-friends. Coffee is so loved in Sweden that the average Swede consumes about nine and a half kilogram per year. But coffee often comes with a bitter aftertaste of environmental degradation and social injustice. Pesticide use is one of the environmental problems; some of the most dangerous ones are used in coffee productions. When it comes to social aspects world market prices on coffee has been very low for about two decades. At its worst coffee farmers were paid about a quarter of the production price for their coffee. This has led to a situation of wide spread financial debt, poverty, and sometimes even starvation among farmers. One solution which some farmers take is drug production. Coca is easy to grow and gives high revenue, which may make it appealing to a desperate coffee farmer. Another option can be provided by responsible corporations and concerned consumers –a fair pay.</p><p>The coffee sector in general and Swedish coffee roasting company Löfbergs Lila AB in particular are used as a case study for this thesis focal point which is the correlation between consumer power and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The large social and environmental problems in the coffee sector make it an area where voluntary responsibilities from consumers and businesses can have a very large positive impact. Sales numbers of organically produced and Fairtrade labelled coffee are increasing due to consumer demand. It is clear that consumer power is one of the cornerstones of CSR. When consumers ask for socially and ecologically sustainable goods corporations can produce these goods with an economical gain, thus a win-win situation occurs for corporate profit and the social-/environmental sphere. Both consumer demand and the possibility for corporate profit seams to be prerequisites for CSR.</p><p>It is clear that voluntary approaches to sustainable development such as consumer choice and CSR can lead to many positive changes; however concerns arise when it comes to the fulfilment of sustainable development. The ecological footprint gives us a number for the worlds’ total over consumption and it shows that to fulfil sustainable development as defined in “Our common future”, also known as the Brundtland commission, most western countries would have to reduce their total consumption by approximately 75 %. Consumers are driven by many other factors than social and environmental concerns, and companies and corporations have shown many times that there is much talk in CSR but little is actually done. This leads to the conclusion that although some positive changes occur, voluntary actions such as CSR and consumer power/choice will probably not be enough to lead us to a sustainable development.</p>

Coffee is a much enjoyed everyday-luxury in many parts of the world. It is not only enjoyed as a stimulant but also for social activities. “Fika” is a Swedish word which is difficult to translate and basically means to-have-coffee-with-friends. Coffee is so loved in Sweden that the average Swede consumes about nine and a half kilogram per year. But coffee often comes with a bitter aftertaste of environmental degradation and social injustice. Pesticide use is one of the environmental problems; some of the most dangerous ones are used in coffee productions. When it comes to social aspects world market prices on coffee has been very low for about two decades. At its worst coffee farmers were paid about a quarter of the production price for their coffee. This has led to a situation of wide spread financial debt, poverty, and sometimes even starvation among farmers. One solution which some farmers take is drug production. Coca is easy to grow and gives high revenue, which may make it appealing to a desperate coffee farmer. Another option can be provided by responsible corporations and concerned consumers –a fair pay. The coffee sector in general and Swedish coffee roasting company Löfbergs Lila AB in particular are used as a case study for this thesis focal point which is the correlation between consumer power and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The large social and environmental problems in the coffee sector make it an area where voluntary responsibilities from consumers and businesses can have a very large positive impact. Sales numbers of organically produced and Fairtrade labelled coffee are increasing due to consumer demand. It is clear that consumer power is one of the cornerstones of CSR. When consumers ask for socially and ecologically sustainable goods corporations can produce these goods with an economical gain, thus a win-win situation occurs for corporate profit and the social-/environmental sphere. Both consumer demand and the possibility for corporate profit seams to be prerequisites for CSR. It is clear that voluntary approaches to sustainable development such as consumer choice and CSR can lead to many positive changes; however concerns arise when it comes to the fulfilment of sustainable development. The ecological footprint gives us a number for the worlds’ total over consumption and it shows that to fulfil sustainable development as defined in “Our common future”, also known as the Brundtland commission, most western countries would have to reduce their total consumption by approximately 75 %. Consumers are driven by many other factors than social and environmental concerns, and companies and corporations have shown many times that there is much talk in CSR but little is actually done. This leads to the conclusion that although some positive changes occur, voluntary actions such as CSR and consumer power/choice will probably not be enough to lead us to a sustainable development.

The purpose of the study is to examine eight individuals’ experiences and conceptions of political consumerism. Main notions in the study are concepts like reshaping of the politics, morality and individualization. The method of choice is qualitative interview and grounded theory. Theories that deal with consumer society, subpolitics and individualization constitute the theoretical framework. These theories lead to obtaining a deeper understanding of what was said in the interviews. Opportunities to improve living and working conditions for producers in the South, is the main reason for the use of political consumption.

Sustainable consumption is seen as a crucial political issue on the global agenda by politicians, the scientific community, and citizens who are worried about unsustainable consumption. However, several studies have shown that some consumers with "green" values do not consume sustainably – there is often a gap between attitude and behavior. One explanation is that the commitment to sustainable consumption is discouraged by barriers to action. For example, the supply of sustainable goods may be inadequate or the products too expensive. Such goods may be perceived as ineffective in their purpose to promote sustainable development, or perhaps it is believed that there are not enough other people who consume sustainably to make the individual effort worthwhile. However, some studies have indicated that there are also "reverse gaps". That is, there are people who are not particularly motivated to engage in sustainable consumption, but who do so anyway. The study examines why consumers sometimes engage in sustainable consumption (operationalized as a choice of environmental and Fairtrade certified products) but do not at other times. Research questions include which individual prerequisites (motivation and resources) are important for sustainable consumption, how they are distributed among citizens in Sweden, and finally whether perceived opportunities for sustainable consumption can form not only barriers but also "bridges" for engagement and how these are formed. The latter could explain the "reverse gaps" mentioned above. The author builds on the discussion about the challenges that sustainable development poses for the concept of citizenship. Researchers argue that sustainable development requires a transformation of traditional citizenship theory into a "sustainable citizenship". This is not limited by nation-state borders, takes into account past and future generations, and is open to the idea that responsibility-taking can, and sometimes should, be carried out in the private sphere. The dissertation is based on quantitative analysis of a (Swedish) representative survey and shows how consumers can be divided into different clusters based on their individual prerequisites: "Capable Critics", "Capital Weak Critics", "Conditionals" and ”Skeptics". Even if it is only the Capable Critics who have both the high motivation and a high level of resources that theoretically could be assumed to be necessary, there are a significant amount of consumers who choose environmental and Fairtrade labeled goods regularly across all clusters. These types of consumers encounter bridges to action by particularly positive perceived opportunities that make the engagement a little less demanding on individual prerequisites. The bridges are not the same for all clusters though. Their particular approach to sustainable consumption determines which factors are most important. / Det hållbara medborgarskapet