Этичное потребление как индикатор и ресурс трансформации гражданского общества в России

Экономическая социология. 2025. Т. 26. № 2. С. 14–52.

Shabanova M. A.

This paper substantiates a theoretical concept and tests hypotheses concerning the relationship between ethical consumption as a new sphere of civil society (CS) and its traditional sphere (formal and informal structures beyond the consumption sphere). For the first time, the paper presents the data on Russians’ participation in a wide range of ethical consumption practices in different markets and stages of dealing with benefits (acquisition, utilization and disposal) based on the results of two representative studies (2020, 2022, December, N=2,000 for each of the studies). It has been established that although different practices are favored differently, Russian citizens, for the most part, have already been using them. Without due regard to this multifaceted phenomenon, the notion of modern CS, its functions and resources is deficient. Based on identification of the extent of overlapping participants in different practices, considerable fragmentation (disconnect) of this phenomenon was revealed, both within specific types and among them. This reduces the contribution of ethical consumption to the advancement of sustainable development while its contribution to the development of CS is positive, in any case. It has been shown that the emergence of ethical consumption signals the development of Russian CS both in depth (owing to acquisition of a new sphere for demonstrating civic consciousness by those who have already been involved in traditional civic structures -formal and informal) and in breadth (owing to the inflow of new participants who were socially passive before). Using regression analysis, the relationship between specific factors and the probability of Russians’ involvement in different types of ethical consumption was established and weaknesses in the development of the latter were revealed. It was concluded that an expanded reproduction of ethical consumption requires a variety of effects to be exerted by key stakeholders (NGOs, authorities, businesses) to make an impact on different categories of ethical consumers, different stages and kinds of ethical consumption, which would increase the contribution of this phenomenon to the development of CS in Russia. 

Keywords: гражданское общество, НКО, civil society, NGOs, социальная солидарность, social solidarity, устойчивое развитие, moral responsibility, моральная ответственность, sustainable development, individualized collective actions, индивидуализированные коллективные действия, ethical (responsible, conscious) consumption, этичное (ответственное, сознательное) потребление

Publication based on the results of: Self-organization of citizens and the public administration system: a theory of mutual influence, the experience of Russia and other non-western countries and ways of improving the effectiveness of productive interaction (2025)