From Starbucks to Carrefour: Consumer Boycotts, Nationalism and Taste in Contemporary China

Main Article Content

Pál Nyíri

Abstract

In the 2000s, China has witnessed a series of consumer boycott campaigns, some of which received nationwide publicity, and one of which, the campaign against the French discounter chain Carrefour in 2008, produced street pickets. The motivation behind these campaigns has been largely nationalistic, as the brands or companies targeted were deemed to offend China. This article sketches the dynamics of consumer boycotts and asks whether, beyond being a vehicle of nationalism, the emerging politics of consumption is also becoming a tool of expressing taste.

Article Details

Section
Post-Mao, Post-Bourdieu: Class and Taste in Contemporary China Special Issue July 2009 (Peer Reviewed)
Author Biography

Pál Nyíri, Free University, Amsterdam / National University of Singapore / Macquarie University

Professor of History from an Anthropological Perspective at the Free University, Amsterdam, beginning 1 January 2009. Currently Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, and Senior Lecturer in Anthropology, Macquarie University.