Ethical consumption : a critical introduction

A not-so-quiet revolution seems to be occurring in wealthy capitalist societies - supermarkets selling ‘guilt free’ Fairtrade products; lifestyle TV gurus exhorting us to eat less, buy local and go green; neighbourhood action groups bent on ‘swopping not shopping’. And this is happening not at the margins of society but at its heart, in the shopping centres and homes of ordinary people. Today we are seeing a mainstreaming of ethical concerns around consumption that reflects an increasing anxiety with - and accompanying sense of responsibility for - the risks and excesses of contemporary lifestyles in the ‘global north’.

This collection of essays provides a range of critical tools for understanding the turn towards responsible or conscience consumption and, in the process, interrogates the notion that we can shop our way to a more ethical, sustainable future. Written by leading international scholars from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds - and drawing upon examples from across the globe - Ethical Consumption makes a major contribution to the still fledgling field of ethical consumption studies. This collection is a must-read for anyone interested in the relationship between consumer culture and contemporary social life.

Learning guide : conduct market research and analysis RUA AG4803 RM A

Study guide for the unit of competency RUA AG4803RM A

The human nexus – a practical framework for inspiring trust and making ethical decisions

This overview of David Hume’s wide-ranging observations is a matrix portraying the key elements of a pragmatic pathway to a moral decision that can be applied in any situation where organisational decisions need to be made. 

An exploratory study of ethical dilemmas faced by academic leaders in three Australian universities

Being an academic in universities today is characterised by change and increasing complexity in response to a multitude of factors impacting on the university sector. Among the consequences of such changes are that many academics, and academic leaders in particular, are subjected to both increasing stress and scrutiny in many of the decisions they make. Some of these decisions require critical choices that involve contestation of values (including personal, professional, institutional, and community), resulting in ethical dilemmas for the decision makers. This article reports on an exploratory study into ethical dilemmas faced by middle-level academic leaders, drawing on the results of an on-line survey distributed to relevant academics in three universities in Australia. Here, middle-level academic leaders are defined as those holding course coordination roles, locating them between senior university staff and other academics on the one hand, and students on the other hand. As a consequence, these diverse groups of staff and students potentially have an array of conflicting interests in, and expectations on, middle-level academics’ decision-making processes. The findings of the study are clear: ethical dilemmas are evident, and commonly so, for many middle-level academic leaders. While exploratory in nature, the findings of this study suggest that much more attention to ethics and ethical dilemmas is needed in our universities.

An outdoor and environmental education community of practice : self stylisation or normalisation?

In this article, I draw on a qualitative longitudinal study to explore the influence of a tertiary Outdoor and Environmental Education (OEE) course on the formation of environmental ethics among students. In this task, I bring together Lave & Wenger (1991) and Wenger’s (1998) concept of communities of practice and Michel Foucault’s later work on ethics to underscore some of the difficulties of an OEE community of practice as a space for (environmentally) ethical self-stylisation. Bringing these theoretical ideas together is significant because my analysis suggests that the OEE community of practice (re)produces an environmental ethic based on normalised codes of conduct rather than a self-fashioning of an ethical existence as conceived by Foucault. I demonstrate that membership in overlapping communities of practice is influential in participants’ performance of environmental identities and normalising codes of conduct are particularly significant in the physical education/pre-service education communities of practice of which participants are members.

Psycho-social, ethical and legal arguments for and against the retrospective release of information about donors to donor-conceived individuals in Australia

In the February 2011 report on its inquiry into the past and present practices of donor conception in Australia, the Australian Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee called for the introduction of legislation to regulate donor conception in all jurisdictions that do not have it in place "as a matter of priority". It further called for the establishment, "as a matter of priority", of a national register of donors to enable donor-conceived individuals to access identifying information about their donor. The Senate Committee left open the question as to whether the legislation and central register should have retrospective effect. This article focuses upon that question. It shows that arguments concerning the privacy, confidentiality and anonymity of some donors who may wish to remain anonymous are outweighed by the manifest injustice faced by donor-conceived individuals who are denied access to such information, as well as their families and donors who wish to exchange this information.

The ethical dilemmas of social networking services in classroom contexts

This chapter explores five ethical dilemmas associated with using Social Networking Sites (SNS) in classrooms. First, do we have the right to colonize or marginalize students’ out of school social networking practices in the classroom? Second, should we access students’ out of classroom virtual identities from their SNS in a classroom context? Third, should we be engaging students’ social networking in public performances of the curriculum? Fourth, are we prepared for recognising and responding to illicit activity in SNS? Fifth, do teachers understand the implications of exposing their out of school identities to their students who inhabit the same social network? The authors do not dispute that SNS in the classroom can be a rich site for learning, but they argue that the concept of ethics as a process of analyzing and respecting the other is essential if we are to responsibly engage with SNS in the classroom.

(Un)ethical practices and ethical dilemmas in universities : academic leaders’ perceptions

In this paper we report on the qualitative component of a study that explored middle-level academic leaders’ experiences of (un)ethical practices and ethical dilemmas in their daily work. An electronic survey was distributed to academic leaders from universities across three Australian states. There are three major findings in this study. First, the messy context of universities is providing a fertile ground for ethical dilemmas to flourish. Second, the two main categories of unethical practices identified by participants were academic dishonesty and inappropriate behaviour towards staff and students. Third, the ethical dilemmas that emerged focused on the academic leaders’ strong sense of professional ethics that were in conflict with an ethic of care, supervisors’ directives, and the rules and policies of the organisation.

Ethical decision-making of accounting students : evidence from an Australian setting

This study investigates accounting students’ ethical decision-making judgments and behavioral intentions. The Multidimensional Ethics Scale (MES) was used to measure the extent to which a hypothetical behavior was consistent with three moral criteria (Moral Equity, Relativism and Contractualism). The study specifically tests the differences in ethical decision-making between students who have been exposed to a dedicated ethics unit of study compared with students who have not studied ethics. The influences of culture and gender on students’ ethical decision-making are also addressed in the study. Ethical decision-making was assessed via three case studies describing moral dilemmas that an individual, business or professional person might face. The results provide support for the MES and the value added from incorporating a dedicated ethical decision-making unit in the accounting curriculum. The results also support prior evidence of gender bias and the impact of cultural differences on ethical decision-making.