[lbo-talk] green consumers: thieving pricks

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Wed Mar 17 11:10:08 PDT 2010


On Mar 17, 2010, at 1:42 PM, Wojtek S wrote:


> [WS:] It could well be that this is a spurious connection. People
> who can
> afford to be "green consumers" tend to be more of upper middle class
> or
> "yuppie" background than people who buy conventional products (which
> are far
> less expensive.) So what the authors attribute to be a "going green"
> effect
> is in fact an effect of upper class arrogance.

Well, no. If you read the paper:

<http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca/facbios/file/MazarZhong_PS_GreenProducts.pdf

>

you find that this was on the basis of experiments on college students.

The authors conclude: "The significant interaction supports our predictions. Green products embody social considerations such that mere exposure to them increases subsequent pro-social behavior. However, acting upon one’s values establishes moral credentials that can subsequently license deviating behavior."

Doug



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