Commodity Politics: Citizens, Consumers, and Public Policy

商品政治：公民、消费者和公共政策

• 批准号: 0921666
• 负责人: Patricia Strach
• 金额: $ 14.75万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Albany
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2011-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0921666&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Commodity; Politics; Citizens; Consumers; Public

From "pink" cereal that supports breast cancer research to bottled water that helps fight disease abroad, non-profits and companies are increasingly working together to address social problems. Together these two actors create coordinated marketing campaigns for specially made or marketed products?a portion of the sale of these items benefits a designated cause. The intense marketing of products tied to social causes, or "commodity politics," challenges conventional political research that organized interests lobby the government when they wish to address social problems. Indeed, non-profits and companies have provided another arena in which citizens (as consumers) get involved?the nation?s supermarkets and shopping malls. The actions of these activists open up a number of questions that current research cannot answer: Why have non-profits and companies turned to cause marketing for issues already addressed by the federal government? What effect does marketing of public problems have on citizens? perceptions of policy issues and of the government's role in ameliorating them? Scholars know little about how market-based activism works and the broader effect it has on the way that we think and act on social problems. To answer the questions above, this research project has two components. (1) To understand when and why organizations turn to commodity politics, the study examines three policy areas (breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer) and two organizations within each area to map both population-level characteristics and individual-level decision-making. It draws on data from non-profit databases, public records, a survey of organizations, archival documents, and interviews. (2) To understand the effect of market activism on citizens' perceptions of policy and government, the study creates a new nationally representative 15-minute survey on citizen and consumer attitudes, which includes questions about knowledge, consumer habits, political behavior, and views on government. Ultimately a study of commodity politics leads to us to ask under what circumstances organizations seek remedies in the political arena rather than assume that they always will or do. It also suggests political research that views individuals only as citizens who participate in political action (narrowly defined as voting or contacting a member of Congress) misses key questions about how advocacy in one sphere influences the other. If activists choose to market solutions to health problems already addressed by the federal government, does this boost or weaken support for federal public policy? And, in turn, what effect does policy have on the market for these kinds of causes? By looking more closely at seemingly non-political action, scholars can better understand the wide-ranging influences on and effects of public policy as well as the government's role in addressing social problems.

从支持乳腺癌研究的“粉红色”谷物到帮助国外对抗疾病的瓶装水，非营利组织和公司越来越多地合作解决社会问题。 这两个演员一起创造协调的营销活动，专门制作或销售的产品？这些物品的一部分销售有益于指定的事业。 与社会事业或“商品政治”有关的产品的激烈营销挑战了传统的政治研究，即有组织的利益集团在希望解决社会问题时游说政府。 事实上，非营利组织和公司提供了另一个公民（作为消费者）参与的竞技场？国家？超市和购物中心。 这些活动家的行为提出了一些目前研究无法回答的问题：为什么非营利组织和公司转向为联邦政府已经解决的问题进行营销？ 公共问题的市场化对公民有什么影响？对政策问题和政府在改善这些问题中的作用的看法？ 学者们对基于市场的行动主义是如何运作的，以及它对我们思考和应对社会问题的方式产生的更广泛的影响知之甚少。 为了回答上述问题，本研究项目有两个组成部分。(1)为了了解组织何时以及为什么转向商品政治，该研究考察了三个政策领域（乳腺癌，肺癌，前列腺癌）和每个领域内的两个组织，以绘制人口水平特征和个人水平决策。 它利用了来自非营利数据库、公共记录、组织调查、档案文件和访谈的数据。(2)为了了解市场行动主义对公民对政策和政府的看法的影响，该研究创建了一个新的具有全国代表性的15分钟公民和消费者态度调查，其中包括知识，消费者习惯，政治行为和对政府的看法。 最终，对商品政治的研究使我们提出这样一个问题：组织在什么情况下会在政治竞技场中寻求补救措施，而不是假设它们总是会这样做。 它还表明，政治研究只将个人视为参与政治行动的公民（狭义地定义为投票或接触国会议员），而忽略了一个领域的倡导如何影响另一个领域的关键问题。 如果积极分子选择推销联邦政府已经解决的健康问题的解决方案，这会增强还是削弱对联邦公共政策的支持？反过来，政策对这些原因的市场有什么影响？ 通过更仔细地观察看似非政治性的行动，学者们可以更好地理解公共政策的广泛影响和效果，以及政府在解决社会问题中的作用。