消费与社会责任:一个关于利益与道德的二元对立困境及其出路探究

Consumption and Social Responsibility:A Dilemma of Polarized Opposition Between Interests and Morality and Its Solution

现代消费领域中出现的关于利益与道德之间的二元对立困境,反映了现代消费社会背景下形成的对消费的一种经济主义偏见。消费是涉及商品化和去商品化过程的复杂社会活动,始终是利益与道德的结合体。企业、消费者和国家作为消费道德性的三大来源,在社会责任消费的形成与发展中发挥着各自相应的作用。西方社会中基于市场原理驱动并聚焦企业和消费者之间互动响应的社会责任消费发展模式,因其内含自相矛盾的一面而容易被“商业主义”收编而事与愿违。基于此,关注国家在推动社会责任消费中的作用,对于具有“强国家”传统的我国而言,不失为值得期待的另一种可能性。

In the context of increasingly severe environmental and ecological problems and the gap between the rich and the poor,the development of socially responsible consumption as a response to these problems is attracting more and more academic attention and discussion.However,the tradition of the dualistic opposition between interests and morality in the academic circles,as well as the obvious economism tendency of modern consumer society,still make us have a deep-rooted economism bias against consumption,which brings difficulties and challenges to the development of socially responsible consumption as a fusion of interests and morality.In fact,informed by anthropological insights and an analysis of the evolution of modern consumer society,it can be seen that consumption has never been just an economic activity purely pursues interests and satisfies individual needs,but also a social activity closely related to institutions,culture,and ethics,and consumption is not limited to the purchase process,it is a complex process involving commodification and de-commodification,therefore,consumption always has a interests aspect and a morality aspect,which is a combination of the two.By restoring the morality aspect of consumption,we can find that enterprises,consumers and the state,as the three major sources of consumer morality,play their respective roles in the formation and development of socially responsible consumption.However,the two major models of socially responsible consumption development in Western society are fraught with limitations.The‘principlism’model,which staunchly resists market principles,has thus far had a minimal impact.Conversely,the‘conciliationism’model,which underscores market-driven principles and the reciprocal dynamics between businesses and consumers,frequently succumbs to commercialism’s influence,leading to unintended consequences such as accusations of“green washing”or“ethical washing”.Based on this,paying attention to the role of the state in promoting socially responsible consumption is another possibility worth looking forward to for China,which has a“strong state”tradition and is vigorously advocating“ecological civilization”and“common prosperity”.