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27.11.2024

Intermediaries in eco-responsible consumption

Marion Michel is defending a sociology thesis entitled: 
Les intermédiaires de la consommation écoresponsable. Digital professionals between market and activist tensions.

The defense will take place on Monday December 2 at 2pm at Sciences Po.

The jury will be composed of :

Mr. Philip Balsiger, Associate Professor, University of Neufchatel (rapporteur)

Mr. Jean-Samuel Beuscart, University Professor of Sociology, IEP Paris

Ms Sophie Dubuisson-Quellier, Director of Research, CNRS, CSO (thesis supervisor)

Ms Anne Jourdain, Senior Lecturer, IRISSO

Ms Marie Plessz, Director of Research, INRAE, CMH (reporter).

Summary of thesis:

This thesis focuses on the prescription of eco-responsible consumption on socionumeric networks (RSN). Focusing on the tensions between ethics and the market, it studies the strategies of multiple professionals (corporate employees, content creators, communications agents, etc.). She shows how these actresses, using different strategies, work to impose specific standards on the market for eco-responsible prescriptions, and attempt to construct its boundaries. She analyzes the functioning of a market for eco-responsible prescriptions on SNSs with opaque algorithms and little public regulation. She shows that those who promote eco-responsible goods and services online are criticized by their community of subscribers for their lack of moral consistency. Caught between commercial and militant tensions, these actresses implement various strategies to position themselves online and gain recognition for the legitimacy of their commercial activity. The second part examines the trajectories of content creators, between amateurism, militancy and the commodification of their activity. They work to build up an image of eco-responsible authenticity in order to convince their audience of their honesty and the professional nature of their activity. However, very few manage to be profitable. We therefore study how the space of eco-responsible content creation is structured by inequalities of economic, social and cultural resources.
 

Finally, all the players strive to give their products a value based on their eco-responsibility. Through multiple interactions, these players equip the market and create collective norms of exchange. The thesis shows how they cooperate with each other to gain online visibility.

(credits: PeachShutterStock Shutterstock)

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