Configuring Ordinary Cosmopolitan Cultures: Ethical Branding, Cosmopolitan Affordances, and Consumption in a Canadian Context


Sonia Bookman, University of Manitoba; Benjamin Ayamga, University of Manitoba

Academic discussions of cosmopolitanism have been reinvigorated in the context of contemporary processes of globalization, transnational mobilities, and multicultural urbanism, resulting in a substantial literature reflecting a range of disciplinary approaches and academic debates (Rovisco and Nowicka 2011; Inglis 2014). We situate our paper within an emerging sociology of cosmopolitanism, characterized by a concern with the ways in which cosmopolitanism emerges in everyday life, including through market processes and practices of consumption in contemporary consumer culture.

With the “moralization of markets” (Stehr, 2008) and widespread adoption by companies of corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy, global brands are now prominent platforms where individuals encounter images of cultural diversity, principles of global social and environmental responsibility, and opportunities to engage cosmopolitan practices. Yet, little academic attention has been paid to investigating the ways in which cosmopolitan consumption is articulated and supported by such market cultural forms as well as how consumers engage their cosmopolitan affordances.

Exploring connections between global brands, cosmopolitanism, and consumption, this paper draws on material from an extensive qualitative study conducted over three years (2020-2023), in a Canadian context. Focusing on H&M, Amazon, and McDonald’s, case study research involved documentary study, textual and visual analysis of brand communications and environments, as well, qualitative interviews were conducted with consumers of the brands (n=49) in the city of Winnipeg, Canada.

Providing a multi-level analysis, the paper outlines: 1) how the brands mediate and support cosmopolitan consumption in Canada through the implementation of market practices of corporate social responsibility; and 2) how Canadian consumers engage such brand-based cosmopolitan affordances (e.g. purchasing clothing made with recycled materials), and the meanings they make of such activity.

The paper will mainly consider how diverse consumers engage and negotiate the cosmopolitan “frames of action” (Arvidsson, 2006) assembled by these brands, paying attention to the ways in which consumer engagement is refracted through cultural, gender, and class boundaries. It will compare and contrast the cosmopolitan cultures that surface on the platforms of the brands, delineating differences in emphasis (aesthetic versus moral cosmopolitan orientations), extent of consumer involvement (passive acceptance versus active use of the brand to perform cosmopolitan ideals), and meanings expressed, while drawing attention to their ambivalence, tensions, and limitations. In this way, the paper contributes a nuanced understanding of the particular kinds of cosmopolitanism and cosmopolitan practice that surface in the dynamic interplay of consumption, branding activity, and everyday life.

This paper will be presented at the following session: