The early years of the twenty-first century witnessed a proliferation of public concerns and scholarly works in the field of so-called political consumption. This notion designates the promotion of public goals and values through individual shopping behavior (e.g., boycotts, “buycotts,” fair trade, and organic consumption) rather than through the classic means of governmental policies and legal frameworks (e.g. Micheletti, Reference Micheletti2003; Halkier, Reference Halkier2010; Dubuisson-Quellier, Reference Dubuisson-Quellier2013). Several of these works, of course, pay tribute to similar endeavors from earlier periods, but because of a lack of knowledge, most of these pioneering developments are attributed to the United States (see, for instance, Glickman, 2012). Chessel’s welcome book fills the gap, by disclosing the contribution of a French social league of buyers—the Ligue sociale d’acheteurs (LSA)—to the early rise of political consumerism, at the time of the Belle Époque in France, a period of technological and social changes analogous in many respects to the Progressive Era in the United States.
The first part of the book describes the LSA and its founders. If, in her introduction, Chessel concedes that this association was a very small movement among several (and often bigger) ones, she convincingly shows that given its specific character and distinct modes of action, the LSA played an important role in shaping new ideas and policies about work and consumption. The founders of the LSA were French, but open to the world. In particular, they were inspired by the U.S. National Consumers’ League, its women-driven character, its openness to varied religious influences, its tool of “white lists” of acceptable shops and factories, and so on. The LSA was animated by French bourgeois women, but also often by their husbands — as in the central couple of Henriette and Jean Brunhes. The LSA members were rooted in Catholicism but open to other religious orientations, as well as to the progressive republican ideas of the time. Chessel shows that these balanced and plural orientations were precisely what helped the LSA find a way to give women a political role while also involving men in their effort, tracing multiple connections with several influential actors, and “circulating” progressive ideas and initiatives both at the national and the worldwide levels.
The second part of the book documents the LSA’s modes of action. Among these, it particularly insists on the reliance of the method of the “social survey” (enquête sociale) based on the Leplaysian tradition. However, Chessel shows that with LSA, the survey was converted into a distinct female tool: Instead of targeting the building of academic knowledge, LSA’s women used surveys to determine proper action, particularly ones focused on disclosing the discrepancy between the fancy character of novelties and the ugliness of the misery behind it. This effort expressed the reflexive concern of bourgeois Catholic women when facing their own shopping practices, and their willingness to care about protecting dressmakers against exploitation through socially aware consumption. This goal was achieved by establishing white lists of acceptable providers, by organizing exhibitions in which objects appeared with explanations on the way they were produced, and other similar actions.
The third and last part of the book covers the action of the LSA related to some larger social issues, especially related to reducing work hours. Given their Catholic background, LSA members showed a major concern for banning work during the weekend and urging consumers to avoid shopping during this period; they also championed banning night work for bakers. Chessel shows that male LSA members played a greater role in these two particular issues in connection with their involvement in the public sphere, especially in universities, politics, and law (whereas LSA’s female members were more focused on home, female workers, and market issues). One of the author’s main contributions is to show that the LSA did not promote private responsible consumerism as a means to undermine the public policy initiatives (contrary to some versions of contemporary political consumerism), but rather took their efforts as a way to call for social awareness and prepare better laws. The end of the book questions the disappearance of the LSA after World War I by showing its enduring influence. Chessel subtly notes that even if LSA itself vanished, its spirit spread elsewhere—in several other consumer movements, but also, perhaps, in contemporary consumer regulations and public policies.
This book is written in a clear, sober, and elegant style; it combines sharp analysis with the most meticulous empirical precision. Instead of being trapped and lost in the details of her main archive, the author explores the full web of additional sources to which the LSA is connected, and even gives greater deepness and perspective to her case by placing it within a broad historical and sociological context. Among several other merits, this book makes a contribution on the relationship among gender, markets, and politics. In opposition to a trend in gender studies, gender does not intervene here as a pre-chosen framework, but appears as an obvious expression of the field. The symmetrical treatment of the contribution of male and female LSA members evidences the very meaningful and intriguing articulation between both genders, along a kind of division of labor, which helped women find a way to engage in public life, often thanks to men’s support, even if this was obtained at the expense of a reinforcement of women’s supposed “natural” dedication to home and family matters.
Despite the author’s comprehensive coverage of her topic, three major mysteries remain after reading the book. The French Belle Époque was marked by the passage of two major laws in 1905: the law on the separation between church and state on the political side, and the law on fraud repression on the consumption side. It is somewhat surprising that Chessel does not pay much attention to these laws, whereas the LSA obviously navigates between the two: The league tried to promote Christian values while taking care not to restrict them to the church, but rather inscribing them in the secular world; it focused on the social quality of goods but seemed to totally ignore their material quality, except when goods were connected to work—for instance, when the sweat of bakers raised a risk of tuberculosis. Chessel’s late and quick focus on “la vie chère” (i.e., expensive life) conveys another puzzle. The problem of the cost of living cannot be restricted to the 2010 riots, as these riots rather highlighted the longstanding and decades-long suffering of the popular classes. This issue raises a contradiction inherent to the LSA: This movement fought for better work and for better consumption, but, ironically, given its social reliance on rich Catholic housewives, it proved incapable of seeing workers as consumers. A last mystery is about a prominent means of action that is unexplored. Chessel’s account discloses a fascinating array of innovating or astute forms of activism, from classic pamphlets and conferences to exhibitions, stamps, and the like, but she does not cover the possible contribution of journalists and newspapers at a time when the general press was the main outlet to influence public attention. These three mysteries call for further research on the LSA’s contribution to early political consumption. For the time being, though, this book is a major contribution in urgent need of an English translation, so it will gain the international recognition it deserves.
