Didn't Clara Lemlich Shavelson organize working-class house wives during the Depression to insist on their rights as consumers? They protested and changed meat prices that they thought were oppressive, and sent a delegation to Washington that helped establish concern for consumers as a part of public policy. I saw this in JWA's This Week in History for May 23, 1935.

I wouldn't sell short the social justice impact of our choices as consumers. Unfortunately, perhaps, consuming and buying is a big part of the way we interact with the larger world. Generally, we use a lot more money in buying then in giving to charity.

Too often, in our acquisition of clothes, food, etc., we participate in oppressive labor structures around the world. One of the most important things we can do, probably, is to support those companies whose business practices we have reason to respect ... we shouldn't assume that every business is about making the world worse ... why not seek out those that are trying to make the world better?

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