The Vice of "Virtue": Teaching Consumer Practice in an Unjust World
In an age of “conspicuous consumption,” a classical consumer virtue argument warrants critique for the tenuous connection it makes between personal virtue and the social good. Reflection on race and class variations in consumption patterns, alerts to the advantages of L. Tessman’s work on burdened v...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
The Journal of Moral Theology, Inc.
2018-01-01
|
| Series: | Journal of Moral Theology |
| Online Access: | https://jmt.scholasticahq.com/article/11381-the-vice-of-virtue-teaching-consumer-practice-in-an-unjust-world |
| Summary: | In an age of “conspicuous consumption,” a classical consumer virtue argument warrants critique for the tenuous connection it makes between personal virtue and the social good. Reflection on race and class variations in consumption patterns, alerts to the advantages of L. Tessman’s work on burdened virtues and their connection to personal and public flourishing in structurally unjust situations. This analysis shifts the focus from simply promoting virtue to also overcoming the structural injustice that stunts and contorts virtue and severs its connections to flourishing. The result is a socially critical approach to modeling virtuous consumption, one that focuses as much on justice and social change as on personal practice. In the background lies one uncomfortable assumption: it is not currently possible to consume in a way that perfectly supports classical understandings of virtue as well as true, holistic personal and communal flourishing. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2166-2851 2166-2118 |