Mark Hudson

University of Manitoba, Sociology, Faculty Member

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Phone: (204) 272-1655
Address: Dept. of Sociology
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3T 2N2

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Muqtedar Khan

University of Delaware

C. Michael Hall

University of Canterbury/Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha

Laura Hartman

Boston University

John Barry

Queen's University Belfast

Bob Jessop

Lancaster University

Steffen Boehm

University of Exeter

Richard Bellamy

University College London

David Seamon

Kansas State University

Remo Caponi

University of Cologne

James M. Dorsey

Nanyang Technological University

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Papers by Mark Hudson

Dissecting the boom: Is fair trade growing out of its roots

Una crítica vacilante: cómo el potencial del Comercio Justo disminuye con "éxito

Eutopía - Revista de Desarrollo Económico Territorial, 2015

Resumen En términos generales, el objetivo del Comercio Justo es mejorar la calidad de vida de lo... more Resumen En términos generales, el objetivo del Comercio Justo es mejorar la calidad de vida de los pequeños agricultores en los países del Sur. Para lograr esto, el Comercio Justo, como cualquier otro movimiento de consumo responsable, intenta cambiar el comportamiento de los consumidores. Este cambio tiene el potencial de desfetichizar, en el sentido Marxiano, el consumo animando a los consumidores a pensar sobre el impacto social y medioambiental de sus compras. Sin embargo, debido a que está sujeto a la lógica de un mercado caracterizado por la competencia y falta de información, el Comercio Justo también contiene características inherentes que trabajan contra este potencial y reducen la distinción entre el Comercio Justo y la producción convencional. Si el Comercio Justo va a maximizar los beneficios que puede brindar a los agricultores y animar a los consumidores a cuestionar la producción convencional, se debe revertir su actual tendencia a oscurecer la distinción entre el Comercio Justo y la producción convencional.

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Fair Trade, Sustainability, and Social Change

ABSTRACT Is fair trade a radical movement aiming to transform global systems of production and ex... more ABSTRACT Is fair trade a radical movement aiming to transform global systems of production and exchange, or is it a marketing niche that delivers small benefits to Southern farmers and a clean conscience to Northern consumers? Schisms currently opening between the US-based Fair Trade USA and the rest of the international fair trade movement are reflective of this choice. This book evaluates the extent to which fair trade is likely to be a transformative movement. The authors show that fair trade&#39;s most significant, and threatened, contribution is its potential to reveal to otherwise &#39;blinded&#39; consumers the qualitative aspects of labour and nature embodied in commodities. Integrating insights from economic and sociological theory and research, the book sheds new light on this potential of the movement, its role in producing social change, and, given the recent strategic trajectory of the movement, the serious problems it now faces.

With Friends Like These: The Corporate Response to Fair Trade Coffee

Review of Radical Political Economics, 2007

Capitalist agriculture is highly exploitative of both producers and the environment. Fair trade i... more Capitalist agriculture is highly exploitative of both producers and the environment. Fair trade is a movement attempting to mitigate this exploitation, partly by baiting corporate actors into the arena of “ethical production.” In the coffee industry, major corporations are responding by discrediting fair trade and branding themselves as ethical. While falling well short of addressing the real demands of the movement, the proliferation of “ethical” labels resulting from this response threatens to destroy fair trade's own ethical brand.

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Removing the Veil?

Organization & Environment, 2003

For Marx, commodity fetishism is the tendency of people to see the product of their labor in term... more For Marx, commodity fetishism is the tendency of people to see the product of their labor in terms of relationships between things, rather than social relationships between people. In other words, people viewthe commodity only in terms of the characteristics of the final product while the process through which it was created remains obscured and, therefore, unconsidered. This has crucial implications for our collective ability to see and address the ongoing processes of social and environmental destruction under capitalism. This article examines one effort to lift the veil obscuring the relations and processes of commodity production. Fair trade attempts to make visible the social and environmental relations of production and exchange that lie behind the commodity. This assists producers in making a shift in the qualitative nature of production, particularly in terms of its impacts on producers and on the environment. The purpose of this article is to determine the extent to which f...

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Justice, sustainability, and the fair trade movement: A case study of coffee production in Chiapas

Social Justice, 2004

... Studies from York University. His areas of research include political economy, Marxist theory... more

Political Consumerism in Context: An Experiment on Status and Information in Ethical Consumption Decisions

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 2013

ABSTRACT This article investigates two possible explanations for willingness to engage in ethical... more ABSTRACT This article investigates two possible explanations for willingness to engage in ethical consumption: increased status and improved information about the benefits of ethical consumption for producers and for nature. We approach our hypotheses through an experimental method in which people are asked, under varying conditions, to choose between fair trade and “conventional” coffee. Unexpectedly, status and information provision did not significantly affect consumption decisions. Implications of our findings for the ethical consumption literature and strategies aimed at increasing ethical consumption are discussed.

Do governments matter? Provincial policy and redistribution in two Canadian provinces, 1990–2010

Review of Social Economy, 2019

One of the most important economic debates surrounding the feasibility of government efforts to r... more One of the most important economic debates surrounding the feasibility of government efforts to redistribute income is the extent to which economic integration leads to policy convergence. The convergence hypothesis argues that when trade and finance flow freely between political jurisdictions, economic policies will tend to converge. This article uses two Canadian provinces, Manitoba and British Columbia, to conduct a comparative analysis of redistributive policy convergence. We do find observable differences in the redistributive policies of the two provinces. The extent to which this translated into measurable improvements in economic and social outcomes is less pronounced, but will be of interest to scholars of inequality.

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Social Justice for Workers in the Global Economy || Justice, Sustainability, and the Fair Trade Movement: A Case Study of Coffee Production in Chiapas

Una crítica vacilante: cómo el potencial del Comercio Justo disminuye con "éxito"

by EUTOPÍA - Revista de Desarrollo Económico Territorial and Mark Hudson

EUTOPÍA 7, 2015

En términos generales, el objetivo del Comercio Justo es mejorar la calidad de vida de los pequeñ... more En términos generales, el objetivo del Comercio Justo es mejorar la calidad de vida de los pequeños agricultores en los países del Sur. Para lograr esto, el Comercio Justo, como cualquier otro movimiento de consumo responsable, intenta cambiar el comportamiento de los consumidores. Este cambio tiene el potencial de desfetichizar, en el sentido Marxiano, el consumo animando a los consumidores a pensar sobre el impacto social y medioambiental de sus compras. Sin embargo, debido a que está sujeto a la lógica de un mercado caracterizado por la competencia y falta de información, el Comercio Justo también contiene características inherentes que trabajan contra este potencial y reducen la distinción entre el Comercio Justo y la producción convencional. Si el Comercio Justo va a maximizar los beneficios que puede brindar a los agricultores y animar a los consumidores a cuestionar la producción convencional, se debe revertir su actual tendencia a oscurecer la distinción entre el Comercio Justo y la producción convencional.

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Financialization, Enabling Policy and Elite Policy Networks

by Mark Hudson and Mara Fridell

If financial deregulation was part of a package intended to reverse growth stagnation or declinin... more If financial deregulation was part of a package intended to reverse growth stagnation or declining profit, how, exactly, did this solution emerge as the “right” one within ruling policy circles? After all, there are any number of ways to push off crisis. What happened, politically and economically that turned the state into a promoter and enabler of financialization, and when, exactly, did it happen? In beginning to address this question, we follow the methodological lead of social network analysts in tracing out a brief history of financial deregulation—laying out the milestones, key organizations, and individuals in a long process through which the financial industry clawed away at the regulatory structure put in place with the 1933 Banking Act, better known as Glass-Steagall.

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Do Governments Matter? Provincial Policy and Redistribution in Two Canadian Provinces, 1990-2010

by Mara Fridell and Mark Hudson

Review of Social Economy, 2019

Fair-trade Coffee: The Prospects and Pitfalls of Market Driven Social Justice: Brewing Justice: Fair-trade Coffee, Sustainability, and Survival: Fair-trade: The Challenges of Transforming Globalization

Historical Materialism, 2009

ABSTRACT Fair trade is at a critical juncture as a social movement. In the midst of a sales boom ... more ABSTRACT Fair trade is at a critical juncture as a social movement. In the midst of a sales boom and vastly increased visibility, the tensions and contradictions that exist within the movement are intensifying. In particular, expansion of the fair-trade system to cover new commodities, and the process of &#39;mainstreaming&#39; fair trade have opened rifts in the movement and called into question the meaning of &#39;fairness&#39;. This essay reviews three recent books on fair trade, and examines current threats to the system, as well as fair trade&#39;s potential for supporting a broad process of social, economic, political, and ecological transformation.

With Friends Like These: The Corporate Response to Fair Trade Coffee

by Mark Hudson, Mara Fridell, and Ian Hudson

Capitalist agriculture is highly exploitative of both producers and the environment. Fair trade i... more Capitalist agriculture is highly exploitative of both producers and the environment. Fair trade is amovement attempting to mitigate this exploitation,partly by baiting corporate actors into the arena of “ethical production.”In the coffee industry,major corporations are responding by discrediting fair tradeand branding themselves as ethical. While falling well short of addressing the real demands of the move-ment,the proliferation of “ethical”labels resulting from this response threatens to destroy fair trade’sown ethical brand.

Download

Political Consumerism in Context: an experiment on status and information in ethical consumption decisions.

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Sep 2013

This article investigates two possible explanations for willingness to engage in ethical consump... more This article investigates two possible explanations for
willingness to engage in ethical consumption: increased status and
improved information about the benefits of ethical consumption for
producers and for nature. We approach our hypotheses through an
experimental method in which people are asked, under varying
conditions, to choose between fair trade and “conventional” coffee.
Unexpectedly, status and information provision did not significantly
affect consumption decisions. Implications of our findings for the
ethical consumption literature and strategies aimed at increasing
ethical consumption are discussed.

Download

Sand in the Cogs?: Power and Public Participation in the Alberta Tar Sands

Environmental Politics, Aug 2013

Public participation in natural-resource management has been theorised as a potential means of sl... more Public participation in natural-resource management has been theorised as a potential means of slowing or halting the ‘treadmill of production’. We examine the institutional processes for citizen participation in bitumen development proposals in Alberta, Canada, home of the tar sands – one of the world’s largest reserves of fossil fuel. Within the context of economic and ecological impacts of fossil-fuel resource development in Alberta, we chart the active treadmill forces, and examine the legal framework that enables public involvement in the province. We also provide a detailed account of the extent of public participation through the available avenues to date. We conclude, in line with the expectations of the treadmill of production, that the institutionalised processes of participation have been restricted to the point of nullifying the possibility of effective, democratic control over the expansion of the tar sands.

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Dissecting the Boom: Is Fair Trade growing its way out of its roots?

Historical Materialism, 2009

Fair trade is at a critical juncture as a social movement. In the midst of a sales boom and vastl... more Fair trade is at a critical juncture as a social movement. In the midst of a sales boom and vastly increased visibility, the tensions and contradictions that exist within the movement are intensifying. In particular, expansion of the fair-trade system to cover new commodities, and the process of 'mainstreaming' fair trade have opened rifts in the movement and called into question the meaning of 'fairness'. Th is essay reviews three recent books on fair trade, and examines current threats to the system, as well as fair trade's potential for supporting a broad process of social, economic, political, and ecological transformation.

Download

With Friends Like These: The corporate response to fair trade coffee

Review of Radical Political Economics, 2008

Capitalist agriculture is highly exploitative of both producers and the environment. Fair trade i... more Capitalist agriculture is highly exploitative of both producers and the environment. Fair trade is a movement attempting to mitigate this exploitation, partly by baiting corporate actors into the arena of "ethical production." In the coffee industry, major corporations are responding by discrediting fair trade and branding themselves as ethical. While falling well short of addressing the real demands of the movement, the proliferation of "ethical" labels resulting from this response threatens to destroy fair trade's own ethical brand.

Download

Removing the Veil? Commodity Fetishism, Fair Trade, and the Environment

Organization and Environment, 2003

For Marx, commodity fetishism is the tendency of people to see the product of their labor in term... more For Marx, commodity fetishism is the tendency of people to see the product of their labor in terms of relationships between things, rather than social relationships between people. In other words, people view the commodity only in terms of the characteristics of the final product while the process through which it was created remains obscured and, therefore, unconsidered. This has crucial implications for our collective ability to see and address the ongoing processes of social and environmental destruction under capitalism. This article examines one effort to lift the veil obscuring the relations and processes of commodity production. Fair trade attempts to make visible the social and environmental relations of production and exchange that lie behind the commodity. This assists producers in making a shift in the qualitative nature of production, particularly in terms of its impacts on producers and on the environment. The purpose of this article is to determine the extent to which fair trade can address the problem of commodity fetishism and to identify the barriers it encounters in attempting to do so.

Download

Branches for Roots: Recalling the Context of Environmental Management

Environments: a journal of interdisciplinary studies, 2002

Download

Dissecting the boom: Is fair trade growing out of its roots

Una crítica vacilante: cómo el potencial del Comercio Justo disminuye con "éxito

Eutopía - Revista de Desarrollo Económico Territorial, 2015

Download

Fair Trade, Sustainability, and Social Change

With Friends Like These: The Corporate Response to Fair Trade Coffee

Review of Radical Political Economics, 2007

Download

Removing the Veil?

Organization & Environment, 2003

Download

Justice, sustainability, and the fair trade movement: A case study of coffee production in Chiapas

Social Justice, 2004

... Studies from York University. His areas of research include political economy, Marxist theory... more

Political Consumerism in Context: An Experiment on Status and Information in Ethical Consumption Decisions

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 2013

Do governments matter? Provincial policy and redistribution in two Canadian provinces, 1990–2010

Review of Social Economy, 2019

Download

Social Justice for Workers in the Global Economy || Justice, Sustainability, and the Fair Trade Movement: A Case Study of Coffee Production in Chiapas

Una crítica vacilante: cómo el potencial del Comercio Justo disminuye con "éxito"

by EUTOPÍA - Revista de Desarrollo Económico Territorial and Mark Hudson

EUTOPÍA 7, 2015

Download

Financialization, Enabling Policy and Elite Policy Networks

by Mark Hudson and Mara Fridell

Download

Do Governments Matter? Provincial Policy and Redistribution in Two Canadian Provinces, 1990-2010

by Mara Fridell and Mark Hudson

Review of Social Economy, 2019

Historical Materialism, 2009

With Friends Like These: The Corporate Response to Fair Trade Coffee

by Mark Hudson, Mara Fridell, and Ian Hudson

Capitalist agriculture is highly exploitative of both producers and the environment. Fair trade i... more Capitalist agriculture is highly exploitative of both producers and the environment. Fair trade is amovement attempting to mitigate this exploitation,partly by baiting corporate actors into the arena of “ethical production.”In the coffee industry,major corporations are responding by discrediting fair tradeand branding themselves as ethical. While falling well short of addressing the real demands of the move-ment,the proliferation of “ethical”labels resulting from this response threatens to destroy fair trade’sown ethical brand.

Download

Political Consumerism in Context: an experiment on status and information in ethical consumption decisions.

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Sep 2013

Download

Sand in the Cogs?: Power and Public Participation in the Alberta Tar Sands

Environmental Politics, Aug 2013

Download

Dissecting the Boom: Is Fair Trade growing its way out of its roots?

Historical Materialism, 2009

Download

With Friends Like These: The corporate response to fair trade coffee

Review of Radical Political Economics, 2008

Capitalist agriculture is highly exploitative of both producers and the environment. Fair trade i... more Capitalist agriculture is highly exploitative of both producers and the environment. Fair trade is a movement attempting to mitigate this exploitation, partly by baiting corporate actors into the arena of "ethical production." In the coffee industry, major corporations are responding by discrediting fair trade and branding themselves as ethical. While falling well short of addressing the real demands of the movement, the proliferation of "ethical" labels resulting from this response threatens to destroy fair trade's own ethical brand.

Download

Removing the Veil? Commodity Fetishism, Fair Trade, and the Environment

Organization and Environment, 2003

For Marx, commodity fetishism is the tendency of people to see the product of their labor in term... more For Marx, commodity fetishism is the tendency of people to see the product of their labor in terms of relationships between things, rather than social relationships between people. In other words, people view the commodity only in terms of the characteristics of the final product while the process through which it was created remains obscured and, therefore, unconsidered. This has crucial implications for our collective ability to see and address the ongoing processes of social and environmental destruction under capitalism. This article examines one effort to lift the veil obscuring the relations and processes of commodity production. Fair trade attempts to make visible the social and environmental relations of production and exchange that lie behind the commodity. This assists producers in making a shift in the qualitative nature of production, particularly in terms of its impacts on producers and on the environment. The purpose of this article is to determine the extent to which fair trade can address the problem of commodity fetishism and to identify the barriers it encounters in attempting to do so.

Download

Branches for Roots: Recalling the Context of Environmental Management

Environments: a journal of interdisciplinary studies, 2002

Download

Neoliberal Lives: Work, Politics, Nature, and Health in the Contemporary United States

This book is about the transformation of America that has occurred over the past thirty-five year... more This book is about the transformation of America that has occurred over the past thirty-five years, as capitalist logic has expanded into previously protected spheres of life. This expansion has had devastating effects on the potential for human development. Looking at how human beings create themselves and their worlds on material foundations of health and the natural environment, through work and politics, the book chronicles how neoliberalism has limited human potential. At a time when neoliberalism's effects are stirring various forms of popular resistance and opposition, this is a manifesto of sorts for the range of processes that need to be confronted if human potential is to be freed from the increasingly cramped quarters to which neoliberalism has confined it.

Fire Management in the American West: forest politics and the rise of megafires

Most journalists and academics attribute the rise of wildfires in the western United States to th... more Most journalists and academics attribute the rise of wildfires in the western United States to the USDA Forest Service's successful fire-elimination policies of the twentieth century. However, in Fire Management in the American West, Mark Hudson argues that although a century of suppression did indeed increase the hazard of wildfire, the responsibility does not lie with the USFS alone. The roots are found in the Forest Service's relationships with other, more powerful elements of society--the timber industry in particular.

Drawing on correspondence both between and within the Forest Service and the major timber industry associations, newspaper articles, articles from industry outlets, and policy documents from the late 1800s through the present, Hudson shows how the US forest industry, under the constraint of profitability, pushed the USFS away from private industry regulation and toward fire exclusion, eventually changing national forest policy into little more than fire policy.

More recently, the USFS has attempted to move beyond the policy of complete fire suppression. Interviews with public land managers in the Pacific Northwest shed light on the sources of the agency's struggles as it attempts to change the way we understand and relate to fire in the West.

Fire Management in the American West will be of great interest to environmentalists, sociologists, fire managers, scientists, and academics and students in environmental history and forestry.

Fair Trade, Sustainability, and Social Change

by Mark Hudson and Mara Fridell

Is fair trade a radical movement aiming to transform global systems of production and exchange, o... more Is fair trade a radical movement aiming to transform global systems of production and exchange, or is it a marketing niche that delivers small benefits to Southern farmers and a clean conscience to Northern consumers? Schisms currently opening between the US-based Fair Trade USA and the rest of the international fair trade movement are reflective of this choice. This book evaluates the extent to which fair trade is likely to be a transformative movement. The authors show that fair trade's most significant, and threatened, contribution is its potential to reveal to otherwise 'blinded' consumers the qualitative aspects of labour and nature embodied in commodities. Integrating insights from economic and sociological theory and research, the book sheds new light on this potential of the movement, its role in producing social change, and, given the recent strategic trajectory of the movement, the serious problems it now faces.

Mark Hudson

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