Cronin, Anne (2002) Consumer rights/cultural rights : a new politics of European belonging. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 5 (3). pp. 307-323. ISSN 1367-5494
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
In an initiative by the World Commission on Culture and Development, the Council of Europe has produced a series of policy documents that aim to define Europe through a common 'European culture'. This article explores the ideas of Europe, culture and consumerism that are used in the report to redefine the terms of European belonging and rights. I explore the gendered and racial interconnections in these definitions and the rhetorical use of cultural heritage in generating an idea(l) of Europe. I argue that new connections between consumer rights, European rights and cultural rights in the Council of Europe's discourses produce shifts in liberal concepts of self-expressive representational politics. These changes have important implications for those who have an ambiguous and/or marginalized relation to the terms of citizenship and cultural belonging.