A Just Cup of Coffee: From Fair Trade to Human Happiness

Photo used in the Journal of Macromarketing with permission of TransFair USA.

As public awareness and advertising have increased, fair trade coffee has gathered mainstream appeal, but what are its real-life impacts on the economy, sustainability, and human well-being?

For today’s post, we’ve compiled an assortment of articles that study coffee and community from a marketing and political economy perspective. The Review of Radical Political Economics takes us to Uganda’s Mirembe Kawomera (“Delicious Peace”) cooperative, arguing for the economic rationality of promoting community rather than consumerism; the Journal of Macromarketing looks at the fair trade coffee movement’s effects on quality of life for participants in Nicaragua, Peru, and Guatemala; and The Journal of Environment & Development examines the global coffee sector as a venue for social and environmental certification initiatives.

We hope you find this selection insightful and thought-provoking.

Nancy Neiman Auerbach of Scripps College

“Delicious Peace Coffee: Marketing Community in Uganda”

Review of Radical Political Economics (April 4, 2012)

Stephanie Geiger-Oneto and Eric J. Arnould, both of the University of Wyoming

“Alternative Trade Organization and Subjective Quality of Life : The Case of Latin American Coffee Producers”

Journal of Macromarketing (April 19, 2011)

Graeme Auld of Carleton University

“Assessing Certification as Governance: Effects and Broader Consequences for Coffee”

The Journal of Environment & Development (June 2010)

Are you interested in receiving email alerts whenever a new article or issue becomes available? Then click here!