Definition, Spill-Over and Export of the Consumer Problematique: The Belgian Consumer Movement within the Welfare State, 1957 − 1980

Movements focusing on the quality and price of commodified goods have appeared worldwide since 1950. In the study of welfare state policies, much endebted to Esping-Andersons notion of the decommodification of labour, the work of these consumer movements has not received that much attention. Their relatively marginal position within the political system made consumer movements a bad fit for the comparative models of political scientists, while historians have had, up until recently, very little attention to an actor that was neither an “old” nor “new” social movement. But partly, this invisibility was also due to the revendications of the movements themselves. Especially when subscribing to the anglosaxon model of “neutral” comparative testing to facilitate individual choice, they did not seem to expect much from the state. The trajectory of the Belgian consumer movement between 1957 and 1980 is an interesting case to explore the relation between classic welfare state policies, new demands for risk protection and the national political opportunity structure. While some voices within the movement called very ardently for state-led interventions on behalf of consumers, other consumer activists swore by the non-political path and even manipulated state institutions in order to keep away government officials from usurping the issue. Yet during the oil crisis the Belgian consumer movement proposed an alternative social policy, focused on basic needs. Comparison with the cases of the UK and France (analyzed by Hilton and Trumbull) shows that such an angle was exceptional, even though it proved short-lived. Finally, the paper highlights the involvement of Belgian activists in non-OECD countries (Malaysia), who soon saw the deliberate export of this anglosaxon model of consumer protection.