Tad Skotnicki is a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the author of The Sympathetic Consumer: Moral Critique in Capitalist Culture (Stanford University Press, 2021). He joins me for a conversation about the common features of consumer activism, from 19th century abolitionism to 21st century Fair Trade movements, which have all based their projects around the idea that consumers are responsible for sympathizing with the invisible laborers that produce their goods, from sugar to iPhones. Skotnicki shares some great historical examples to help illustrate how capitalism’s consistent production of “sympathetic consumers” is a feature, not a bug. 

Subscribe to Nostalgia Trap to access our massive library of bonus episodes, video essays, livestreams and more: patreon.com/nostalgiatrap