ABSTRACT
Consumer movements have traditionally been regarded as driven by in-the-know activists who, through their moralizing, mobilize sufficient numbers of consumers to impact social change. However, new consumer movement dynamics and new paths to social change are revealed through the affordance of digital technology. Drawing on the three phases of digital transformation – digitization, digitalization, and digital transformation – this chapter explores the consumer movement dynamics and paths to social change that may occur within each phase of digital technology adoption. Across these three phases, the power driving social change shifts from the activist organizers who work to mobilize consumers, to the discourses of those consumers, and eventually to forces of indeterminate social change.
