Is Consumer Sovereignty Dead? The essay below contains some thoughts from John Galbraith, a Harvard economist who has been an outspoken critic of the doctrine of consumer sovereignty. Read the passage, and then answer the questions below. You may write or type your responses. A (Brief) Lecture on Consumer Sovereignty By John Kenneth Galbraith In virtually all economic analysis and instruction, the initiative is assumed to lie with the consumer. In response to wants that originate within himself. The flow of instruction is in one direction – from the individual to the market to the producer. All this is affirmed, not inappropriately, by terminology that implies that all power lies with the consumer. This is called consumer sovereignty. There is always a presumption of consumer sovereignty in the market economy. The one‐way flow of instruction from consumer to market to producer may be denoted the “Accepted Sequence”. However, this sequence does not hold. The mature corporation has readily at hand, means for controlling prices at which it sells as well as those at which it buys. Similarly, it has means for managing what the consumer buys at the prices which it controls.... . The “Accepted Sequence” is no longer a description of the reality and is becoming ever less so. Instead the producing firm reaches forward to control its markets and on beyond to manage the market behavior and shape the social attitudes of those, ostensibly, that it serves. For this we also need a name and it may appropriately be called the “Revised Sequence”. 1. What is another term for the “Accepted Sequence”? What does this mean in your own words? 2. What does Galbraith mean by the “Revised Sequence”? Explain. 3. IN YOUR OPINION, which sequence is the more accurate description in the U.S. economy today? 4. What is your overall impression of the power of advertising on your behavior. Are the ads simply informational or are they persuasive? Give some examples. 5. Corporations spend billions of dollars on advertising to control what consumers buy. So given these massive advertising expenditures, do you think consumer sovereignty is dead? Do people decide what products to buy … or do companies decide what products they want to sell us?