Gandhi’s response to the inability of khadi to compete in the market with mill cloth was to appeal to the conscience of the consumer. “Humanity does not search for low prices in a spirit of bargain. The humane in people even in purchases seeks opportunities for service, and therefore wants to know first not the price of the article of purchase but the condition of its producers, and makes purchases in a manner that serves the most needy and most deserving.” (19)  

Thus Gandhi was a forerunner of today’s conscious consumer movement, which promotes fair trade coffee, community supported agriculture (CSA’s), and shopping for a better world. A culture shift. Perhaps the germ of a paradigm shift. But this does not justify –one must be careful to add— the sectarian conclusion that all of today’s conscientious consumers are or should be Gandhians. Some are Presbyterians. Some are Buddhists. Some (as in my case) are Roman Catholics. Some are Anarchists. Some are New Age people who practice transcendental meditation. …. etc. etc. It has been plausibly argued that Gandhi’s philosophy forms a coherent whole, so that his economics is grounded in his view of human nature. (19A) But one need not accept his view of human nature to practice his economics. Not everyone who pays a higher price for goods produced by socially responsible firms is, like Gandhi, following the path of karmayoga set forth in the Bhagavad Gita. With equal coherence people can transcend the dynamic of the dominant paradigm starting from different premises.