Die Repräsentation von Verbraucherinteressen

How can consumer interests be defined and determined? How do public interest groups fulfil their fundamental function of interest aggregation? This study analyses how consumer interests are defined, aggregated and legitimised within the field of consumer policy. In Germany, these interests, which are diffuse and hard to organise, are represented as well-understood consumer interests by advocacy organisations, which have no particular membership and are financially dependent on the state. This case study analyses interest aggregation in consumer organisations based on the example of the ‘Verbraucherzentrale’ (consumer association) of North Rhine-Westphalia. Therefore, it contributes to a theory of interest aggregation within the study of public interest groups. Referring to the field of political consumer research, this study focuses on a core problem of consumer policy: organising, determining and legitimising consumer interests.