Understanding the nature of political participation in light of changing values, social structures, and media systems is one of the fundamental problems in studies of political behavior. Boycotting and buycotting---which collectively comprise political consumerism---lie at the heart of this debate. Although 22 to 44 percent of people in established democracies engage in these acts, the topic has received little attention in the American politics literature.

To increase our understanding of direct forms of participation, this project raises three main research questions. First, how should we conceptualize political consumerism as a form of political behavior? Second, is political consumerism is a substitute for---or complement to---participation in other activities? Finally, what motivates people to engage in political consumerism? To answer these questions, I designed a survey instrument and hired an opinion research firm to administer the survey online to a nationally-representative sample of 2200 U.S. adults.

In contrast to other scholars who treat political consumerism as a singular act, I theorize and find that political consumers are not a homogeneous group because people who only engage in boycotts are different from people who only engage in buycotts. Although both acts are associated with postmaterialist values, education, and political interest, boycotters tend to be younger and have lower levels of political trust. In addition, engaged citizenship norms and environmentalism are associated with buycotting, but not boycotting. Finally, although boycotters and buycotters participate in politics more regularly than do non-political consumers, boycotters contact public officials and sign petitions more frequently than do buycotters.

In addition, people who engage in only one type of political consumerism are different from people who engage in both. Dualcotters tend to be wealthier, more efficacious individuals who are ideologically-sophisticated but apartisan. Moreover, dualcotters participate in politics more frequently than do people who engage in only one type. Finally, engaged citizenship norms, postmaterialist values, and environmentalism are important for dualcotters, which differentiates them from boycotters but not buycotters.