Consumer sovereign and consumption routine: a reexamination of the Galbraithian concept of the dependence effect

The aim of this paper is to suggest that the concept of the dependence effect and of the consumer sovereignty, developed by Galbraith, has to be reexamined in a knowledge-based economy. We reconsider these concepts in the light of the consumption routine. In this perspective, the main result of this paper is that the question of market power must be analyzed in terms of interaction between producers and consumers. The limited knowledge role of consumer and producer implies that the power is shared.