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In his Theory of justice, John Rawls argues that we as individuals can decide self-interestedly how we are to behave in the markets. In the economic system, justice doesn't require us to consider anything more than whether we can afford what we want or not. Distribution of wealth in society is just insofar as the basic structure of that society respects the two principles of justice and the rules of the market – a pure procedural justice system. However, our personal economic choices do modify the distribution of wealth in relevant ways; according to Gerald A. Cohen, Rawls' focus on institutions prevents him from achieving properly his project of a just society. His reliance on invisible hand mechanisms cannot guarantee the just character of the distribution; our individual choices, being an object of justice just as much as the institutions of the basic structure, should be guided by an ethos of justice. Having their "ideal theory" considerations in mind, I follow Cohen by arguing that, contrary to what the Rawlsian model of pure proceduralism claims, our everyday choices in the current economic sphere should be informed by considerations of justice. I contend that the ideal notion of ethos can participate in the development of our capacity to carefully read prominent speeches, characteristic of the neoliberal age, that encourage uncritical, and self-interested consumption, if it is complemented by the practice of reflective judgment in the economic sphere. Should we achieve this, we will be better equipped to acknowledge and act upon the implications of our consumption on human and non-human life and development of the planet. The relevance of acknowledging this type of overlooked individual responsibility is exacerbated by the current context of increasing inequalities and decreasing amounts of resources, a situation of seemingly unrelenting crisis. By exercising a pressure upon how and which goods are to be produced and how wealth is to be distributed among people, our reflective consumption choices have the capacity, at the citizens' level, to make things change towards a fairer world.

DOI: 10.3920/978-90-8686-784-4_20

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