Joseph Heath, "Liberal Autonomy and Consumer Sovereignty" Many social critics consider consumerism to be one of the major flaws in our society. In advancing such criticism, they explicitly reject the doctrine of "consumer sovereignty," viz. the view that, from the standpoint of normative evaluation, the consumption choices made by individuals should be taken at face value. A liberal state, however, is generally regarded as one that seeks to respect individual autonomy, by adopting a stance of official neutrality toward the many rival conceptions of the good entertained by its citizens. This would appear to commit liberals to something very much like the doctrine of consumer sovereignty, effectively precluding them from criticizing consumerism. In this paper, I will argue that respect for autonomy does not commit liberals to the doctrine of consumer sovereignty, and I will explore some of the differences between these two principles. In conclusion, I will argue that the critique of consumerism can be formulated in a way that respects the constraints of a liberal political order. Achieving such a formulation, however, will require the exercise of some restraint; greater restraint than many of the critics of consumerism have so far exhibited.