Knowledge as Luxury and Burden

Sor Juana recognized that knowledge is a form of power and that access to it is unequally distributed. Applied to ethical consumption, this means acknowledging that knowing which products are ethical, having time to research, affording premium prices for fair-trade goods—these are luxuries not equally available. A person working multiple jobs has less time to research supply chains. A poor family cannot always afford ethically produced goods. While Sor Juana advocated for universal access to knowledge and education, ethical consumption must similarly resist frameworks that shame those unable to consume perfectly. Rather, we must work toward systems where ethical production is standard and affordable, not exceptional and expensive. The burden of ethical consumption should not fall entirely on individual consumers but on corporations and governments to transform systems. This reflects Sor Juana's intellectual rigor: recognizing structural injustice rather than blaming individuals for circumstances they didn't create. True ethical consumption requires both personal integrity and systemic change, not moral perfectionism from those with least power.