Finnish youth consumer identity

388 International Journal of Consumer Studies, 28, 4, September 2004, pp388–398 © 2004 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Blackwell Science, LtdOxford, UKIJCInternational Journal of Consumer Studies1470-6423Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 200428Original ArticleFinnish young people’s consumer

identityM. Autio

CorrespondenceMinna Autio, University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management, Consumer Economics, PO Box 27, 00014 University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. Tel. +358 9 191 58090; E-mail: [email protected]

Finnish young people’s narrative construction of consumer identity

Minna Autio

University of Helsinki, Department of Economics and Management, Consumer Economics, Helsinki, Finland

Abstract

This article examines how young Finns represent their con-

sumer identity through narratives. Young consumers are

easily seen as careless spenders and selfish hedonists in

the contemporary consumer society. However, an empirical

approach is required in order to find out whether this gen-

eration of young Finnish consumers is one of ‘raving hedo-

nists’ or ‘ultimate materialists’, as their peers are often

presented in public discussion in many western societies.

The empirical data was collected in five upper secondary

schools between the end of November 2001 and the begin-

ning of January 2002. These schools are located in five

different districts in Finland, varying from metropolitan to

rural areas. The study focused on students aged 16–19 years

and used essay writing as the method for collecting qualita-

tive data. The data thus consists of 159 life stories as a

consumer written by young Finnish people. Qualitative

research methods, such as narrative analysis, were used in

this study. It is argued that Finnish young people are repre-

senting their identities as consumers through a combination

of various levels of consumer discourses besides hedonism

and squandering: rationality and economizing are an essen-

tial part of their consumer identities. Some youngsters also

present themselves as responsible consumers including

ecological and ethical choices as part of their narrative. The

way these youngsters combine discourses gives evidence

of the various features of the present-day young consumer.

It is also suggested that their consumer identity develops

and changes with age. Young people describe their identity

changing through a hedonist/squanderer discourse to a

rational and economical one or vice versa. They also com-

bine hedonist, rational, economical and responsible dis-

courses simultaneously.

Keywords Young consumers, consumer identity, Finnish con-

sumer culture, narrative analysis.

Introduction

In the contemporary consumer society, young peopleare generally seen as careless spenders and self-seekinghedonists.1–3 Besides hedonism, according to Wilska4

visibility and open-mindedness are also regarded astypical of the consumption of young people. Tapscott5

has criticized this emphasis of hedonistic lifestyleamong youth:

Today’s youth are described in ways that make the‘me’ generation look like a generation of philanthro-pists and social activists. They are said to be self-centred and obsessed with short-term gratification.

However, the concern of young people’s values andconsuming habits is a current issue. Journalist AlissaQuart6 has recently claimed that the world of advertis-ing is playing an increasingly important part in shapingthe way in which teenagers and younger children iden-tify themselves. Children are introduced earlier and ear-lier to the branded world of goods and services.

Growing up as a consumer is one of the essential rolesin contemporary society. As Miles2 has argued, youngpeople are socialized into treating money and consump-tion as a doorway to life. It is arguable that especiallyyoung people – and perhaps children too – base theiridentity and lifestyle on consuming more than other agegroups. Young people are still in the process of devel-oping their consumer identities. As an 18-year-oldfemale respondent commented ‘. . . especially at such asensitive stage of your life, when your appearance andclothes constitute your entire identity, you may spend alot more money than you ought to’. Miles2 has suggestedthat consumption represents the main arena withinwhich young people play out their relationship with

© 2004 Blackwell Publishing Ltd International Journal of Consumer Studies, 28, 4, September 2004, pp388–398 389

M. Autio • Finnish young people’s consumer identity

structure and agency, while negotiating their role andposition in an ever-changing world. He argues that con-sumption is a valuable tool and resource in assertingaspects of young people’s identities.

This article examines the assumption that young con-sumers in Finland are as portrayed in studies as thosefrom other cultures,1,2 and questions whether we canaccept even within western-style economies that age ismore important to understanding consumer aspirationsand behaviour than national culture. On the basis of thequalitative data, it is argued that young Finnish peopleare representing their identity as consumers through acombination of various levels of consumer discoursesbesides hedonism and squandering: rationality andeconomizing are essential parts of their process of form-ing identities as consumers. Some youngsters presentthemselves as responsible consumers including ecolog-ical and ethical choices as part of their narrative. Theway these youngsters combine discourses gives evi-dence of the various features of the present-day youngconsumer. The present study also suggests that theirconsumer identity develops and changes with age.Young people describe their identity changing througha hedonist/squanderer discourse to a rational and eco-nomical one or vice versa. They also combine hedonist,rational, economical and responsible discoursessimultaneously.

This article discusses whether Finnish young consum-ers are ‘raving hedonists’ as their peers are easily pre-sented in other western cultures; describes the researchdesign and empirical data used in this study as well asmethod of the analysis; presents the results of an empir-ical analysis together with previous studies and inspiringtheoretical frameworks; and considers the importanceof studying how young people see themselves asconsumers.

Young Finnish consumers: raving hedonists?

Ever since I was a child, I’ve had a thing about break-ing things apart and putting them back together.Because of this, I used to be fond of Legos and havespent a fair amount of money on them. When I wasa bit older, and the hockey card fad began, money gotspent on collecting hockey cards in addition to otherhobbies. Then at age 12, I got the snowboard I’d

wished for ages as a Christmas present, and I stillconsider it the best present I’ve ever had. After I gotthe board, my money spending’s gone down the hill.Later on, when I was about 13, I got into listening tomusic and went and bought myself a decent hi-fi. Thatpretty much emptied my account, but I’ve not hadany regrets about my purchase. Most of my moneystill gets spent on these two hobbies. My greatestinvestment so far has been the all-inclusive snow-boarding equipment set, that I funded with a summerjob (A Prodigal Son – 17 years old).

Prodigal Son’s consumer narrative reinforces thecommon image of young peoples’ money managementand consumption habits. This young man describes thepleasures of consumption throughout his life with noregrets; nor does he indicate that he would have finan-cial problems. Spending money is fun, especially whenyou are living with your parents and spending theirmoney as well. Thus, the Prodigal Son is an illustrationof a juvenile in Finnish society in the 21st century. AsAutio and Heinonen7 have argued, the current youth isthe first generation accustomed to the affluent societyfrom childhood. They have not suffered from shortagescaused by wars nor from the puritan peasant culturewith its strong propensity to save, like the earlier gen-erations.8 They have not been made to feel guilty bydemanding careful consideration or economizing. Thecurrent youth, born in the 1980s, has been able to enjoythe pleasures of consumption freely. Only the deepdepression during the early 1990s slowed down thesteadily increasing material well-being. However,according to Wilska,9 Finland is still behind the UnitedStates and Western Europe in terms of the developmentof consumerism and the consumer society. In Finland,the breakthrough of the consumer society took place inthe post-war decades, and it was not until the 1980s thatFinland could be thought of as a so-called affluent soci-ety, as Heinonen10 has argued.

However, current Finnish youth is a branded genera-tion,6 in the sense that their childhood toys were Bar-bies, My Little Ponies and Turtles figures. Now they arebuying Diesel jeans, Calvin Klein shirts and portableSony minidisc players as are other middle class teenag-ers in western societies.11 Has the Finnish youth reallythrown off the shackles of ‘the puritan ghost’, as

Finnish young people’s consumer identity • M. Autio


Scitovsky12 described the Joyless Economy of the west-ern world, and turned into true hedonists? If we look atthe young man cited above, it seems that the puritanghost is not disturbing his enjoyment. However, there isa need for an empirical study in order to find outwhether this generation of young Finnish consumersare ‘raving hedonists’ or ‘ultimate materialists’.1,2,5 It ispotentially misleading to assume that all young consum-ers are hedonists or that any diversity is minimal. Per-haps adults’ moralizing perceptions of youngsters’economic behaviour is based on a generalized fear thatyoung people do not grow up as rational and reflectiveconsumers.

Research design

The focus of this study is how young Finnish peoplerepresent their consumer identities in the light of qual-itative empirical data. According to Fornäs13 identity isthe keyword for both the youth themselves and foryouth culture research. In youth studies, cultural iden-tity has been classified in terms of, how young individ-uals – often radicals such as those in hippie, punk,environmentalist or straight edge movements – identifythemselves.14 This article examines the phenomenon ofbeing a consumer among ‘mainstream’ young people inFinland, not in distinctive subcultures, such as antiglo-balization activists or hiphoppers. Consumer identity isunderstood in the context of consumer discourses andideologies that Finnish consumer society provides foryoung people, and how these youngsters assimilateavailable discourses as part of their personal narrative.The study discusses the phenomena of being a consumerin terms of the meaning that young Finnish people giveit.

Empirical data used in this study were collected aspart of a research project ‘Consumer Cultures ofYoung People in the Changing Information Society’.a

A survey had been carried out in the spring of 2001 in

eight upper secondary schools, four vocational schoolsand other middle-level educational institutes in Fin-land.4,15 While conducting the survey, the researcherhad an opportunity to discuss with teachers the possi-bility of collecting qualitative data in the same schools.Some of these teachers immediately expressed theirwillingness to participate. After the summer of 2001,consultation started with the teachers, and at the end ofthe year, the study was performed in five upper second-ary schools in five different locations. These variedfrom metropolitan to rural areas and the qualitativedata were collected between November 2001 and Janu-ary 2002.

The focus is on upper secondary pupils aged 16–19 years, because essay writing was used as themethod for collecting qualitative data. Upper second-ary pupils were considered to be more capable ofexpressing themselves in writing compared to studentsin other types of institutions, such as vocationalschools. Writing essays is an essential part of Finnishlanguage studies in upper secondary schools andtherefore the young people were experienced in usingthe essay format for expression of their opinion andrecounting their experiences.

The teachers participated in the process of formulat-ing the essay topics, which were then given to the pupilsand were written during their Finnish language classes.This meant that the written instructions were formu-lated for both teachers and pupils with the teachersgiving my instructions to the pupils and collecting theessays in the classroom. The teachers did not read orevaluate the essays.

The pupils were given the choice of writing essayseither on ‘a life story as a consumer’ or on their defini-tions for ‘environmentally oriented consumer behav-iour’. In consumer life stories, the pupils were asked tosum up their consumer behaviour with one or twowords. Altogether, the data consisted of 203 essayswhich were divided as follows: 152 pupils wrote abouttheir life story as a consumer, 44 pupils wrote aboutenvironmentally oriented consumer behaviour, and 7pupils combined these topics. The focus of the analysisin this article is on consumer life stories (n = 152 + 7).It is notable that Finland changed its currency frommarkka to euro at the beginning of 2002. So, youngpeople were using old currency in their essays but the

aThe project was part of Information Society and Sustainable Development,a programme financed by the Finnish Ministry of the Environment. Themain themes of the survey (2001) were the consumption and economicsituation of young people, their use of mobile phones, their attitude totechnology and the information society and towards environmental andethical issues in Finland (n = 637).

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old currency is converted to euros for this article (1euro = approximately 5.9 markka).

Narrative and discourse analysis

Focusing on the main structure of the consumer stories,that is, concentrating on the dominant discourses foundin the material, there were several interesting themes –such as emotions in consuming, or gender differences –which were visible in the text samples presented in thisarticle. As mentioned above, the pupils had been askedto describe their consumerism in a few words. Theseexpressions, which were found in the titles of the storiesor the texts themselves, were the key to constructing themain discourses of the 159 stories written.

There were a variety of descriptions, but some cultur-ally shared terms were repeated in the stories, especiallyexpressions traditionally found in Finnish consumer dis-cussion, such as ‘rational’, ‘economical’ and ‘wasteful’.The youngsters also described the pleasure of consump-tion, although this was less apparent than traditionalexpressions. One reason for this is that there is no com-mon term in the Finnish language for hedonistic con-sumption. Instead, responsible consumer discourse,which includes ecological and ethical consumer choices,was evident in the stories. Based on the descriptionsused by the youngsters, five discourses were established:

• rational/reflective – self-control;• economical – saving;• hedonist – pleasures of consumption;• squanderer – wasting;• responsible – green and ethical choices.

These discourses are grounded on the definitions ofconsumption of young people themselves, and my owninterpretations as a researcher. This interpretationalframework, based on the five discourses, was applied tothe whole data, although parts of the texts were notentirely compatible with the analysis based on mannersof speech. It is notable that 12 of the essays were neutralor incompetently written, and they could not be catego-rized into any one of the five discourse types.

The way in which various discourses were used in thestories was then analysed. Considerations included, forexample, whether a young person writes a consistentstory of either rational or wasteful consumerism, or

combines several discourses in her/his story. Fifty-twoconsumer narratives displayed a single type of speech,which in the majority of cases was a rational and reflec-tive one but most of the narratives were combinationsof two, three or four discourses. A young person’sdescription of him/herself can, for example, be as aneconomical and reflective – or a wasteful and hedonistic– young consumer. Sixty-five narratives were combina-tions of different – and to some extent opposite – dis-courses. For example, a young person could write a storydescribing him/herself simultaneously as green, eco-nomical and hedonist, or discourse changes took placeaccording to age. The latter type of narrative is calledmultifaceted consumer narratives.

Thus, it is taken into account that people are not uni-dimensionally rational.16 On the contrary, this study fol-lows the arguments of postmodern theorists, such asBauman17 and Hall18 that the identity is fleeting andfragmented. As Moisander19 has pointed out, consumerresearchers have typically conceptualized people asfairly rational or at least cognitively guided, disembod-ied decision makers, making choices among availablealternatives.20 Perhaps Prodigal Son’s consumerism,although he represented himself mainly through a plea-sure discourse, also comprised fragments of reflective,economical or green consumer discourses. In any case,he wanted to emphasize the enjoyable side of being aconsumer while he was writing his essay in the class-room. The story would have been different, if his brandnew snowboard had been broken a few days earlier. Itis also possible that the story is fictional.

Finding the ‘truth’ in stories is irrelevant in narrativetradition. Consumer life stories are reconstructions ofthe past. As Lewis and Susan Hinchman21 haveasked . . . ‘to what extent is memory itself a reliableguide?’ According to Finnegan,22 in spite of the manycontroversies involved in studying narrative, one essen-tial theme recurs. This is the view that human beings arestory-telling animals.23,24 Personal narratives are at thesame time idiosyncratic, unpredictable, diverse anddeeply cultural.22 Thus, young people express somethingabout their own way of thinking as well as the culturalnorms of society through storytelling. Culture ‘speaksitself’ through an individual’s story.25

Interpretations of linguistic qualitative material arealways cultural. For that reason, the discourses are

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firstly presented through consistent stories, even thoughthese might give an excessively simplified image ofyoung people’s consumerism. Then, multifaceted con-sumer narratives reveal a rather more diverse andreflective young consumer identity. At the end of eachquotation is the title, which each young person has givento her/his own story (e.g. Consumer Maniac, ProdigalSon, Eco-Friendly Consumer, Fickle Consumer).

Rational or reflective narrative

Rational or reflective narrative becomes evident fromthe way in which young people display their ability torecognize and control their own needs. They contem-plate – often for a long time – whether or not they needto make a particular purchase. When or if they decideto buy something, the purchase must be gratifying, dura-ble and beneficial. Concerning this latter characteristicyoung people intend that money be spent on, for exam-ple, hobbies, CDs, clothes – everything that can be seen– will provide long-lasting benefit. Moralizing becomeseasily directed at eating out, or the use of alcohol, asthese only bring momentary satisfaction. Although lowcost can be one criterion for making a choice (e.g.through price comparison), price alone is not sufficientfor making a decision. Young people are prepared topay for quality goods. A story by one 17-year-old femaleepitomizes the thematic of benefit, price and satisfaction.

Nowadays I think I am a careful consumer. I countmy money carefully and imagine how I can get themost benefit from it by buying something useful. Thegoods and clothes I buy should definitely bring satis-faction and the price must be suitable. Or, not toodear or cheap, inferior quality. What I hate most isspending money on goods or clothes that fall to piecesthe first time they are used or that disappoint me (ARational Consumer).

Both a general review of consumption, and monitor-ing of expenditure with the understanding that one cannot live beyond one’s means, are characteristics of ratio-nality. Expressed most simply, rationality in this contextmeans consuming when there is money and not consum-ing when there is none. The dominance of rational/reflective consumer narrative is surprising, considering

that there has been a desire to connect impulsiveness,momentary enjoyment, and the unbridled use of moneyto young people’s consumption habits.1–3 On the otherhand, according to Wilska’s26 study, many Finnish con-sumers do not consciously think of consumption as avery important part of their identities. Most of the con-sumption styles or lifestyles that were found in her studywere rather modest, although hedonist and materialistlifestyles were also found. Against this background,the dominance of rational/reflective narrative isunderstandable.

Economical narrative

The basic dimension of the economical narrative is, nat-urally, saving money: in childhood money was put intoa piggy bank and as a teenager into a bank account.Young people relate in their stories how money accrueswhen one is not buying something all the time and whenone is ‘reluctant to waste money’. Young people alsosave for some purpose or event, such as a car or a rockfestival. In fact, for a thrifty person, there is a certainpleasure in the accumulation of money in a bankaccount, as shown by the following statement by a 16-year-old female:

When I was little, there was no money left for so-called unnecessary things. According to my parents’instructions, I put every mark I owned into the bankfor my future needs. Later on I began to use moneyto go to the cinema and on clothes. The sums ofmoney I spent were never ever sky high . . . I stillhaven’t stopped saving my money in a bank account,even if I do put less money in now than before. Per-haps this is all that prevents me from becoming aserious spender. Every time I decide to buy some-thing, something in my head tells me that I mightneed the money later for something more importantand that it would be best saved up (Money in theBank).

To be an economical consumer means non-consumption and the denial of needs, or the deferral oftheir satisfaction. According to Mackay,27 in Protestanttradition, in which Finland also belongs to, consumptionand leisure are commonly conceived as less worthy, friv-



olous, even wasteful, indulgent and decadent.8 Thus, wehave a long tradition of being economical and carefulconsumers in Finland. Heinonen8 describes this tradi-tion through the ethos of peasant culture, where frugal-ity and self-sufficiency were important elements.However, this discourse also exists in today’s youth con-sumer culture, even if this generation has not been tor-mented by the puritan peasant culture. Mentalities arechanging slowly. As Wilska4 has argued, the ‘ideal’ con-sumer for Finnish young people is still someone whoaims to save money and consumes frugally.26 This idealis something that older generations are glad to seeyounger ones adopting.4

Rational, reflective and economical narratives canalso be interpreted in the context of ‘self-control’ and‘self-discipline’, as Campbell28 has argued by means ofmodern hedonism. However, the discourse of self-control can be interpreted through the tradition ofhousehold economics,29 which is based on the assump-tion of rational behaviour. Control is a necessity of lifein order to cope with money management. As Schor30

has argued, ‘needs’ are upscaling in western societies. InAmerica, ‘the good life’ includes a vacation home, aswimming pool, a colour TV, a second colour TV, travelabroad, nice clothes, a car, a second car, a home of one’sown, a job that pays much more than average, and a lotof money.30 Many consumers, including children andyoung people, face the problem of consumer choicesurrounded by the affluence.

Hedonistic narrative

Hedonistic narrative represents the opposite to rational/reflective and economical indulgence in using moneywithout restraint. Descriptions of gratification contain amultitude of nuances with almost half of the young sub-jects relating their own story of what kind of consump-tion – from Astanga yoga to snowboarding – broughtthem happiness. Certain common features could befound, such as pocket money received as a child whichwas immediately spent on sweets, cola or ice cream.These stories exude pleasure and happiness as theyoung describe how they bought, for example, My LittlePony or Turtles figures, Barbie dolls, remote-controlledmotor vehicles, or collectible cards. The narration of a16-year-old female illustrates not only the gratification

of consuming but also the changes in the objects ofconsumption according to age:

Buying something has always been my great passion.I was a big spender even as a podgy little girl. Moneywas spent on Barbies, dolls and My Little Ponies.There were nearly 20 Barbies, about 10 dolls and atleast a dozen ponies. There was no shortage of toys.When I grew a little older the money got spent onother things. Exchanges of all sorts of small itemswere made with my classmates: pens, erasers, writingpaper and stickers. The more there were of them andthe more variety there was, the better. . . . Again, asthe number of candles on the cake increased, theobjects that were shopped for changed. Now itbecame pets. I had an aquarium and a cat, and everytime I went to the shop I brought something backfor them. . . . Even nowadays I am an enthusiasticshopper . . . (Consumer Maniac).

After childhood, the objects of consumption changeto become equipment for sports or hobbies, and alsomobile phones, computers and CD players. Young peo-ple take a positive attitude to consumer services, too,such as sitting with friends in cafés and restaurants andgoing to the movies. The main difference between thehedonistic, and rational and economic consumers in thestories lies in their refusal to take on a moral burden forthe indulgence of consuming. The basic tone of the nar-ratives is pro-consumption.

Squanderer narrative

Likewise, the squanderer narrative is connected to grat-ification, because the squanderer uses money for ‘every-thing that is nice’. The difference is that these youngpeople express themselves as squanderers or as wasters.The style with which they start their stories is ‘every-thing was spent immediately’ or ‘as soon as it came, itwent’. Two of the writers expressed a doubt that becausethe money vanished so quickly, there must have been ahole in the bottom of their purse. These narratives donot exhibit a spirit of moralizing or resentment, eventhough the young call themselves squanderers. Moneycan been ‘burnt’ by spending 250 euros a day on clothes,for example. Correspondingly, there is no wish to spend



it on necessities such as food, school books or even abattery for a watch. One 17-year-old male describeshimself as follows:

What kind of consumer am I? I can describe it in oneword: A SQUANDERER. My way is to throw mymoney away as soon as I get it. Of course, moremoney gets burnt up in the summer, because themotorbike devours petrol and there’s more to dowhen there’s no school. In the summer I make moneyby having a summer job (A Squanderer).

It seems that hedonistic and squanderer narrativeinvolve the ‘pleasures’ of Campbell’s28 traditional hedo-nism: all human beings in all cultures seem to agree ona basic list of activities, such as eating, drinking, sexualintercourse, socializing, singing, dancing and playinggames. All of these activities are essential parts of youthculture in western societies. It would have been surpris-ing if young Finnish people in the 21st century had nothave offered such a pleasure-oriented discourse. Afterall, they were children of an affluent consumer culture,although young people did not have equal economicresources and opportunities as consumers. However,during the deep recession in the 1990s, parents werecutting back their own consumption in favour of theirchildren.31 On the basis of these narratives, it seems thatthe current youth has thrown off the shackles of ‘thepuritan ghost’12 and engaged in the Joyful Economy.However, this generation has also faced the problemsof environmental degradation. They are socialized intoa society of high consumption, typical of which is towant, to get and to own a number of goods, and in whichattempts are made to solve environmental problems atthe same time.

Responsible narrative

Responsible narratives were reflected in the adoption ofgreen values, such as recycling, composting, and visitsto second-hand shops and flea markets. The latter is aparticularly significant part of the lifestyle of youth,because second-hand shops are places where clothes,furniture and other practical utensils can be acquired.This is also a useful place for recycling one’s own goods.Green values also encompass attempts to economize on

the use of electricity and water and on consumptionin general, such as avoiding unnecessary consuming.Responsible consumption was also linked to organicfoods and fair trade products, as well as buying locallyproduced foodstuffs and environment-friendly prod-ucts. In what follows, a 17-year-old young male offershis narrative perception of his rather deep green con-sumer habits.

As someone who enjoys the great outdoors, I havedone various things in order to preserve our environ-ment. Our family’s dedication to composting calls forthe selection of biodegradable and otherwise ecolog-ical products when shopping for groceries – startingfrom carrier bags. Hence, I usually buy paper bagsinstead of their plastic substitutes, mainly for theirbiodegradability. As meat production consumes vastamounts of energy and environmental resources, Iaim to reduce the burden caused to the environmentby the production and consumption of meat throughvegetarianism. Therefore eco-friendly vegetableshave replaced the old packet of sliced ham on mydaily trip to the grocer’s. I doubt anyone could denythe harm caused to the environment by private caruse . . . In our family, I have tried to recommend usingpublic transports instead of a private car for commut-ing (Eco-Friendly Consumer).

Although the previous narrative is written by a male,it can be argued on the basis of the research data, thatthese ‘soft values’ seem to better fit female perspectives.The gender division was distinguishable in the data: themajority of green stories were written by young women.Many studies have shown a distinction between the gen-ders: girls and women appear to be more environmen-tally focused than boys and men.19,32,33 There weredifferences between green narratives as well. Accordingto Autio and Heinonen,3 young people’s dedication togreen practices varied from relatively easy choices suchas recycling to rather devoted sustainable lifestyles likebeing a vegan. Thus, a green lifestyle can be ‘just a style’.

The responsible consumer narrative is a minor onecompared to other discourses. The responsible narrativeis interpreted as a part of the ‘self-control’ and ‘self-discipline’ discourse. The difference compared to therational, reflective and economical narratives, is that



responsible narrative is more ideological and requireseven more knowledge and self-discipline than being,for example, economical. Responsible consumerismrequires a consciousness of environmental problemsand social injustice (e.g. child labour).

Multifaceted consumer narratives

These consumer discourses and text samples depictideal narrative types in which the essential dimensionsof the speech style were expressed through a fairly log-ically constructed narration. Nevertheless, the majorityof young people combine more than one discourse typein self-descriptions, as mentioned earlier. In these mul-tifaceted consumer narratives, changing from one dis-course to another can take place logically according toage, or there can be swift and surprising developmentsas shown by the following description from a 17-year-old female. In her story, she combines a critical attitudetowards the western consumer culture (responsible dis-course), which can be seen as part of green discourse,with pleasures of consumption and economicaldiscourse:

. . . I own too many things. My room is always ahopeless mess because of all the stuff in it. Theproblem is that I’m unable to throw anythingaway . . . I hate shopping for clothes. I never findclothes that’d suit me. I have no interest in servicesfor beauty care. Does the world really need facialsteam treatments or acrylic nails? Some of us arestarving! . . . I like to spend money on music,because it provides a long-term value for yourmoney and great pleasure. It’s also nice to buy anew item of clothing, if for once you’re able to findsomething suitable. . . . I try to use as little electric-ity as possible. Whenever I leave a room I switch offthe lights and any electrical equipment . . . I followthe same principle with my use of water. I showerevery couple of days. No point hanging around inthere (I Consume Everything).

The following description of a 19-year-old male showshow an attitude change takes place according to age. Athrifty boy grows into a consumerist teenager, who stilltries to control his expenditure. However, he does nothold high expectations for improving his self-control, as

the pleasures of consumerism and spending seem to betaking the upper hand.

As a child, I was able to save up. Out of a measlyallowance of 1.8 euros, I saved a half. The other halfI bought sweets with. Out of extra money from, forexample, my nan and grandad, I saved 100%. Whenthe piggy bank was full and would take no more, itwas taken to the bank. I simply just felt bad for spend-ing my money and for that ended up with a nice sumon my account. When I was 14, it all changed. I spentmost of my money on a guitar and an amplifier, thatI still don’t regret buying. Later I bought a snow-board. There wasn’t a lot of money remaining. . . . I’veemphasised the pleasures of life, and have yet tochange. My conscience has returned to haunt me, buthasn’t had much of an effect . . . When I was 19, Ispent my 850 euro summer job wages in 2 weeks(Conscientious Consumer).

A combination of several discourses in the same nar-rative provides some evidence showing that consumer-ism is built of different – to some extent opposite – waysof relating to consumption and use of money. It wouldappear, on the basis of the material, that the consumeridentity of the young develops and changes with age, asillustrated by the narration above. For example, whenwe are children we save, on reaching puberty we awaketo the enjoyment of consuming and as adulthoodapproaches we strive for more rationality. Some youngpeople also begin to perceive the practices of responsi-ble consumption. The process of growing up can alsotake place in the opposite direction. As a child, every-thing one wanted was there and as the age of pubertycame along it was necessary to consider controllingone’s own desires. A rational discourse confirms that alife of one’s own is ahead and parental support is dimin-ishing. The narration of 16-year-old female illustratesthe change from hedonist and squanderer discourse toa rational and economical one:

When I was 4–5 years old, and still didn’t have a littlesister, I got anything I wanted with no more than apleading look directed at my father. Everything Iwanted was expensive and unnecessary, such as Bar-bies, that I already had two dozen of. When I was



about 9 and started going downtown, I bought myselfclothes instead of more toys. Until the age of 9 I wassomething of a prodigal daughter, but then I got outof the whole toy habit, that had taken several, if nottens of thousands to finance. Then, in third grade, Irealised money doesn’t grow on trees and startedspending less on shopping. Since then I have onlybought practical items and clothes when shopping intown. I’ve managed to maintain the economical prin-ciple nearly up to now, as I have made some sillypurchases lately (Fickle Consumer).

Combinations of several discourses, which concern thepresent time and are simultaneous, can occur in narra-tives according to age, providing evidence of multiplefacets in the present consumer.17,18,34 Modern youth liveswithin the sphere of influence of many consumer dis-courses. Even as late as the 1970s, economy and prudencewere the virtues of the Finnish consumer society. Sincethe 1980s, the enjoyment of consumption and greenchoices has also become integrated into Finnish con-sumer habits. The newest consumer ideology is the idealof the ethical consumer,35 which reinforces the respon-sible consumer discourse. Against this background, it isno surprise that young people base their consumption ona combination of the various consumer orientations –rationality, hedonism, squandering, economy andresponsibility. Thus, narratives are at the same time idio-syncratic and diverse, but above all deeply cultural.

Conclusion

This article illustrates contemporary Finnish youngpeople’s narrative representation of their consumeridentities. It is argued that present-day Finnish con-sumer culture provides adolescents with both tradi-tional consumer ideologies – such as the ethos of thrift– and prevailing consumer ideologies – such as thepleasure of consumption, green and ethical consumer-ism – as components of consumer identity. The waythese youngsters combine provided discourses givesevidence of the multiple facets of the present-dayyoung consumer. Their consumer identity can alsodevelop and change with age. As in the case of ProdigalSon, cited at the beginning of this article, he representshimself as an extravagant consumer today, but might

well start to spend money more rationally and econom-ically after moving out from his parents’ home –although not forgetting how enjoyable spending moneycan be.

However, the results of this empirical study should becritically examined. First of all, the respondents wereupper secondary students, who were capable of express-ing themselves in writing. Irony, fiction and exaggera-tion are perceivable elements in their stories. Secondly,the data were collected in schools and this may haveinfluenced how the pupils wrote in a different way. Con-suming mostly takes place during leisure time, not inschool. If the material had been collected in anotherenvironment, such as shopping malls or youth centres,the results may have been different. Thus, it might bethat the pupils emphasized the rational and reflectiveside of their consumer identity. Some may have felt – inspite of the essay instructions – that they had to writeof themselves in an idealized way.

According to empirical data, young Finnish peopleconstruct their consumer identity mainly on the basis ofrational, reflective and economical discourse, which sig-nifies that traditional consumer ideologies are still influ-ential in the Finnish consumer culture. As Wilska4 hasstated, saving money and consuming frugally is some-thing that older generations wilfully pass to the youngerones. However, as presented in this article, the currentgeneration has also learnt to spend money and enjoyconsumption. Thus, their consumption style arguablydiffers from earlier generations, where possession ofitems is highly valued. Besides having a lot of ‘stuff’, thisgeneration also practices a mentality of ‘to be – not tohave’. They are spending their money on hobbies andthey are passing time with friends in cafés and restau-rants. Thus, it is important to see that young peopleconsume to express their sense of self and this is quitedifferent from labelling their consuming practices asuniformly hedonistic. However, this lifestyle can be aphase of life, as a 16-year old male is reasoning below.

. . . I think spending, for myself and probably themajority of young people, becomes more careful withage. Maybe it’s just that you don’t fully understandthe value of money when you’re younger, because theobjects of interest aren’t as expensive and hard togain as when you’re older. When you’re older, your



saving becomes more focused and better planned (ACareful Consumer).

This article has demonstrated the problem of assum-ing homogeneity among the young. Within this sampleof young Finns, there was considerable expressed diver-sity. Even if there are reasons to believe that economicintegration in Europe, and the western world generally,produces a convergence in the aspirations and behav-iour of specific types of consumers, there remains con-siderable heterogeneity. Not all young consumers arethe same, nor do they see themselves as being the same.Their consumer identity seems to be fleeting and frag-mented, although young consumers constructed theiridentities rather logically as well. This study wasdesigned to show diversity among young Finnish con-sumers. The patterns of diversity need to be examinedin other cultures so that we are able to better under-stand young consumers as they see themselves.

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Anne Murcott, Visa Heinonen, JaakkoAutio, Mari Niva, Anu Raijas and anonymous refereesfor helpful comments. I will also thank the Jenny andAntti Wihuri Foundation as well as the Research Fundsof the University of Helsinki and the Ministry of theEnvironment for financing the project ‘Young People inthe Vanguard of Modernisation’. Finally, I would like tothank Riina Autio for checking my English.

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