Paper short abstract:

Consumer criticism gains ground due to the continuous growth of the economy and global warming, but is it just talk? In my paper I outline a research frame for the study of the existing anti-consumerist movements and their meaning in the everyday life of young adults in Finland.

Paper long abstract:

Global warming has maintained its news value in mass media, but does it have an impact in the everyday life of ordinary people?

Cultural criticism can be considered either as abstract ideals or as concrete ways of doing things. Studies in the field of consumer research have shown that it's easier to have ideals than to live in accordance with them. Is it possible to get a grip on this presumed gap between ideals and daily consumer behavior with the help of ethnological tools? How do people react to the environmental issues like the impending lack of oil or the climate change?

In my paper I outline an ethnological research frame for the study of anti-consumerist movements as devices for control over one's life and for the sense of "doing things right". The study will be a part of a larger study called Mentalities of consumption. I've collected quantitative data about the amount of objects people have in their kitchens, and I will collect more data by interviewing, observing and analyzing written diaries written by young adults in Finland. I've chosen young adults as a target group, because they have supposedly just undergone a major transition in their lives, when they have started their independent life. Possible movements for the study might be organized associations like the Green League of Finland, Greenpeace and Finnish Cloth Diaper Association, underground movements like dumpster diving and anarchist movement or various ways of thinking like animal rights, degrowth.fi etc.