Terhi-Anna Wilska

Me - A Consumer? Consumption, Identities and Lifestyles in Today's Finland

Recent sociological theories of consumption and lifestyles usually argue that consumption plays an essential role in the creation and maintenance of personal identities. For the consumers, the identity sustaning process operates through playing with the lifestyles that are fragmented, flexible and fluid. The consumers of the digital era are argued to be unpredictable, individualistie, expressive and also highly competent in their spending patterns. This kind of approach is questionable. It is doubtful that people make a conscious decision to use consumption as a means of playing with identities. Economic restraints, social regulation, conventions, routiness, socialization in peer groups are (still) likely to restrict the freedom of the consumer. In this study, the the importance of consumption for identity-formation was examined eempirically by analysing a data set derived from a lifestyle survey, Finland 1999. The findinges suggest that most Finnish consumers may not consciously consider consumption to be a major part of their identities. Although some materialist and hedonist lifestyles were found, many consumption styles were also characterized by modest and rational spending patterns. Saving money was important for most consumers, and many also underestimated their consumption. Socio-economic and demographic factors, particularly gender, age, class position and income had also a strong effect on consumption and lifestyles. Hence, on the basis of this data, most Finnish consumers seem rather ordinary and not quite as individualistic as postmodern theories argue.

Virtual Consumerism: Case Habbo Hotel

Selling virtual items for real money is increasingly being used as a revenue model in games and other online services. To some parents and authorities, this has been a shock: previously innocuous ‘consumption games’ suddenly seem to be enticing players into giving away their money for nothing. In this article, we examine the phenomenon from a sociological perspective, aiming to understand how some media representations come to be perceived as ‘virtual commodities’, what motivations individuals have for spending money on these commodities, and how the resulting ‘virtual consumerism’ relates to consumer culture at large. The discussion is based on a study of everyday practices and culture in Habbo Hotel, a popular massively-multiuser online environment permeated with virtual items. Our results suggest that virtual commodities can act in essentially the same social roles as material goods, leading us to ask whether ecologically sustainable virtual consumption could be a substitute to material consumerism in the future.

Finnish Students’ Attitudes towards Commercialised Sex

The article examines attitudes towards sexuality and its commercial representations among Finnish students aged 18–30. In order to evaluate commercialised sex as broadly as possible, we approached it from three angles: sex as a special effect in media and marketing; display of a ‘sexy’ body and clothing as a part of young persons identity; and sex or pornography as a direct purchase that involves transaction of money or other goods. Empirical measures addressing these three angles are constructed for the analysis. The data are derived from an Internet survey (N =1208), collected in Finnish universities and university colleges in 2007. We examined how gender, age, field of study and type of household affect the students’ attitudes towards commercialised sex. The results reveal that the responses can be predicted by various socio-demographic characteristics. However, gender appears to have clearly the strongest non-specific impact. The results also indicate that the structure of variation differs considerably between the types of measures explained. In conclusion, it is discussed whether a new and more versatile culture of sexuality is emerging among young people.

Trends in Disposable Income Among Teenage Boys and Girls in Finland from 1977 to 2003

This article explores changes in the money Finnish young people aged 12-18 years have at their disposal, over a 26-year period 1977-2003. Previous studies suggest that the amount of money young people have is not necessarily dependent on traditional socio-economic variables, but there are no systematic studies on the development of the disposable income of the teenagers. The analyses of this study are based on a series of 14 biannual nationally representative surveys of 12-, 14-, 16- and 18-year-olds in Finland from 1977 to 2003, with a total of 84404 respondents. Time-trends are shown and analysed by gender, family structure, place of residence and socio-economic status of family using analysis of variance and linear regression modelling. The results show that teenagers disposable money has increased little between 1977 and 2003 in comparison with the general income development. Economic booms and depressions can be seen in rising and falling amounts of disposal money, particularly among 16- to 18-year-old respondents. There were also significant differences between the genders. Young boys clearly had more money at their disposal than young girls. Children of single parents had more money than their peers from nuclear families. Urban youth had more money than those living in the countryside and the difference increased during the period under examination. The socio-economic position of the family had little impact.

Children’s life world as a perspective on their citizenship: The case of the Finnish Children’s Parliament

The latest childhood studies present children’s citizenship as a process of engaging in matters related to children themselves in their everyday lives. However, only a few studies have been conducted on what those issues are and what they actually tell about children’s citizenship. This study explores the nature of children’s participation and citizenship by adopting a life world perspective. The aim is to examine what kind of issues children want to participate in and influence. The data are drawn from an online discussion in the Finnish Children’s Parliament. Altogether 61 children participated in the discussion, with 566 postings. The analysis of the children’s online discussion shows that children comment mainly on issues that directly impact their lives, such as school. However, they also want to engage in issues that are global in nature, such as children’s general well-being.

The use of mobile technology for online shopping and entertainment among older adults in Finland

Older adults use mobile devices for online shopping as often as younger adults.Mobile-based entertainment use is most typical for younger male adults.Older female adults use mobile-based entertainment least frequently.Age, household structure and high education predict mobile-based online shopping.Mobile-based entertainment use is best predicted by age and gender. Older adults are becoming an important market segment for all internet-based services, but few studies to date have considered older adults as online shoppers and users of entertainment media. Utilising the concept of life course, this article investigates the use of mobile technologies for online shopping and entertainment among consumers aged 55 to 74. The data were collected with a web-based survey completed by a panel of respondents representing Finnish television viewers (N=322). The results reveal that consumers aged 55 to 74 use a smartphone or tablet to purchase products or services online as often as younger consumers. In contrast, listening to internet radio and watching videos or programmes online with a smartphone or tablet are most typical for younger male consumers. The results demonstrate that mobile-based online shopping is best predicted by age, higher education, and household type (children living at home), and use of entertainment media by age and gender.

Standard of living, consumption norms, and perceived necessities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the material conditions of peoples’ daily lives by investigating changes in the self-perceived necessities of ten technology- and leisure-related consumer goods and services between 1999 and 2009. The authors also look at the socio-demographic predictors of the perceptions and the development of the ownership of the goods under investigation. Design/methodology/approach – The data are derived from surveys “Finland – Consumption and way of life” 1999 (N=2,417), 2004 (N=3,574), and 2009 (N=1,202). The statistical analysis methods include ANOVA and descriptive statistics. Also official statistics are used. Findings – Many technological goods, in particular, have become necessities for most people, and the ownership rates have increased notably. Age, type of household, place of residence and gender affected the necessity of most items. Income affected the necessity of expensive goods and services. Practical implications – The ways goods become social decencie...

Children's Social Participation in Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds provide an arena for children to express themselves and to interact with others. They are a natural and frequent part of childrens life today. However, there is not much research on what actually happens in the online worlds and what kind of opportunities those worlds could offer to children and thereby enhance their social participation. The aim in this study is to explore the potential of virtual worlds for childrens social participation. The empirical part of the study consists of interviews with 21 Finnish children, aged 11-15 years. By interviewing children, the authors examined their social practices in virtual worlds. In the study, the authors found seven types of social practice that make it possible for children to socialize with others, learn new things and skills, express themselves publicly and play in virtual worlds. Virtual worlds provide an arena for children to overcome the limitations of the real world. However, the freedom also has side effects: misbehavior.

Online environments in children’s everyday lives: children’s, parents’ and teachers’ points of view

Purpose – This article aims to explore the role of online environments in children’s everyday life. We examine the meanings that children aged 11-13, parents and teachers derive from their understanding of online environments and make a typology of the perceived opportunities and risks of the online environments for children. The research questions are: how do children, parents and teachers experience the effect of online environments on children’s everyday lives, what opportunities and risks for children are noticed in online environments and what similarities and differences are there in children’s, parents’ and teachers’ point of views in terms of opportunities and risks? The theoretical framework of the study consists of the discussion on opportunities and risks of using online environments. Design/methodology/approach – The data were collected by conducting semi-structured interviews in Finland in 2012. Altogether, 27 interviews were conducted with children, parents and primary school teachers. The i...

“Healthy to heaven” — Middle-agers looking ahead in the context of wellness consumption

Concentrating on personal health and well-being has become a central objective for people living in wealthy societies. In an age of consumerism, the current health enthusiasm can be observed particularly in the fast-growing wellness industry, the popularity of which has increased, in particular, among mature consumers, a trend also evident in peoples individual strategies for aging well. As it is generally assumed that aging people consume wellness mainly to delay signs of aging, this study focuses on this understudied phenomenon with the aim of deepening the profile of mature wellness consumers. The data consist of eight group interviews of Finnish middle-agers (50-65years). Interviewees (N=41) talk about the pursuit of wellness revealed several points of connection between their current life stage and wellness consumption. As people were experiencing many aging-related changes in their lives they tended to engage in different bodily practices with a view to an active third age. In the context of the life stage of middle-agers, wellness as a present-day phenomenon can be interpreted as one of the social settings in which people both reflect on their personal aging experiences and seek to strengthen the wellness skills they feel are necessary for personal self-care and life-management especially in forthcoming years.