Torbjörn Hjort

Hidden consumers in marketing – the neglect of consumers with scarce resources in affluent societies

Research in marketing has neglected economic scarcity in affluent societies, with a few exceptions. Many affluent states are today facing financial difficulties and a global belief in the market as self-regulating, and in de-regulation have led to a focus on consumer agency. This has also contributed to a widening gap regarding opportunities to consume in affluent societies. The purpose of this article is to bring attention to the importance of considering economic scarcity in affluent societies among marketers in studies on consumption by using theoretical concepts from welfare studies such as inclusion and exclusion, participation and inequality. Researchers who ignore the consequences of the lower strata in the income hierarchy disregard the complexity of consumption. It is argued that regardless of income, we are all consumers, but with different opportunities and abilities. The hegemony of free choice needs to be challenged.

Families Navigating the Landscape of Consumption in the Swedish Welfare Society

Swedish welfare policy has in several ways promoted the individual rather than the family as a unit. This is not a phenomenon happening only in Sweden, but one occurring in many other Western countries where individualization is strongly emphasized. Sweden is, however, interesting as an example of a country with deep collective roots regarding issues of welfare. The welfare state has been, and to a major part still is, the main provider of social services, a fact that has affected the Swedish family in certain ways. During the last decades, the Swedish welfare society has changed toward marketization implying that individuals and families have to take on more responsibility regarding their welfare. The aim of this article is to discuss the transformation of Swedish families as consumers reflecting upon the effects of the Swedish welfare society.

Citizens as consumers: A discussion of new emergent forms of marginalization in the Nordic welfare states.

The Nordic welfare state has traditionally been associated with principles of universalism, a high degree of collective welfare redistribution and an encompassing state. However in recent years, in line with the rest of Europe, we have seen a tendency towards a more market-oriented welfare state, reflected in policy changes characterised by a renewed division of welfare responsibility between public and private, a movement from a direct protection of citizens towards enabling them to individually satisfy their welfare needs within markets, thereby promoting freedom of choice as a significant dimension of welfare services. However, although this is not usually part of the public debate concerning increased marketisation of the welfare state, these changes require a specific set of individual competences and capacities to navigate, foresee and plan ones own future and calculate ones future welfare needs. Based on empirical data analysing financial practices and orientation amongst two different groups of citizens, the paper discusses the possible implications of this increased individualisation of welfare for different groups of citizens – low-income and middle-income groups. Although both groups show a high degree of willingness to comply with norms associated with consumer-citizenship, clear distinctions arise when we look at the actual possibilities and ‘capabilities’ of complying with the emerging role and assumed behaviour inherent in the development of the consumer-citizenship welfare regime.