Noorte ajaveetmispraktikad Viru keskuses

Date

2009

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Tartu Ülikool

Abstract

Description

Leisure practices of the youth in Viru Shopping Centre Keywords: shopping mall, adolescents, socialisation, consumption culture, leisure With a society geared towards consumption, certain models of behaviour have emerged – a new expression called consumption culture has been adopted to characterise it. This phenomenon is described by direct consumption and also consumption as recreation; spending time in shopping malls, creating an identity via different brands etc. Alongside adults, also adolescents have started spending their leisure time in malls. This relatively new form of spending time in Estonian society came about when Viru shopping centre was completed in 2004. It opened up a public discussion about consumption society, shopping malls and the adolescents who spend their time there. Even though in other parts of the world the reasons why adolescents spend their time in malls have been researched since the 1980s, the author knows of no specific research on adolescents` habits spending their time in Estonia. The objective of this study was to find out why adolescents have chosen Viru shopping centre as the place to spend their leisure time via in depth interviews. The empiric part of the paper consists of the analysis based on the results and conclusions of the in depth interviews carried out with twelve informants. The results showed that the respondents have chosen Viru centre as the place to spend leisure time primarily because of its location in the city centre and the warm and safe environment of the shopping mall, where it is convenient to meet and communicate with friends. According to the respondents, the relations between the adolescents spending their time in Viru centre are good, but the adolescents who spend their time in the centre were described in a negative light. This posed a contradiction and a wish to distance themselves from those who spend time in Viru centre. The respondents said that their relationships with their parents and Viru centre employees are good, if everyone takes each other into consideration. The main activities were similar to the results of studies carried out elsewhere in the world. These include meeting friends, talking and walking around. One special way of spending leisure time is taking photos in the dressing rooms – something the author did not find in other similar studies. The results showed that the respondents do not connect their activity in Viru shopping centre with the concept of shopping, calling this form of spending leisure time “chilling”, which still does include traits associated with shopping like simply being in a shopping mall, walking in shops and trying on clothes. In summary, the respondents appreciated Viru shopping centre because of the social aspect of an open space to spend time, not because of the activities related to consumption.

Keywords

H Social Sciences (General), bakalaureusetööd, tarbimisühiskond, tarbimiskultuur, tarbimine, tarbijad, noored, vaba aeg, ärikeskused

Citation