Tarbimisrepresentatsioonid Eesti majandussurutise tingimustes: töökaotust kogenud ja mittekogenud Eesti perede võrdlus
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Kuupäev
Autorid
Ajakirja pealkiri
Ajakirja ISSN
Köite pealkiri
Kirjastaja
Tartu Ülikool
Abstrakt
Kirjeldus
Economic crisis has become an object of public attention in several countries in the
world and in Estonia. Because of the economic downturn many households probably
have been forced to change their consumptional habits. The aim of this Bachelor thesis
“Economic crisis and consumption representations: comparison of families, who have
and have not faced job loss” is to find out how Estonian families, who have not faced
job loss give meaning to consumption in their families and in the society at large.
Representations of consumption on the societal level have been compared with data
gathered in Katrina Tuulik’s (2010) thesis which focuses on families, who have faced
job loss. I assume, that the economic downturn has affected thinking about
consumption, it also has influenced peoples’ consumption habits.
The theoretical part of this study gives overview of different approaches concerning
consumption. The author has mainly relied on the British consumer researcher Don
Slaters’ work. In order to create the basis for analysis, the author has described
influences and developments of Estonian consumer culture.
In order to gather empirical data on the topic - in-depth interview research method
enabled to find out people’s thoughts on consumption more profoundly. Pair interviews
were conducted with five families, who have not faced job loss, four of those families
live in Tartu and one familiy lives near Elva. Tuulik (2010) has conducted pair
interviews with five families, who have faced job loss, four of those families live in
Tartu and one family lives in Viljandi.
Interviewee’s answers showed that families, who have not faced job loss think of
consumption more as a general and social phenomenon. On the contrary, Katrina
Tuulik’s results showed that families, who have faced job loss, see consumption more
as a personal concern. The reason for the above mentioned findings can be that those
families feel consumption and the enonomic crisis more personally due to their job loss
and income decline experience.
In-depth research method has enabled to shed light on families’ world of consumption,
but due to the limited sample those results cannot be generalized to wider range of
people. The objectives of this research have been achieved as all aswers to research
questions have been found. There is a need for more studies in that research area, more
precisely to concentrate on the same topic during the economic crisis as well as
postrecession. Today it is a topic of wide concern in the Estonian society and worth
more attention and current research may be the first insight into the field which may
provide material for further research.