Browsing by Subject "consumption"
Now showing items 1-14 of 14
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(2014)The Finnish forest industries are going through heavy adjustments as especially the western world is moving towards a more digitalized model where the amount of paper and pulp consumed is diminishing. It is obvious that the whole industry is in need for new solutions. These new solutions and innovations can be found from the field of bioenergy. Finland is rich with forest-based raw material which can provide a long-term and local source of energy. In the future this will be of primary importance as the prices of the non-renewable energy sources will climb higher as the deposits of the fossil fuels dry up. The usage of the renewable energy sources are also very important in order to prevent the global climate change and to achieve the goals regulated for Finland in the Kyoto Protocol and the European RES-E directive. This Master’s Thesis takes a look at the current state and the future trends of the Finnish wood pellet industries. The domestic wood-based pellet industries are studied with a concise literature review and a SWOT analysis based on the earlier literature. The analysis is linked to the future expectations and current retailer perspectives with a survey conducted between June and October 2013. The sample consists of 39 low, medium and high sales volume wood pellet manufacturers and retailers whom mostly do only domestic pellet trading business. Most of the strengths of the domestic wood-based pellet industries are related to different kinds of ecological aspects or different kinds of raw material related issues. In the future especially the prices of the raw materials, prices of other energy sources and prices of the end-product will be in a crucial role. Most of the survey participants underlined the significance of the governmental acts concerning the future of the whole business in Finland: a favorable taxing policy and different subsidies can make Finland truly a greener economy but this have not happened yet, much due to the unfavorable domestic politics. According to the survey respondents, in the future the demand of wood-based pellet services, especially tailored and ready-to-use services from maintenance to deliveries are going to increase.
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(2024)This thesis is an empirical comparison of various methods of statistical matching applied to Finnish income and consumption data. The comparison is performed in order to map out some possible matching strategies for Statistics Finland to use in this imputation task and compare the applicability of the strategies within specific datasets. For Statistics Finland, the main point of performing these imputations is in assessing consumption behaviour in years when consumption-related data is not explicitly collected. Within this thesis I compared the imputation of consumption data by imputing 12 consumption variables as well as their sum using the following matching methods: draws from the conditional distribution distance hot deck, predictive mean matching, local residual draws and a gradient boosting approach. The used donor dataset is a sample of households collected for the 2016 Finnish Household Budget Survey (HBS). The recipient dataset is a sample of households collected for the 2019 Finnish Survey of Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). In order to assess the quality of the imputations, I used numerical and visual assessments concerning the similarity of the weighted distributions of the consumption variables. The applied numerical assessments were the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test statistic as well as the Hellinger Distance (HD), the latter of which was calculated for a categorical transformation of the consumption variables. Additionally, the similarities of the correlation matrices were assessed using correlation matrix distance. Generally, distance hot deck and predictive mean matching fared relatively well in the imputation tasks. For example, in the imputation of transport-related expenditure, both produced KS test statistics of approximately 0.01-0.02 and HD of approximately 0.05, whereas the next best-performing method received scores of 0.04 and 0.09, thus representing slightly larger discrepancies. Comparing the two methods, particularly in the imputation of semicontinuous consumption variables, distance hot deck fared notably better than the predictive mean matching approach. As an example, in the consumption expenditure of alcoholic beverages and tobacco, distance hot deck produced values of the KS test statistic and HD of approximately 0.01 and 0.02 respectively whereas the corresponding scores for predictive mean matching were 0.21 and 0.16. Eventually, I would recommend for further application a consideration of both predictive mean matching and distance hot deck depending on the imputation task. This is because predictive mean matching can be applied more easily in different contexts but in certain kinds of imputation tasks distance hot deck clearly outperforms predictive mean matching. Further assessment for this data should be done, in particular the results should be validated with additional data.
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(2020)Käsittelen tutkielmassani Edith Whartonin teosta The Custom of the Country vuodelta 1913. Wayne C. Boothin (1961) teoriaa mukaillen pohdin oletetun kirjailijan eli ’implied authorin’ henkilöllisyyttä ja mahdollisen omaelämänkerrallisuuden vaikutusta tekstin tulkintaan. Lähden näkemyksestä, että oletettu kirjailija on Wharton, ja arvioin tätä näkökulmaa analyysin eri vaiheissa. Varsinainen tutkimuskysymykseni koskee sitä, millainen viesti teoksesta välittyy 1900-luvun alun muuttuvasta maailmasta. Esitän Whartonin käyttäneen retorisia keinoja ja erilaisia kerronnan muotoja tuodakseen teoksessaan esiin kiihtyvän kulutusmyönteisyyden, jopa ahneuden, kasvun. Tutkin sitä, miten kasvavan keskiluokan uusrikkaat ja heidän kantamansa arvot kirjan mukaan horjuttavat sekä newyorkilaisen että ranskalaisen yläluokan asemaa länsimaisessa yhteiskunnassa. Henkilöhahmot tarjoavat karikatyyrimäisiä esimerkkejä jokaisesta mainitusta ryhmästä. Kulutusmyönteisyys, joka hallitsee päähenkilö Undine Spraggin elämää, toimii tutkielman pääasiallisena temaattisena aspektina. Keskeisiksi käsitteiksi nousevat imitaatio ja yksityisyys. Lähestyn aihepiiriä erityisesti Jean Baudrillardin (1998) teorioiden kautta. Analyysissäni käsittelen romaanissa esiintyviä rakennuksia ja asuinpaikkoja. Ryhmiä, joihin kuuluvat newyorkilainen yläluokka, ranskalainen aristokraattisuku ja amerikkalaiset uusrikkaat, lähestyn tarkastelemalla heitä yhdistäviä ja erottavia kulttuurisia tekijöitä sekä taustatarinoita. Teoksessa kuvaillut hotellit ja asuintalot kertovat muutoksista yhteiskunnassa, ihmisten mieltymyksissä ja kulutuskäyttäytymisessä. Käsittelen kerronnan fokalisaatiota, eli tutkin, mistä eri perspektiiveistä katsellen tarinaa kerrotaan. Lähteinäni käytän Gérard Genetten (1980) sekä Mieke Balin (2009) teorioita. Toinen kirjallisuusteoriaan viittaava näkemykseni liittyy teoksen satiirillisuuteen. Lähestymistapa tarjoaa mahdollisuuden tutkia, kohdistaako Wharton satiiriaan erityisesti uusrikkaiden ryhmään. Tähän soveltuu Dustin H. Griffinin (1994) erittely satiirin erilaisista kohteista ja käyttötarkoituksista. Näyttää siltä, että Wharton ei kohdista satiiriaan niinkään yhtä ryhmää kohden, vaan kaikki kolme yhteiskunnallista ryhmää ovat kriittisen kommentoinnin kohteena. Kuvauksellinen ja retorinen kieli, jota hotellien ja asuinpaikkojen kuvauksissa käytetään, paljastaa ryhmien välisiä näkemyseroja. Tekstianalyysi osoittaa, miten Wharton käsittelee kulutusmyönteisyyttä ja liiallisen kulutuksen aiheuttamaa ahneutta. Tekstistä käy ilmi, kuinka jatkuva muiden omistamien asioiden ihannointi ja kyltymätön uutuuksien hankinta saa ihmisen kadottamaan kykynsä arvostaa laatua. Tällainen toiminta johtaa turhaan kuluttamiseen ja arvojen rapautumiseen. Modernisaation tuoma muutos, eli elämän kaupungistuminen, liittyy keskeisesti henkilökohtaisen tilan mallien muuttumiseen. Ihmisiä asuu tiheästi kaupunkialueella, mikä vaikuttaa tilakäsitykseen. Whartonin teksti heijastelee ristiriitaisia tunteet muuttuvaa aikaa kohtaan. Näin ollen teos on tulkittavissa myös eräänlaiseksi Whartonin itsetutkiskeluksi. Vaikka kirjan satiiri kohdistuu yksittäisiin henkilöihin, välittyy viesti, että kyseessä on laajempi ilmiö, johon yksittäiset ihmiset eivät enää voi vaikuttaa. Tämä tuo kerrontaan myös surumielisen aspektin sen näennäisen humoristisuuden ja esteettisyyttä korostavien seikkojen lisäksi.
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(2020)Käsittelen tutkielmassani Edith Whartonin teosta The Custom of the Country vuodelta 1913. Wayne C. Boothin (1961) teoriaa mukaillen pohdin oletetun kirjailijan eli ’implied authorin’ henkilöllisyyttä ja mahdollisen omaelämänkerrallisuuden vaikutusta tekstin tulkintaan. Lähden näkemyksestä, että oletettu kirjailija on Wharton, ja arvioin tätä näkökulmaa analyysin eri vaiheissa. Varsinainen tutkimuskysymykseni koskee sitä, millainen viesti teoksesta välittyy 1900-luvun alun muuttuvasta maailmasta. Esitän Whartonin käyttäneen retorisia keinoja ja erilaisia kerronnan muotoja tuodakseen teoksessaan esiin kiihtyvän kulutusmyönteisyyden, jopa ahneuden, kasvun. Tutkin sitä, miten kasvavan keskiluokan uusrikkaat ja heidän kantamansa arvot kirjan mukaan horjuttavat sekä newyorkilaisen että ranskalaisen yläluokan asemaa länsimaisessa yhteiskunnassa. Henkilöhahmot tarjoavat karikatyyrimäisiä esimerkkejä jokaisesta mainitusta ryhmästä. Kulutusmyönteisyys, joka hallitsee päähenkilö Undine Spraggin elämää, toimii tutkielman pääasiallisena temaattisena aspektina. Keskeisiksi käsitteiksi nousevat imitaatio ja yksityisyys. Lähestyn aihepiiriä erityisesti Jean Baudrillardin (1998) teorioiden kautta. Analyysissäni käsittelen romaanissa esiintyviä rakennuksia ja asuinpaikkoja. Ryhmiä, joihin kuuluvat newyorkilainen yläluokka, ranskalainen aristokraattisuku ja amerikkalaiset uusrikkaat, lähestyn tarkastelemalla heitä yhdistäviä ja erottavia kulttuurisia tekijöitä sekä taustatarinoita. Teoksessa kuvaillut hotellit ja asuintalot kertovat muutoksista yhteiskunnassa, ihmisten mieltymyksissä ja kulutuskäyttäytymisessä. Käsittelen kerronnan fokalisaatiota, eli tutkin, mistä eri perspektiiveistä katsellen tarinaa kerrotaan. Lähteinäni käytän Gérard Genetten (1980) sekä Mieke Balin (2009) teorioita. Toinen kirjallisuusteoriaan viittaava näkemykseni liittyy teoksen satiirillisuuteen. Lähestymistapa tarjoaa mahdollisuuden tutkia, kohdistaako Wharton satiiriaan erityisesti uusrikkaiden ryhmään. Tähän soveltuu Dustin H. Griffinin (1994) erittely satiirin erilaisista kohteista ja käyttötarkoituksista. Näyttää siltä, että Wharton ei kohdista satiiriaan niinkään yhtä ryhmää kohden, vaan kaikki kolme yhteiskunnallista ryhmää ovat kriittisen kommentoinnin kohteena. Kuvauksellinen ja retorinen kieli, jota hotellien ja asuinpaikkojen kuvauksissa käytetään, paljastaa ryhmien välisiä näkemyseroja. Tekstianalyysi osoittaa, miten Wharton käsittelee kulutusmyönteisyyttä ja liiallisen kulutuksen aiheuttamaa ahneutta. Tekstistä käy ilmi, kuinka jatkuva muiden omistamien asioiden ihannointi ja kyltymätön uutuuksien hankinta saa ihmisen kadottamaan kykynsä arvostaa laatua. Tällainen toiminta johtaa turhaan kuluttamiseen ja arvojen rapautumiseen. Modernisaation tuoma muutos, eli elämän kaupungistuminen, liittyy keskeisesti henkilökohtaisen tilan mallien muuttumiseen. Ihmisiä asuu tiheästi kaupunkialueella, mikä vaikuttaa tilakäsitykseen. Whartonin teksti heijastelee ristiriitaisia tunteet muuttuvaa aikaa kohtaan. Näin ollen teos on tulkittavissa myös eräänlaiseksi Whartonin itsetutkiskeluksi. Vaikka kirjan satiiri kohdistuu yksittäisiin henkilöihin, välittyy viesti, että kyseessä on laajempi ilmiö, johon yksittäiset ihmiset eivät enää voi vaikuttaa. Tämä tuo kerrontaan myös surumielisen aspektin sen näennäisen humoristisuuden ja esteettisyyttä korostavien seikkojen lisäksi.
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(2017)Kawah Ijen is the picturesque crater of the Ijen volcano located in Eastern Java, Indonesia. However, it is not just any volcano crater, as it happens to be the locus of labour-intensive sulphur mining operation. Each day up to 15 tons of sulphur is extracted from the Ijen crater by the 350 men working as manual miners. These men carry even 100 kilogram loads of sulphur out from the crater with bare brawn and the work is with no doubt burdensome. Kawah Ijen's natural beauty has also caught the interest of tourists', and the crater has become commodified as a tourism destination, visited by hundreds of international tourists each day. Thus the storyline of this master's thesis is two-fold. The first research objective scrutinizes the Kawah Ijen sulphur mine from a commodity chain perspective, emphasizing the tough work the sulphur miners have to bear in order to satisfy the needs of the consumers at the end of the chain. The second, and the essential objective of this research in turn interrogates how the presence of the sulphur miners has become also an inevitable part of the Kawah Ijen tourism experience. In this the aspiration is to elucidate how the sulphur miners have become aestheticized as a Global South tourism attraction. In other words, this research aims to interrogate the peculiarity of this reality, by exploring how both trade and culture, and human and commodity mobilities are entangled and enshrouded within the crater of the Ijen volcano. In human geography, a research framework of 'Follow the thing' has been adopted by scholars in order to study the geographically far-flung production chains of consumer goods. As a framework it aims to make critical political-economic connections between the consumers and distant, and often also underprivileged, producers. In this Marxist-influenced undertaking emphasis is placed particularly on commodity fetishism. This notion has been mobilized to illuminate how consumers have become alienated from the means of production, in their symbolically-laden everyday consumption. As sulphur is a raw material needed in the production processes of many goods such as white sugar, fertilizers, medicines, and rubber, this research shows how these commodities were 'followed' into their origins to this particular sulphur mine. During a period of field work, a method of participant observation was utilized to get contextual understanding of this production site. The initial research objective is therefore to make connections and create awareness of the inequalities within commodity production networks. In the final research objective of this master's thesis, a postcolonial approach is mobilized to critically interrogate this initial setting, in which the miners are seen as poor and stagnant producers. Thus the Kawah Ijen tourists are taken under lens in order to gain understanding of this touristic encounter nuanced with cross-cultural and socio-economic differences between the tourists and the miners. Therefore the setting of Kawah Ijen will not only be observed as a place of production, but also as a site - and object - of consumption. By analysing blogged travel stories written by the tourists themselves, this research aims to illuminate what the tourism experience of the Kawah Ijen is about in the realm of consumption. Special attention is given to how the encounter with sulphur miners has become a constitutive part of the adventurous and authentic tourism experience of Kawah Ijen. The blog post analysis on the Kawah Ijen tourism narrative shows how the imaginaries of the sulphur miner as the 'Other' are adhered to, as the tourists construct their travel identities, make meaning of their experiences and finally represent their experience to the outside world. Finally this research aims to make ruptures to Global South fetishism by elucidating how the Kawah Ijen sulphur mine has become both commoditized and fetishized in its own right. In this fetishzation process the sulphur miners are depicted as poor and primitive, which as categories act as symbols for authentic tourism consumption in the social frameworks of the tourists. However, the aim is not to demonize the tourists, but to give recognition to the nuanced personal and social realities they are embedded in their consumption. Hence, the tourism experience of Kawah Ijen is constructed through a point of view more sensitive to the subjective negotiation of authenticity. It is argued that the Kawah Ijen tourism experience is a process in which the meaning of the experience is negotiated in a wider framework, which is vicariously embedded in postcolonial discourse. Finally, it is concluded that although there is some unequal power relations at presence in the tourism consumption of Kawah Ijen, the tourism can be the means to make more sustainable living for the miners. The leapfrog from the mining to tourism has to be only carried out in a deliberate way with respect to all of the stakeholders.
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(2013)The long-run average return on equities shows a sizable premium with respect to their relatively riskless alternatives, the short-run government bonds. The dominant explanation is that the excess return is compensation for rare but severe consumption disasters which result in heavy losses on equities. This thesis studies the plausibility of this explanation in a common theoretical framework. The consumption disasters hypothesis is studied in the conventional Lucas-tree model with two assets and with constant relative risk aversion preferences, captured by the power utility function. The thesis argues that this oft-used model is unable to account for the high premium, and a simulation experiment is conducted to find evidence for the argument. The consumption process is modelled by the threshold autoregressive process, which offers a simple and powerful way to describe the equity premium as a result of a peso problem. Two statistics, the arithmetic average and the standard deviation, are used to estimate the long-run average and the volatility of the returns. The simulated data is analyzed and compared to the real world financial market data. The results confirm that the potential for consumption disasters produces a lower equity premium than the case without disasters in the Lucas-tree model with power utility. The disaster potential lowers the average return on equity instead of increasing it. This result comes from the reciprocal connection between the coefficient of relative risk aversion and the elasticity of intertemporal substitution, and from the special nature of the equity asset, which is a claim on the consumption process itself. The risk-free asset remains unaffected by the disaster potential. The equity premium remains a puzzle in this framework. The advantage of the threshold autoregressive consumption process is to show this result with clarity. Breaking the link between aversion to risk and intertemporal substitution is indeed one possible direction to take. Changing the assumptions about expected consumption or about the equity asset might offer another way forward. Another form of utility or another model is needed if the equity premium is to be explained in financial markets that are free of frictions.
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(2023)Research shows that Finnish people could increase the consumption of some domestic fish species. Increased consumption has been calculated to have economic, social, and environmental benefits. The current situation of fish consumption is unsustainable. Academic literature on consumption and food systems emphasizes the importance of a holistic view to sustainability. Environmental sustainability has been emphasized and other dimensions of sustainability have been neglected, regarding policies and regulations of the fish industry. In this study, it is argued that observing the consumer perceptions of sustainability dimensions could help to develop a more sustainable fish industry and consumption patterns. The theoretical framework was formed based on literature review. A three-dimensional view to sustainability was used including social, economic, and environmental dimensions. The relevant factors to measure the importance of the dimensions were formed with previous studies on fish consumption. The research aims to reveal perceptions to sustainability dimensions importance from a consumer interface. The research questions are: Which dimensions of sustainability have importance to consumers regarding fish consumption? Are any of the dimensions and factors involved more important than the others? Are there differences between groups on the perception of the dimensions? The research was carried out as a quantitative online survey and shared on social media platforms. Data (N=107) was analysed with quantitative methods (descriptive statistics, crosstabulation and Kruskal-Wallis’s test). Most participants considered all sustainability dimensions important. Environmental dimension was the most important, and especially the factors of protecting the ecosystems, fish stocks and waterbodies. Between age groups a statistically significant difference was found in the importance of the environmental dimension. The results indicate that Finnish people are willing to consume more domestic fish, and care about the sustainability of fish consumption. This study contributes to the discussion of sustainable fish consumption and provides a new approach on developing more sustainable food systems.
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(2023)Research shows that Finnish people could increase the consumption of some domestic fish species. Increased consumption has been calculated to have economic, social, and environmental benefits. The current situation of fish consumption is unsustainable. Academic literature on consumption and food systems emphasizes the importance of a holistic view to sustainability. Environmental sustainability has been emphasized and other dimensions of sustainability have been neglected, regarding policies and regulations of the fish industry. In this study, it is argued that observing the consumer perceptions of sustainability dimensions could help to develop a more sustainable fish industry and consumption patterns. The theoretical framework was formed based on literature review. A three-dimensional view to sustainability was used including social, economic, and environmental dimensions. The relevant factors to measure the importance of the dimensions were formed with previous studies on fish consumption. The research aims to reveal perceptions to sustainability dimensions importance from a consumer interface. The research questions are: Which dimensions of sustainability have importance to consumers regarding fish consumption? Are any of the dimensions and factors involved more important than the others? Are there differences between groups on the perception of the dimensions? The research was carried out as a quantitative online survey and shared on social media platforms. Data (N=107) was analysed with quantitative methods (descriptive statistics, crosstabulation and Kruskal-Wallis’s test). Most participants considered all sustainability dimensions important. Environmental dimension was the most important, and especially the factors of protecting the ecosystems, fish stocks and waterbodies. Between age groups a statistically significant difference was found in the importance of the environmental dimension. The results indicate that Finnish people are willing to consume more domestic fish, and care about the sustainability of fish consumption. This study contributes to the discussion of sustainable fish consumption and provides a new approach on developing more sustainable food systems.
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(2024)Social media influencers are called the opinion leaders of our time, as they have a lot of power over what peo- ple think and consume. Various sustainability actors expect that influencers take a strong role in the transfor- mation towards sustainability. In my thesis I examine, how do the reactions of the influencers’ followers and the perceived sense of responsibility and power of the influencer affect the way influencers share content on sustainability. In my research I also consider how different influencers receive differing responses to content related to sustainability. My analysis consists of interviews with six Finnish social media influencers. I conducted 5 semi-structured in- terviews, and received one written answer to the interview questions. I used thematic analysis as the analysis method in my research. The themes that arose from the interview data and from previous research are relation- ality between the influencer and their followers, connection between followers’ reactions and influencers’ sus- tainability content and the perceived sense of power and responsibility of the influencer. Three influencer profiles were created based on the interview data. The profiles describe different types of in- fluencers with different, specific audiences. The profiles demonstrate how different audiences respond to con- tent related to sustainability in different ways, how different influencers share sustainability content in different ways, and how influencers perceive their responsibility in different ways. My research shows that both the reac- tions of the followers and the perceived sense of responsibility of the influencer affect how an influencer shares content on sustainability. According to my research, the influencer's perceived power does not affect content shared on sustainability. This study contributes to the understanding of the issues that affect influencers’ behavior in sharing sustainabil- ity-related content. With this knowledge, it is possible to move closer to understanding whether influencers can be part of the change towards a more sustainable future. shared on sustainability. This study contributes to the understanding of the issues that affect influencers’ behavior in sharing sustainabil- ity-related content. With this knowledge, it is possible to move closer to understanding whether influencers can be part of the change towards a more sustainable future.
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(2023)The 2022 energy crisis heightened concerns about energy sufficiency. In response, Finland launched a nationwide energy-saving campaign, Astetta alemmas, to encourage Finns to take concrete and effortless energy-saving actions in their daily lives. The aim of this thesis was to analyze which energy-saving behaviors the media emphasize in the campaign and how the campaign messages are framed in the media. The analysis of media response was chosen because there is a lack of this type of study related to energy-saving campaigns. The data consisted of 94 news articles collected from the five national online news media from October 1st to December 31st, 2022. The data was analyzed using frame and content analysis. The analysis was based on a pre-determined theoretical framework consisting of nine energy-saving and general news frames: economic, social, environmental, personal, moral, health, conflict, responsibility, and human-interest frames. In addition, two new frames were recognized from the data. The energy-saving behaviors found were classified as curtailment and efficiency behaviors. The campaign was portrayed as an opportunity to save money through effortless energy-saving measures such as lowering the room temperature. Most of these actions were categorized as curtailment behaviors. The media showed the importance of individuals’ efforts to save energy in a society by emphasizing that saving energy has paid off and that new saving habits have become a routine part of daily life. On the other hand, energy-saving actions led to compromises in living standards, resulting in suffering and high electricity bills. The media portrayed the negative consequences by emphasizing conflicts and showing how far people are willing to go to save energy while risking their health. The impact on the environment was seen as a secondary principle. The crisis was a suitable moment for the media to highlight the importance of energy conservation. The campaign was well justified as a campaign of the whole nation, highlighted by solidarity and shared responsibility to save energy. Nevertheless, some of the tips given were targeted at specific households. The media raised a dichotomy by highlighting individuals as heroes or sufferers through their experiences. This is a novel contribution to previous studies. This dichotomy provides room for further studies that could focus on the people behind the news stories and the long-term effects of post-campaign energy-saving measures. This thesis provides initial insights into the media response to the Astetta alemmas campaign during the first three months and in specific news media, but the results cannot be generalized to the response of all news media during the campaign.
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(2023)The 2022 energy crisis heightened concerns about energy sufficiency. In response, Finland launched a nationwide energy-saving campaign, Astetta alemmas, to encourage Finns to take concrete and effortless energy-saving actions in their daily lives. The aim of this thesis was to analyze which energy-saving behaviors the media emphasize in the campaign and how the campaign messages are framed in the media. The analysis of media response was chosen because there is a lack of this type of study related to energy-saving campaigns. The data consisted of 94 news articles collected from the five national online news media from October 1st to December 31st, 2022. The data was analyzed using frame and content analysis. The analysis was based on a pre-determined theoretical framework consisting of nine energy-saving and general news frames: economic, social, environmental, personal, moral, health, conflict, responsibility, and human-interest frames. In addition, two new frames were recognized from the data. The energy-saving behaviors found were classified as curtailment and efficiency behaviors. The campaign was portrayed as an opportunity to save money through effortless energy-saving measures such as lowering the room temperature. Most of these actions were categorized as curtailment behaviors. The media showed the importance of individuals’ efforts to save energy in a society by emphasizing that saving energy has paid off and that new saving habits have become a routine part of daily life. On the other hand, energy-saving actions led to compromises in living standards, resulting in suffering and high electricity bills. The media portrayed the negative consequences by emphasizing conflicts and showing how far people are willing to go to save energy while risking their health. The impact on the environment was seen as a secondary principle. The crisis was a suitable moment for the media to highlight the importance of energy conservation. The campaign was well justified as a campaign of the whole nation, highlighted by solidarity and shared responsibility to save energy. Nevertheless, some of the tips given were targeted at specific households. The media raised a dichotomy by highlighting individuals as heroes or sufferers through their experiences. This is a novel contribution to previous studies. This dichotomy provides room for further studies that could focus on the people behind the news stories and the long-term effects of post-campaign energy-saving measures. This thesis provides initial insights into the media response to the Astetta alemmas campaign during the first three months and in specific news media, but the results cannot be generalized to the response of all news media during the campaign.
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(2013)The purpose of this study was to collect information about young adults’ consumer behaviour, attitudes towards money, economizing and independence. In addition, the purpose is to understand what has led to the young adults’ present living situation. One of the goals of the study is also to find out how young adults explain their living in their childhood home. This thesis consists of seven theme interviews (conducted among adults over 20 to 32 years old). Interviews are analyzed using content analysis and they are analyzed according to themes. The collected material and analysis enable answering to research questions: What are the consumption patterns of the interviewees? How do they feel about money and economizing? Do they feel independent? Why don’t they move from their childhood home? First, the young adults’ views of spending money are explored. According to interviews the young adults seem to be quite sensible money users but some luxuries were allowed, at least to some extent. The most matured interviewed young adults considered their consumption before and after leaving the childhood home. They had learned to use money reasonably after wasting at a young age. Working made economizing possible. Two interviewed working young adults saved money for a specific purpose. Money could also be saved without noticing it. Young adults’ attitude towards money was neutral: it made life easier but it did not mean everything. Secondly the young adults’ experience of independency is explored. Young people are considered to be independent when they move away from parents. The young adults living in their childhood homes felt themselves to be independent but still partially dependent on their parents. One of the interviewees felt falsely independent when he considered his living afterwards. On the other hand, the young adults who have moved away from their childhood homes sometimes turn to their parents on money problems, for example. Considering this fact, maturation does not happen only when moving away from childhood home. The interviewees thought that their living situation was a privilege to some extent, but attitude towards living with parents could be seen as a negative thing. The second theme also describes the problematic concepts of youth and adulthood. It is difficult to separate youth and the transition to adulthood. Youth and adulthood also involve the family which is important to young adults. Living in a childhood home was considered rational living amongst the interviewed young adults. Living with the parents was a wise thing according to the young adults’ life situation from the young adults’ and their parents’ point of view. Furthermore, easy living, space, young adult’s personality and ability to adapt to situations, family appreciation, personal reasons (lack of control in life, depression, for example), maturity and future plans were seen as reasons to stay at home for a prolonged period of time. Youngsters also mentioned some traditional reasons, for example studying and saving money, but briefly. It seems that young adults stay at home by their own free will rather than by necessity. Living is thought to be temporary: there is an intention to move away from the parents’ house. This affects in a positive way to living in a childhood home both to the young adults and their parents. The statistics concerning young adults living at home with parents are variable and complex. Recent research suggests that moving from childhood home is delayed. However, compared to Spain, for example, Finnish youngsters move away from home at a young age. If the situation is examined for a longer period of time it seems that young adults move away from their childhood homes at younger age than before.
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(2011)In my Master's Thesis I discuss consumption from the perspective of ecological and social sustainability. The environmental space concept is the framework for this study. The environmental space concept was developed in the beginning of the 1990's. It is a space that can be defined with different indicators and within which it is possible to live a decent and socially acceptable life and at the same time consume natural resources in a sustainable way. In this research the upper limit of environmental space is defined as the sustainable level of natural resource use calculated as material footprint and the lower limit as decent minimum reference budgets that illustrate the level of consumption allowing a household to fulfil all basic needs and to participate in society. The material of the study was collected by questionnaires and interviews on the consumption and lifestyle of the participating households. The households interviewed were all single and living on disability pension or basic unemployment allowance. The natural resource consumption of the households was calculated as material footprint. The material footprint is based on the MIPS concept (Material Input per Service Unit) that considers the whole life cycle of products and activities. The participants were also asked to report their income and consumption expenditures. We were also discussing about consumption, the social pressure to consume and use of natural resources. The results show that the low-income households have an average material footprint exceeding the ecologically sustainable level (18 100 kg per year), although the material footprint is lower than average (40 500 kg per year). They also indicate that a sustainable level of resource use cannot be achieved solely by individual choices but the society must improve the changes in the supply of products, services and infrastructure, enabling households to consume in a more sustainable way. The income level of the households remains below the level of the decent minimum reference budgets. The participating households experienced poverty as lack of possibility to consume and recognized the prevailing social pressure to consume. Consuming was characterized by pursuit of status and social comparison between people. The change in prevailing consumer culture is an essential part on the way towards sustainable society, because the amount of consumption grows as long as welfare is measured through consumption. The connection between consumption and natural resource use remained unclear to many of the households and attitudes towards nature alternated between the households. Those households that had been low-income for their whole life, hadn't thought about the sufficiency of natural resources. Their more ecological way of living than average is rather compulsory than their own choice. The rise in their income level would lead to increasing consumption, as households would want to raise their standard of living by moving to a bigger house and travelling. When we notice the limits of the Planet, we should pay more attention to the upper limit of the environmental space to those, who consume the most.
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(2015)In the past few decades, free time has increased considerably. And yet leisure has still an ever growing importance for Finnish consumers. Nonetheless, it is not an explicit matter. People experience leisure in different ways. The economic depression has brought forward the leisure practices of unemployed or temporarily laid-off and this is also the basis for my thesis. This thesis is a qualitative research using semi-structured theme-centered interviews to collect the data. Total of 10 consumers, who were or had been laid-off, were interviewed and this data was analyzed using thematic analysis. Temporarily laid-off consumers had three ways of reacting to their status. First group experienced a lot of stress and worry about coping and their future possibilities. Second group, on the other hand, thought of it as an extra holiday during which they could rest and pursue their hobbies. Thirdly, temporal lay-off was seen as a necessary evil: unenjoyable but nonetheless somewhat useful experience. Changes could be observed regarding leisure: daily routines disappeared or changed their importance and social relationships decreased whereas the time with the television increased. This passive leisure showed the importance of activities and being active as a way of coping. Hobbies were an important way to relax and forget. Many temporarily laid-off consumers had problems with their income. Some of them decreased their consumption and begun saving, reconsidering their consumption patterns. On the other hand some turned to impulsive consumption as a means to rebel. As a whole, the shorter the lay-off period, the less it affected consumption. Whichever the case, the changes in consumption during a temporal lay-off had an effect on the surrounding society as well. Leisure, consumption and the reaction to temporal lay-off are strongly linked. Good economical situation is followed by positive reactions and coping as well as active leisure. At the same time positive or negative attitude combined with consumption possibilities have a great effect on leisure activities.
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