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The aim of this study is to examine how teacher students' view their cultural capital. Cultural capital means the knowledge, skills, valuations and examinations that a person has achieved during his/her life.The purpose of this study is also to depict whether or not cultural capital is of importance to a teacher at his work or to a student at his education. Previous studies have shown that teacher students present bourgeoise culture. Previous studies have also shown that teacher's cultural capital might have an impact to his/her work and that students' family background has an impact on school work. The study was made by the principles of qualitative research. Five teacher students from Helsinki University were selected as research subjects. The data was gathered during the spring 2015 and collected by using a theme interview. The data was then analyzed with theory-bound content analysis. Based on the data, teacher students' views depicted that their family backgrounds, as well as hobby and personal interests reflected at least partly the cultural capital. Based on the study results, it would seem that teacher's own cultural capital might show in his/her work at some level, for example through the valuations and aspirations, as well as the number of his/her hobbies. Teacher's hobbies can show as emphasis on, motivation in and aspirations in the work. Valuations and aspirations can have an impact on the demands targeted towards students by the teacher. The results indicate that student's cultural capital can show at school through stimulus received from home and attitude towards school.

Objectives. Communication is cultural when the patterns of symbolic action and meaning are deeply felt, commonly intelligible and widely accessible. The cultural features, beliefs and values of the speech community can be examined through an important cultural term. The practices that reflect and build the social reality are described in the tradition of Ethnography of communication. In this master's thesis research the speech of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in a construction company was examined. The aim was to find cultural meanings that the speech reveals by analyzing the linguistic features of the community. The purpose was to examine what the linguistic features tell about the common beliefs and values and the meanings of CSR. The idea was to examine a cultural term that has not been examined earlier in the tradition of Ethnography of communication. Methods. The research material included 9 semi-structured thematic interviews that were collected from a Finnish construction company. There were 12 interviewees taking part in in the research. Three of the interviews were couple and six were single interviews. The interviews lasted 20–60 minutes. The material reached included some texts from the company's Internet page as well. The research material was analyzed with the Cultural discourse analysis. The cultural features were examined with five discursive hubs that were used as analytical tools. These hubs were dwelling, relations, feelings, action and identity. The analysis consisted of five phases: theoretical, descriptive, interpretive, comparative and critical. Results and conclusions. Two cultural discourses were found in the speech community: open discourse and caring. The interviewees experienced that the meaning of CSR was sharing the good and the bad with the stakeholders. The participants felt that discourse of caring meant acting responsible. Caring and open discourse were important actions in the community. The perceptions about CSR reflected the factors of social responsibility according to CSR research. Based on the cultural premises of the cultural discourses of this study the participants evaluated each other as flexible, open and honest. They were expected to take care of the objectives of their work and the wellbeing of their colleagues. The daily interaction between the participants was experienced to strenghten the features of openness and honesty.

The theoretical frame for this study is Ladson-Billings' (1992, 1995) theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. Culturally relevant pedagogy has sought to solve the challenge that multicultural education has not been able to meet. The cultural diversity of schools is a wealth of teaching that should be used as a starting point for school activities. This, according to previous research, increases the student’s experience of relevance and violates the power structures that prevail in the school. This study is interested in the way teachers feel that they implement culturally relevant pedagogy in their teaching. In addition, the purpose is to find out the abilities and challenges experienced by teachers when implementing culturally relevant pedagogy in their teaching. This study is a multi-case study. The research material has been collected through a thematic interview by interviewing primary school teachers in schools in the Helsinki metropolitan area. In addition, the material has also been collected through a pre-sent tuning task. The material has been analyzed by research questions using qualitative content analysis, both deductively and inductively. The material consists of a total of six primary school teacher interviews and tuning assignments. Teachers perceived cultural diversity in the group not only as wealth but also as a challenge. Teachers said that they use different teaching methods to support the group's joint activities and the students' academic success. According to the teachers, the individual support of the student was strong. However, some teachers felt that their cultural competence was weak, and that meeting diversity was challenging. Cultural diversity was often associated with immigration or foreign language. According to the teachers, the development of critical thinking skills was limited. The students' own cultural backgrounds and the power exercised by the students in teaching were mainly manifested in teacher-led assignments or discussions. Based on this research, the competence of teachers in multicultural education should be developed. Based on this study, genuine student active participation in teaching is also still lacking.

Goals. The goal of this Master’s Thesis is to examine how young adults describe their economic capability and their own consumption. In addition, it is explored how and where young adults feel they have learned financial capability. The research is topical because studies have shown that the perception of one's own financial capability is related to financial behavior and well-being. However, it is not entirely clear where and how financial skills, knowledge and attitudes are adopted. Previous research has shown that childhood home, school, peers, and the media are key environments where consumer attitudes and skills are learned. The role of the childhood home is emphasized in the studies of socialization. The school's financial education has been found to teach financial knowledge, but conflicting research results have been obtained on its impact on economic behavior. Peer and media influence consumption, especially in adolescence. The consumer today operates in an increasingly complex market. It is therefore important to find out how consumers themselves perceive financial capability. Methods. This Master’s Thesis was conducted as a qualitative research. The target group of the study was young adults between age 18 and 29. Research data was collected by using a semi-structured interview. Ten interviews were conducted in December 2019 and in January 2020. People participating in this study were between age 21 and 26. Data from the interviews was analyzed by using thematic analysis and qualitative content analysis. ATLAS.ti computer program was used as a help in thematic analysis. Results and conclusion. The study found that young adults feel they are frugal, but not stingy consumers. This can be interpreted as reflecting society's values of consumption. Young adults' descriptions of their own consumption were close to those of an ideal consumer. This may indicate that young adults consider their own financial skills to be good. The childhood home was seen a key environment for learning financial skills. School’s financial education was seen encouraging a frugal attitude towards consumption, but school was not perceived as a significant factor in learning financial capability. On the other hand, young adults believe in the school's po-tential to influence the development of financial capability.

The purpose of this study is to illustrate and describe consumers’ view of sustainable clothing and which factors affect consumers’ clothing consumption habits. Furthermore, this study aims to find out which aspect of sustainability regarding clothing is less emphasized by respondents. The theoretical part of this study combines perspectives of consumption survey, crafts science and home economics. Previous studies indicate that sustainable clothing consists of clothing design, production, selling, buying, consumption and recycling. In this study, sustainable consumption refers to favouring sustainable clothing, reducing consumption and amending one’s consumption habits towards more sustainable choices. Consumption habits can be amended by, for instance, buying only for need, using apparel longer, taking properly care of them and recycling them after use. The material for this qualitative study was acquired by thematic interviews. To be more specific, the research material consists of six transcribed remote interviews. The interviewees were recruited trough a Facebook-group focusing on sustainable fashion. Then, the research material gathered trough the said interviews was analysed using data-driven content analysis. To conclude, the results of this study indicate that consumers experienced that the sustainability of clothing affects their clothing consumption significantly. Furthermore, each aspect of sustainability was recognised as significant in promoting sustainable clothing. However, not all aspects of sustainability were considered important in one’s own clothing consumption. For instance, recyclability was not considered to be an important factor when choosing sustainable clothing. Furthermore, consumers experienced recognising and finding sustainable clothing to be challenging.

This research studies the consumers’ thoughts on buying clothes and naturally dyed clothes. Former studies show that especially price and appearance are significant factors for consumers when purchasing clothing. As the knowledge of sustainability grows stronger, the ethical and ecological bases of textile industry have gained more importance for consumers. The studies show that the consumers’ thoughts on natural dyes are mainly positive. Consumers are interested in naturally dyed clothes but the expensive price and possibly worse color durability makes them feel doubtful. There aren’t many former studies about consumers concern for natural dyes. This study examines the consumers’ knowledge of this subject and gives information about what is expected of naturally dyed clothes. Research material was collected using semi-structured theme interviews and stimulus material. 12 consumers were part of the study and they were individually interviewed. The interviewees were 22-57 years old and represent different genders. The research is qualitative and the material has been analyzed using data-based content analysis. The consumers felt important that the clothes are comfortable of good quality and good looking. Ethical and ecological side of the fabric industry were meaningful to the consumers but because of financial reasons some couldn´t afford clothes produced with their values in mind. Clothes dyed with natural dyes woke twofold thoughts with the consumers. They were seen as safer for the environment and the users but their colors were suspected to endure less time and their color selection fewer. The consumers were ready to pay more for naturally dyed clothes if the production process and used materials were robust. They also felt that the clothes should be quite easy care and the colors durable in use. In conclusion, the consumers are interested in acquiring clothes dyed with natural dyes.

The study examines consumers’ views about cosmetic packaging. Previously, this topic has been studied as the acquisition of packaging at the store in which the focus has been on the color, materiality, and ecology. Natural and organic cosmetics have recently gained scholarly interest, yet, the packaging itself has not. This study is interested in what the visuals, colors, materials and recycling aspects of cosmetic packaging mean to consumers. The phenomenon is examined as the use of packaging and from the perspective of everyday aesthetics at home. The data was collected as pair interviews (n=12) using semi-structured theme interview and stimulus material (biodegradable cosmetic packaging). The interviewees were 26–67 years old. The data was analyzed by using qualitative content analysis. This study contributes to the discussion about aesthetic meanings of cosmetic packaging by focusing on the ecological aspects and the challenges related to recycling. Earlier studies have mainly studied food packages. In this study, cosmetic packaging was seen as a part of everyday aesthetics and the items were seen as visually pleasing and a part of interior decoration. Consumers associated the visual aspects and colors with their identity and self-expression. On the one hand, the packaging conveys about everyday and affordable cosmetics, and on the other hand, about luxurious and high-quality cosmetics. Through the packaging material and colors, consumers conclude how ecological of the product and packaging. Consumers combine the material of cosmetic packaging and the amount of material with the environmental friendliness and recyclability of the packaging. Consumers identify the prevalence of plastic use, the overpacking of cosmetics and the empty space of packaging as ecological challenges for cosmetic packaging. With regard to packaging material, more choice was seen in food, and the purchase of food was also perceived to be more important from an ecological point of view than the purchase of cosmetics. Recycling is challenged by unclear materials for consumers, multi-material packaging, different coatings and the fact that packaging cannot be easily emptied. Consumers therefore wish clearer recycling instructions for packaging. The recycling of packaging inks proved to be an unknown topic. However, in the case of color recycling, the materiality of the colorant, its separation from the packaging material, and the toxicity and harmfulness of the colors to nature were considered.

Aims. There are many ways to increase sales when advertising food. One way is to take advantage of gender when making advertisements. Advertising uses gender usually as binary and also gender stereotypes are used. The target group of the advertisement is usually the same gender as the character used in advertisement. Also some groceries may be gendered, like meat is considered manly and sweets more as womanly. In this research the main area of investigation was consumer opinions about Finnish food marketing and especially how gender is used as part of advertising. The study analysed how consumers connect gender to groceries and how representations of gender are experienced in food advertising. The study also examined the advertising literacy of the interviewees. Data and methods. The research was qualitative. Ten 27–42-year-old interviewees living in Helsinki metropolitan area took part in the study. The data was collected using semi-structured interviews. Four Finnish food advertisements were used to stimulate the conversation in the interviews. Interviews were recorded and the recordings transcribed. The data was analysed using qualitative content analysis. Results and discussion. The interviewees found many connections between male and female gender and food advertisements. This was influenced by gender representations and possible target groups. Also signs that were connected to masculinity and femininity were found in the advertisements. As in previous research, also in this research meat product was connected to male gender. Sweet products were connected to both male and female gender. When specifying target groups gender was in dominating role. Interviewees’ advertising literacy was transpired in many ways. The strategies behind food advertisements were understood and devices such as humour, stereotypes, images and irritation were noticed. Also some codes were found in advertisements that were aimed at specific target groups. It is possible to state that young townspeople understand the methods of influencing that are used in advertising and they can challenge those as well.

Fashion consumption has a big role in our everyday life. The environmental impact of the fashion industry is significant, so it would be important to change our ways of consuming fashion. In this study, I will find out which factors affect people's choices of fashion consumption, especially from the point of view of consumer psychology. I will use the literature and interview material. In addition, I will find out which factors affect the formation of an individual's fashion consumption behavior. In my research, I used an interview as a method of data acquisition. I conducted research interviews in theme interviews. Interviews consisted four 19-36-year-old consumers, who all had slightly different habits regarding fashion consumption. Each interview was about half an hour long. I recorded the interviews and transcribed them into text. After all there was 32 sheets of transcribed text. In the analysis, I first proceeded classification to the entire material and then emphasized to smaller details and search for meanings. Based on literature, important factors behind fashion consumption were the individual's identity, values and attitudes, motivation and needs, and emotional life. These factors were also clearly featured in research interviews. From the basis of both, literature and interviews, it was possible to distinguish factors influencing between the production of fashion and individual factors. Production factors include factors that are not dependent of the individual’s will, such as advertising and marketing, fashion production processes, policy, and access to information. Individual factors, by their name, are, however, closely connected to the individual, such as personality and identity, interests and social relationships. Based on the research results, it seems that the motivation of the individual plays a major role in making consumer choices and in adapting consumer behavior. What matters is whether the individual is motivated externally or internally to consume in a certain way. As Jansson-Boyd (2010, 118) states, those who are internally motivated tend to pursue a certain behavior longer than those who are externally motivated. Therefore, when seeking to change human consumption behavior, it is important to focus on how to motivate consumers internally for sustainable consumption.

Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on selvittää Finfood - Suomen Ruokatieto ry:n alullepanemassa kummimaatilatoiminnassa mukana olleiden opettajien ja maatilojen käsityksiä ja kokemuksia toiminnasta sekä tarkastella kummimaatilatoimintaa innovaationa. Kummimaatilatoiminta liittyy Finfoodin internetissä julkaisemaan oppimateriaaliin suomalaisen ruoan tiestä. Kummimaatilatoiminnan tavoitteena on, että mahdollisimman monella peruskoululuokalla olisi oma kummimaatila, missä luokka voisi vierailla vuosittain, joka säilyisi luokalla mahdollisimman pitkään ja jonka kanssa luokka suunnittelee oman yhteistyönsä. Kummimaatilatoiminnan avulla pyritään omakohtaisten kokemusten ja elämysten kautta lisäämään nuorten tietoa maaseudun elämästä. Tutkimuksen tausta -osassa tarkastellaan koulun ja yhteiskunnan muiden tahojen yhteistyötä, esitellään tutkimuksia koulun ja teollisuusyritysten yhteistyöstä sekä koulun ja maatalouden yhteistyöhön liittyvää materiaalia. Lisäksi tarkastellaan innovaatiota ja innovaation diffuusiota. Koska kummimaatilatoiminta on uusi toimintamuoto, jossa toisena osapuolena on koulu, tutkimuksessa käsitellään myös kasvatuksen muutoksia (educational change). Tutkimusta käsitellään tapaus- ja toimintatutkimuksena. Tutkimusaineistona ovat kummimaatilatoiminnan alkuvaiheessa syksyllä 1997 mukaan lähteneiden seitsemän opettajan ja kuuden maatilan teemahaastattelut. Tutkimuksessa on haastateltu myös Finfoodin edustajaa. Aineisto kerättiin kevään ja syksyn 1998 aikana. Innovaatiotarkastelun pohjana ovat lisäksi tutkijan omat kokemukset toiminnasta sekä erilaiset kokoukset ja keskustelut. Opettajien ja maatilojen kokemuksista selvitettiin heidän toiminnan aloittamiseen johtaneita motiivejaan, toiminnalle asettamiaan tavoitteita, toiminnassa havaitsemiaan ongelmia sekä käsityksiä toiminnan onnistumisen avaintekijöistä ja toiminnan kehittämisestä. Suuria näkemyseroja ei opettajien ja maatilojen kokemusten välillä ollut. Osapuolet pitivät maaseutua tärkeänä ja halusivat tarjota lapsille kokemuksia elämästä siellä. Yhteisenä tavoitteena opettajilla ja maatiloilla oli, että toiminta olisi mahdollisimman laajaa, ei pelkkiä retkipäiviä maalle. Opettajat korostivat myös vierailujen toiminnallisuutta. Maatilat toivoivat voivansa lisätä toiminnalla myös omaa tietämystään ja ammattitaitoaan. Käytännön asiat kuten matkat olivat eniten ongelmia aiheuttaneita asioita. Muina mahdollisina ongelmina mainittiin asenteet ja tiedotus. Toiminnan avaintekijöinä pidettiin suunnittelua, molempien osapuolten motivoituneisuutta ja aktiivisuutta, vierailujen toiminnallisuutta, tiedottamista ja toiminnan laajentamista. Kehittämisideat liittyivät toiminnan laajentamiseen ja monipuolistamiseen. Tämän tutkimuksen perusteella kummimaatilatoimintaa on ryhdytty kehittämään niin, että koko koululla yksittäisen luokan sijaan on yhteinen kummimaatila. Innovaatiotarkastelu osoitti, että kummimaatilatoiminnan kehittäminen ja levittäminen on pitkä prosessi, jossa koordinaattorin rooli on tärkeä. Osallistujien sitoutuminen toimintaan, osallistujien tukeminen sekä heidän kokemustensa hyödyntäminen on myös tärkeää. Tärkeimmät lähteet tutkimuksen taustateorian kannalta olivat Rogersin, Fullanin ja Hargreavesin teokset.