The aim of the study is to investigate what makes young female students continue to consume beyond their financial limits in the form of student loans and grants. The study also aims to investigate whether consumption functions as a tool that helps women maintain gender, lifestyle and identity, which in turn may have an impact on them overconsuming. Through interviews with thirteen young women who study with student loans and grants we investigated how they consumed with their financial limitations and what influenced their consumption. The empirical material is analyzed with Anthony Giddens’ theory regarding identity, lifestyle, rationality and reflexivity which gave an understanding to which role identity and lifestyle had in the fact thatthe students continued consuming as well as how they argumented and financed for the consumtion. Giddens’ theory regarding lifestyle and identity combined with Helen Rose Fuch Ebaugh’s theory about “role exit” is used to analyze the interviewees’ problems with leaving their lifestyle or role as they entered the student life with a different income. Candace West och Don Zimmerman theory about “doing gender” in combination with Raewyn Connell and Rebecca Pearse theory regarding gender became significant to understand why the young women continued consuming. The study’s analysis concluded that the interviewees were aware of their financial situation, however, they had a hard time to adapt to their new life pattern and income which led them to use rhetorical and practical strategies to consume more than they are financially possible to. They used their savings, deprioritized food, convinced themselves that they should be more restrictive with their money next month and argued for the overconsumption with certain rhetorical explanations that showed how the consumption fulfilled specific emotional needs. The analysis also showed that the interviewees experienced anxiety when consuming more than they were financially capable of, however they still continued with the consumption because it fulfilled functions such as reproduction of their identity, femininity, social integration and feelings of happiness. The analysis showed that young female students' consumption is linked to their desire to feel like an attractive woman in relation to society's expectations but also to create their identity and status.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-119924 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Carlsson, Moa-Maria, Crnoglavac, Sara |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för samhällsstudier (SS) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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