This study aims to investigate the conflicting relation between climate attitude and climate behavior in young adult people in Sweden. The purpose of the study is to understand more about consonance management which is a recent trend in dissonance theory. Consonance management contributes to an understanding of why these young people routinely hold contradictory opinions and discordant views. This should, according to dissonance theory, result in experiences of dissonance. Dissonance theory suggests that to reduce or eliminate dissonance, people need to change or reinforce their opinions, which does not happen in this case. Totally five young people participated in this qualitative interview study. The participants talked about their consumption behavior and their experiences about continuously acting against their attitudes about the climate. The data material is analyzed from a consonance management perspective with help of Giddens Self Identity Theory. The resultand analysis show that the participants consumption behavior is closely related to their identity. The participants however experience a dissonance when they act against their attitude, but their personal identity is more valued and are therefore resulting in greater meaningfulness in their everyday life. The conclusion is that continuing to consume is the better option because the maintenance of an identity presupposes a certain consumption behavior. This study contributes to an increased understanding of why these young people routinely hold contradictory opinions instead of changing their attitudes. This case suggests that the consonance perspective is more useful than the dissonance perspective.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-118802 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Meijer, Signe |
| 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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