1. Introduction
Although several studies emphasise the need to develop an effective measurement of political participation activities beyond voting (Ekman and Amnå, 2012; Kousis and Paschou, 2017; original contribution to knowledge with regards to a) studying political consumerism, b) in a comparative context (between the UK and Greece), c) among young people, d) and according to young people’s own conceptualisation of the phenomenon.
The present chapter will therefore present the findings of the focus groups conducted in the two countries. The chapter will be divided in two sections: the first part, will discuss the motivations of young participants behind their engagement in political consumerism. The second section will provide evidence for the neoliberal factors previously identified in Chapter 6, associated with young people’s engagement in political consumerism in the UK as opposed to Greece.
These findings have informed my understanding about young people’s own motivations and values behind the use of the market for ethical, environmental and political reasons, and have in turn assisted in the creation of the survey questionnaire, which will be used at the quantitative analysis of this thesis (in Chapters 10 and 11).
2. Motivations of Political Consumerism
Previous research indicates that there may be a difference behind the motivations of political consumers in different countries (see Chapter 6), with political consumerism in southern Europe demonstrating generally a more collective than individualistic orientation and being more rooted in local communities (Graziano and Forno, 2012). With this in mind, the participants of the focus groups were asked to discuss their underlying motivations to engage in political consumerism. In this way, they cumulatively came up with a list of six broad themes.
These were subsequently analysed thematically and categorised according to their intended outreach, ranging from individualistic to more collective and eventually global outreach. These resulted in Q.21 of the survey questionnaire, and will be subsequently analysed in Chapter 10 of the thesis, with the intention to identify whether young political consumers in the UK and Greece are driven by different motivations. The following themes were thus identified:
153 | P a g e a) Benefit my personal health
b) Protect animal rights c) Support national economy
d) Improve social ties with my community
e) Support ethical production processes overseas
f) Protect the planet and encourage environmentally responsible lifestyles.
Generally, the focus groups participants in both countries expressed a perceived interconnectedness with respect to most of the points above, but also their assertion that consumption can indeed be action imbued with political meaning. A typical response30 among the participants in both countries was the following:
Participant F: Since I started being a vegetarian, 3-4 years ago, I have eaten meat on very rare occasions. However, I have never bought meat products myself. Buying meat is no longer in my consumer options. And I believe that in not doing so I play my part in the whole. It is therefore a decision which has indeed political implications.
However, the participants in Greece stressed consistently point b. Protecting animal rights, and they also demonstrated a significantly more national focus (c. Support national economy) than their UK counterparts with respect to their political consumerist motivations.
This may be as a result of the prolonged austerity and the resulting recent economic hardships of the country at the national level (Grasso, 2018). A typical response from the participants in Greece was that:
Participant D: Yes, I have buycotted Greek products, as part of the campaign for buying Greek. I am also buying organic and environmentally friendly products to the extent that I can. However, the first thing that comes in mind when I hear boycotting is boycotting products which have been tested on animals, and buycotting would be buying nationally produced products to boost the national economy.
Nevertheless, although several participants’ initial motivation was associated with more individualistic concerns (a. Protecting my personal health and b. Protecting animal rights), they eventually evolved into having a more holistic understanding of their consumption implications, stressing eventually the importance of their consumption decisions on the environment on a global scale (f. Protect the planet and encourage environmentally responsible lifestyles):
Participant F: [Me becoming a vegetarian] started by accident. I happened to watch some documentaries about animal brutality and I decided to give it a try. I decided to keep it up initially because I saw that I was not craving [eating meat]. Subsequently, I got
30 Direct quotes are reported verbatim, with no changes made to correct grammatical errors.
Use of ‘. . .’ within a focus-group quote denotes a pause by the participant; use of ‘(. . .)’
denotes contraction of text; use of ‘[ ]’ indicates the inclusion of text by authors to explain context.
154 | P a g e more information about what being a vegetarian means, and my main consideration [now] is the environmental impact of my consumer decisions. It is also an ethical issue connected to the depletion of communal resources. So although it all started by accident, I sought information on my own. I do not know if I would still be a vegetarian if it was only for the ethical factor (animal brutality, for example). My main concern is the environmental one.
Instead, the participants in the UK expressed predominately a simultaneous emphasis on d. Improving social ties in their community, and f. Protecting the planet and encouraging environmentally responsible lifestyles. The emphasis the UK participants placed on the need to support their local communities was expressed primarily in terms of a shared concern that the sense of community in their cities and neighbourhoods has been recently deteriorating. This was consistently a point of critical concern during the UK focus groups. This particular observation contrasts directly with the findings of Graziano and Forno (2012) that political consumerism in southern Europe is generally more rooted in local communities.
When asked about their fears, contributions and expectations (see Appendix I: C. Guide for Focus Groups) with regards to the general political environment in their countries, Participant K from the UK responded as follows, with a view shared by most:
Participant K: So, my fears first: climate change, droughts, food security and (…) people not growing their own food and buying it from somebody else (…). I also fear about the lack of community in the area where I live (…). I have recently been involved in a community garden that has added so much in our local community. People come in with their kids and they are like “Oh, what is this? I did not know [certain plants] grew up like that, although I eat it all the time” (…). People make this connection that we need to take care of the environment around us and that food does not simply come from the supermarket shelves.
Participant M assumed a similar approach when asked about his contributions:
Participant M: My contributions is educating myself, learning about gardening and small scale community projects. At a larger scale studying at the university and learning about larger-scale solutions to [environmental] issues such as desertification.
The findings of the focus groups above are confirmed by the results from the quantitative analysis of the survey questionnaire in Chapter 10, which reveals that political consumerism in Greece demonstrates a relatively more nationalistic outreach, whereas in the UK it is generally more rooted in local communities. However, young people in both countries perceive political consumerism as a means to promote environmentally responsible lifestyles.
This section has thus established a) a set of broad motivations behind the phenomenon.
The discussion then proceeded into b) exploring the ‘neoliberal’ factors that the participants of the focus groups associated with political consumerism. The following section will thus outline the focus groups findings in this direction.
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3. Neoliberal factors influencing political consumption decisions
Chapter 6 has identified in the literature different ways through which neoliberal