consumption Archives

Consuming cultural spaces and young people’s sense of belonging

clarajul on 25. november 2024

Young people live in a world characterised by multiple crises and global emergencies in which a sense of belonging is increasingly difficult to achieve. Younger generations have experienced extreme levels of uncertainty in the context of the Global Financial Crisis and during the Covid-19 crisis. In addition, the digitalisation of young people’s everyday lives and new forms of communication have intensified the complexity that they have to deal with. In this context, the research project LOCUS “sociaL media, yOuth and Consumption of cUltural Spaces” (funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation, Greece) explores the role of cultural spaces in youth experiences and in the ways, young people come to belong to the society in which they live.

Young woman sitting in a museum reading — credit: pexels | weija ma

Belonging in the consumer society

It is within the consumer society that young people construct their identities in relation to their needs for distinguishing themselves among peers as well as belonging in groups. According to Featherstone (1991), it is the consumer culture that has played a great role in the transition to a way of life in which consumer choices are increasingly fluid and predetermined status groups are less significant. It could be argued that this point is linked with Maffesoli’s (1996) notion of neo-tribes. In this sense, young people’s self-identification consumer-related choices affect their ephemeral but meaningful membership to various groups. However, Bauman’s (1992) position is more critical in relation to neo-tribes as a source of collective belonging. In this way, young people are responsible for themselves as individuals and they have to manage the “sources of the market” accordingly in order to navigate in contemporary societies. From a different perspective, Warde (1994), suggests that group membership affects the selection of lifestyles as well as that belonging comes before identity formation. What is important here is that in their quest for belonging, young people are not only engaged in consuming products but also through the spaces and places of consumption.

Two young people sitting close to each other in front of an art space — credit: pexels | cottonbro

Space, place and the sense of belonging

It could be argued that mobility, digitalisation and globalisation have altered significantly the ways young people experience both temporal and spatial changes. Perhaps consumption has gained such importance in the contemporary ways of living in the city, so that young people are somehow engaged in a process of maximising the benefits from their urban experiences as a sense of affirmation. Urban spaces and the opportunities to consume might offer young people a spatial experience that they aspire to engage with. However, the role of consumption could be contested. It might be that spaces of consumption can intensify social divisions and uncover aspects of social exclusion within the city. The satisfactions that consumption provides are a fundamental element of young people’s relationship to spaces and places. This is something that I consider also really important in the context of the LOCUS project. In this work, we try to understand the role of consumption in relation to youth experiences (especially cultural experiences) in the city. In this way, I think it’s crucial to focus on the socio-cultural processes of how young people choose what to engage with and consume. In LOCUS, we are interested in cultural spaces in Greece and the ways young people interact and engage with such sites.

Cultural spaces and youth experiences of belonging

Steven Miles (2021) points out the importance of understanding cultural spaces as crucial socio-economic entities in our contemporary societies as well as the effects of wider alterations around culture; cultural spaces are the contemporary sites in which performances of the experience society unfold. In the context of the research project, we began by focusing on three cultural spaces in Greece: the Onassis Stegi, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center and the Acropolis Museum. Our intention was to understand how young people consume such places, in what ways the feel they belong and how they construct their identities. In this multi-method project, young people during the photo-elicitation interviews expressed their views and feelings about their cultural experiences. It was really interesting that they highlighted how they enjoy being in such places due to the common interests with other people. For our young participants, visiting the specific places made them feel more relaxed, provide them with a safe environment and functioned as a source of inspiration. However, we need to be critical and take into account what Bourdieu and Darbel (1991: 112) argue about cultural sites; cultural spaces “reinforce for some the feeling of belonging and for others the feeling of exclusion”. Young people who possess the necessary cultural and socio-economic capital, through cultural consumption, might be able to benefit socially and culturally. At the same time, we need to question what this means for young people who are socially and culturally excluded and the impact of this lack of sense of belonging in relation to such cultural spaces in their lives.

Bio

Kostas Theodoridis is a Postdoctoral Fellow and Principal Investigator of the research project LOCUS in the Department of Communication, Media and Culture at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences. He is also an Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He completed his PhD in the Department of Sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Funding note

The research project was supported by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (H.F.R.I.) under the “3rd Call for H.F.R.I. Research Projects to support Post-Doctoral Researchers” (Project Number: 7767).

References

Bauman, Z. (1992). Intimations of Postmodernity. London: Routledge.

Bourdieu, P. and Darbel, A. (1991). The Love of Art: European Art Museums and their Public. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Featherstone, M. (1991). Postmodernism and Consumer Culture. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Maffesoli, M. (1996). The Time of Tribes: The Decline of Individualism in Mass Society. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Miles, S. (2021). The Experience Society: Consumer Capitalism Rebooted. London: Pluto Press.

Warde, A. (1994). Consumption, Identity-Formation and Uncertainty. Sociology, 28(4), 77-898. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038594028004005.

Pay-to-play? Belonging through consumption in commercial games

clarajul on 14. desember 2022

Kamilla Knutsen Steinnes

Children and adolescents are visible and connect to others through things, both tangible and intangible. That is, consumption plays an integral part in belonging. Belonging in peer groups may take place in social arenas, such as physical locations or abstract contexts – like virtual gaming platforms.

Playing video games is currently the largest hobby among Norwegian adolescents. Importantly, it is also one of the most expensive hobbies. This suggests that games are yet another social arena where economy plays a part by creating conditions for participation, social relations, and (in)equality.

Two teenagers sitting together holding gaming controllers. — credit: pexels mikhail nilov

It is important to stress the many favorable and constructive effects of playing video games. Games provide an arena for numerous positive activities, such as creativity, learning, and social interaction. For instance, games can facilitate social relations between players or evoke positive affect through immersive emotional gameplay sequences. Moreover, some studies indicate that playing games can provide cognitive benefits, such as quicker and better learning, faster and more precise attention control, improved problem-solving, and increased visuospatial abilities

A girl laughing with a gaming controller in her hands. — credit: pexels alena darmel

However, games also represent a multi-billion-dollar industry. This is reflected in the estimated global revenue for 2022 at over 200 billion USD. The commercial success of the gaming industry has further increased during and after the Covid-19 pandemic, as Norwegian children and adolescents have been spending more time and money on gaming than before the coronavirus outbreak.Hence, gaming is a thriving industry, where mainstream games are becoming increasingly commercialized. Most commercial games employ a variety of revenue strategies, including subscriptions, microtransactions, virtual products, merchandising, and advertising. Thus, games are designed to make players stay and keep them spending their time and money in-game. When players enter such a marketplace in games, they are met with a sophisticated design intended to influence their decision to purchase virtual products, where in-game shopping is framed as fun and playful and default choices are made salient in the shops.

Boy holding a controller — credit: pexels tima miroshnichenko

The market tactics of games are not a new notion. Commercial markets have long acknowledged and utilized the fact that we belong to others through material things. Building on inclusion (and exclusion) mechanisms, the markets offer various types of clothes, cosmetics, and other products that are tailored to specific activities, specific genders, specific ages, specific neighborhoods, and so on. For instance, a pair of sneakers cannot (or rather should not) be used for both running and playing basketball. Instead, separate pairs are needed to fit in with the norms for each activity – norms that tend to be heavily influenced by commercial market actors and their economic interests. The gaming marketplace is designed in a similar fashion. Most commercial games have their own in-game store where players can buy a wide variety of virtual products. The products are tailored to specific game characters, holidays, seasons, events, and so on. Players typically sort these products into two main categories: functional and cosmetic items. Both types of product categories tend to have some sort of symbolic meaning, where the purchased product only reaches its full value when it is made visible to others and provides a type of social reward.

A girl using a VR headset and controller to game. — credit: pexels cottonbro studio

The social significance of consumption in games also appears in previous research with children and adolescents. Such studies, although limited, suggest a social stigma related to not having the most expensive, newest, and coolest in-game gear and accessories. Players who are willing or able to spend money in-game tend to get significant advantages over players who are unwilling or unable to do the same. Hence, consumption in-game can be highly important for young people to feel a sense of belonging to peer players. The notable role of consumption in games is also evident in the fact that commercial games are increasingly treating children as active, individual consumers with their own disposable income.

Gaming console with super mario game on it. — credit: pexels pixabay

In fact, income levels have a demonstrated effect on young people’s experiences on digital platforms and can lead to discrimination, shaming, and status concerns. In some contexts, having the ‘correct’ consumer products may signal in-group belonging and social status. Whether children and adolescents can or cannot afford such status markers and, importantly – show them off to others – might have an impact on acceptance and belonging among peers on gaming platforms. Previous research has largely neglected to explore any potential positive outcomes of consumption in gaming, such as effects on well-being, inclusion, and participation. This provides a substantial avenue for future research on children’s belonging in social arenas.

Girl gaming with three screens — credit: pexels rodnae productions

Author bio

Kamilla Knutsen Steinnes is a PhD Candidate in Behavioral Analysis at Oslo Metropolitan University and a researcher at Consumption Research Norway. In her PhD, she investigates social inclusion among young gamers through their consumer behavior.