Ethical Consumption As an Identity Project: a Narrative Approach to Finnish Ethical Consumers' Identity Construction

Aim of this study is to explore Finnish ethical consumers: Their values, preferences and habits. I will view ethical consumption as an identity project, that is to say, I will study how the consumer of the postmodern times constructs his or her identity by making ethical consumption choices. This research is qualitative in its nature. I conducted six life story interviews with Finnish young adults, who declare themselves ethical consumers. This open-ended and in-depth research method enabled me to obtain true understanding of my informants' behavior as ethical consumers. In organizing the transcribed interview data I used the methods of narrative analysis. I closely examined the interviewees' stories, and found common patterns of meaning in them. Based on these meanings, I elaborated five different themes and analyzed the data according to them.