Rapid rise in symbolic consumption among young people, yet extremely limited possibilities for increasing material consumption

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 854-877 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Ho ◽  
Stephanie O’Donohoe

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to seek to enhance the understanding of non-profit marketing and consumer identities by exploring volunteering as a form of symbolic consumption. Specifically, it seeks to examine how young people – both volunteers and non-volunteers – understand and relate to volunteer stereotypes, and how they manage stigma in negotiating their social identities in relation to volunteering. Design/methodology/approach – Grounded in consumer culture theory, the study uses mixed qualitative methods, incorporating focus groups, paired and individual interviews and a projective drawing task. Findings – Five volunteering-related stereotypes were identified: the older charity shop worker, the sweet singleton, the environmental protestor, the ordinary volunteer and the non-volunteer. Participants related to positive and negative attributes of these stereotypes in different ways. This led volunteers and non-volunteers to engage in a range of impression management strategies, some of which bolstered their own identities by stigmatising other groups. Research limitations/implications – The sample was drawn from 39 individuals aged 16-24 years and living in Scotland. Practical implications – Because stereotypes are acknowledged as a major barrier to volunteering, particularly among young people, a greater understanding of how these stereotypes are understood and negotiated can assist non-profit marketers in recruiting and retaining volunteers. Originality/value – This paper draws on theories of consumer culture and stigma to explore volunteering as a form of symbolic consumption, examines volunteering stereotypes among both volunteers and non-volunteers and uses multiple qualitative methods to facilitate articulation of young people’s experiences in this area.


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 360-382
Author(s):  
LAURA HIRSHBEIN

Abstract:American pediatricians are now bearing the brunt of massive increases in demand for treatment of mental illness in children and adolescents, areas in which many pediatricians have not been well trained. It would be logical to encourage policy measures to increase pediatricians’ expertise in this area to improve access to care. But the expanses in demand for services are about much more than increased incidence of biologically-based illnesses. Instead, pediatricians are caught juggling between their traditional focus on health and prevention and a rapid rise in broad socially, culturally, and economically mediated distress among young people and their families. This article explores the historical context of pediatricians’ engagement with mental health and the hazards of the push toward treatment for mental illness. The historical perspective can help us develop policy more directed to broader goals of improving the mental health of our nation’s children and adolescents.


2021 ◽  
Vol 251 ◽  
pp. 01090
Author(s):  
Chunhua Zhao

As a part of creative cultural industry, heritage tourism combines cultural, historical, artistic and scientific values. It includes both spiritual consumption and material consumption. It is not only a social and cultural phenomenon, but also an economic phenomenon, upgrading from sightseeing to purchasing goods and then to cultural experience. The process of heritage tourism experience is actually a process of encoding symbols. The attraction of heritage tourism derives from the symbolic significance of tourism itself. In essence, tourism consumption is a kind of symbolic consumption, which forms tourism motivation based on the attraction of indicative symbols, and then evolves emotional satisfaction in a symbolic environment. When tourists obtain emotional satisfaction through symbolic consumption, the premium ability of tourism commodities will be enhanced and the derivative value of tourism will thus be formed. Therefore, excavation and utilization of symbol consumption is the core factor of sustainable tourism construction.


Haemophilia ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Schultz ◽  
R. B. Butler ◽  
L. Mckernan ◽  
R. Boelsen ◽  

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia Cedeira Serantes
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Susan Gregory ◽  
Juliet Bishop ◽  
Lesley Sheldon
Keyword(s):  

2001 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alain Clémence ◽  
Thierry Devos ◽  
Willem Doise

Social representations of human rights violations were investigated in a questionnaire study conducted in five countries (Costa Rica, France, Italy, Romania, and Switzerland) (N = 1239 young people). We were able to show that respondents organize their understanding of human rights violations in similar ways across nations. At the same time, systematic variations characterized opinions about human rights violations, and the structure of these variations was similar across national contexts. Differences in definitions of human rights violations were identified by a cluster analysis. A broader definition was related to critical attitudes toward governmental and institutional abuses of power, whereas a more restricted definition was rooted in a fatalistic conception of social reality, approval of social regulations, and greater tolerance for institutional infringements of privacy. An atypical definition was anchored either in a strong rejection of social regulations or in a strong condemnation of immoral individual actions linked with a high tolerance for governmental interference. These findings support the idea that contrasting definitions of human rights coexist and that these definitions are underpinned by a set of beliefs regarding the relationships between individuals and institutions.


Crisis ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinod Singaravelu ◽  
Anne Stewart ◽  
Joanna Adams ◽  
Sue Simkin ◽  
Keith Hawton

Abstract. Background: The Internet is used by young people at risk of self-harm to communicate, find information, and obtain support. Aims: We aimed to identify and analyze websites potentially accessed by these young people. Method: Six search terms, relating to self-harm/suicide and depression, were input into four search engines. Websites were analyzed for access, content/purpose, and tone. Results: In all, 314 websites were included in the analysis. Most could be accessed without restriction. Sites accessed by self-harm/suicide search terms were mostly positive or preventive in tone, whereas sites accessed by the term ways to kill yourself tended to have a negative tone. Information about self-harm methods was common with specific advice on how to self-harm in 15.8% of sites, encouragement of self-harm in 7.0%, and evocative images of self-harm/suicide in 20.7%. Advice on how to get help was given in 56.1% of sites. Conclusion: Websites relating to suicide or self-harm are easily accessed. Many sites are potentially helpful. However, a significant proportion of sites are potentially harmful through normalizing or encouraging self-harm. Enquiry regarding Internet use should be routinely included while assessing young people at risk.


Crisis ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuan-Ying Lee ◽  
Chung-Yi Li ◽  
Kun-Chia Chang ◽  
Tsung-Hsueh Lu ◽  
Ying-Yeh Chen

Abstract. Background: We investigated the age at exposure to parental suicide and the risk of subsequent suicide completion in young people. The impact of parental and offspring sex was also examined. Method: Using a cohort study design, we linked Taiwan's Birth Registry (1978–1997) with Taiwan's Death Registry (1985–2009) and identified 40,249 children who had experienced maternal suicide (n = 14,431), paternal suicide (n = 26,887), or the suicide of both parents (n = 281). Each exposed child was matched to 10 children of the same sex and birth year whose parents were still alive. This yielded a total of 398,081 children for our non-exposed cohort. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to compare the suicide risk of the exposed and non-exposed groups. Results: Compared with the non-exposed group, offspring who were exposed to parental suicide were 3.91 times (95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.10–4.92 more likely to die by suicide after adjusting for baseline characteristics. The risk of suicide seemed to be lower in older male offspring (HR = 3.94, 95% CI = 2.57–6.06), but higher in older female offspring (HR = 5.30, 95% CI = 3.05–9.22). Stratified analyses based on parental sex revealed similar patterns as the combined analysis. Limitations: As only register-­based data were used, we were not able to explore the impact of variables not contained in the data set, such as the role of mental illness. Conclusion: Our findings suggest a prominent elevation in the risk of suicide among offspring who lost their parents to suicide. The risk elevation differed according to the sex of the afflicted offspring as well as to their age at exposure.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document