Estonian Human Development Report

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CHAPTER 5 Quality of life in a consumer and information society 5.1. Defining consumer and information society The concepts of consumer society and culture are usually associated with modern Western countries. The main agent here is the consumer (not, for example, “the worker” or “the citizen”); important values like freedom and progress are evaluated according to consumerist criteria (breadth of choice and growth of well-being) and commercial signs (e.g. advertisements) play an important role in the cultural sphere (Ritzer & Slater 2001: 6). It is more difficult to treat the consumer society as a clearly defined type of society than to analyze consumer culture which combines various values, opinions and activities related to consumption in one way or another. Thus, “consumer society” will remain a rather arbitrary term which is nonetheless used below for the sake of conciseness. One of the aims of this chapter is to look at the current consumption of both material and non-material goods in Estonia from the two following aspects: comparing Estonia to other European countries and describing the development dynamics and changes within Estonia, while attempting to interpret them within the context of people’s quality of life. To a certain extent, consumption in Estonia today must be interpreted through the prism of Soviet consumer culture. The keywords in those times were shortages, the use of networks based on social capital to acquire desirable goods, and the particularly strong symbolic value of Western goods. Transition from socialism to capitalism has thoroughly changed the relationship between people and goods. Among other things, consumer culture has brought about various tensions that were not experienced as acutely in the Soviet society (see Keller 2004). Both the routine consumption of goods and services to satisfy daily needs (see Gronow & Warde 2001) and the purchasing of goods with greater symbolic value (e.g. buying a car) constitute a kind of charged semantic field. Clashes occur along the temporal axis between the Soviet culture of shortages and the current abundance (which is often only seeming, however) that require the use of completely different skills and coping strategies. It is also possible to explain consumers’ satisfaction with their lives today through a comparison with the past. In addition, there is a charged spatial field, meaning that Estonia can be compared with other European countries in terms of whether and to what extent Estonia’s consumerism has “caught up with” the Western world and what differences exist. We will proceed from the premise that achieving a certain imaginary “normal” Western level of consumption (which is not based on objective standards but is subjective by its very nature) is part of the quality of life of Estonian residents today, or that at least the perceived absence thereof is more likely to cause dissatisfaction than satisfaction. The low general quality of life and liveability exhibited by the Estonian society as described earlier in Chapter 3 is also often related to our absence of wealth, i.e. our relatively scant consumption opportunities (which have, admittedly, increased rather quickly in recent years). This means that in our current young and undeveloped consumer culture it is impossible to condemn everyone on an equal basis for over-consumption. This chapter does, however, question the capability of today’s consumers to assess the existing selection of consumption opportunities as well as to know their rights and have the courage to stand up for them. The subject of sustainable consumption is treated in this chapter in the context of environmental conservation, rather than that of moral attitudes. The concept of an information society is an indication of the development of a new social structure that modifies the values, ways of life and economic models characteristic of an industrial society. The expected changes are primarily associated with the implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) both by the government and the business sector, as well as the use of ICT facilities by individuals. Although mobile phones, computers and the Internet are being used by an increasing number of Estonian residents daily for the purpose of work, communication and recreation, the use of the term “information society” in this context does not signify the use of ICT as a means of creating a qualitatively new society. Unlike the concept of consumer society, information society has mainly acquired a positive connotation in public texts. It has been used often by the press, in politics, and in social sciences (an overview of the debate in Estonian is provided by Kanger 2007). Partly due to the overexploitation of the term, it lacks a clear, unambiguous and standardized definition. Many documents, including Estonia’s plans for future development, see the implementation of information and communication technology as a driving force behind economic growth and the means of developing a democratic civil society. On the other hand, it is clear that information technology has become a part of many people’s daily lives and a factor in their quality of life. Several previous studies (Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt, Vihalemm, Viia 2007; Runnel, Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt, Reinsalu 2009; Reinsalu 2008) indicate a gap between the | 102
individual and public sphere with regard to ICT. Individuals are unenthusiastic about implementing ICT features for promoting civil society and tend to employ ICT as a tool for using existing entertainment services, finding information and communicating. Thus, their use of the Internet is mainly directed at improving their personal quality of life and the fulfilment of their daily needs. The question of the roles of the consumer and the citizen arises in the context of both the consumer society and information society. Consumers are traditionally associated with passive, mostly non-critical hedonism and the tendency to attend to personal interests, whereas citizens are associated with active social thought and a sense of responsibility, enabling them to rise above narrow private interests (see Gabriel & Lang 2006). Today’s complicated society has also been termed a global risk society (see Beck 2005), where the development of science and technology not only produces benefits, but also results in unforeseen side-effects which may manifest in the form of environmental pollution, health risks caused by additives contained in food products, or cyber-bullying children. This confuses the line between the consumer and the citizen: by consuming material goods as well as the non-material services and products of the information and media field, people constantly make civic decisions that affect both their own quality of life and that of others, who are often living very far away. Whether or not people perceive the substance and effect of these decisions is another question. Within the context of these contradictions it is especially important to analyze the younger generation. They are the social group that has adopted the patterns of activity and values associated with the information and consumer society in its purest form. Moreover, it is primarily children and young people who will make Estonia’s scenarios for the future a reality. Younger age groups are more individualistic and consumption-oriented compared to middle and older age groups, and it is characteristic of them to have high References 1. Beck, U. (2005 [1986]) Riskiühiskond. Teel uue modernsuse poole. Tartu: Tartu University Press. 2. Gabriel, Y. & Lang, T. (2006) The Unmanageable Consumer. London: Sage. 3. Gronow, J. & Warde, A. (toim.) (2001) Ordinary Consumption. London: Routledge. 4. Kanger, L. (2007) Infoühiskonna määratlemine: kriitiline teooriaülevaade. Master’s thesis, University of Tartu, Institute of Journalism and Communication [http://mail.jrnl.ut.ee:8080/282/]. 5. Keller, M. (2004) Tarbimiskultuuri pinged tänapäeva Eestis. Akadeemia, 10, 2228–2252. expectations with regard to their quality of life. The socialization of the younger generation into responsible and active citizens, creative thinkers and sensible consumers is possible only when we realize the nature of the activities our children and youth have come to participate in and the opinions they have come to hold as a result of the effects of the information and consumer society on their living environment. The analysis provided at the end of this chapter should help us understand the younger generation more profoundly. In providing empirical descriptions of phenomena related to the information and consumer society, we have mainly used the results of the representative population survey entitled Mina. Maailm. Meedia, conducted by the Institute of Journalism and Communication of the University of Tartu in cooperation with social research companies Faktum and Saar Poll. The data that has been collected for this survey after every three years since 2002 (follow-up survey stages were carried out in November 2005 and September/ October 2008, with samples of 1470, 1475 and 1507 respondents aged between 15 and 74, respectively) allows us to analyze the changes that have occurred in the development of the information and consumer society in terms of several characteristics and to detail the trends over time. We also make use of data collected from student surveys conducted by the Institute of Journalism and Communication of the University of Tartu (Estonian school pupils’ media use survey 2001–2002, Noored ja meedia (Youth and the Media) 2005, Noored ja Internet (Youth and the Internet) 2007, Noorte elustiil (Youth Lifestyles) 2007) and other surveys conducted in Estonia (for example, Lapsed ja Internet (Children and the Internet) 2006). Furthermore, we have used international studies (for instance, Eurobarometer, Flash Eurobarometer 2008) and statistics (including data from Eurostat, the indexes of the World Economic Forum) to put the developments that have occurred in Estonia into context and compare them to the developments in other countries. 6. Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt, P., Vihalemm, P., Viia, A. (2007) Digital Opportunities as a Development Factor. Heidmets, M. (ed.). Human Development Report 2006 (95–105). Tallinn: Public Understanding Foundation. 7. Reinsalu, K. (2008) Implementation of Internet Democracy in Estonian Local Governments. Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus [http://dspace.utlib.ee/dspace/handle/10062/8081]. 8. Ritzer, G. & Slater, D. (2001) Editorial. Journal of Consumer Culture, 1(1): 5–8. 9. Runnel, P, Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt, P., Reinsalu, K. (2009) Estonian Tiger Leap from Post-Communism to the Information Society: From Policy to Practices. Journal of Baltic Studies, 40(2). 5.2. Development tendencies of a consumer culture Development of consumer society in Estonia A consumer society is a multifaceted complex of phenomena wherein global environmental problems related to the amount and way we should consume in order to preserve a sustainable living environment are interlaced with issues linked to the quality of life on an individual level. A case in point would be to determine the level of consumption that would allow an individual to “live well” in Estonia today. 103 |
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Estonian Human Development Report
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Estonian Human Development Report T
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4.2. Ethnic differentiations in sat
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Preface This year, the Estonian Hum
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CHAPTER 1 Estonian Human Developmen
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Figure 1.1.3. Life expectancy in co
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Figure 1.2.2. Life expectancy at bi
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to reality. The greatest inaccuracy
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Figure 1.2.9. Internal migration ev
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12. Marksoo, A. 1992. “Dynamics o
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Table 1.3.1. PISA 2006 study result
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Table 1.3.2. Number of students in
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1.4. The gross domestic product and
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Figure 1.4.3. Estonian GDP (right a
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1.5. Changes in the Estonian Human
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2.2. Health of Estonian residents i
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Table 2.2.4. Differences in life ex
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Figure 2.4.1. Healthy life years of
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Figure 2.4.4. Various accidents, tr
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2.5. Lifestyle and behaviour as a s
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Figure 2.5.5. Smoking in Estonia in
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Figure 2.6.1. Overview of the compo
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Table 2.6.2. Use of specialized med
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dren. The majority of services are
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Figure 2.8.2. How much a health dis
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Page 56 and 57: CHAPTER 3 Quality of life and life
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Page 60 and 61: Table 3.2.4. An assessment of the e
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Page 68 and 69: Figure 3.3.4. Percentage of people
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Page 80 and 81: Pieper, A. Sixsmith, Care related q
Page 82 and 83: Figure 3.7.1. The placement of Euro
Page 84 and 85: Figure 4.2.1. Life satisfaction by
Page 86 and 87: Table 4.2.1. Factors forming genera
Page 88 and 89: Annexes Annex 4.2.1. Socio-demograp
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Page 92 and 93: Figure 4.3.4. Attitudes of the Esto
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Page 102 and 103: mote equal opportunities. At the (e
Page 106 and 107: Figure 5.2.1. GDP and AIC per capit
Page 108 and 109: Figure 5.2.3. Distribution of consu
Page 110 and 111: Figure 5.2.4. Indexes of environmen
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have been underfinanced or are not
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Table 7.1. Factors that favour and
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Table 7.2. Potential economic devel
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Authors Chapter 1 Ene-Margit Tiit,
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Margit Keller (PhD) is a Senior Res
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Special prizes Estonian Human Devel
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Estonian Human Development Report H
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Estonian Human Development Report H
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Honorable mentions Estonian Human D
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Estonian Human Development Report P
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Estonian Human Development Report A
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Estonian Human Development Report

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