Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Jenniina Sihvonen1
Abstract
The purpose of this research is to discern the different roles of media in the iden-
tity projects of the young. Building on the idea of social identification, the analysis
is focused on defining the different ways and criteria in which their own media
consumption is accounted for by the young when making sense of themselves and
others. Empirical data for the study included 53 Finnish university students’ essays
on their relationships with different media vehicles and contents. The findings
indicate that media consumption attaches to the identity projects of the young by
relating to their taste preferences, everyday concerns, lifestyles and life themes,
thereby addressing the basic states of human existence, namely having, doing and
being. The findings demonstrate that media consumption connects with five differ-
ent identity projects: (a) being a global citizen, (b) being a student, (c) being young,
(d) being a devotee and (e) being healthy.
Keywords
identity project, media consumption, media relationship, the young, narrative,
having, doing, being, consumer goals
Introduction
Different media vehicles and contents play a significant role in our lives. As Bolin
(2014) has recognized, there are several approaches, such as technological, institu-
tional and phenomenological world perspective, to look at the relationships between
media, culture and society. In this study at hand the focus is on assessing young
people’s perspective on media use, especially in terms of their identity construction.
Indeed, for the young, a life without television, the Internet, gaming and mobile
phones is very uncommon in Western countries, although individual, gender and
age differences do exist. Depending on the media vehicle, some of the young are
living ‘life in the media’, whereas others may have a ‘life sans media’ (Westlund
and Bjur, 2014). When acknowledging that the young also are in the critical phase
1
Department of Marketing, University of Vaasa, Finland.
Corresponding author:
Jenniina Sihvonen, Department of Marketing, University of Vaasa, Finland.
E-mail: jeha@uva.fi
172 YOUNG 23(2)
the level of analysis and methodological issues concerning the empirical research
will be outlined and the findings of the empirical analysis will be presented. The
empirical findings will elicit different identity projects of the young and show how
media consumption is entwined in those. The conclusions and limitations of the
study will be discussed at the end of the article.
(Adamson et al., 2007). Moreover, they function as incentives for future behaviour;
thus, possible selves provide a conceptual link between cognition and motivation
(Markus and Nurius, 1986).
As regards media use, Hoffner and Buchanan (2005) have found that young adults
show wishful identification: a desire to be or act like a media character, especially
when a character shares similar attitudes and is of the same gender. Wildermuth
and Dalsgaard (2008: 12) in their study on the uses and meanings of media among
low-middle-class youth in Brazil noticed that the work of imagination and dreaming
are central elements of media reception. Evidently, media constitute an important
resource for the processes of being and becoming.
Lifestyle basically means how one lives, and encompasses activities, interests,
opinions and/or values. In prior research, the essence of lifestyle has no longer been
associated with traditional groupings, such as social class and gender, but rather
connoting ‘individuality, self-expression and a stylistic self-consciousness’ (Bell
and Hollows, 2005: 4). Giddens (1991: 14) reminds us that the question: ‘How
shall I live?’ has to be answered in day-to-day decisions about how to behave, what
to wear and what to eat, and many other things, including media consumption.
Consumption, by definition, has been considered to be the activity that best cap-
tures what is meant by lifestyle (Jagose, 2003; Sobel, 1981). The range of choices
concerns not only aspects of appearance and lifestyle, but also life goals and rela-
tionships in broader terms.
The popular media readily offer a plethora of alternatives from which to choose
(Buckingham, 2008: 9). Make-over, cooking, furnishing, dieting and dating
TV-programmes, together with increasing number of lifestyle magazines and self-
help books have especially spurred the rise of lifestyle media in the 21st century,
thereby predisposing the audiences to the idea of the possibility of life transforma-
tion and personal growth. In this way, media provide people with symbolic resources
for realizing and expressing their own identities.
same TV programme can create a shared identity. Also Russell and Puto (1999) have
noticed the importance of relationships within the community of audience members.
The young have more control over their media choices than over other socialization
agents, such as family, school and community (Arnett, 1995).
Being Values
Life themes
Identity projects
Doing Current concerns
Consumption intentions
Feature preferences
Figure 1. Identity Projects within the Frame of Having, Doing and Being
Source: Modified from Huffman et al. (2000).
Sihvonen 177
(Huffman et al., 2000: 17). Similarly, we may consider that media use comprises
various forms and purposes. Even if we had a homogeneous group of people, such
as students, they would be likely to show great variation in their media consumption
preferences and reasons for media use.
When moving to the middle level of abstraction—doing, which is the realm
in the focus of this present study, we can recognize the existence of life projects,
also termed personal projects (e.g., Little et al., 1992) and identity projects (e.g.,
Harré, 1983) as in this study. These refer to the construction and maintenance of
an individual’s key life roles and identities, such as being a responsible mother, a
successful teacher, or a loyal employee (Huffman et al., 2000: 18). Identity projects
are dynamic in accordance with the changes in circumstances and life cycle. The
initiation and management of the projects reveal each person’s specialized orienta-
tions in life. McCracken (1987) has characterized these projects as each person’s
development, refinement, and disposal of specific concepts, such as manliness and
Americanism, from culturally established alternatives. It is not suggested here that
the projects would encompass the personal aspect only, but they also reflect the
underlying social processes and comparisons. Salmela-Aro et al. (2007) have iden-
tified that young adults’ goals in life tend to generally relate to education, travelling,
friendship, work, family, children, health, daily life, lifestyle, housing, hobbies,
wealth and self.
Identity projects are subsets of life themes (Belk, 1988; Mick and Buhl, 1992;
Parker, 1998). These, as values, are profound in human existence, limited in number
and rather invariant once developed (Holland, 1975). Csikszentmihalyi and Beattie
(1979) suggest that a life theme is the fundamental basis for an individual’s interpre-
tation of reality and way of coping with it. In the study by Huffman et al. (2000), the
life themes and values included such examples as being active, patriotic or appre-
ciative of art and style. In accordance with the research purpose, the analysis of the
empirical data will especially focus on the identity projects of the young, whilst also
recognizing the underlying life themes as well as the related concrete concerns and
needs for media use.
Research Methodology
Researchers rarely have direct access to people’s experiences, and have to rely on the
people’s own representations. Escalas and Bettman (2000) note that we can gain an
understanding of the role that acts and objects of consumption play in our lives by
analyzing stories that we tell. In fact, people are claimed to be natural story-tellers
(Bloor and Wood, 2006: 119). Narratives provide people with a cognitive vehicle to
achieve a sense of self and to understand what they and other people do. Thus, in
essence, narrative is a way to structure and understand reality. Specifically, Riessman
(2008: 137) sees that the construction and portraying of identities are central to nar-
rative inquiry. In the light of this, narratives should be essential sources for gaining
insight into young people’s identity projects in this study.
A sample of 53 essays written by students of the University of Vaasa in Finland
was collected in 2006. Altogether, 30 female and 23 male undergraduates in their
early twenties participated in the study. For the purposes of analysis, the informants
178 YOUNG 23(2)
were given an identification code: female 1–30 or male 1–23. However, all names of
those mentioned in the data have been either changed or removed in order to ensure
anonymity. All of the writers were students taking part in a course on consumer
behaviour, and the writing of the essays was one of their course assignments (although
without evaluation). The essays were written on the theme of media consumption
(consumption of television, radio, magazines, newspapers and the Internet).
The idea of social identification (i.e., social self-categorization) involves people
looking for sources of similarity and difference around them (Hogg and Abrams,
1990). In that way people are able to compare and situate themselves in relation to
their close others and to the broader cultural norms and values they are embedded in.
Guided by this conception, there were two kinds of data collected: 36 students wrote
about their own media consumption and 17 students about the media consumption
of a friend, relative or spouse. The length of the essays varied between and 106 and
493 words. Most were handwritten in a classroom situation, but some of the students
wrote their essay at home and delivered it to the researcher via e-mail. The task of
essay writing was only loosely guided, which meant that the students were given
some questions that would help them to write about their media use. The students
were asked questions, such as which medium they consume, for what purposes they
consume the media, when they consume these media, which media contents are their
favourites, which ones they hate, and what kind of media consumers they consider
themselves. Those who wrote about media consumption other than their own were
provided with corresponding questions. The students were not asked to follow any
specific structure in their writing or to cover all of the topics provided.
The narratives collected for this study are not aimed at accounting for change in
media consumption over time. Accordingly, the analytic focus is on the thematic
content of the narratives instead of their temporal structure. The contents of the nar-
ratives are analyzed in the light of the analytical framework of having, doing, and
being in order to address the different roles of media in the identity projects of the
young. Narratives are able to give reasons for particular consumer behaviours, such
as the formation of likes and dislikes. However, the aim is not to assemble a list of
student’s media preferences, but to connect media consumption to the identity con-
struction of the young.
Baumeister and Newman (1994) point out the specific tenets that guide narrative
thought and are worth taking into account when analyzing narratives. First, people
interpret their experiences relative to their intentions, which means that they are reflec-
tive about their goals and states of fulfilment. Second, people tend to make stories that
depict their behaviour and intentions as right and good. As Autio (2004) has noticed,
the writers may feel that they have to present themselves in an idealized way, especially
when the essays are written in a school environment. Third, people seek to portray a
feeling of control and efficacy in their accounts; thus they want to find rational explica-
tions for their thoughts and actions. Also in the light of the study at hand, it is expected,
and even taken advantage of, that people tend to think of their ideal selves and behav-
iour when writing about their media relationships. Most narratives do not simply
report events, but rather give the teller’s perspective on their meaning, relevance and
importance (Cortazzi, 2001: 384). Finding the truth can become a secondary concern
to the narrative researcher, when the primary interest is actually on how the writer sees
and presents himself or herself.
Sihvonen 179
Female informant 28 saw that she holds a different position with respect to media
use than her mother, considering that ‘I think that my mother could be more active
with respect to media use. Currently her relationship with media is rather passive’.
As regards this identity project it is important to be up to date, active in media use
and to make sense of reality by following domestic and foreign news and current
affairs regularly. In this spirit, female 25 said of her boyfriend:
I would describe Andy as a world citizen. He has travelled a lot and has good friends in
different countries and continents. Andy has language skills and he is interested in foreign
cultures. The Internet feeds these characteristics of his, and it is a means for him to keep
in touch with friends. It is also a good channel to keep dreams and plans alive and to feed
one’s imagination.
With reference to young adults’ goals as identified by Salmela-Aro et al. (2007), this
identity project connects specifically with the themes of travelling and friendship. In
terms of media user needs and gratifications, the identity project encompasses mainly
social integrative needs that relate to contacts with family, friends and the world
(Katz et al., 1973: 166–67).
The Internet is necessary as a help for school work and as entertainment. There’s no way
I could manage without it. It is my primary source of information, and among other
things I read the newspaper on the web every day. Through the Internet I also keep in
touch with my friends.
Television is not a necessity to her, and she could manage perfectly without it. To me, this
kind of media consumption tells me that she has the right kinds of priorities in her life,
when she has included things other than watching TV in her leisure time.
Especially the essays that were written about other people’s media consumption
showed that media consumption provides symbolic resources for understanding
what other people do and what they are like, as the citation from male 20, who writes
about his friend’s media use, showcases:
He follows the media pretty much, but he is only interested in sports-related news and topics.
Text-TV is his biggest object of desire, and it is pretty much open always when he is at
home. The magazines he has subscribed to relate without exception to sports (Hockey
magazine and so forth). Every medium has a role in his hobby (betting).
‘Being a devotee’ stresses that young people have affective needs for media use that
relate to individual aesthetic, pleasurable and emotional experiences. Most typically,
this identity project relates to the hobbies of the young (cf. Katz et. al., 1973: 166–67;
Salmela-Aro et al., 2007).
has to be his addiction. It is his weak point, his Achilles heel.’ In a similar vein, male
8 described his use of the Internet:
I have noticed my addiction when I have had technical problems with the Internet connec-
tion. For example, if the connection crashed on Friday night when I could not get help
before Monday, it meant that the weekend is doomed to be a catastrophe. Thus, the com-
puter and internet connection constitute an unquestionable basis for my life, all of my
interests and hobbies. Without this medium I feel powerless and purposeless.
Male 7 summed up well the role of media consumption in the lives of many by stat-
ing that the ‘media’s influence is two-fold for me. On the one hand, I cannot be
without it, but an overdose of it makes me feel unwell.’ Female informant 29 recog-
nized that it is possible to achieve a balance in media use like her boyfriend has:
‘Even though he consumes a lot of media, he is not a slave to certain series.’ Media
consumption seems to provide diverse possibilities, but also a lot of challenges for
the students in their everyday lives. For the young as well as for adults, television
especially has an important role in a student’s life for enabling relaxation, as female
informant 7 described: ‘I need one night a week when I can relax by laying on a sofa
watching television.’
The last recognized identity project brings us to see that young people have tension-
release needs for media use that relate to escape from the social roles in one’s every-
day life. Fulfilling of this need matters when it comes to the life area of health (cf.
Katz et al., 1973: 166–67; Salmela-Aro et al., 2007).
acts of media consumption and identity formation by eliciting lower and higher
level goals of consumption.
Explicit referral to the connection of identity and media use was rare in the writ-
ings. In other words, it was not typical to express media consumption in terms of life
themes or identity projects, but instead to give descriptions about the preferences,
routines and styles of media consumption. However, on closer scrutiny, the students
referred to identity construction by implication when telling of their motivations for
media use and the role of media in their life, and especially when commenting on the
style of media use of their closest ones. In fact, it was noticeable that identity issues
are best crystallized in social reflection, as those students who wrote about the media
consumption of another person addressed different kinds of media references, life
situations and choices of lifestyle (for instance, hobbies) more clearly. This notion
demonstrates that symbolic meanings of media consumption arise in social interac-
tions and that social comparison appeared to be a meaningful tool for the students
when making sense of their own media consumption. Moreover, it was found out
that the time spent with the media, the specific style of consumption, and contents
consumed are all meaningful elements when making sense of oneself and others.
The university students were active in giving meanings and reasons for their
media use. Thus, the students turned out to be relatively highly involved media con-
sumers for whom media consumption is an essential part of life, providing them
with various communication channels, information resources, meaningful contents,
lifestyle choices and close companions. In recent studies of the uses of media by
the young, the aspect of communication has emerged very clearly (e.g., Awan and
Gauntlett, 2013; Wilska and Pedrozo, 2007). Also in this study it appeared as one,
but not the only, angle from which to look at media use. Indeed, the current concerns
included how to keep updated, how to choose the right media for searching for infor-
mation, how to enjoy and communicate with others, how to make the most of the
media in one’s free time, and how to keep control of media use.
Most importantly, five distinct identity projects of the students were discerned:
being a global citizen, being a student, being young, being a devotee and being
healthy. These identity projects attach to broader life themes encompassing the
generic striving for sophistication, taking care of key life tasks, finding meaning-
ful and pleasant content in life, cherishing one’s life priorities and maintaining an
overall balance of life (see Table 1). Based on the findings we can better understand
how media consumption relates to students’ identity projects through their concrete
taste preferences and lifestyle choices and also through their life themes and values
at the highest level of abstraction within the frame of having, being and doing.
Certain limitations for the findings of the study should be pointed out. A nar-
rative related on one occasion may not mirror the same story told on a different
occasion to a different party because narratives are always addressed to a particu-
lar audience, such as a researcher (Bloor and Wood, 2006: 121). Moreover, the
meaning of a narrative depends on the social context in which it is produced and to
whom it is addressed (Elliott, 2005: 11). In this study the narratives were written
in a classroom situation and were guided by the researcher, thereby foregrounding
the writers as students. This makes the style of the narratives relatively analytic and
evaluative, rather than very intimate or anecdotal accounts of media consumption.
Relatedly, we should take into account the fact that university students constitute
Table 1. Summary of Findings
a rather homogeneous group of informants who are likely to have shared life tasks
and identity projects that are not common to all young people in different life situa-
tions. However, when moving on to the more abstract level ideas of life themes and
values, we get more universally shared accounts.
The notion of the implicit nature of identity construction suggests that specific
research techniques and sub-concepts with which to explore identity-related media
consumption are needed also in further studies. The present study did not take a
stand on the role of specific media vehicles for identity construction, but identified
the more abstract level identity goals and needs related to media consumption. That
is why, even though the data may age fast as new media vehicles bring out and genera-
tions grow up, the conclusions about the roles of media in consumers identity projects
are expected to be relatively lasting. Having said that, media-specific elaborations,
together with elaboration of gender, class and/or race differences in terms of the role of
media in the identity projects would bring additional insights to this study.
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Sihvonen 189
Author’s bio-sketch
Jenniina Sihvonen is University teacher at the Department of Marketing,
University of Vaasa. Her research interests include consumer behaviour and
branding especially in the context of media. Previously, she has published in journals
such as Place Branding and Young Consumers. Her doctoral dissertation (year 2012)
was on the topic of Identity-related Media Consumption.