Gender and consumption in Finnish society

When studying the mechanisms by means of which feminine categories appropriate for the existing gender system are produced and preserved, reference has been made to the social division of labour, to the ideology of family life, the educational system and government activities. Little attention has been paid to consumption and consumption objects as requisites to the categorization of womanhood. This, however, is essential the closer one gets to the present day. Today, more than ever before, the identities of different social groups are created with the aid of consumer goods and habits. This article shows how womanhood and manhood are created with the support of commodities in Finnish society. The article also makes the point that these categories are not stable, because they are asymmetrical. Women in particular have historically shown unease about the content of gender categories and they have begun to use consumer objects that before had been taken as masculine. This in turn has led to attempts to make new distinctions with the help of consumer goods among men.     

Determinants in the modern choice of food

This paper is the first attempt to integrate contemporary discussions on the choice, role and significance of food in people's everyday lives. It goes beyond the purely economic-quantitative dimensions of food and relates them to the income factor. It is a revised version of a paper which first appeared in Finnish in Discussion Papers No. 33 published by the Labour Institute for Economic Research, Helsinki.