We Are What We Buy : An exploratory study of how young Swedish consumers construct their identities through luxury consumption

Sammanfattning: Abstract Problem: Previously, only few wealthy individuals had the opportunity to engage luxury consumption. Today, money and time is a lot more dispersed and thus give the regular citizen a chance to purchase luxury goods. Productivity and quality management has led to a growing production of luxury goods and has been spread to the mass population. Previous studies have proven that there is a relationship between possessions and identities, but lack research on younger consumers and their agendas for luxury consumption. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to explore how young consumers are using luxury consumption when constructing their identities and if this new group of luxury consumers consume luxury goods in a new way. Method: In order to fulfill the purpose of this thesis, an epistemological relativistic assumption has been made, and includes a qualitative exploratory research design with an inductive approach. The primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews, where participants had an interest in luxury consumption. Conclusion: Our findings suggests that there is a new group of young consumers who construct their identity through luxury consumption, based on the symbolic meanings and the perceived personal reward. This social group uses luxury consumption to conform with their preferred social references, but also to differentiate themselves. Certain possessions, interests and the environment an individual live in were all found to be important tools for young consumer when they construct their identity. “We are what we buy” has been proven to be a central concept in young consumers identity creation of this study.