Statliga ideal och vardagens praktik - En pilotstudie om studenters matkonsumtion

Sammanfattning: This essay is firstly a methodological pilot study. We have investigated if qualitative methods, in this case semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews, can be used to complement existing empirical findings about food consumption. The study’s approach has also been to map out what variables that affects individuals choices regarding food consumption and how their choices are affected by governmental information. Through a historical overview of food consumption in Sweden, we can show how the governmental and individual roles have changed due to increased globalization and urbanization. We have also used a social-psychological theoretical framework and previous empirical findings to analyze why individuals not always act as themselves and others wish. The results from this study shows that students generally are more aware than other individuals regarding sustainable choices. Still, they find it difficult to specify why one choice is more sustainable than another, for example between conventional, organic and locally produced food. The majority of the respondents claimed that high pricing was the main obstacle for them to consistently go for the more sustainable choice. When talking about price, some of the respondents expressed that, both the external and the self-perceived image of what the life of a student includes further contributes to the idea of a ‘poor student with limited choices’. There is still an ongoing need to study social phenomena in the everyday live. We can, in line with this study’s litterature, note that several aspects of everyday life are corrected by the government. Regarding food consumption, that is characterized by individualism and act in the grey area between governmental ideals and the practice of everyday life, the need for knowledge is even bigger. Increased knowledge is crucial to make a sustainable urban development possible and we claim that qualitative methods can act as an important tool to illustrate and affect attitudes and norms.