Vuokko Jarva

Present research

Name of the researcher: Vuokko Jarva Research position: PhD(SocSc), adjunct professor Title of the research: Everyday futures work and moral economy in households Abstract

Consumer education is one of the new thematic wholes added to basic education. Until now, consumer behaviour has in literature mainly been discussed as a market phenomenon. To give solid ground to consumer and household economy education in primary school, the rapidly transforming household economy must be studied both in light of history and future. It has to be studied from the point of view of the consumers themselves, either as individuals or members of a family. The aim of my study is to explore this subject. The narrative approach is chosen because it is a new but already tested tool to give information in matters which are not calculable, as are many of the matters household economy and consumer behaviour consist of. Consumer behaviour is tightly intertwined with the economic functions of a household. The household economy has experienced a major transformation, with the production based agrarian household gradually becoming a consumption-oriented urban household.

The economic, the ethical and the social dimensions are tightly intertwined in the household. To understand modern consumption and to be capable of educating consumers, the historical processes of a household and the expectable futures must be understood.

The study is divided into theoretical and empirical parts. The theoretical part consists of the scanning of existing material on people's everyday futures work, which consists of anticipation, strategy formation and planning. On basis of the scanning a theoretical framework for an empirical study is constructed. After that a net-questionnaire is led, hopefully in several countries at the same time.

The study is led in dialogue with colleagues from the National Board of Consumer Research, the Department of Consumer Economics, University of Helsinki, and the Association of Consumption Research, Finland. We are having partnership discussions for the main study with domestic and foreign institutions.

Vuokko Jarva, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor. Department of Home Economics and Craft Science P.O.Box 8, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland Tel. +358-9-191 29790 Mobile +358-40-7291 322 e-mail: vuokko.jarva@helsinki.fi , http://home.edu.helsinki.fi/~jarva/