The young consumer-citizen: nationhood and environmentalism in children's identity narratives

Authors

Teresa Davis, University of Sydney
Julie Francis, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

90238

Publication Details

Davis, T. & Francis, J. E. (2014). The young consumer-citizen: nationhood and environmentalism in children's identity narratives. Marketing Theory: an international review, 14 (4), 417-429.

Abstract

The environmental consumer-citizen has become a global master narrative that is the outcome of environmental discourse (Darier, 1999; Harper, 2001). In this article, we examine a particular strand of the environmental citizen identity in the context of environmental and consumption consciousness. Through interviews with Australian children about themselves, their consumption, and their links to local and larger global communities, we uncover an adapted strand of this narrative. A local transformation of the master narrative on environmental citizenship is seen in the national identity narrative of the 'ethno-consumer'. This identity narrative is one of the 'good' green Australian consumer-citizen constructed in relation to regional political and economic discourses. We uncover how this strand of environmental consciousness is used as identity capital in children's narratives of self and nation (Hage, 1998). We suggest that there exist several levels of identity narratives. In this particular context, the national identity narrative appears to adapt and accommodate, but also dominate, the global master narrative for these children.