YOUTH 2020 - The position of young people in Slovenia

312 young people can experience a sense of belonging to like-minded groups and gain a sense of empowerment and the possibility of influencing social condition. Through activism that is in line with their values and attitudes they can create an ‘ethical compass’ (Micheletti and Stolle, 2010: 128), through which they make decisions about their actions and lifestyle choices. These choices are becoming increasingly important in the con- struction of (young) individuals’ identities, which in turn influence their behaviour and consumption (Giddens, 1991: 5-6). Lifestyle choices are thus reflected in identity politics, i.e. the politicisation of everyday prac- tices, including ethical, moral, and political choices (de Moor, 2014: 4). In this context, we can also observe choices relating to decisions to boy- cott certain products for political, ethical, environmental reasons, or to purchase certain products for the same reasons. Both refer to the concept of ‘political consumerism’, which is situated within ‘do-it-yourself’ poli- tics and encompasses practices and actions based on the awareness that what we buy affects not only the health and wealth of the individual, but also the local community, wider society and the planet (Pickard, 2019: 386). Such consumer behaviour is not individualistic consumer partici- pation, concerned only with the consumer’s own well-being, but rather is practiced on the basis of an awareness that everyone can contribute to broad social change (Pickard, 2019: 389). If there is a shift towards more interest in shopping in 2020, it should also be noted that there is also a shift towards more active expression of political, ethical, environmental views related to certain products, com- pared to 2010. Although the majority of young people still do not make purchases or boycott certain products in relation to certain political, ethical, environmental attitudes, there is a strong increase (between 15- 18%) of young people who are interested in or influenced by such prod- uct-related issues when shopping. Almost half (or 46.3%) of young peo- ple in Slovenia say they have or probably would boycott the purchase of certain products for political, ethical, or environmental reasons. In 2010, 31.3% of individuals did so.