YOUTH 2020 - The position of young people in Slovenia

Consumer behaviour and consumer activities  315 the context of elections, which could be compared to the burden of buying a packet of cigarettes or chewing gum (cf. Mueller and Stratmann, 1994). “/.../ I like these initiatives very much and I support them, but they require a very big change. It seems to me that in an established household, where my shopping patterns have been the same all my life, it is very difficult to change certain habits. And it seems to me that it is difficult to change parents’ opin- ions or would at least take a lot of work to really change it.” (Aleš, 25 years old, student of Sustainable Development Management) Further, it is clear that young people are genuinely trying to live in line with their values, and that this is not just a fad. This is also reflected in the very high proportion of young people who, for environmental rea- sons, self-limit and minimise their consumption and purchases to only what they really need. More than half (51.2%) are such consumers, and they are very dominant compared to those who do not (16.6%). In political science, a one-dimensional view of political participation (see Milbrath, 1965) has been taken for decades as the basis for thinking about individual politicality. From the ‘ apathetic citizens ’ to the ‘ gladia- tors ’, this has defined understandings of political activity, locating the individual at one point on a continuum between zero and the highest possible political activity. That political participation is a multidimen- sional concept, however, soon became clear, as certain individuals are highly active through some forms of political participation, but are pas- sive in others (Moyser, 2003: 177). This becomes particularly evident when it comes to individuals who, because of their powerlessness or dis- trust of conventional political arenas, seek alternative or even create new non-traditional spaces of political action (see Barnes, 1979). If we look at the link between conventional political participation (or electoral par- ticipation) and boycotting the purchase of certain products for political, ethical, or environmental reasons, we can see that the conventionally more politically active are also more oriented towards political consum- erism. Indeed, the highest percentage (16.9%) of those who participated in the last elections for members of the National Assembly also boycott- ed the purchase of products (see Figure 9.9).