Non-consumerism Practices in Youth Veg Community (St. Petersburg Case)

Many various problems are present in modern society. The youth know that they are going to live in worse economic and ecological conditions, than their parents. Thus, youth movements, oriented on preserving the environment, emerge. Non-consumerism is one of the reactions towards ecological and consumerism problems. Researchers define it as “being against capitalist consumer culture” (Littler, 2011, p. 2). The thesis will be devoted to the non-consumerism practices in veg-community among young citizens of Saint-Petersburg. The research question of the paper is: How do people in veg-community implement non-consumerism practices? The research aims to describe the involvement of youth members of the St. Petersburg veg-community into non-consumerism practices. Qualitative methodology and the method of in-depth interviewing were chosen for the research. Results show that members of veg-community get involved in non-consumerism practices via the Internet, their acquaintances/friends, or by themselves. They implement various practices, such as refusal of buying certain items like those made by international corporations, recycling, reuse, etc. They say, that by doing such practices they save the planet by reducing the amount of waste and by saving the planet’s resources, as well as show empathy to each other.