This consumption history project investigates how the increasing use of disposable and short lifespan products, such as tissue paper and cardboard packages, has changed everyday practices and infrastructure in post-Second World War Finland. The project aims to gain novel understanding of the Finnish consumer society and develops new methodology to study empirically the interactions between culture, the material environment and the economy. The sources utilized in this mainly qualitative project include archives of paper industries and retail chains, household surveys, oral history collections, magazines, and production and trade statistics. Today, sustainable consumption is widely recognized as a major challenge. Effective interventions require profound knowledge of local consumption practices, which basic research of this kind can provide. The project is carried out at the Centre for Consumer Society Research at the University of Helsinki.

2021

2024