Introduction

How does it feel to be poor in a society otherwise dominated by affluence? What kind of participation and what kind of choices are available to poor consumers? And, more generally, what are the consequences of the increased emphasis on consumption and consumerism for social marginalisation and the distribution of social welfare in Scandinavian societies?

This chapter examines the creation of new forms of poverty and social vulnerability in contemporary Scandinavian welfare states by analysing the relationship between access to consumption on the one hand and the experience of welfare and social integration on the other. The analysis builds on empirical results from a primarily qualitative, comparative research project on social vulnerability and consumption carried out in Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

Understanding the social dimension of consumption becomes particularly significant in the light of the increased individualisation and marketisation of the Scandinavian welfare states epitomised by a change in political regulation as well as by a shift in political rhetoric (from ‘citizen’ to ‘consumer’). In contemporary Scandinavian society, the norms and social control inherent in the evolving national discourse on ‘consumption’ influence a broad set of everyday experiences, choices and access to social participation (Bourdieu, 1984; Edgell and Hetherington, 1996). The aim is therefore to study what Bourdieu (1999) has called la petite misère (the little misery), focusing on those groups of the population who are subject to the rhetoric of affluence and to material welfare among other social groups, but who themselves are unable to take part in consumerism. We use the concept of social vulnerability to indicate the relatively deprived situation of these families (Hjort, 2002, 2004).

Consumption studies and social inequality

The field of consumption studies is extensive, and researchers have analysed consumption from a variety of perspectives. However, researchers have recently criticised consumption studies for overestimating the symbolic and expressive side of consumerism (Löfgren, 1996; Warde, 1996; Carrier and Heyman, 1997; Hjort, 2004).