Özet:

Primary education is an important step in formal education. In this step, social studies are one of the subjects that teach students matters related to life. Social studies are based on a variety of disciplines (Doğanay, 2002). One of these disciplines is economy. Economy is an indispensable part of human life. One of the most significant common traits of individuals is that they are all consumers (Ferman, 1993). Students implicitly or explicitly play a role in consumption and they maintain their role in consumption when they become adults. This fact makes the students’ opinions regarding conscious consumption important. The primary objective of this study is set so as to find out 4th grade students’ opinions of conscious consumerism. For this purpose, the answers of the questions below were seeked; (i) which characteristics do a conscious consumer have? (ii) As a consumer what do you pay attention to when you are shopping? Method: The study is based on phenomenology, a qualitative study design. Studies on revealing and interpreting individual opinions and perspectives about a certain phenomenon are generally defined as phenomenology (Yıldırım and Simşek, 2006). The purpose of this study is to introduce the opinions of primary school 4th grade students regarding conscious consumerism. The study group of this study consisted of a total of 21 students, including 8 female students and 13 male students, receiving education in Sakarya, Adapazarı in 2010-2011 educational year. The data acquired from students was analyzed by the content analysis method. A semi-structured interview form was designed following a review of literature. In semi-structured interviews, questions are predetermined and an attempt is made to collect data through those questions (Karasar, 2005). The questions in the interview form which is prepared by researchers are structured so as to reveal the students’ opinions regarding conscious consumerism. Two specialists in the field were consulted about the content validity of the questions in the interview form and in accordance with the suggestions of the specialists necessary corrections were made. The interview form was finalized after six students were interviewed in order to control whether they understood the questions in the form or not. The interview form included these questions; (i) Which characteristics do you think a conscious consumer has? (ii) As a consumer what do you pay attention to when you are shopping? Results i. The result of the research showed that the students have knowledge about the characteristics of a conscious consumer. The students stated that the conscious consumer should have consumer responsibility consciousness, quality consciousness, budget-cost consciousness. ii. When the opinions of the students, who took part in the research, regarding their own consumer responsibility consciousness, quality consciousness, budget-cost consciousness were analyzed, it was found out that the students have enough knowledge about the subject and regard themselves as conscious consumers. Discussion and Conclusion: The students stated that the conscious consumer should have consumer responsibility consciousness, quality consciousness, budget-cost consciousness. This finding was regarded as significant in the sense that “From Production to Consume” unit in Social Science Programs of primary school 4th grade raises the students’ awareness of conscious consumerism. This result shows parallelism with the study conducted by Sağlam (2010). The researcher in question states in his study of conscious consumerism that the students got high scores from the scale. Besides, in their study Makela and Peters (2004) indicate that consumer education has a positive impact on students’ awareness of consumer rights and responsibilities. In addition; in his study, Ekström (2007) found out that the children influence their parents through their knowledge they obtained at school about consumerism. This finding shows the importance of students’ having knowledge about consumerism. When the opinions of the students, who took part in the research, regarding their own consumer responsibility consciousness, quality consciousness, budget-cost consciousness were analyzed, it was found out that the students have enough knowledge about the subject and regard themselves as conscious consumers. This result indicates that the students pay attention to their budgets. In his research concerning the effect of drama method on conscious consumerism level, Malbeleği (2011) found out that the total points of the test group students are higher than the control group students and this result made no difference statistically. Ata (2009) states that in Kayseri a fourth grade students’ receiving the 9th Traditional Consumer Rights Award as a conscious consumer is a significant indicator. The study concluded that the students that took part in the research have accurate knowledge about conscious consumerism and that their own opinions of conscious consumerism are at a high level. This result is important in terms of revealing that the students, who participate in consumption either directly or by influencing their parents and thus have a significant place in consumption, have competence regarding conscious consumerism. The results of this research can be compared with other researches that are to be done by using different methods.

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