Melbourne Business School - Theses
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ItemGay print media’s golden era: Australian magazines and newspapers 1970-2000( 2015)The late 20th century was a golden era for Australian gay print media: more than five million copies annually of gay and lesbian publications were printed at its peak, with revenues of nearly eight million dollars a year. Yet there was not even a leaflet before 1969 because homosexuals then did not dare to publish in the climate of active oppression. Growing liberal attitudes within sections of broader society, and, at a practical level, reform of censorship laws made gay publishing possible. The remarkable growth of this industry stands as testimony to the dramatic change in mainstream society’s attitudes towards homosexuality, and changes within the gay community itself, during the final decades of last century. From 1970 to 2000 nearly 100 significant magazines and newspapers were produced around the country. Publishers used print media to advance gay movement aims, despite pursuing a variety of visions and goals for how they saw a better world for gay and lesbian people. Their publications allowed discussion of what it meant to be gay or lesbian in Australia; provided an arena to present positive viewpoints regarding homosexuality that countered dominant mainstream attitudes; and brought people together through personal classifieds and information about bars and other community activities. In order to sustain their businesses, publishers took commercial opportunities presented to them. And they needed to expand their operation to attract readers and advertisers. This offered economic viability to the publications, and allowed publishers to sustain a reliable workforce and improve their product. All publishers were forced to deal with the business side of their operation, which often caused tension between their initial goals for a better world and the need to run the business. A key resolution of this tension came through adopting the promotion and defence of community as a primary political project. This allowed publishers to freely develop synergies with advertisers that helped build and develop community infrastructure, such as venues, festivals, and small businesses. Expansion of the sector magnified the impact of this synergy on the community’s growth. It allowed movement ideas and information on community activities to reach and influence a much wider audience, and the day-to-day pursuit of business activity, in particular advertising revenue and distribution outlets led to a myriad of direct relationships with mainstream society that challenged prejudice and helped normalise homosexuality.
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ItemSymbolic meanings of green consumption practices among young environmentalists( 2012)This thesis explores green consumption practices among young environmentalists in an Australian city. It argues that subjective experiences and socially constructed symbolic meanings of green consumption practices explain how and why young environmentalists engage in green consumption practices in connection with the emerging green consumer movement. This thesis aims to extend theoretical underpinnings of green consumption by postulating a theoretical framework of symbolic meanings of green consumption practices. This framework is built on an investigation of what consumers do when they engage in green consumption as opposed to antecedents of intentional green consumption. The main research problem was articulated as: In relation to the emerging green consumer movement, what symbolic meanings of green consumption practices are shared among young environmentalists in Australia? Symbolic meanings of green consumption were investigated by adopting an interpretive approach and using photo-elicited in-depth interviews with young environmentalists. A skeletal theoretical framework guided the investigation, which was built on several sensitising concepts including meanings of green consumption, ways of engaging in green consumption practices, consumer identity expressions, and social connections and differentiations through engaging in green consumption practices. The postulated theoretical framework of the thesis is built on several thematic categories: 1) green consumption seen as keeping an eye on producers and sellers, 2) “naturally greened” personal habits, 3) emotional affiliations with green procurements, 4) green prosumers to replace commodities, 5) empowered and shared consumption: signs of the connection with the emerging green consumer movement, challenging the dominant social paradigm, 6) redefined environmental paradigm, 7) unperceived local risk of climate change, and 8) I, we, and others in the emerging green consumer movement. This thesis concludes that the meanings of green consumption practices among young environmentalists are built on having needed to disassociate from the dominant market systems and mainstream consumer practices of presumably green-ignorant mainstream consumers. The young environmentalists seek alternative and enjoyable means of consumption while taking part in the emerging green consumer movement. Positive connotations seem to be more prominent among the environmentalists’ green consumption practices than negative connotations such as limiting, restricting or controlling consumption or imminent, local danger of climate change. This leads to the formation and expression of green consumer identities through social connections and differentiations. This thesis has potential implications for developing theoretical underpinnings and methodological approaches of green consumption, designing promotional campaigns of green consumption practices among young consumers, and for the future research on green consumption.