Voluntary Simplicity Lifestyle Differences According to Generations within the Scope of Responsible Consumption

Voluntary Simplicity Lifestyle Differences According to Generations

Abstract

In recent years, simple lifestyle and differences between generations have been the subject of interest within the scope of responsible consumption, which is a component of sustainability. In the context of responsible consumption that serves the purposes of sustainable development, the voluntary simple lifestyle is important in terms of giving information about the structure of a society. Although the voluntary simple lifestyle gives information about the social structure, the differentiations in the generations can affect the voluntary simple lifestyles. The aim of this article is to analyze the differences between the voluntary simple lifestyle according to the X, Y and Z generations. In the study, using the Voluntary Simple Living Scale consisting of 21 items and 6 socio-demographic questions, data were collected through questionnaires from 414 people in Sivas, Turkiye, face-to-face and via social media. The Kruskal Wallis Test was used to test the significance of the difference between generations and voluntary simple lifestyles. According to the results of the research, it was understood that the X generation adopted the voluntary simple lifestyle more than the Y and Z generations. Similarly, when the Y and Z generations were compared, it was revealed that the Y generation adopted a voluntarily simple lifestyle compared to the Z generation. As a result, the reason why X and Y generations are more sensitive to voluntary simple living can be explained by the fact that they have faced social problems in their historical background, they were raised in difficult times and their life experiences are more than the Z generation.