Analysis of Greek Women's Identity Conflicts and Consumption Patterns

This report analyzes the identity conflicts and consumption patterns of Greek women, drawing from a case study comparing the experiences of two women, Maria and Nancy. The analysis explores how their desired and undesired selves influence their relationships with possessions and their consumer choices. Maria's identity conflict arises from balancing her roles as a mother and a woman, impacting her self-care and social activities. Nancy's experiences highlight the importance of financial independence and the role of possessions in providing security and a sense of self. The report examines the similarities and differences in their experiences, highlighting the role of products and services in consumers' lives. The conclusion emphasizes the impact of self-perception on consumption and the strategies individuals employ to resolve identity conflicts, offering valuable insights for marketing and consumer behavior analysis.

Greek women's desired
and undesired selves ,
identity conflicts and
consumption
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Table of Contents
Comparison of Maria's and Nancy's stories, Similarities and Differences......................................3
Example of when I had an identity conflict.....................................................................................5
(a) What did I do to work through that.......................................................................................5
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Comparison of Maria's and Nancy's stories, Similarities and Differences
Maria was 46 years old and lived with her husband, daughter and son. All her goals were
primarily focussed on her children. Two of her most prices possessions were her house and a
necklace, which she bought on the birth of her daughter (Corneau, 2018). Maria never took the
necklace off and thought that if she lost it, she would die from a broken heart. Whereas Nancy
was 31 years old and lived with her parents. She had been in a long distance relationship for over
2 years and thus valued her mobile phone as well as car the most. Her desire was to me more
knowledgeable and stand out from others as a result of which she started travelling because she
felt that through this, she will be able to learn new things.
Similarities
Both women had their own priced possessions that had a meaning behind them. For
example- Maria bought the necklace when her daughter was born and always wore it without
taking it off. She did this because she associated the necklace with her daughter, i.e.,
irreplaceable. Similarly, Nancy also valued her car and her mobile phone the most as she had a
point that the phone enabled her to communicate with her partner whom she was in a long
distance relationship with for over two years and her friends. Also, she gave a name to her car
and valued it as it gave her a sense of security and that she did not had to depend on anyone for
transportation and could go wherever she wanted anytime. Both women had a deep connection
with their respective possessions and took care of the same at all times. Therefore, it can be said
that products and services play an important role in consumers' lives.
Both Maria as well as Nancy faced dilemmas in their lives like Maria thought that she
was neglecting her house and children whenever she dressed up and went out with her friends for
entertainment. She had stopped taking care of herself and and did everything for her daughter.
Only if any time, money and energy was left, she would do something for herself. On the other
hand, Nancy was dissatisfied with not being financially independent completely and having to
liver with her parents for this reason (Karanika and Hogg, 2020). Thus, different views of
customers about themselves play a very important role in their consumption of a particular
product or service. Both women had their own share of difficulties and opted for strategies that
they thought will help them come over the same.
Differences
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Maria avoided going out with friends and doing things to take care of herself in order to ensure
that her house was neat and clean at all times and to take care of her children. She stopped
wearing make up and dressing up whereas Nancy desired to stand out from the crowd and
wanted to be more knowledgable than others which is why she started travelling as she thought
that this will enable her to learn and see new things as compared to most people (Sirkeci, Cohen
and Yazgan, 2016). Therefore, she was satisfied with the number and type of trips she had taken.
She also thought that there are a lot of people who don't get a chance to do this and also in order
to stand out from the crowd, Nancy gave more attention to her clothes as well as accessories. On
the other hand, Maria had a wrong thinking of that her life was over and told herself to only take
care of her daughter and not to enjoy herself until her son was born. Nancy was happy that she
had some economic independence and that she was able to spend some time with herself.
Although, there were times when she was dissatisfied with not being financially independent
completely and having to liver with her parent. However, in order to be able to rent a house, she
saved money.
Also, although Nancy was lonely as her friends and partner lived far away, however she
managed to associated her desired self of being safe, secure and protected with a car as she
thought that it gave her a sense of security and thus gave a name to it. Maria had no personal
goals for herself as all her goals revolved only around her children, but Nancy had certain desires
like being more knowledgable than other and also learn new things.
After reading the case study, it can be said that Maria was experiencing an identity
conflict as with the birth of her daughter she thought that her life was over and she could never
go out with her friends for entertainment as a result of which she neglected herself by devoting
all her time in taking care of her daughter (Sjöstedt Landén and Fotaki, 2018). But once her son
was born, she escaped all these feelings and decided to renew herself. Therefore, she changed her
dressing style to a much more modern version and also energised her behaviour. Maria also
thought that by cleaning her house which she considered as her other valued possession, she was
taking care of her family members. But she also thought that while doing this she was also
neglecting herself. At times, when she dressed up and went out with her friends, she had the
opposite feeling of neglecting her children. Therefore, she always experienced a need to
compromise and thus shared a love hate relationship both with her desired as well as undesired
self. This is because if she does something for herself, she is doing it at the expense of others.
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But after the birth of her son, her point of view completely changed as now if any of her friends
asked her to go out, she would not give it a second thought like she did previously (Tsichla, E.
and Zotos, 2016). Therefore, as a strategy she decided that she would do things for herself like
going out with friends, reading shopping, dressing up etc. and enjoy when she retires as then she
would not neglect either her house or her children.
Example of when I had an identity conflict
(a) What did I do to work through that
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Corneau, G., 2018. Absent fathers, lost sons: The search for masculine identity. Shambhala
Publications.
Karanika, K. and Hogg, M. K., 2020. Self–object relationships in consumers’ spontaneous
metaphors of anthropomorphism, zoomorphism, and dehumanization. Journal of
Business Research. 109. pp.15-25.
Sirkeci, I., Cohen, J. H. and Yazgan, P., 2016. Conflict, insecurity and mobility. Lulu. Com.
Sjöstedt Landén, A. and Fotaki, M., 2018. Gender and struggles for equality in mining resistance
movements: Performing critique against neoliberal capitalism in Sweden and Greece.
Social Inclusion. 6(4). pp.25-35.
Tsichla, E. and Zotos, Y., 2016. Gender portrayals revisited: searching for explicit and implicit
stereotypes in Cypriot magazine advertisements. International journal of advertising.
35(6). pp.983-1007.
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