The Avatars of Green Consumption in Romania and Belarus: Risk Avoidance or Lifestyle Choice?

Abstract

The paper aims to describe the results of a research project on green consumption conducted in Bucharest, Romania, and Minsk, Belarus, in 2010 and 2011. A total of 30 structured interviews were carried out in the two cities. Using the theoretical framework of Beck’s risk society concept and Inglehart’s theory on the cultural value shift in advanced societies, the authors found that, regardless of their important political and economic differences, some of the individuals in the two Eastern European cities tend to display a level of risk awareness and risk avoidance behavior similar to the risk society pattern. Rather than being the effect of a post-materialist value orientation associated with material wealth, the observed regional model of green consumption suggests a form of precautionary consumption that appears to be more than a passing fad. This finding has to be further researched in other countries of Eastern Europe before any broader conclusions about risk society-related behavior can be formulated.