Dijital Kapitalizm, Tüketim Kültürü ve Y Kuşağının Değişen Tüketim Davranışları
Digital Capitalism, Consumption Culture and Changing Consumption Behaviours of Generation Y
Yazar: Demirkaya, İrem; Koyuncu, Emine
Dergi: Intermedia International E-journal, Vol. 8 No. 15, 2021
Anahtar kelimeler: Communication and Media Studies ; İletişim ve Medya Çalışmaları ; Digital Capitalism,Consumption Culture,Consumption Behaviours,Changing Consumption Behaviours,Y Generation ; Dijital Kapitalizm,Tüketim Kültürü,Tüketim Davranışları,Değişen Tüketim Davranışları,Y Kuşağı

Geçmişten bugüne ihtiyaç ve tüketim olguları önemini korumuş ve bireyler için vazgeçilmez iki kavram olmuştur. Yaşanan ilerlemeler ve dönüşümler birçok şeyi değiştirdiği gibi bu iki kavramın da içeriğini ve alt yapısını değiştirmiştir.  İhtiyaç karşılamak için gerçekleştirilen tüketim algısı yerini ihtiyaç hariç her türlü gereksinimin giderilmesi algısına bırakmıştır. Tüketim kapitalizmi besleyen onun devamını sağlayan kilit ögelerden birisidir. Kapitalizm tüketimden tüketim kapitalizmden beslenmektedir.  Teknolojik alanda yaşanan gelişim, kapitalizm olgusunun tüketimi farklı mecralarda gerçekleştirmesine yardımcı olmaktadır. Başka bir bakış açısıyla yaşanan gelişmeler kapitalizmin kendine yeni sahalar bulması, genişlemesi, yayılması ve nihayetinde hedeflerini gerçekleştirmesi içindir. Günümüzde geleneksel ortamdaki neredeyse her olgu dijitalleşmektedir. Bu durum birçok ögeyi etkilemekte ve şekillendirmektedir. Günümüzde kapitalizmin temel ögeleri dijital ağın mantığına göre biçim almaktadır. Emek göz ardı edilirken sömürü ve yabancılaşma dijital ortama taşınmaktadır. Şirketler, dijital alana yönelmekte ve iş yapma biçimleri farklılaşmaktadır. Kapitalizm, dijital bir görünüm kazanmıştır. Dijital kapitalizmle bireyin tüketim davranışları değişime uğramıştır. Buradan yola çıkılarak çalışmada, Y kuşağını temsil eden 19-39 yaş arası bireylerin internet üzerindeki tüketim davranışları araştırılmıştır. Bu bağlamda gerçekleştirilen saha araştırmasında anket tekniği kullanılarak Y kuşağının internet üzerindeki tüketim ve alışveriş davranışları, bu davranışların değişip değişmediği, internet üzerindeki tüketim faaliyetlerinin ne sıklıkla, nasıl, neden ve hangi araç vasıtasıyla gerçekleştirildiği belirlenmeye ve ölçülmeye çalışılmıştır. Elde edilen bulgularda; Y kuşağı bireylerinin alışveriş davranışlarının dijital mecraya taşındığı, alışverişlerini fiziki ortamdan ziyade dijital ortamlarda gerçekleştirdikleri saptanmıştır. Bulgular, dijitalleşen kapitalizmin, Y kuşağı bireylerinde tüketim davranışlarını, tüketim için kullanılan araçları ve tüketim olgusunu değiştirdiğini kanıtlar niteliktedir.

From the past to the present every term went through changes. These changes may have positive but also negative influences. These terms also take place in the capitalist world. Nowadays every fact is affected by digitalization. Likewise every fact starts to aquire dimension. Capitalism is also digitalised. However capitalism has taken over digital areas. The changes in the capitalistic world have affected many elements like economy, politics, technology, art, sports, education, generations and many more. At the same time we live in a consumption era. For an individual, wasteful behaviour has become a habit. Necessity has changed its dimension and everything has become consumable without questioning if it is needed. Not far wrong we can say that people are living for conspumtion. The terms “need” and “consume” have changed their meanings. People always buy and consume things they don’ t need, most often products are only bought without getting used.  Buying something has become a habit for the individuals. The most influential element for this transformation is digitalization. The digitalized consumption environment offers ease, speed and immediate availability for an individual. However the options seem advantageous, although there are many other negative facts. Because of these amenities the desires and instincts of individuals are increasing. These are the intersective points of digitizing capitalism and the consumption terms.The generation called the Y generation, born between 1980 and 2000, constitutes the population and sample  of the study. Generation Y actually differs itself from generation X and generation Z because of this key date. The Y generation members born in the first half have not opened their eyes into technology unlike the Z generation. The members born in the second half of this generation were not included in the traditional elements like the X generation. This generation, which is located right in the middle and seems to be a mixture of two generations in a context, but has its own characteristics, has fully witnessed the technological and digital change process and in addition also had a change in their attitude. In conclusion the two facts, need and consumption, have become indefeasible in today's world. The improvements and transformations changed the substructure and contents of these phenomena. In the past, people used to consume only to meet their needs, but now consumption is made to meet almost every need except the need itself. One of the important forces that feeds and sustains capitalism; is consumption. The development in the technological field helps the fact of capitalism to achieve consumption in different channels. Looking at these developments from a different perspective; the expansion of capitalism carries out new fields and the achievement of goals for an individual. Today, productive and circulative activities gain a digital vision. This situation affects many elements. The basic elements of capitalism take shape according to the logic of the network. The concept of effort is being ignored. Exploitation and alienation occur in these mediums. Companies are turning to the digital field and the style of their work is changing. Capitalism has acquired a digital appearance and in addition to digital capitalism, the consumption behavior of the individual has changed. From this point of view, in this study, the consumption behaviors of individuals between the ages of 19-39 were investigated within the extent of the Y generation living in Turkey. This research has been strengthened in the literature within the framework of digital capitalism, consumption culture, consumption behaviors and changing consumption behaviors. With using the questionnaire technique. 437 Y generation individuals in Turkey have been reached out to evaluate their consumption behavior on the internet, internet shopping behavior and internet shopping behavior points. In the findings obtained; It has been determined that the shopping behaviors of the Y generation individuals living in Turkey have moved to digital media, and they shop the more in digital environments rather than physical ones and so their vehicle to shop has changed. In addition to these, changes in consumption behaviors with the effect of digitalized capitalism are at a significant level. It has been revealed that the concept of need has taken a new definition that the meaning of need changed by a new definition of condumption. Within the framework of all the explanations, the point that should not be forgotten is that the transformation is formal, not assimilative. In other words, consumption is consumption. In essence, the action is the same, but there are transformations in the formal context. With the research, it has been tried to reveal that digitalized capitalism reconstructs the consumption behaviors of the Y generation.