Consumption of Young Xin Yimin: The Role of Identity and Tacit Motives

Abstract

In this article, we present an analysis of young migrant consumer culture based on an empirical study of xin yimin living in Australia. We treat xin yimin's desire for appropriating culture to fit a Western ideology of identity. Based on six different types of projective data we develop a meaning of mimic consumption and motivating forces behind this behaviour. Young xin yimin has an embodied passion for Otherness or Western identity. The findings also reveal insights into what is driving the pursuit of desired self, asserted through benign envy and missing self. We further address theoretical implications of these processes behind identity creation for consumer culture theory research.