The Ethos of Thrift

Abstract

This article examines the promotion and legitimization of bank saving in Finnish magazines during the 1950s. While trying to educate Finnish citizens to save, articles and advertisements ended up outlining a general model for the good life, structured by the ethos of thrift. At the household level, thrift meant a plurality of activities, not only passivity or restraint. The bank-saving discourse introduced new techniques of governing oneself and created possibilities for anticipatory pleasure: it oriented people towards commodities and simultaneously tried to tame consumer impulses. As an ascetic practice, bank saving was portrayed as not denying the material world; rather, its effect was to intensify the relation to the goods. Studying these texts and advertisements gives an enriched perception of economic actors who, with multiple techniques and skills, actively looked after their own welfare, as well as that of their families, local communities, and ultimately, of the nation.