Our Everyday Emotions and Finances – The role money-related attitudes and materialistic orienta-tion play in developing financial culture

Abstract

Today’s economic and financial crisis calls for radical changes in the financial culture and consumption patterns we have had until now. Although it is regarded a young democracy, Hungary has previously made numerous top-down attempts to develop financial skills and to keep materialistic values at a healthy level. Those attempts, however, have met with little success as they failed to further broaden and strengthen the population’s financial culture. This study aims to analyse the phenomenon from the viewpoint of consumer socialisation through its two important components, i.e. the concepts of attitude to money and of materialistic orien-tation. Interestingly, the latest research has highlighted the role of emotions in financial behaviour. Based on that research work, we make a number of recommendations and emphasise that Hungarian financial culture cannot be developed without taking into con-sideration the specificities of emotional life and emotional control.