Despite these variations however, data in this study also points to general orientations toward the future relating to all middle-income participants alike. To give context, in Brannen and Nilson‟s study, there is an implicit (and unwritten) assumption within the study that regardless which „ideal type‟ is used to describe the time orientations of young adults, all participants are in their varying ways describing some future, and in all cases the descriptions are positive in orientation. For example, even young adults characterised by the model of „deferment‟ optimistically expect that their future adult lives will involve the work and income choices that are available to their own parents – even when their own life focus is currently concentrated on the „present‟.
Correspondingly, the same finding is clearly evident in the future perceptions of middle-income participants in this study. That is, all participants are able in some way to talk about their futures: all have expectations for the future and in all cases these expectations are oriented as hopeful and/or positive. However, unlike the Brannen and Nilsen (2002) study, these findings are identified as significant to this research. This is because a positive future orientation cannot be assumed as self- evident in all young adults‟ time orientations. For example (as it will become clearer in chapter seven through a focus on low-income participants), middle-income money orientations towards the future are in many cases starkly different to the orientations of low-income participants.
Consequently, it is necessary to outline more fully the ways in which middle-income participants money meanings do enable them to positively orient themselves
financially towards their futures. For some participants, having money is as simple and necessary as outlining a future in which they enough income so that they can pay
141 the bills, and live comfortably or enjoy a particular quality of life. Others talk about having money enough to fulfil more specific hopes, such as owning a home, a car, a boat or (as most participants identify) to be able to travel or holiday overseas. Some participants are even more particular, pointing to a time when they will have „no debts‟. Many middle-income participants look forward to future financial security, and saving money is part of the plan for achieving this. Being in a good financial position is the goal of some participants, for a number of reasons including self- funded early retirements, retreat-style lifestyles, property ownership, travel experiences or just having the „freedom‟ to „do what I want to do‟.
These positive, forward-looking middle-income orientations point to a broader connection between participants‟ future orientations and their moral orientations towards a „good life‟. Similarly, Taylor strongly emphasises the relation between moral orientations and temporality:
As I project my life forward and endorse the existing direction or give it a new one, I project a future story, not just a state of the momentary future but a bent for my whole life to come. (Taylor 1989: 48)
Taylor is arguing that orientations towards what is considered a „good‟ in life – like money - is not just related to present behaviour and values, but centrally to life direction and the „projection‟ of a future story through which individuals make sense of who they are and where they are going. In other words, in the context of this study, middle-income participants‟ moral orientations towards money as something to be gained or achieved is reflected in how they make sense of their projected futures, and the direction they understand themselves to be heading in life.
Participants also make sense of their futures this way because the existence of a common cultural disposition towards money means that such planning „makes sense‟:
Ultimately, one‟s life plan must articulate with the overarching cultural norms and values of the broader society. As individuals plot the trajectory of their life on the societal map, each point in their projected biography relates them to the overall web of meanings in the society. (Orrange 2003: 8)
142 In other words, participants‟ money-related future orientations (or meanings) are not merely singular or individualised ones, they also draw upon the social „web of meanings‟ or cultural dispositions that give those money orientations broader legitimacy. Hence, even while middle-income participants vary from one to another in the way they orient themselves towards the future (e.g. by „deferment‟ or
„adaptability‟ or „predictability‟), their common positive orientation towards money as „good‟ is also commonly projected into the way in which they see their futures: with the expectation that money will continue to positively furnish their hopes and dreams.
Conclusion
The key focus of this chapter has been the meanings and moral orientations middle- income participants in this study give to money. In the context of talking about a „good life‟, middle-income participants clearly draw upon cultural themes about money that they morally orient themselves towards as „lifegoods‟. For middle- income participants money is a primary means through which they are living and investing in a „good life‟. These orientations also involve a number of further themes: a disconnection between private money as „good‟ and the dilemmas associated with public/civic money; the strong relationship between personal money and self-reliance; and the temporal aspects of these orientations found in future expectations in which money is central to their hopes and dreams.
The next chapter, still focussing on middle-income participants, will trace the first of four narrative types central to this thesis. This narrative, the „dominant‟ money narrative, draws on the above analysis and provides a means to „story‟ money meanings. The discussion will also locate those meanings into the context of wider sociological analysis.
143