Minimalism practice: identifying its behavioral representations through a survey of urban youth in Vietnam

In the context of consumerist societies, minimalism has emerged as a contrasting lifestyle or a reaction to consumption-centric lifestyles. To understand the minimalism practice, this article used secondary document analysis to clarify its structure and indicators. This study proposed a structural approach to minimalism practice in terms of material and non-material aspects, rather than over-focusing on material dimensions and considering non-material ones as a consequence, as in previous studies. Using this comprehensive scale, this research conducted a survey via Google Forms with 196 voluntary respondents who are urban youth living in Hanoi and conducted 10 semi-structured interviews to collect information related to their minimalistic practices. As a result, the most common practices of a minimalistic lifestyle were easily integrated into daily activities such as buying essential products, higher-quality products, tidying up belongings, and regularly cleaning living and working spaces, while other practices were performed less frequently. Overall, Vietnamese urban youth in this study practice non-material minimalist behaviors more than material ones, which is a noteworthy finding of this research.