This study examines the ethnic identities of 50 second-generation migrant-Australian women aged 17Á28 years. Twenty-five women were from Turkish backgrounds and 25 women were from South and Central American (or 'Latin') backgrounds. The overwhelming majority of the women interviewed for this study had travelled extensively to their families' countries of origin, and their experiences growing up in Australia alongside their ongoing overseas visits shed light on transnational ties and the negotiation of ethnicity and belonging in the Australian multicultural context. A typology of the women's migrant-Australian identities highlights the differences and similarities of experiences among the women in both groups, and reveals the role of social context in shaping identity. Islam was a primary source of identification for most of the Turkish women, as a form of pan-ethnic identity. Participants exhibited a good deal of agency in their identity choices, and this was specifically connected to their transnational positioning. However, while most of the women took on a transnational identity to some degree, their experiences of racism and social exclusion reproduced an ambivalent sense of belonging to Australia. Their sense of being allowed to belong 'where they are at' remained salient to the ways in which they constructed their identities.

There has been an increase in consumers’ reliance on credit and rising consumer debt. The increase is especially problematic for those least able to afford debt of any kind – welfare recipients. This qualitative study reports on 120 Australian welfare recipients’ attitudes towards debt, their understanding about what constitutes acceptable debt and the debt-management strategies they adopt. The results of this research show that welfare recipients see debt as a way of life and as a means of survival in a society where a core value appears (to them) to be the acquisition of material wealth. Their status as income earners and therefore their capacity to service debt is less than others. Consequently, we could expect that their debt levels would be proportionally less; however, many participants in this research did not appear to understand the long term consequences of their level of debt. The paper concludes with a discussion as to how social marketing can be applied to potentially assist this vulnerable consumer group and the wider community.

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Through an analysis of qualitative interviews, this article explores the ethnic identities of Australian women aged 17-25 years of South and Central American backgrounds. The interviews show that expressions of Latin ethnicity are constructed around four 'emblems' symbolizing Latin 'culture' -food, language, music and dancing, and festivity. Adopting a social constructionist perspective, this article details the respondents' agency in the reconstruction of Latin ethnicity, and the consequences of the racial categorizations of 'Australian-ness' encountered by the participants. Their emphatic rejection of an Australian identity arises from their experiences growing up in Australia, where they are not 'seen' as Australian, highlighting that Australian identity continues to be regarded as synonymous with an Anglo-Celtic appearance. Nevertheless the respondents acknowledge Australian values of egalitarianism as significant when negotiating gender and sexuality. This 'paradox' of ethnic identity in the context of this study is best exemplified by the recurring comment, 'That's my Australian side', and will be investigated through a critique on the limitations of 'multicultural' ideology and its lived experience.

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