Finding Prosperity as a Lottery Winner: Presentations of Self after Acquisition of Sudden Wealth

Abstract

The narrative about the squandering lottery winner ending up alone and in debt has been shown to affect other lottery winners’ thinking about how to manage their money. Based on a narrative analysis of interviews with 14 Swedish lottery winners, this article considers the ways in which lottery winners present themselves and their post-winning life in counter-position to this story about the squandering winner. By spending their prize money responsibly in order to project moderate, non-luxury consumption, the winners are ‘rewarded’ by feelings of fortune, security, and happiness. Finally, the article discusses how this narrative about ‘the prospering winner’ might be understood in relation to norms about consumption and identity.

Why the Poor Play the Lottery: Sociological Approaches to Explaining Class-based Lottery Play

“…Casey (2003: 246) states that 'it is extremely difficult to find any sociological analysis' on lottery play. Yet a small body of sociological research does actually exist (Casey, 2003(Casey, , 2006(Casey, , 2008Garvía, 2007;Hedenus, 2011;Light, 1977;Nibert, 2000;Reith, 1999;Sallaz, 2009). However, while most of this research provides insightful historical or ethnographic accounts on lottery gambling, quantitative approaches that test sociological theories on why people play the lottery have been scant.…”

Pennies from heaven? Conceptions and earmarking of lottery prize money,

“…Stories about freedom and happiness can, furthermore, be interpreted from a liberal notion of ‘money as a liberator from imposed social structures’, while stories about greed and discord, envy and ill, will spring upon an understanding of money as harmful to social relations (Binde : 222). In a similar way, studies on lottery winners establish how winners strive to balance their spending; both in relation to self‐serving ideals of a consumer society and to more austere ideals derived from the Protestant work ethic (Abrahamson ; Hedenus ; Bauman ; Reith ; Weber ). By prudential spending of their windfall money, rationalizing and justifying any more extravagant expenditures, and keeping to a ‘low‐profile consumption’, the winners can thus uphold their social positions and avoid the risk of social deviance (cf.…”

“…Opposing the notion that money and consumption enable people to present themselves as belonging to higher classes, Casey () showed that her respondents frequently rejected and criticized the middle and upper class way of life. Even among people who have been fortunate enough to cash in a large prize, there is talk about the windfall as something that puts themselves, or other winners, at risk of ‘losing their heads’ (Hedenus ; Falk and Mäenpää ).…”

“…Instead, most lottery winners continue to work to make a living, keep their consumption to a moderate level, choosing to pay off debts, and then save or invest the lion's share of the prize money (e.g. Furåker and Hedenus ; Hedenus ; Falk and Mäenpää : 42; Kaplan : 176; Larsson ).…”

“…Previous research indicates that the recognized risks of a high‐prize win are avoided by the winners handling the prize money prudently (Hedenus ). Conducted within the same research project as the present study, analysis of quantitative survey data on Swedish lottery winners revealed that – more than two years after the windfall – roughly two‐thirds of the lump‐sum winners still had most of the money left (Larsson ) .…”