Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2006, Page 76

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CONSTRUCTING IDENTITIES IN CHILDREN’S CULTURE OF CONSUMPTION
Identity in the context of consumption
Identity is a heavily used term both aca-
demically and in everyday life; however, its
meanings and defmitions are conflicting and
various. For the purpose of this paper a more
specific idea of identity is helpful. There-
fore, the broad defínition by Jenkins (1996:
5) explains how the term is used here:
“Social identity is our understanding of who we
are and of who other people are, and, reci-
procally, other people’s understanding of them-
selves and of others...it [social identity] too is
the product of agreement and disagreement...
[and]... is negotiable”
This means that childhood identity is not
only about children’s own view of them-
selves but how others view them. It is about
uniqueness - how children consider them-
selves as different from others and about
sameness - in which ways they consider
themselves as the same/similar to others. As
Jenkins (1996) pointed out, it is a product
of agreement and disagreement. This means
that the development of childhood identities
is a social and collective process not simply
determined by each individual or imposed
by others. The interesting aspect here is how
consumption objects/processes can be used,
displayed and enacted in the construction
of identity.
As children have become an important
group of consumers they have increased op-
portunity of using consumer goods to con-
struct images, which are frequently based on
the same consumption resources as those
accessible to adults e.g. media, brands,
leisure etc. (Valentine, 2000). By implication
children are faced with the same high-risk
choices associated with consumer society -
constructing identities where they strive to
gain the love or respect of others (Gabriel and
Lang, 1995). Foucault argued that identities
are constructed through context and situa-
tional factors and eveiyday environments. We
also know that wider social structures such
as age, class, ethnicity and gender shape iden-
tity (Marshall, 1998). This means that, when
children construct their identities it is through
continual encounters with various overar-
ching structures and institutions such as the
mass media, family, education system, lan-
guage etc. (Kacen, 2000).
Research on consumption and identity
Tuming fírstly, to the literature generally
(which has focused on adult consumers) on
identity and consumption it has been ac-
knowledged that material possessions play
an important role in the sense of self (Belk,
1988; Dittmar, 1992; Solomon, 1983). More
specifically Belk (1988) argued that pos-
sessions are regarded as part of the self or
what he termed the extended self. This
means that possessions become so heavily
engrained in our worlds that they almost be-
come a part of us. We use them to comrnu-
nicate to others who we are, whether it is
through the clothes we wear, the car we
drive, our home or even the food choices
we make. Therefore, it is evident that the
process of identity construction is heavily
influenced by consumption. Essentially,
consumption objects (both material and non-
material) become symbols with which peo-
ple communicate. For instance a BMW car
is not merely functional - it connotes qual-
ity, wealth and success. Consequently, con-