This conference aimed to establish and continue a dialogue between specialists from a variety of academic disciplines in order to explore the phenomenon of children and teens as consumers in today’s society.
During the two and a half days research was presented on the position of children and youth in consumer society, how children and young people develop their consumer competence and develop as consumers in general. The emphasis is on creating an inter- and multi-disciplinary discussion exploring and articulating ideas from historical, sociological, managerial and other social science perspectives.
The more specific aim of this conference was to strengthen the interdisciplinary approach of the conference by arranging sessions more thematically, as can be seen below, in particular on Food Consumption with a particular emphasis on Food, Communication, Life Style and Fashion consumption practices and behaviors involving children, adolescents and parents. The goal was to explore and stress the conflicts within the fields, to question the linearity of consumption and to highlight the double-sidedness of child and youth consumption. In this way we hoped to create meeting points in single sessions between theory, methodology, regulation and everyday practices. Furthermore, we aimed to highlight and address theoretical issues such as class, gender, ethnicity and consumer/marketing theories within consumption research. These perspectives were established through the keynote speakers and were elaborated on further and ran as a continuum through different sessions, presentations, individual papers as well as in coffee break discussions and evening talks.
Themes of the conference:
• Children and Teens in a Consumption Society
• Children, Youth and Consumerism
• Young Peoples Consumption
• Children, Teens and Parents as Consumers
• State Regulation NGO and the Self Regulating Market
• Advertising & Children and Youth
• Capitalism and the Commodification of Play
• Postmodernism and Media Consumption
• Childrens and Teens Media Culture
• Globalization, Regionalization and Individualization in Consumption Practices
• Consumer Education
• Consumption and Gender Identity
• Creating Consumer Citizens
• Branding Market, Children and Youth
• What is New about New Media in Consumer Society?
• Age and Consumption: Growing up a Consumer
• Consuming Tradition or Changing the Future?
• Childrens Bodies and Consumption
• Obesity: is Food Consumption a Child or Family Issue?
• Food Stuff: the Meaning of Representation
• Consuming Sustainable Consumption
• Food, Advertising, and Health
The Conference included keynote speakers, parallel sessions with chairs and appointed commentators, and poster sessions.
For this 5th edition of Child and Teen Consumption there was also a PhD & Master Students pre-conference Workshop entitled “Research on Child & Teens Consumption. Present and Future Perspectives”.
For further information: http://www.ctc2012.org/