CTC 2016 “Cultural Contexts, Relations and Practices”

7th International Child and Teen Consumption Conference

« Child and Teen Consumption: Cultural Contexts, Relations and Practices »

27-29th April 2016

PhD workshop 26th of April 2016

Aalborg University, Denmark

Aalborg University was delighted to host the 7th Child and Teen Consumption conference.

For the 7th Child and Teen Consumption Conference the theme was: ‘Child and Teen Consumption: Cultural Contexts, Relations and Practices’. Understanding child and teen consumption demands insight into the settings and ways in which consumption takes place and the conference focussed on the significance of relations, contexts, and practices.

As consumers, between peers, parents, markets, and media, children and teens navigate in contested fields. Being part of consumer society, on the one hand, means taking part in ubiquitous consumption, on the other hand it means experiencing or encountering messages about economic crises, bio hazards, environmental threats, and overconsumption.

Children and teens’ experiences of consumption come in many forms and shapes. Traditions for childrearing, cultural ideals for good childhood and family patterns, traditions for inviting to child participation, habits and routines coupled with impulses from markets, media and consumers, locally and globally, all set the frames for child and teen consumption. During the Child and Teen Consumption Conference in 2016 the focus was on how we can understand the contexts, relations and practices in which child and teen consumption is embedded.

Whether this involves mundane or out-of-the-ordinary consumption in Western societies, children’s consumption in developing or emergent markets, in former Communist settings or in societies with a growing movement of contested consumption or in virtual worlds, the way child and teen consumption plays out is fascinating to investigate. New theoretical and methodological approaches along with new empirical studies are sought as to how child and teen consumption can be understood and explored, particularly through the voices of children and teens themselves, but also through their parents, markets, institutions, media and through historical perspectives.

The conference was interdisciplinary, inviting contributions from anthropology, cultural studies, history, consumer studies, marketing, media, policy, sociology, economy, psychology, childhood studies, tourism studies, etc.

Keynote speakers:

Professor Linda Price, University of Arizona

http://marketing.eller.arizona.edu/faculty/lprice.asp

http://www.eller.arizona.edu/buzz/2010/feb/price.asp

Professor Allison Pugh, University of Virginia

http://faculty.virginia.edu/pugh/

http://sociology.virginia.edu/people/faculty/allison-pugh

Professor Anna Sparrman, Linköping University.

https://www.tema.liu.se/tema-b/medarbetaren/sparrman-anna?l=en

The following tracks on child and teen consumption were suggested, but other ideas for special sessions and tracks were also welcome: