Family theme parks, happiness and children’s consumption: From roller-coasters to Pippi Longstocking

Family theme parks, happiness and children’s consumption: From roller-coasters to Pippi Longstocking PDF Author: David Cardell
Publisher: Linköping University Electronic Press
ISBN: 9176859797
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
This book provides an ethnographic contribution to research on children’s consumption, family life and happiness. Various and shifting notions of happiness are explored, as well as conditions for and challenges to happiness, through an analysis of video-recorded interviews and mobile ethnography conducted in two of the most popular theme parks in Sweden. Initially, the study outlines how previous research has conceptualized happiness in association with time and place in a rather static way. Based on a treatise of notions of happiness in philosophy and the social sciences, there is a turn in this thesis towards practice. It generates fundamental knowledge about the complexity of happiness. By employing this approach, it is possible to highlight how happiness is enacted as part of and in relation to ideals of family life, time, childhood, money, consumption, experiences and material things. As we explore the practices of children and their families, we discover that shifting meanings of happiness are located in contemporary culture, where emotions and consumption are of central importance. The approach is interdisciplinary, and draws on theoretical and methodological contributions in sociology, anthropology and Science and Technology Studies (STS). Notions of meshwork and enactment become important for the exploration of happiness as a complex and changing matter, which productively involves social relations and material things. Throughout the thesis there is a dialogue with previous research on happiness, consumption and childhood which highlights the importance of exploring messy practices, in movement. It is argued that explorations of practice contribute to a critical understanding of how happiness and contemporary ideals of childhood can be approached – through consumption and as part of citizenship in a consumer society where happiness is of central importance. Abstract [sv] Denna avhandling utgör ett etnografiskt bidrag till forskning om barns konsumtion, familjeliv och lycka. Genom en analys av videoinspelade intervjuer samt familjebesök till två av Sveriges mest välbesökta temaparker utforskas skiftande betydelser av lycka, liksom dess förutsättningar och utmaningar. Tidigare temaparks-forskning har generellt tagit lyckans existens för given. Utifrån en inledande diskussion om bland annat olika filosofiska och samhällsvetenskapliga lyckoteorier argumenterar avhandlingen för att studier av praktik tillför ny och grundläggande kunskap om lyckans komplexa sammansättningar. Avhandlingen visar därigenom att lycka iscensätts som en del av – och i förhållande till – ideal om familjeliv, tid, barndom, pengar, konsumtion, upplevelser och materiella ting. Genom att fokusera på barn och deras familjers praktiker lokaliseras lyckans skiftande betydelser i en samtidskultur där emotioner och konsumtion är centrala. Avhandlingens ansats är tvärvetenskaplig och hämtar teoretisk och metodologisk inspiration från sociologi, antropologi samt teknik- och vetenskapsstudier (STS). Genom denna ansats synliggörs sammanflätningar av sociala relationer och materiella ting som produktiva i iscensättandet av lycka. Genom en dialog mellan empiriska beskrivningar och forskning om lycka, konsumtion och barndom belyser avhandlingen nödvändigheten av att synliggöra och utforska röriga och rörliga praktiker. Det bidrar till en kritisk förståelse av praktik som kan förändra hur vi närmar oss lycka och samtida barndomsideal – som konsumenter och medborgare i ett lyckosträvande konsumtionssamhälle.

Family theme parks, happiness and children’s consumption: From roller-coasters to Pippi Longstocking

Family theme parks, happiness and children’s consumption: From roller-coasters to Pippi Longstocking PDF Author: David Cardell
Publisher: Linköping University Electronic Press
ISBN: 9176859797
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 248

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book provides an ethnographic contribution to research on children’s consumption, family life and happiness. Various and shifting notions of happiness are explored, as well as conditions for and challenges to happiness, through an analysis of video-recorded interviews and mobile ethnography conducted in two of the most popular theme parks in Sweden. Initially, the study outlines how previous research has conceptualized happiness in association with time and place in a rather static way. Based on a treatise of notions of happiness in philosophy and the social sciences, there is a turn in this thesis towards practice. It generates fundamental knowledge about the complexity of happiness. By employing this approach, it is possible to highlight how happiness is enacted as part of and in relation to ideals of family life, time, childhood, money, consumption, experiences and material things. As we explore the practices of children and their families, we discover that shifting meanings of happiness are located in contemporary culture, where emotions and consumption are of central importance. The approach is interdisciplinary, and draws on theoretical and methodological contributions in sociology, anthropology and Science and Technology Studies (STS). Notions of meshwork and enactment become important for the exploration of happiness as a complex and changing matter, which productively involves social relations and material things. Throughout the thesis there is a dialogue with previous research on happiness, consumption and childhood which highlights the importance of exploring messy practices, in movement. It is argued that explorations of practice contribute to a critical understanding of how happiness and contemporary ideals of childhood can be approached – through consumption and as part of citizenship in a consumer society where happiness is of central importance. Abstract [sv] Denna avhandling utgör ett etnografiskt bidrag till forskning om barns konsumtion, familjeliv och lycka. Genom en analys av videoinspelade intervjuer samt familjebesök till två av Sveriges mest välbesökta temaparker utforskas skiftande betydelser av lycka, liksom dess förutsättningar och utmaningar. Tidigare temaparks-forskning har generellt tagit lyckans existens för given. Utifrån en inledande diskussion om bland annat olika filosofiska och samhällsvetenskapliga lyckoteorier argumenterar avhandlingen för att studier av praktik tillför ny och grundläggande kunskap om lyckans komplexa sammansättningar. Avhandlingen visar därigenom att lycka iscensätts som en del av – och i förhållande till – ideal om familjeliv, tid, barndom, pengar, konsumtion, upplevelser och materiella ting. Genom att fokusera på barn och deras familjers praktiker lokaliseras lyckans skiftande betydelser i en samtidskultur där emotioner och konsumtion är centrala. Avhandlingens ansats är tvärvetenskaplig och hämtar teoretisk och metodologisk inspiration från sociologi, antropologi samt teknik- och vetenskapsstudier (STS). Genom denna ansats synliggörs sammanflätningar av sociala relationer och materiella ting som produktiva i iscensättandet av lycka. Genom en dialog mellan empiriska beskrivningar och forskning om lycka, konsumtion och barndom belyser avhandlingen nödvändigheten av att synliggöra och utforska röriga och rörliga praktiker. Det bidrar till en kritisk förståelse av praktik som kan förändra hur vi närmar oss lycka och samtida barndomsideal – som konsumenter och medborgare i ett lyckosträvande konsumtionssamhälle.

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies PDF Author: Daniel Thomas Cook
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1529721954
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 4171

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Book Description
The SAGE Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies navigates our understanding of the historical, political, social and cultural dimensions of childhood. Transdisciplinary and transnational in content and scope, the Encyclopedia both reflects and enables the wide range of approaches, fields and understandings that have been brought to bear on the ever-transforming problem of the "child" over the last four decades This four-volume encyclopedia covers a wide range of themes and topics, including: Social Constructions of Childhood Children’s Rights Politics/Representations/Geographies Child-specific Research Methods Histories of Childhood/Transnational Childhoods Sociology/Anthropology of Childhood Theories and Theorists Key Concepts This interdisciplinary encyclopedia will be of interest to students and researchers in: Childhood Studies Sociology/Anthropology Psychology/Education Social Welfare Cultural Studies/Gender Studies/Disabilty Studies

Doing Good Parenthood

Doing Good Parenthood PDF Author: Anna Sparrman
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319467743
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 157

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Book Description
This edited collection shows that good parenthood is neither fixed nor stable. The contributors show how parenthood is equally done by men, women and children, in and through practices involving different normative guidelines. The book explores how normative layers of parenthood are constituted by notions such as good childhood, family ideals, national public health and educational strategies. The authors illustrate how different versions of parenthood coexist and how complex sets of actions are demanded to fulfil today’s expectations of parenthood in Western societies. This interdisciplinary book will be of interest to research scholars in child and family studies, students, experts, social workers, politicians, teachers and parents.

Key Concepts in Theme Park Studies

Key Concepts in Theme Park Studies PDF Author: Florian Freitag
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 303111132X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
This book offers a comprehensive, multidisciplinary introduction to theme parks and the field of theme park studies. It identifies and discusses relevant economic, social, and cultural as well as medial, historical, and geographical aspects of theme parks worldwide, from the big international theme park chains to smaller, regional, family-operated parks. The book also describes the theories and methods that have been used to study theme parks in various academic disciplines and reviews the major contexts in which theme parks have been studied. By providing the necessary backgrounds, theories, and methods to analyze and understand theme parks both as a business field and as a socio-cultural phenomenon, this book will be a great resource to students, academics from all disciplines interested in theme parks, and professionals and policy-makers in the leisure and entertainment as well as the urban planning sector.

Nanny Families

Nanny Families PDF Author: Eldén, Sara
Publisher: Policy Press
ISBN: 1529201543
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence Paying privately for childcare is a growing phenomenon worldwide, a trend mirrored in Sweden despite the prevalence there of publicly funded daycare. This book combines theories of family practices, care and childhood studies with the personal perspectives of nannies, au pairs, parents and children to provide new understandings of what constitutes care in nanny families. The authors investigate the ways in which all the participants experience the caring situation, and expose the possibilities and problems of nanny and au pair care. Their study illuminates the ways in which paid domestic care workers 'do' family and care; in doing so, it contributes to wider political and scientific discussions of inequalities at the global and local level, reproduced in and between families, in the context of rapidly changing welfare states.

On Disney

On Disney PDF Author: Ute Dettmar
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3662646250
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
Disney – This name stands not only for a company that has had global reach from its early days, but also for a successful aesthetic programme and ideological positions that have had great commercial success but at the same time have been frequently criticised. Straddling traditionalism and modernism, Disney productions have proven adaptable to social discourses and technical and media developments throughout its history. This volume brings together scholars from several European countries to explore various dimensions that constitute ‘Disney.’ In line with current media and cultural studies research, the chapters deal with human-human and human-animal relations, gender and diversity, iconic characters and narratives, Disney’s contribution to cultural and visual heritage, and transmedial and transfictional spaces of experience and practices of participation associated with Disney story worlds.

Babies’ engagements with everyday things

Babies’ engagements with everyday things PDF Author: Alex Orrmalm
Publisher: Linköping University Electronic Press
ISBN: 9179297137
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Book Description
This thesis explores how babies (1-18 months old) engage with material things in their everyday lives. The aim is to contribute with theoretical and empirical insights into babies own practices around material things and how attending to these practices can lead to reflections on participation, material culture and everyday space. The empirical material is collected through video ethnographic fieldwork in the homes of seven babies and their families. The empirical material has been analysed through combining cultural analysis with the analytical approach ‘thinking with theory’. The thesis shows that sensoriality and movement is important for understanding babies own engagements with things and that these engagements are not limited to things given to, or intended for, them. Babies also shape the everyday spaces of the families through their movements of things in their homes. The analyses also show that focusing on sensoriality and movement in the meeting between babies and the researcher is a promising contribution to discussions concerning participatory research and ethnographic method. The thesis is theoretically situated within the field of child- and childhood studies. Avhandlingens syfte är att undersöka hur bebisar (1-18 månader) använder sig av materiella saker i deras vardagsliv. Syftet är att bidra med empirisk och teoretisk kunskap om bebisars egna praktiker samt hur ett fokus på bebisars egna intressen kan leda till reflektioner kring barns deltagande, materiell kultur och platsskapande i bebisars hem. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom videoetnografiskt fältarbete hemma hos sju bebisar och deras familjer. Materialet har analyserats med hjälp av en kombination av kulturanalys och genom att ’tänka med’ teori om rörelse. Avhandlingen visar att fokus på sensorialitet och rörelse är viktigt för att förstå vad bebisar gör med saker och att bebisars användande av saker inte är begränsat till leksaker eller andra saker avsedda för dom. Bebisar påverkar även hur hemmet är organiserat, till exempel, genom att flytta runt och sprida ut saker i hemmet. Analyserna pekar även på att ett fokus på sensorialitet och rörelse i mötet mellan bebisar och forskare är lovande för att undersöka frågor rörande etnografisk metod och deltagande. Avhandlingen är teoretiskt förankrad i barn – och barndomstudier.

Family Tourism

Family Tourism PDF Author: Heike Schanzel
Publisher: Channel View Publications
ISBN: 184541327X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
This cutting-edge international book brings together leading experts? latest research in the field of family tourism by adding to its underdeveloped knowledge base. Family Tourism: Multidisciplinary Perspectives underlines the infancy of academic family tourism research that belies its market importance and directs towards future implications and theoretical debates about the place of families within tourism.

Inside Toyland

Inside Toyland PDF Author: Christine L. Williams
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520939493
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
"I got my first job working in a toy store when I was 41 years old." So begins sociologist Christine Williams's description of her stint as a low-wage worker at two national toy store chains: one upscale shop and one big box outlet. In this provocative, perceptive, and lively book, studded with rich observations from the shop floor, Williams chronicles her experiences as a cashier, salesperson, and stocker and provides broad-ranging, often startling, insights into the social impact of shopping for toys. Taking a new look at what selling and buying for kids are all about, she illuminates the politics of how we shop, exposes the realities of low-wage retail work, and discovers how class, race, and gender manifest and reproduce themselves in our shopping-mall culture. Despite their differences, Williams finds that both toy stores perpetuate social inequality in a variety of ways. She observes that workers are often assigned to different tasks and functions on the basis of gender and race; that racial dynamics between black staff and white customers can play out in complex and intense ways; that unions can't protect workers from harassment from supervisors or demeaning customers even in the upscale toy store. And she discovers how lessons that adults teach to children about shopping can legitimize economic and social hierarchies. In the end, however, Inside Toyland is not an anticonsumer diatribe. Williams discusses specific changes in labor law and in the organization of the retail industry that can better promote social justice.

Children’s Understandings of Well-being

Children’s Understandings of Well-being PDF Author: Tobia Fattore
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9402408290
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
The book presented here describes an outstanding attempt, not only to include children’s views but to partner with children to develop the concept of well-being and to study the phenomenon as the children understand it. The authors do this by placing the concept of children’s well-being within the existing discourses on the topic and by developing their unique theoretical approach to the concept. Then, and based on what children told them, the authors identify different domains and dimensions of children’s well-being and touch upon its multifaceted nature. The book concludes with drawing research and policy implications from an integrated summary of the study’s findings and lists indicator concepts that present an alternative framework and conceptualisation of well-being from a child standpoint.