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Consuming Spaces: Pre-teens Negotiating Their Social Worlds

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Childhood and Tween Girl Culture

Part of the book series: Studies in Childhood and Youth ((SCY))

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Abstract

The globalised nature of the consumer-media tween culture implies that tween-aged girls are growing up in placeless environments around the world. Yet it has been argued that place and geography matters more than ever in contemporary society Products designed and promoted by the global tween market are ultimately acquired and assigned meaning by the girls in their own social worlds. In this chapter the significance of family is evident as I consider how inherently entwined the girls’ negotiations of belonging are with their local, social worlds. I consider the important role school plays in the girls’ everyday lives as I explore their negotiations of belonging in the formal and informal spaces of school. The girls transition from an all-girls Year 5 class to 6C is discussed and the girls share valuable understandings of their experience of single-gendered and co-educational classes. The gendered nature of their school yard negotiations reveal important insights into different understandings of the alleged misuse by the girls of ‘boy play spaces’. The girls’ insights also reveal anxieties and playground conversations of ‘good schools/bad schools’ as the girls reveal their negotiations of the increasing ‘consumer choice’ of government secondary schools in Victoria.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Fiona MacDonald

  2. Victoria University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Fiona MacDonald

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  1. Fiona MacDonald
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MacDonald, F. (2016). Consuming Spaces: Pre-teens Negotiating Their Social Worlds. In: Childhood and Tween Girl Culture. Studies in Childhood and Youth. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55130-6_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55130-6_6

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-55129-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-55130-6

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