Accomplishing consumer selves and relations : analysing the talk-in-interaction of preschoolers' focus groups

Abstract

This study furthers sociological understanding of children as consumers by adopting a CA-infomied discourse analytical approach to examining preschoolers' talk-ininteraction around commercial material artefacts in a focus group setting. A concern with how much or conversely how little the 'developing' child consumer knows and understands about how the marketplace operates and how they fit within it as a 'choosing subject' has dominated thinking and debate on children as consumers. This study moves beyond the empowered-exploited dichotomy to address the 'choosing' child consumer through interactional lenses.