xmca@weber.ucsd.edu writes:
>>our parents,older east end working class depression survivors who had
>>found themselves in the burbs during the 50's did not allow ( well
>>actually even didn't detect the desperate necessity for such objects as)
>>barbies, kens, GI Joes etc. in the house -
>>but we acquired the consumer scenarios nevertheless - via tv,
>>neighbourhood play, school yard genres and we remained hopelessly
>>ambivalent because we risked parental disaproval for our consumer desires
>>(
>>don't be a sheep - the motto "to your own self be true" went to school
>>along with our geeky plaid lunch boxes - and we were hopelessly out of
>>the
>>loop of boomer playground social hierarchies because we lacked the
>>material capital to "play" like every one else. Oh well, the 70's cured
>>that I guess.
plaid lunchboxes, poor you. the idea of material capital being the theme
around which
social play is structured, yep - this is the one that gets to me, class,
as you note, becomes the
resemblance of acceptability, ya?
>
>>having particpated in the raising of now 20 year old step-kid - who
>>rejected her collective of counter culture extended parents at age 7
>>and demanded INSIDE mainstream tv,kid consumer crazes - I think that
>she
>>ended up with a cool repertoire of scripts, desires, ambivalences and
>>knowledges - she can still scoff at The GAP "everyone in vests /
>>corsets,
>>etc" AND yet she feels no guilt at purchasing desire - she can blur
>her
>>genres quite effectively - reading culture in quite sophisticated ways
this is a phenom of a class of 20-somethings i noticed in vancouver, a
media-savvy
from being raised in it; but still, the purchasing-desire, its the
ultimate goal - savvy or not, if
buying is a cultural practice, ... i mean. yikes.
>
>>kathryn ( who never got a stinking Barbie after all).
well you know there are barbie computers for girls,
and hot-wheels computers for boys, now - so it isn't too late!
diane
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jan 11 2000 - 14:04:06 PST