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Spend as I say, not as I do: Children, families and household consumption in different socio‐economic contexts
Author(s) -
Ribeiro Raquel B.,
Fonseca Jaime R. S.,
Soares Isabel
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
international journal of consumer studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.775
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1470-6431
pISSN - 1470-6423
DOI - 10.1111/ijcs.12476
Subject(s) - postponement , typology , consumption (sociology) , context (archaeology) , gratification , social class , working class , psychology , middle class , work (physics) , demographic economics , sociology , social psychology , developmental psychology , economics , geography , business , social science , marketing , political science , market economy , mechanical engineering , archaeology , engineering , politics , anthropology , law
This article aims at contributing to a body of work about children and families by exploring the importance of socio‐economic context and social capital for understanding the ways in which money is perceived, obtained and used by children. Alleged contrasts in terms of money management, consumption priorities and postponement of gratification, especially among middle and working classes, have already been debated. It seems thus relevant to investigate if these presumable contrasts apply to children and why. Do children from different socio‐economic contexts reveal the traits that have been attributed to their households? To this end, a mixed methods research project was developed involving 245 children attending different primary schools in Portugal—one private school targeted at upper class children and one state‐sponsored school located in a working‐class area. The results revealed significant differences by school and household typology.