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The purchase of moral positions: an essay on the markets of concerned parenting
Author(s) -
Brusdal Ragnhild,
Frønes Ivar
Publication year - 2013
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/j.1470-6431.2012.01094.x
Subject(s) - veblen good , consumption (sociology) , empathy , position (finance) , moral economy , sociology , social psychology , positive economics , economics , psychology , political economy , political science , neoclassical economics , law , social science , finance , politics
The markets directed towards the very youngest are rapidly expanding. This article looks into the mechanisms behind the expansion of this type of parental consumption, assigning children a position similar to what Veblen categorized as vicarious consumption. The assumption put forward is that the modern markets for babies and toddlers rooted not only in the need to stimulate, protect and support the child, or the desire to display cultural and economic capital through vicarious consumption, but also in the need to indicate positions in the moral economy of concerned parenting. The expanding markets of considered consumption are partly based on translation values, empathy and care made into tangible products with symbolic values in the moral economy.