Kinderculture : The Corporate Construction of Childhood

by Steinberg, Shirley R.

• ISBN13: 9780813391540
• ISBN10: 0813391547
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-08-05
• Publisher: Westview Pr

Summary

America is a corporatized society defined by our culture of consumerism. One of the groups most targeted by corporations is children and youth. TV, movies, radio, video games, toys, books, and fast food are all directed specifically at consumers under 18. By marketing directly to kids, advertisers have produced a "kinderculture." The first edition ofKinderculture: The Corporate Construction of Childhoodcreated a discourse that exposed the lack of understanding, education, and contextualization in this new children's culture. This new edition adds discussions on the icons that shape the values and consciousness of children, including hip hop, Disney,Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harry Potter,professional wrestling, Nickelodeon, Weekly Reader, video games, Barbie, McDonald's, and theHome Alonemovies. Through entertaining and insightful essays, contributors drawn from the fields of cultural studies, communications, and education analyze the profound effects and the pervasive influence of these corporate productions in a style parents, educators, and general readers will welcome. Arguing that the experience of childhood has been, with or without our consent, reshaped into something that is prefabricated, Shirley Steinberg and Joe Kincheloe reveal to readers the impact our prefab, purchasing-obsessed culture has on our children-and on our beliefs about childhood.

Author Biography

Shirley R. Steinberg is associate professor and chair of graduate literacy at Brooklyn College. The senior and founding editor of Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education, she is the author and editor of more than 15 books and numerous articles. Her latest work is the Encyclopedia of Contemporary Youth Culture, with Priya Parmar and Birgit Richard. Steinberg and Joe Kincheloe have recently finished 19 Urban Questions: Teaching in the City. Joe L. Kincheloe is professor of urban education at the CUNY Graduate Center and Brooklyn College. He is the author of more than 30 books and hundreds of articles. His most recent works include Critical Pedagogy: A Primer, and The Sign of the Burger: McDonald's and the Culture of Power. Kincheloe and Shirley Steinberg have recently finished 19 Urban Questions: Teaching in the City.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Kinderculture, Information Saturation, and the Socioeducational Positioning of Children	1	(48)
Shirley R. Steinberg
Joe L. Kincheloe
Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Spectacular Allegory: A Diagnostic Critique	49	(23)
Douglas Kellner
Reading Nickelodeon: Slimed by the Contradictions and Potentials of Television	72	(19)
John Weaver
Kids and the News	91	(29)
Carl Bybee
McDonald's, Power, and Children: Ronald McDonald/Ray Kroc Does It All for You	120	(30)
Joe L. Kincheloe
The Bitch Who Has Everything	150	(14)
Shirley R. Steinberg
Are Disney Movies Good for Your Kids?	164	(17)
Henry A. Giroux
Got Agency? Representations of Women's Agency in Harry Potter	181	(26)
Ruthann Mayes-Elma
Professional Wrestling and Youth Culture: Teasing, Taunting, and the Containment of Civility	207	(21)
Aaron D. Gresson
Home Alone and Bad to the Bone: The Advent of a Postmodern Childhood	228	(26)
Joe L. Kincheloe
Power Plays: Video Games' Bad Rap	254	(30)
Stephanie Urso Spina
Hip-Hop and Critical Pedagogy: From Tupac to Master P and Beyond	284	(17)
Greg Dimitriadis
About the Contributors and Editors	301	(4)
Notes	305	(6)
Index	311