Final closing date for initial submissions – 27th April 2012
Revisions and resubmissions – May – October 2012
Submission of final papers – 1st November 2012
Expected Publication – 2013
This Special Issue of Young Consumers will be based on recent work across the social sciences, in for example, psychology, sociology and cultural studies. Papers will reflect the diversity of consumption practices and parenting styles. From the routine purchase of baby products to decorating nurseries and collecting exclusive artefacts, the Special Issue will examine the ‘work’ of commodities in preparation for parenthood. Papers may also discuss the expansion of the commercial sphere into areas once considered the preserve of the medical or the family. The commodification of ante-natal ultrasound scanning and stem cell storage for example, present parents with new frontiers for spending, caring and creativity. Consideration may be given to non participation in the market and ways of understanding anti-consumerism. Additionally, it may be productive to ask where the extent and limits of the market lie in relation to new parenthood. Is it bounded by the needs of the newborn or does it extend to housing, childcare and education for example? If this is the case then parenting can be examined as a politically important project in which relations with the market and the state are reconfigured.
Full Details: CFP YC – new parents and young children