Location: Home :: Books in General :: General AAS :: Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture

Need a quick gift? Try Amazon gift certificates.

Don't Forget To Visit:

The New Social Worker Online

SocialWorkJobBank

Online Continuing Education for Social Workers

Amazon.com Widgets

Related Categories

•	General AAS

Qualifying Textbooks

Custom Stores

Specialty Stores

•	Consumer Behavior

•

Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture

enlarge

Author: Juliet B. Schor
Publisher: Scribner
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$16.00~~
Buy Used: $2.00
You Save: $14.00 (88%)

New (47) Used (40) from $2.00

Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.8

ISBN: 0684870568
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.230973
EAN: 9780684870564
ASIN: 0684870568

Publication Date: October 4, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: * Item in good condition- Typical Used Book and at a great price! * We carefully inspected this * Great customer service * Satisfaction Guaranteed!

Similar Items:

•	The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need
•	Branded: The Buying And Selling Of Teenagers
•	Consuming Kids: Protecting Our Children from the Onslaught of Marketing Advertising
•	Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic (Bk Currents)
•	Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life

Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Marketing targeted at kids is virtually everywhere -- in classrooms and textbooks, on the Internet, even at Girl Scout meetings, slumber parties, and the playground. Product placement and other innovations have introduced more subtle advertising to movies and television. Drawing on her own survey research and unprecedented access to the advertising industry, Juliet B. Schor, INew York Times/I bestselling author of IThe Overworked American,/I examines how marketing efforts of vast size, scope, and effectiveness have created "commercialized children." Ads and their messages about sex, drugs, and food affect not just what children want to buy, but who they think they are. In this groundbreaking and crucial book, Schor looks at the consequences of the commercialization of childhood and provides guidelines for parents and teachers. What is at stake is the emotional and social well-being of our children.PLike Barbara Ehrenreich's INickel and Dimed,/I Mary Pipher's IReviving Ophelia,/I and Malcolm Gladwell's IThe Tipping Point, Born to Buy/I is a major contribution to our understanding of a contemporary trend and its effects on the culture.

Amazon.com Review
Parents will be tempted to read IBorn to Buy/I as a kind of contemporary horror story, with ever more sophisticated marketing wunderkinds as Dr. Frankensteins and their children as the relentless monsters they create. Indeed, it's difficult to avoid feeling overwhelmed by the avariciousness, omnipotence, and ingenuity of the advertising industry Juliet B. Schor portrays when it comes to transforming preschool kids into voracious, 'tude-infused consumers. Intermixing research data with anecdotal illustrations, Schor chronicles the rapid development of a once-shackled industry that now markets R-rated movies to 9-year-olds. The mind boggles at the notion that ISeventeen/I magazine's target readership is now pre-teens. While Schor unearths a surplus of information on the effectiveness of advertising, she's not nearly as adept at proposing effective responses. Reacting to the power and creativity of the consumer culture with politically unfeasible regulation and parental diligence is a little like attacking Frankenstein's creature with torches. Still, IBorn to Buy/I is an eye-opening account of an industry that is commercializing childhood with remarkable effectiveness and insouciance. I--Steven Stolder/I

Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

An inconvenient truth... March 16, 2008
Well researched and horrifying, it's all true. You may want to pick up a book on homeschooling your children along side this book, as you will undoubtably want to purchase one afterwards, and if you purchase both at once, you will qualify for free super savings shipping.

4 out of 5 stars

Very interesting June 22, 2007
0 out of 2 found this review helpful

As a new parent this book opened by eyes to a lot of things I would never have recognized as "marketing" and would not have occurred to me how potentially harmful this culture is the psyche of a child. The data gets a little cumbersome at times, and I skimmed over some of the detail so that I didn't get bogged down in it, but lots of great information along the way.

5 out of 5 stars

Great analysis of a creepy industry June 8, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Advertising is creepy, advertising to children even creepier. This is not news. But a detailed study of the overall effects is. The bulk of this book presents the results of in-depth study of the industry, both through statistical study of two sample groups of children, and through study of the work environments of the advertisers themselves, with interviews of marketers, parents, teachers, and kids. The author takes into account the history of moral panics, the party line of the industry that "kids are savvy," and the specific work that has been done around small aspects of this issue, such as fast food and violent video games (which I love). The author takes an unusually balanced, non-partisan view, sympathizing with the easily-vilified advertisers she worked closely with as well as kids and parents. Her policy recommendations are unlikely to be implemented, but her analysis of the issue is extremely sharp.

5 out of 5 stars

What Every Parent Needs to Know April 2, 2007
3 out of 5 found this review helpful

This is a book every parent (and teacher like myself)must read. It cuts to the heart of the exploitation of children that is tearing kids away from parents, family and culture. There is no way to protect children from the devious assault of advertising (you may be shocked at the tactics!) unless we are armed with the facts, and this book tells it like it is.

4 out of 5 stars

Solid argument against the commercially constructed childhood April 23, 2006
10 out of 11 found this review helpful

There's not doubt that corporations, advertisers and marketers do not have your child's best interest at heart. Schor provides a comprehensive account of the what, why and how marketers are targeting your children. br /br /Reading "Born to Buy" will make you want to throw out the TV, disconnect from the Internet, run to the country and home-school your children. Simply put, there's no way to avoid marketing techniques, and your child will succumb to the corporate-commercially constructed childhood. With all the doom and gloom in this book, Schor offers little hope of avoidance...in the end, she does provide a few solutions.br /br /All in all, "Born to Buy" was very informative and an easy, entertaining read. However, some of Schor's original research and statistics caused me to get bogged down. I wasn't looking for scholarly research and did not need to see these statistics. Additionally, Schor seemed to use this book as a chance to take shots at the Bush administration. Although I'm not a fan of this administration and some of the criticism is valid, I do not think Bush started this problem...he's just done nothing to fix it. br /br /All in all, this is well worth the read, especially if you have small children...just skip over the stats near the end, and forgive Schor's attempts at making this political.

Copyright 2007 White Hat Communications.
Disclaimer: The products referenced on this site are manufactured and sold by parties other than The New Social Worker/White Hat Communications. We make no representations regarding either the products or any information vendors offer about their products.

Visit our poster store for unique social issues posters.

Amazon.com Widgets