How a sports drink became a tool for social power among schoolchildren
A new study reveals how children strategically use consumer fads—in this case, a popular sports drink—to gain social status and influence within schools. The finding suggests that what appears as casual consumption is actually sophisticated social negotiation, with implications for how educators understand peer dynamics and consumer culture's role in child development.
Originaltitel: The power of prime: The role of a fad in children's social positioning within school-age educare
<p>This ethnographic study investigates how a fad enters two Swedish school-age educarecenters and how the children use it in negotiating social positions. The sports drink Primeis not mainly consumed for its content; instead, the bottles are valued as pop-culturalobjects. By regarding the fad as discursive, the results show how children utilize theirknowledge of the fad to influence their position in the institutions. The study contributesto knowledge on how fads enter and are translated into children’s social contexts, as wellas the effects they have on children’s social lives in educational institutions.</p>