Big Kids RTM or Young Adults(TM): Exploring the consumer cultures of Los Angeles youth at the turn of the millennium

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Content BIG KIDS® OR YOUNG ADULTS™ EXPLORING THE CONSUMER CULTURES OF LOS ANGELES YOUTH AT THE TURN OF THE MILLENNIUM Copyright 2002 by Leslie Cole A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (SOCIOLOGY) August 2002 Leslie Cole Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3094317 Copyright 2002 by Cole, Leslie All rights reserved. ® UMI UMI Microform 3094317 Copyright 2003 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY PARK LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90089-1695 This dissertation, written by under the direction o f h_&£_ dissertation committee, and approved by all its members, has been presented to and accepted by the Director o f Graduate and Professional Programs, in partial fulfillment o f the requirements fo r the degree of L e s lie Cole DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Director Dissertation Committee & LU IAU L k c M f a t b f o Chair Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Acknowledgements To complete this dissertation, I relied on many individuals who have been important caregivers, mentors, colleagues and friends. First, I would like to extend my deepest thanks and gratitude to my parents, Harold and Ingrid Cole, who have given me their support and encouragement throughout every stage in my education process. Never doubting my whims and dreams, they have provided guidance in the most important ways and means. I also extend heartfelt thanks to my dear friend and partner, Quentin Hancock, whose love and devotion, I can’t imagine not having. And without whose editing skills, this project would have never have achieved such polish. For her unwavering mentorship and sociological inspiration, I thank Elaine Bell Kaplan, my dissertation advisor, who since I entered graduate school in 1994, has always supported my ideas and welcomed my collaborative efforts in her own research interests. I also acknowledge my dissertation committee members (Elaine Bell Kaplan and Barry Glassner from the department of Sociology at USC, and Marita Sturken from the Annenberg School of Communications at USC) — without whose patience and professionalism, I couldn’t have finished in such a timely manner. Further, I wish to extend my appreciation for two dear student-colleagues from the Sociology department at USC. To Michele Dunbar, whose voice of reason has provided clarity, wit, and sarcastic charm since we began the trip to graduate school; and to James Thing, whose mischief, sensitivity, and respect have touched me deeply. I also offer my sincere thanks and appreciation to Elizabeth Wilmot, for not only fifteen years of jubilant friendship, but also for introducing me to her endearing students ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. who contributed to such a worthwhile field experience that re-invigorated my sociological imagination. And finally, I offer a note of gratitude to that little Varmint, whose feline mysteries provided such spontaneous and welcome diversions. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Table of Contents Chapter Page Acknowledgements ii Abstract vii Introduction 1 1. Literature Review and Research Methodology 10 Theoretical Frameworks — Culture and Consumption 11 Interaction and Performance 18 Gender and Feminism 19 Theoretical and Empirical Scholarship on Youth and Culture 22 Race, Ethnicity, and Class 27 Gender and Feminism 30 Toward an Intersection of Youth, Culture, and Consumption 32 Expanding Literacy into the Future 36 Empirical Research Framework 39 Personal Standpoint 41 Method and Sample 43 Research Procedures 46 Data Analysis 52 Limitations and Conclusions 53 2. Ethnographic Insights from L.A.Youth 59 The Culture of Los Angeles in a City of Contradictions 60 The Ethnographic Site of Mefferin Middle School 63 Mefferin and the New Era in School Busing 66 A Typical Day at Mefferin 68 Who are the Kids in The Wood? (focus group participants) 74 The Microcosm of a Young Adolescent Society 93 Life Begins after 3:00 96 Transportation 98 Life Outside “The Wood” 100 Mefferin Students’ Consumption Interests 102 Conclusion 123 3. Seen in the Eyes of One’s Peers (popularity and brand names) 128 Group Identity and Popularity 129 Grade Hierarchies and Group Representation at Mefferin 130 Following the Strains of Groups, Cliques, Subcultures 135 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Style Culture, Cool Culture 137 It’s All About Being Cool 142 Social Stigmas: Chuntys, FOBs, and Posers 145 The Chunty and the FOB Labels 147 The Poser Label 151 Brand-Awareness or Brand-Bewareness? 153 The High Status of Nike vs. the High Stigma of Payless 158 Conclusion 165 4. Cajoling and Pigeon-holing Youth (advertising and marketing) 171 The Development of Brand-Name Hegemony 172 How Advertising Has Evolved 173 How Mefferin Students Look at Advertising 177 Key Tactical Strategies 179 Some L.A. Observations 181 Marketing Cool and Cool Marketing 183 MTV Cool 187 Nike Cool, Nike Corporation, Nike Capitalism 189 The Hunt for Cool 194 Conclusion 199 5. “We’re in the Money” but Still Cursed at the Bottom Line 203 Wherever the Money is, Childhood Follows 204 Mefferin Youth and the Culture of Money 211 The Dynamic of Adolescent Disposable Income 216 What Mefferin Students Do With Their Money 220 The Future Needs More Money 223 American Credit Card Status (glamour and poverty) 227 Conclusion 233 6. Hip-Hopping Around, but Out of ‘N Sync 237 Family Relations to Parental Concerns 238 Agency, Opposition, Resistance 250 Locating the Main Themes of Compliance (gender) 262 L.A. Boys and a Style of “Hip-Hop Masculinity” 266 L.A. Girls and a Style of “Romantic Femininity” 275 Girl Power (third wave feminism) 287 Conclusion 293 7. Learning and Leaning into the Future: Suggestions and Conclusions 301 How Can Youth Educators Provide the Right Tools? 302 The Economic Tide and the Future of Mefferin Youth 305 The Importance of Encouraging New Literacy Measures 308 Suggestions for Possible Implementation 314 v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. References 321 Appendices A: January 2000 Survey 337 B: Focus Group Demographic Form 341 C: Focus Group Interview Schedule 342 D: Follow-up Questions for Parents 345 E -l: Immigration Information (Survey participants) 346 E-2: Immigration Information (Focus Group participants) 347 F -l: Race and Ethnicity Clarification 348 F-2: Race/Gender Characteristics (Survey participants) 349 F-3: Race/Gender Characteristics (Focus Group participants) 350 G-1: Class/Socio-Economic Status (Survey participants) 351 G-2: Class/Socio-Economic Status (Focus Group participants) 352 G-3: Class Status through Parent’s Occupations (Survey & Focus Groups) 353 H: Slang Vocabulary of Mefferin Students 354 I: Official Mefferin School Appearance Standards 355 J-l: Favorite Television Shows 357 J-2: Favorite Music (performers) 357 J-3: Favorite Radio Stations 357 J-4: Favorite Magazines 358 J-5: Favorite Movies 358 J-6: Favorite Video Games 358 J-7: Favorite Things to Do at the Mall 359 J-8: Favorite Stores at the Mall 359 K: Teenage Research Unlimited (TRU) Client List 360 L: New Literacy Resources/Organizations 362 vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Abstract BIG KIDS® OR YOUNG ADULTS™ EXPLORING THE CONSUMER CULTURES OF LOS ANGELES YOUTH AT THE TURN OF THE MILLENNIUM In this dissertation I argue that the culture of consumption — one that centers primarily on the involvement with mass media products, brand name fashions and high-tech electronic devices — is an essential factor in the formation of social identity among young adolescents in the 21st century. This consumer culture is also integral to the perceptions by which youth construct new criteria of social discrimination and inequality. Socially constructed attitudes about status and stigma are particularly relevant in the lives of immigrant youth who view consumption as a vehicle to American assimilation and acculturation. Through an ethnographic portrait of young adolescents living in Los Angeles, genres of contemporary popular culture which envelop the lives of young adolescents outside of family and school are discussed. This dissertation draws on and expands neo-Marxian theoretical analyses of youth and culture, as well as post-modern analyses of the contemporary urban experience. This dissertation also broadens the American sociological empirical work on children and adolescents by addressing issues pertaining to a contemporary multi-ethnic, multi-classed population. This dissertation highlights the voices of adolescents discussing their consumption interests, and through these voices issues of depth and complexity are revealed: consumption is shown to be a category of analysis that connects issues of peer groups and popularity, deviance and conformity, class hierarchy and division, national origin and migration, inclusion and exclusion. Prominent themes also include gender division, and the politics of resistance and compliance. Macro influences such as the contemporary culture industries (created vii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and owned by adults) which produce entertainment products for youth are explored, as well the micro structures that foster meanings through the rituals of young adolescent social interaction. Future policy implications and pedagogical directives are offered regarding expanding current media literacy measures by integrating economic and consumer advocacy and critique. V lll Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Introduction In June of 2000, the students at Mefferin Middle school in west Los Angeles gathered for the famed, end of year assembly, the "Annual Dance Performance and Fashion Show." I sat in the packed auditorium with Miss Hillmont's 7th graders, watching in awe as the dancers performed an opening number whose moves seemed to exactly match the choreography of a Gap clothing commercial. The synchronized dance moves were set to the movie soundtrack of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and executed by twenty girls wearing tummy-baring cropped t-shirts and Gap Khakis capri pants. The dancers were talented and well-rehearsed, the staging professional and slickly produced. At its end, the audience hooted and hollered in approval; the requisite "Yeah Babys" and cat-calls were hard to silence until the pulsating hip-hop beats began and a quintet of boys wearing oversized jeans, Tommy Hilfiger jerseys and Nike sneakers further wowed the crowd with the latest popping and break dance moves, finishing up to more hoots and applause. Soon the lighting changed, a makeshift 'catwalk' was set up and the fashion show began. This included both students as well as some faculty members — the difference was that faculty members tended to not take their modeling as seriously. Some even used a touch of parody, most notably Mr. Morales and Mr. Suzuki, two very popular teachers who slinked out from the wings in women's drag. Students, however, modeled fashions in earnest, from sportswear to formal; the brand names were announced to the audience over the loudspeakers as they "struck the pose" -- modeling not just the clothing but the look, the performance of Vogue and GQ. Yet the world of glamour also had its 1 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. casualties. Audience applause and approval varied tremendously — much acclaim for girls whose bodies, now post-pubescent, matched the cultural ideal for adult women's bodies with slim but curvy hips, tight waists, large breasts; and far less applause for girls who were still undeveloped. Startlingly, the applause was loud and ebullient for all boys who modeled, whether they were short and thin or tall and muscular. I kept thinking to myself, "this is middle school at the end of the 20th century, and this is their spectacle of consumption." "Their" World o f Consumption The above vignette introduces some contemporary contradictions in the current climate of school and youth culture. In pursuing those contradictions at the school setting, I found a salient overlay of hidden signifiers in young adolescent worlds. In this dissertation I argue that the culture of consumption — one that centers primarily on the involvement with mass media products, brand-name fashions and high-tech electronic devices -- is an integral factor in the formation of social identity among young adolescents in the 21st century. In this dissertation I bring into focus the genres of a contemporary popular culture which absorbs the lives of young adolescents outside of family and school. I also bring into focus an 'audience of youthful consumers' through an ethnographic portrait of a population of young adolescents living in Los Angeles at the turn of millennium. My findings broaden the scope of existing empirical studies in the sociology of youth by addressing issues pertaining to a contemporary population of young adolescents who were multi-ethnic and multi-classed. In studying a population as this, I found that consumption involved more than just enjoying and participating in popular entertainment culture. Consumption integrated and connected issues concerning 2 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. peer groups and popularity; deviance and conformity; class hierarchy and division; national origin and migration; inclusion and exclusion. This dissertation project was primarily a qualitative, ethnographic study of media- driven consumption practices/consumer interests among a population of young adolescents (many of whom were first generation immigrants) who attended a public middle school in urban Los Angeles during the 1999-2000 school year. In addition to addressing topics of current concern regarding consumption practices, the research is addressed to an ethnographic sample which is reflective of the current and changing demographic patterns of the Los Angeles region.1 Using a triangulation of methods (observation, survey, and focus group interviews), primary data was collected during Winter/Spring 2000 with extra materials (current events/news reports, web research, and television viewing) recorded and collected between 1999-2002. I also attempt to synthesize some of the major theoretical contributions of the past twenty-five years (e.g. postmodernism, post-industrialism) and to integrate the current developments of globalism and transnationalism into the framework of this dissertation. I argue that an important reason for conducting research in this area is the growth of corporate interests in teenage consumer markets centered on entertainment and leisure. During the 1990s, consumer spending among youths 12-18 in the U.S. reached nearly two billion dollars per year. While they may be trend setters who influence style, adolescents are a population vulnerable to commercial exploitation. They are also a growing one. Census data for 2000 points to the largest youth population ever (12-19 year olds) — numbering 31.6 million. The majority of adolescents are financially dependent upon adults; however, advertisers/marketers may attempt to expand their 3 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. opportunities to cultivate a culture in which adolescents or "teens" (a socially constructed demographic and age-related category) identify with money as disposable income. Adolescent disposable income is predominantly channeled into entertainment, leisure, media and popular culture genres and outlets. Since contemporary advertising and marketing for these products and outlets promote a world centered on brand name status through glamorous spectacle and the promise of immediate gratification, it may be difficult for adolescents to come to understand more adult perceptions/realities of economic survival and provision as they become adults themselves. During the last decade of the 20th century, and at the dawning of the 21 st, as news reports of stock market surges, a booming "new" economy and low unemployment rates became some of the mantras of the new century, a complementary media market was created. Through images accessible to all, advertising and marketing invented a culture of affluence for all to consume. This pervasive illusion of affluence also cultivated increased consumer spending among adolescents. Thus, one of the primary questions for my research could be phrased in the following: If the knowledge of product brand names and corporate logos (e.g. Tommy, DKNY, Nike, Playstation, Gameboy, etc.) is widely dispensed across all segments of adolescent populations, in what ways does the function of consumer status (and competition among peer groups) foster greater social division and reinforce social and economic inequality? This dissertation project offers analysis embracing both macro-level, and micro level perspectives. On a macro-level, I illustrate how business strategies indicative of ffee-market capitalism contribute to the construction of a reality among adolescents in which wearing the right brand of shoes signifies status — both symbolic and literal. On a 4 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. micro-level, I examine the development of self-presentation and social interaction which is integral to the practices of adolescent identity negotiation. These interactions are the starting point for discussions of popularity through brand and style solidarity — hence, a formation of "Style Tribes" and "Brand Gangs." Students at Mefferin middle school in the Spring of 2000 were either living in the spectacle of Nike versions of coolness or were reduced to the marginal status of "Payless Girl, Payless Boy." For many Mefferin students who were 1st and 2nd generation immigrants, the negotiation of status through brand solidarity (and division) was one of the larger challenges they faced in the process of cultural assimilation. Therefore, my study is timely and unique because 1) the intensity of marketing toward youth, particularly teenagers is currently reaching something a kin to a ‘critical mass.’ Thus, it is also keenly important to study middle schoolers, as they are just at the cusp of this socialization dynamic; and 2) I draw attention to the convergence of marketing culture with patterns of population change and immigration, and thus contribute further to the current literature on assimilation, acculturation and the negotiation of ethnic identity. The final goal of this project is to offer some timely and relevant policy implications in the hope of achieving social change. This dissertation offers a portrait of youth learning to wield symbols in an adult world. For its part, the adult world has created a market filled with unlimited freedom of choice, yet has also created a framework that seeks to censor and regulate. For example, while parents and professional educators attempt to dissuade or disengage adolescents from their consumer interests, they may not fully recognize and consider the limited scope of adolescents' media and economic literacy skills. Similarly, they may be remiss in recognizing how adolescents 5 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. create their own symbolism for assessing their place in society/culture, and they may fail to ask how adolescents arrive at their own unique consumer strategies. Therefore, in this dissertation I raise questions about how young adolescent versions of agency are constructed. How do young adolescents formulate their own perspectives in making consumer choices? And in what manner do adolescents engage in creating strategies of resistance and opposition? Organization of Chapters I have organized this dissertation into seven chapters that create a comprehensive portrait of this subject matter. In Chapter 1,1 present a review of the major theoretical and empirical contributions that inspire my own qualitative sociological research on youth and consumption. Special attention is paid toward integrating works from the disciplines of cultural studies, history, and education. I follow the review of the literature with a detailed account of how my research design was conceived of and carried out. Following the Literature Review and Research Methodology outlined in Chapter 1,1 present an ethnographic overview of the lives of "Mefferin Middle School" students who participated in this project during the 1999-2000 school year. The observational and narrative details of Chapter 2 describes the population of young adolescents at the forefront of this study. Here I highlight the overarching patterns of participation in, and consumption of popular culture (including their specific interests in mass media, new technology, and shopping) as I document how young adolescents spend their time inside and outside of school. Special attention is devoted to the intersectional variations of gender, race/ethnicity, and social class/status. The significance of the social geography and cultural diversity of the Los Angeles region is also addressed. 6 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. In Chapters 3 through 6 ,1 offer separate discussions which integrate my analysis of the ethnographic data. Chapter 3 addresses some of the more emotional issues attached to consumption that come into play in a population that attributes great significance to the possession and display of brand-name clothing and athletic shoes. I explain how group identity politics are defined by various understandings of "cool," both historically and contemporarily. Particular attention is paid to the way immigrant youth, and other "non cool" youth are subject to unique forms of stigma, ridicule, and discrimination. To offer balance between the micro worlds of adolescents and the macro society at large, Chapter 4 draws attention to how specific culture industries (advertising and marketing) have engaged young adolescents in the "marketplace of cool." This chapter profiles the corporate commodity institutions such as MTV and Nike and the ways in which they have captured the market for cool and established loyalty among adolescent consumers. I present details on how corporate hegemony is developed through (marketing) techniques that build an expansive empire of incremental segments and selective niches. Further, I show how marketing techniques contribute to the hierarchical divisions exhibited among Mefferin youth. As the topic of money is rarely addressed in the sociology of youth, in Chapter 5 I point out ways in which the "power-bloc" of culture and industry reaches into the public sector in order to secure long-term customers at an early age. Adolescent disposable income is channeled into entertainment which in turn maintains the healthy functioning of American corporate hegemony. While adolescents receive their money from parents, parents end up playing "co-consuming" roles whether they choose to or not. This chapter further reinforces the idea that middle school youth (who are not yet granted any rights of 7 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. adult citizenship, or able to hold legal employment) are socialized by industry as well as parents to participate in a profit-driven, money-centered culture that values competition, material wealth and status hierarchies. I also discuss some potential long-term effects/ consequences of free-wheeling consumption in terms of unsecured debt and credit card abuse - the potential for an expanding underclass. In Chapter 6 ,1 relate the consumer cultures of youth to the ways in which young adolescents react to the pressures (cultural, social, institutional, familial, etc.) that exist in their lives. I specifically note the constraints (censorship) which adults place on youth leisure consumption, and illustrate the complex, market-driven relations by which adult and adolescent consumption interests clash and coincide. I also engage in a gender- directed analysis of "hip-hop masculinity" and "romantic femininity" as templates of dominant gender relations among Mefferin youth that are reinforced through entertainment consumption. The chapter concludes with some examples of adolescent resistance to both mainstream gender and consumption regimes. And finally, in Chapter 7 ,1 discuss the future of new literacy campaigns which link the pedagogical goal of critical inquiry to integrated media and consumer literacy programs. In this chapter I make suggestions for consumer literacy with an emphasis on the experience and knowledge which adolescents already have, moving teachers and other adults to explore adolescent perspectives and media expertise even as they help students to better understand the networked ideologies and consumption mandates of the culture in which they live. I also offer suggestions for introducing and enhancing consumer/media literacy education within the institutional structures of public schools, including the use of technology to facilitate interaction between adolescents and adults. 8 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1 Marc Cooper (2000) writes about how the demographic shift in Los Angeles of recent times has been huge. A city that was 70% white in 1960 is now only 31%, whereas the Latino population in 1960 was 10% is now at 44% and increasing. Other increases are seen in Asian populations that in 1960 were at 4% is now at 15%. Along with whites, blacks are also a population on the decline in Los Angeles, from 15% in 1960 to just below 10% today (p. 16) In the Mefferin population, 132 students filled out questionnaires in January 2000. Of these students, 49% were Latino, 15% were Black, 13% were Mixed race/ethnicity, 11% did not specify ethnicity, 7% were Asian, 3% were Middle Eastern, and 2% were White/Caucasian. In May/June 2000, 50 students participated in focus group interviews. Of these students, 64% were Latino, 12% were Black, 12% were Mixed race/ethnicity, 6% were Middle Eastern, 4% did not specify ethnicity and 2% were White. In the Mefferin samples, at least 15% of the students were bom outside the U.S. and at least 38% had parents who were foreign bom. 9 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER 1 Literature Review and Research Methodology In this chapter, I introduce the major theoretical and empirical contributions in the fields of qualitative sociology with a focus on consumption and youth culture. Drawing from various disciplines that encompass social and humanistic inquiry, I argue that the politics and practices of consumption operate on many levels. I envision an “integrational” approach so I draw the reader’s attention to the “macro” elements that contribute to worthy analysis on a large scale (class, gender, race/ethnicity), as well as the “micro” processes (symbolic interactions) that individuals, the ‘youthful consumers’ create and engage in. This review of the salient literature in these areas is followed by a detailed account of how this dissertation research project was conceived and carried out in 2000. Since ethnographic studies of youth in Southern California that focus on consumption issues have limited representation in contemporary scholarship, this chapter attempts to provide theoretical justification for a culturally-based assessment of an ethnically diverse population of middle school students living in Los Angeles. By drawing the connections that Los Angeles youth have to contemporary leisure and entertainment genres (the main vehicles of youth consumption), I am broadening the current and existing scholarship through my examination of how and why youth negotiate personal and social identity in various interaction modes — incorporating their own definitions, their own unique strategies. 10 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Theoretical Frameworks — Culture and Consumption An important component in this study addresses the relationships adolescents have with popular/media culture and how they participate in the politics of consumption; therefore, the foundations of this project build on Raymond Williams’ (1981) neo- Marxist approach in sociological theory, and assertion of a disciplinary convergence of sociology, cultural history and analysis. From this theoretical basis, culturally-centered scholarship can broaden and enhance more structurally deterministic perspectives (and the study of key variables such as class, gender, race, and sexuality, for example) by drawing from a wide-ranging area of interdisciplinary inquiry (During, 1993; Grossberg, 1995). Contemporary studies that focus on culture often invoke the “backdrop” of postmodernism, and encompass such areas as media studies (e.g. Kellner, 1995; Fiske, 1994), popular culture explications (e.g. Strinati, 1995; Fiske, 1989; deCerteau, 1984), multi-cultural/global discourses (e.g. Lull, 1995; Shohat & Stamm, 1994), and the preservation of nationalistic ties (e.g. Kapur, 1999; Sarup, 1996) — all of which have become important intersections within the contemporary study of consumption. The postmodernist theoretical context has been influential in developing an inquiry and a communal dialogue among various disciplines from the arts, the humanities, and the social sciences. Providing a space for new feminist interpretations (e.g. Butler, 1990; Flax 1990; hooks, 1990; McRobbie, 1994) alongside multi-cultural perspectives (e.g. Shohat & Stamm, 1994) through various communicative genres and media, postmodern theory has been a significant contributor to the advancement of diversity in social thinking and the production of knowledge. Further, the postmodern 11 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. world view has given rise to a provocative intellectual dialogue centered on the cultural politics of consumption. In the late 1980s, literary critic Frederic Jameson described postmodernism as “a periodizing concept whose function is to correlate the emergence of new formal features in culture with the emergence of a new type of social life and a new economic order -- what is often called post-industrial or consumer society, the society of the media or multi national capitalism” (1988, p.15). What is key in Jameson’s statement is that he links the consumer society with contemporary examples of cultural production (media, multi national corporations), with traditional social structural elements (capitalism and the economy), and with social interaction (social life). Even education theorists have taken up Jameson’s thesis, among them Henry Giroux (2000), who recently formulated a summary mantra of his own: “in a postmodern world, consumption rather than [traditional concepts of work and labor] production drives the capitalist economy” (p.67). Others have highlighted how consumption is a pre-eminently “social activity” (e.g. Sarup, 1996; Schor, 1999). Sarup considers consumption a “normative behavior which signifies that one is a member of this society... it is consumption that is the primary mode of social integration” (p. 107). While consumption implies the democratic idea of freedom of choice, sociologists such as Jean Baudrillard (1970/1998) and Pierre Bourdieu (1984) have demonstrated how consumption remains a class-based institution where capital takes on different forms. Baudrillard stated that consumption “is a system of exchange, and the equivalent of a language.. .and as a process of classification and social differentiation in which signs are ordered as status values in a hierarchy” (pp. 60- 12 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 61). This sentiment was reinforced by Bourdieu who argued that “art and cultural consumption are predisposed, consciously and deliberately or not, to fulfill a social function of legitimating social differences” (p.7). Foreseeing the future perhaps, Baudrillard also argued that “instead of equalizing opportunities and reducing social competition (economic and status competition), the consumption process makes competition more violent and more acute in all its forms” (p. 182). Did the 1980’s, the decade of greed (e.g. Ehrenreich, 1990) bring on more inequality (both structurally and culturally) than is generally understood? Schor (1999), for instance has argued that recent developments in the sphere of consumption, described as “the new consumerism” have brought forth an “upscaling of lifestyle norms; the pervasiveness of conspicuous, status goods and of competition for acquiring them; and the growing disconnection between consumer desires and incomes” (p. 4). In another sense, where consumption is more than just an economically-driven experience, it is about dreams and pleasures, communication and confrontation (e.g. Featherstone, 1991; Fisk, 1989; Nava, 1992). Consumption can also be defined as the active ideology that imparts the message whose meaning is found in the use and purchase of material goods, products, images and services that enhance and ultimately define lifestyle and personal identity (e.g. Sarup, 1996; Schor, 1999). Furthermore, because consumption is premised upon the expansion of capitalist commodity production, the rise of consumer culture has also resulted in a growing emphasis on leisure and consumption activities in contemporary Western societies (Featherstone, 1991). Seiter (1993) also notes that “all members of modem developed societies depend heavily on commodity 13 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. consumption, not just for survival but for participation and inclusion in social networks” (p. 3). With the globalization of the mass media, the commodity consumption associated with modem industrialized societies has seen world-wide expansion (Gunter & Fumham, 1998; Lull, 1995; Shohat & Stamm, 1994). Salient to this research conception is the question of how consumerism implies a society-wide structure of meaning that has been concentrated around key forms such as merchandising and advertising design (e.g. DeGrazia, 1992; Goldman, 1992; Goldman & Papson, 1996; 1998). Williams (1980) called advertising a “magic” system. As Kincheloe and Steinberg (1998) comment, “by using fantasy and desire, corporate functionaries have created a perspective on late twentieth century culture that meld with business ideologies and ffee-market values” (p.4). Baudrillard asserted that the most remarkable aspect about advertising was that it was “always an imposed consensus” (p. 125). Furthermore, “the contents of ads and advertising images and media are “juxtaposed signs, all of which culminate in the super-sign which is the brand name.. .the only real message” (p. 148). Further, a postmodern era has yielded an emphasis by the producers of culture on the practice of associating new meanings with emerging or growing segments of the U.S. population. Thus, a multicultural population is transformed into a collection of niche markets centered on corporate opportunity and profit (e.g ‘Anglo suburban children,’ ‘urban teens,’ ‘middle-class blacks,’ ‘2n d generation Latino immigrant families’ etc.). Featherstone (1991) has noted that over the last four or five decades some scholars have seen consumerism "as leading to greater egalitarianism and individual freedom; 14 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. others see it as increasing the capacity for ideological manipulation and ‘seductive’ containment of the population from some alternative set of ‘better’ social relations” (p. 2). Historically, commodity consumption has been the subject of critique as demonstrated by Mills (1951), who referred to the consequences of the rise of a new post WWII middle class prosperity, and by Marcuse (1964) who commented on the conditions (false values and materialism) of the resultant ‘one dimensional’ society. The realities of a consumer society’s materialism and its polarities of affluence and poverty were also examined by Galbraith (1958). In the mid 20th century, mass culture theorists (e.g. MacDonald, 1957) have argued that the audience for mass culture/popular culture “is a mass of passive consumers, prone to the manipulative persuasions of the mass media, submissive to the appeals to buy mass produced commodities made by mass culture.. .and open to the commercial exploitations which motivates mass culture” (in Strinati, 1995, p. 12). These ideas are further developed through theoretical contributions of the Frankfurt School (e.g. Adomo, 1941/1991; Adorno & Horkeimer, 1944/1973; 1977) that address how popular culture/ mass culture, or “low culture” as opposed to the “high culture” of the fine arts (e.g. great literary works to classical music), focuses production in culture industries to ensure the stability and continuity of capitalism. Thus, “cultural forms like popular music can function to secure the continuing economic, political and ideological domination of capital” (ibid, p. 56). On one hand, theories as these have some relevance today in light of the proliferation of new media forms such as digital technology and the Internet. On the other hand, mass culture theories as these leave little room for considering audience’s 15 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. uses (and enjoyment) of popular/mass culture products. This is significant in terms of how contemporary research findings are assessed. Contemporary scholars addressing consumption (e.g Featherstone 1991; Kellner, 1995; McRobbie, 1994) have indicated that social science and humanistic disciplines should seek to move beyond the largely negative reductionist critiques of consumption. Thus, important insights for my project were derived from cultural theorists and researchers who have asserted that the study of cultural representations, for example, must encompass not only images or textualizations of social experiences, but also the process of their production, circulation and consumption. The goal of the cultural studies scholar is to establish culture as a seriously considered variable of study — as an independent variable when the practices and symbols of everyday life are the focus of analysis — but also as a dependent variable considered in conjunction with issues of power and politics (Alasuutari, 1995, p. 24). The “linguistic turn” (ibid. p.24) in academic scholarship and research paradigms brought legitimacy to cultural studies attempts to create a union between the humanities and the social sciences. Bringing in a politicized focus to cultural participants or cultural consumers, Kellner (1995) notes how British cultural scholars in the 1960s/1970s began examining ways that cultural forms served either to further social domination or to enable people to resist and struggle against domination. Gramsci’s (1971) concept of hegemony has been highly influential to this work. The conceptual origins of hegemony date back to the 1930s when Gramsci theorized that societies maintain their stability through a balance or interplay between coercion and consent. Thus some social institutions may violently exert 16 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. power and force to maintain boundaries and control (e.g. police, military), while other social institutions (e.g. government, education, media) serve to induce consent to the dominant order by establishing hegemony. Early scholarship on mass media and audience reactions/interactions by Stuart Hall (1973/1980), for example, demonstrated how the process of encoding/decoding effectively empowers the mass media to shape and enforce ideological hegemony (see also Morley, 1980). At the same time, Hall recognized the power of the people -- youth in particular — who “resist” dominant ideologies, negotiate their own space and construct their own meanings in the web of culture. Scholars (e.g. Bourdieu, 1984; Fiske, 1989,1993; Steinberg & Kincheloe, 1998) have actively framed their discussions of consumption in relation to structures of social and cultural power. For instance, Fiske (1993) has described a ‘power bloc’ of social formations designated by race, class, gender and ethnicity which hold special access to various resources (including money, information, cultural capital media, etc.) By the same token, Fiske (1989), arguing from a new populist-oriented standpoint, has also made a pointed critique of a purely neo-Marxist approach: the “productivity of consumption is detached from wealth or class. Often the poor are the most productive consumers -- unemployed youths produce themselves as street art in defiant displays of commodities (garments, hairstyles, makeup, etc.) whose creativity is not determined by the cost. Neither the expense of the commodity nor the number of commodities that can be afforded determines the productivity of their consumption” (p. 35). 17 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Interaction and Performance Thus far, I have focused on some of the more macro-oriented theoretical developments that have led me to conduct research about consumption. Because consumption practices are social processes predicated upon human interaction, I will now turn to the more micro-oriented theoretical developments to build a more comprehensive understanding of adolescent social and consumption-related behaviors. Under the theoretical paradigm of symbolic interactionism, Erving Goffman (1959) adapted Shakespeare’s dramaturgical metaphor of “all the world’s a stage” toward a framework of understanding social interactions. Goffman referred to how the process of human interaction is imbued with performativity (i.e. social roles are enacted through cultural scripts). Along with setting a course of understanding of how individuals strategize to both present a particular image of themselves while managing the impressions of others during moments (performances) of interaction, Goffman (1976) also stressed how social situations/settings maintain social-structural arrangements (such as gender and race, and class). Therefore, the performance becomes multi-faceted even though the “display” of human behavior illustrates selective cultural values. West and Zimmerman (1987) for example, invoked Goffman’s influence in their assertion that “gender is a socially scripted dramatization of the culture’s idealization of feminine and masculine natures, played for an audience that is well schooled in the presentational idiom” (p. 127). Highlighting the reflexive properties of a good and proper social interaction, West and Zimmerman discuss how status is acquired by learning and demonstrating the proper role portrayals (see also West and Fenstermaker, 1995 who 18 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. make similar conclusions about race). In this sense, West and Zimmerman view gender “as an accomplishment, an achieved property of situated conduct” (p. 128). In this project I draw connections to adolescents social interaction networks — how they develop and integrate their performance strategies and impression management techniques in a school institutional setting — which ultimately connects them to the culture/society at large. When youth interact with each other, they may attempt to adhere to strict codes which enable them to “fit in,” codes indicative of norms and values deemed socially acceptable. For youth, there are two separate world orders to contend with: 1) the authority figures to please (parents/adults, teachers/institutions) and 2) their own peer groups (friends, classmates). In either domain, when one violates social norms, behavior is often devalued and thus stigmatized (see Gofftnan, 1963). Strategies of interaction also serve as coping or defense mechanisms such as the “Cool Pose.” This concept, articulated by Majors and Billison (1992), utilizes Goffinan’s insights by detailing the behavioral performances traditionally maintained by young black males as “a way of surviving in a restrictive society” (p.2). However the “restrictive society” is not just relevant to black males. In cities like Los Angeles with diverse ethnic populations of disenfranchised young males (i.e. first and second generation Latinos), my research will demonstrate that there are equivalent performances, and variants of cool posing. Gender and Feminism In this project, I paid special attention to how gender was constructed and maintained among young adolescents who 1) were participants in contemporary consumer culture; and 2) were in a school (institutional) setting. According to Kessler, 19 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Asenden, Connell and Dowsett (1985), institutions such as schools particularly reinforced the connection to “the power relations of gender in the larger society” (p.43). They explain that: the school as an institution is characterized at any given time by a particular gender regime. This may be defined as a pattern of practices that constructs various kinds of masculinity and femininity among staff and students, orders them in terms of prestige and power, and constructs a sexual division of labor within the institution (p.42). Interestingly, American elementary and secondary schooling is heavily feminized on one level - the visibility of female instructors and support staff at the school site — while (mostly) male administrators work behind the scenes, superintending and exacting policy. This indicates that relations of power and exploitation with regard to gender may often be insidious as for example, in the culture of American schooling. The gender regime, however, functions both publicly and privately. By exploring the notion of how femininity remains subordinate to masculinity through structural inequities and cultural stereotypes, Connell (1987) developed a theoretical focus that examined widely represented, public portrayals1 of “hegemonic masculinity” and “emphasized femininity.” Connell’s work is complemented by feminist works by Lynn Segal (1990) — who argued that sports stars are the most prominent portrayers of “manliness” today — and by Dorothy Smith (1990) — who argued that femininity, constructed as being pleasing to men, can be easily achieved with the purchase of lingerie, cosmetics and plastic surgery. Connell’s work is significant in how he combines the concerns of humanistic scholarship and social science scholarship. Insights from these scholars point to how gender relations/representations are reproduced 20 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. by, and remain contingent upon consumer capitalism in Western countries like the United States, where they are further reproduced through extensive media and consumption rituals. Additional theoretical proponents that influenced aspects of this project include those viewpoints often referred to as post-feminist (e.g.Brooks, 1997), or embrace “third wave” feminist agendas2 (e.g. Heywood & Drake, 1997). Significantly, contemporary feminisms have included a focus on youth (Kearney, 1998; Inness, 1998; Heywood & Drake, 1997). This aspect has often highlighted the generational differences of women who celebrated the second wave (baby boomers who are now in their 40s to 50s) and those who are of the next generations, retaining the monikers of ‘generation X,’ ‘generation Y’ (women in their late teens, 20s and 30s). Keamey has argued that the “second wave women’s movement was grounded in a political philosophy that among other things ignored female youth in its feminist agenda” (p. 176). Thus, she explains that “in an age that has been dubbed post-feminist, we should not find it surprising that many girls and young women today are often wary of older feminists” (ibid). Inness (1998) has noted that “it is important to consider the culture that girls themselves create as active producers and shapers of their realities, as well as the culture that is created and shaped by adults and then marketed to girls, who in turn, shape market-place commodities in ways that might or might not have been intended by their adult creators” (p. 4). Furthermore, along with opening up a unique space for the voices of younger women, the third wave agenda can be seen as injecting cultural nuances into the intersections of race, class, and gender and sexuality analyses. Heywood and Drake have 21 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. succinctly argued that third wave feminists are shaped by the intersections of contemporary sociopolitical forces, and by an awareness of the complex ways that power, oppression and resistance work in a media-saturated global economy. Theoretical and Empirical Scholarship on Youth and Culture One important reason to conduct my own empirical research was to confront some of the contemporary images of youth and to engage with some of the current debates circulating around youth and culture. Epstein (1998) referred to one polemic that scholars have continually addressed -- are youth to be considered as a social problem or society’s hope for the future? For example, one might ask, should we take note of the positive assessments of empowerment and resistance invoked by the proponents of third-wave feminism and enlarged by the growing interest in the study of girls’ cultures, or should we understand youth (including girls) in terms of deviance and delinquency, an approach typical of media-generated treatments like the Newsweek cover story, “Beyond Littleton, how well do you know your kid?” (5/10/99). In addition to the sensationalized pulp of some news media, popular and media- driven psychologists have also propelled the subject of adolescent inquiry into the spotlight in recent years by depicting widely polarized worlds of girls and boys — from the realms of desperately languishing Hamlets to those of outwardly silent, inwardly raging Ophelias (e.g. Pipher, 1994; Pollack, 1998). By focusing on individual, clinical accounts of adolescent patients/clients with largely white and middle class samples, they have failed to address the complexities of adolescent culture. In these texts, there is little discussion or social analysis of the ways in which adolescents create their own interaction 22 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. strategies within the culture they are growing up in. Hence, we rarely come to understand the little of the personal relations clients had with the society at large. In contrast, some fine journalistic ethnographic accounts have offered important explications of more diverse cultural experiences of adolescents (e.g. Kotlowitz, 1991; Kozol, 1991; Orenstein, 1994). Kotlowitz’ inside view of two boys growing up in Chicago housing projects captures subtleties of everyday life and survival amidst growing up in urban poverty while interconnecting powerful political arguments and social critique, while Kozol unpacks many of the political riddles that have pervaded the area of public schools by detailing how certain groups of children are shunted into terminal academic failure while others are groomed for success. Close to my own particular focus is Orenstein’s work on the patterns of gender which she observed among eighth grade girls in two Northern California middle schools. Orenstein’s study definitively confirms many of the criticisms voiced in an American Association of University Women (AAUW) report on gender and self esteem (1991). Giving life to the charge that adolescent girls have been shortchanged by the hidden curriculum of American public schools, Orenstein weaves girls’ voices and opinions into her text and reveals and documents the differences experienced by girls across race/ethnicity and class. According to James, Jenks, and Prout (1998), combining interdisciplinary elements culled from recent developments in sociological and anthropological research allows for “envisioning the child within a broad cultural context” (p. 196). Bringing this idea further to fruition, my study draws on empirical contributions by sociologists in the United States who have employed ethnographic and qualitative research methodologies in 23 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. their work on youth and the culture that surrounds them and their peers whom they interact with regularly (e.g. Adler & Adler, 1998; Corsaro, 1997; Eder, 1997; Gaines, 1991; Glassner & Loughlin, 1987; Kaplan, 1997; McGuffy & Rich, 1999; Thome, 1994). Of importance in understanding symbolic interaction within peer cultures are the social worlds approach discussed by Glassner and Loughlin and the interpretive reproduction model discussed by Corsaro. These models are particularly salient to conducting research in the school setting that fosters both informal and formal variations of peer culture interactions (see also Adler & Adler, 1998; Eder, 1997; McGuffy & Rich, 1999). While Corsaro (1997) focused on the culture of childhood (see also James, Jenks & Prout, 1998), interpretive models can be extended into the study of adolescents. In the past decade, the population of youth (ages 12-17) has been steadily increasing toward new population highs. This is a time when the topic of “youth” has also become more frequently discussed by “authorities” like medical practitioners, corrections officers, academic scholars and cultural critics, as well as publicized and amplified by the media, profit-making culture industries and corporate conglomerates. Therefore, it is an asset when social researchers are able to contextualize the relevance of their inquiries within a historical framework of culture and society in order to understand how categories of youth and adolescence have been articulated and understood (e.g. Austin & Willard, 1998; Danesi, 1994; Frank, 1997; Hine, 1999; Palladino, 1996). Austin and Willard (1998) have offered an important ‘formation approach’ (adapted from Omi and Winant’s (1994) race relations model) which “addresses the historical specificity of youth, locating young people and the representations of their lives 24 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. in a complex and changing historical network of institutions, economic structures, state policies, adult initiatives and youth’s self activities” (p. 3). They have called for grounded historical scholarship that emphasizes “everyday tactics, small social collectivities (peer groups) and common cultural practices surrounding young people” (p.5). The study of such forms of adaptation and resistance is further advocated in recent scholarship by Austin and Willard (1998), whose collected essays emphasize diversity and contemporary fragmentation that “facilitates both a multiplicity of youth cultures and a wide range of hybrid identities" (p. 5). In a postmodern world, and in diverse, multicultural cities such as Los Angeles, with its many immigrant enclaves and its position in close proximity to the Mexican border, hybridity is a key dimension of contemporary youthful identities. Still, for understanding the situation of today’s adolescents, broader historical elements (see Danesi, 1994; Hine, 1999; Palladino, 1996) are particularly relevant to consider. For example, it wasn’t until the post-World War II years where greater numbers of youth from all socioeconomic sectors began attending secondary school. That boost in enrollment created the foundations of what “teenager” culture implies. Scholars who have addressed the socially constructed nature of the concept of “teenager” point to the absence of any such term until the mid 1940s; and only when the word came into popular use did it become of large-scale interest to both marketers and social reformers. Danesi (1994) presents a synthesis of research on the ‘signs and meanings’ of modem adolescence and an interpretation o f the significance and implications o f teenage culture. Teens “started to see the high school context as the central locus for gaining and maintaining social status, primarily through symbolic codes, actions, and behaviors that 25 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. were deemed to be socially advantageous by the peer group” (p. 23; see also Hebdige, 1979). In this manner, gaining social status as a teenager is achieved primarily through popularity via being “cool.” By the 1970s and 1980s, “becoming cool was now being perceived to be a prerequisite for children entering junior high and high school” (p. 25). Tracing “the emergence of coolness,” Danesi (see also Majors & Billison, 1992) has provided a historical, semiotic portrait of the teenager and has argued that language, dress, musical tastes, and other symbolic codes have become the concrete means for identifying with peers in terms of being designated as being cool or not (p.xi). This notion of “coolness” also echoes the style and taste hierarchies put forth by Bourdieu (1984). Coolness is now something that most teens now aspire to achieve. According to Pountain and Robins (2000), “cool is an attitude or personality type that has emerged in many different societies, during different historical epochs, and which has served different social functions, but is nevertheless recognizable in all its manifestations as a particular combination of three core personality traits, namely narcissism, ironic detachment and hedonism” (p. 26). Historically, American versions of cool have implied a connection with the avant-garde — an ‘underground’ culture of urban musicians, artists, writers and bohemian affiliates (e.g. MacAdams, 2001). According to Thomas Frank (1997), however, the “hip” and the “cool” has also been the “cultural life-blood of the consumer society” since the advent of the 1960s (p.234). Frank also has drawn attention to the general corporate influence that was positioned to profit off of this newly found fountain of youth. 26 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Race. Ethnicity, and Class The student population that my project addresses reflects the expanding racial/ ethnic and class diversity that is unique to the Los Angeles region. These demographic variables were important to consider for the reason that 1) youth are often heavily invested in the framework of cool - looking, acting, presenting, portraying; and 2) within the mode of consumption, the majority of American mass media and the widely circulating popular culture genres, themes, and images continue to portray and reproduce mainly white, middle-class characters, structures and values. Certainly one can argue that the last twenty years has brought more representations of people of color as characters on television, in films, as major artists in the music industry, and as models in fashion and advertising campaigns. Greater visibility on screens and on pages has also brought non whites into the ‘behind the scenes’ aspects of the culture industries as well. And certainly there has been an increase in the growing number of consumer niche markets aimed directly at ethnic populations (e.g. Latinos, Asians) and race-based sub populations (e.g.middle-class black twenty-somethings). A question still remains: with new markets are there fewer old stereotypes and crumbling boundaries, or are there the same stereotypes, only now backed up by a storehouse of cultural capital? In the “marketing of cool,” the issue of race relations (namely between blacks and whites) is an interesting example of an old tradition replayed and re-gentrified in a postmodern world. Ellen Seiter (1990), in her study of children and consumer culture, noted that “the presence of African American children in a commercial is used to define the product as “cool”.. .and they are set up as more lively.. .more “with it” than whites” 27 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. (p. 104). On one hand this recalls the romantic vision of Norman Mailer (1957) and the mythology surrounding the “White Negro” - but this is also a vision utilized today by advertisers marketing goods to children. And in the lives of youth, anything deemed cool is favorable, respected, and sometimes worshipped. Some recent scholarship (Wilson & Sparks, 1996; Roediger, 1998; Best & Kellner, 1999; Bettie, 2000) directs us to contemporary discussions about “a fast growing group among teenagers — white kids who want to be black” (Roediger, p. 358). Wilson and Sparks (1996) noted in their interviews with black and white adolescent boys, some of the black youth would note that “if you see a white guy wearing “black” clothes, people call him a wigger” (p. 417). Bettie further describes “wiggas” as “white niggas,” or “white youth who appropriate hip-hop culture and perform “black” identity” (p.l). However, as the Mefferin sample showed, it is not just white youth who appropriate forms of black cool identity and performance. Latino/a youth were shown to be quite adept at this. Therefore, as one follows the historical trajectory of exoticized black culture, the appropriation of “cool” across racial boundaries has its own profound implications for today’s youth — where ‘hybridity,’ ‘mixing,’ and ‘diversity’ are common buzz words. Young adolescents today (who were bom in the mid to late 1980s) have little understanding or personal association with the black civil rights campaigns of Martin Luther King and the era of legal segregation among blacks and whites. Forced separation is not part of their world view, and this even more so with youth living in Los Angeles where ethnic enclaves (e.g. Armenians and Thais) co-exist on the same block. However, cultural critic Cornel West (1993) reminds us of the ironies implicit in this hybridization: 28 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the Afro-Americanization of white youth has been more a male than a female affair, given the prominence of male athletes and the cultural weight of male pop artists. This process results in white youth... imitating and emulating black male styles of walking, talking, dressing, and gesticulating in relation to others. One irony of our present moment is that just as young black men are murdered, maimed, and imprisoned in record numbers, their styles have become disproportionately influential in shaping people’s culture (p. 128). Further, Roediger (1998) mentioned that kids who want to be black “are open to new worlds and different ideas” (p. 358), however he has also stressed that “hybridity, in a highly unequal society, has often been the product of tragic, tawdry and exploitive forces [marketing and consumer capitalism] as of romantic ones (p.362). Youth are facing the complicated reality of what the 21st century will be — each time they treat racial identity as a voluntary claim rather than a biological or cultural inheritance” (p.359). For some youth, the possession of cultural capital (namely the components of cool) allows one greater status and popularity -- especially validated within the peer group, some of the traditional stigmas associated with race/ethnic categories mysteriously drop away. For others, race/ethnic stigmas remain. In cities like Los Angeles with large immigrant populations (both 1st and 2n d generations), coolness is measured 1) in the way one is able to keep one’s home country national pride, and 2) the way one can fully manage the right acculturation/assimilation techniques. Even within this new tolerance of multiple identities, the mythos of the American Dream still continues to flourish. The reality in multicultural urban centers such as Los Angeles is one of continued ethnic discrimination/stigmatization in schools, and that discrimination is directed especially at migrant youths who have limited English-language skills (e.g Suarez-Orozco & Suarez- Orozco, 1995; Waldinger & Bozorgmehr, 1996; Orellana, Thome, Lam & Chee 1998). 29 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Gender and Feminism This dissertation augments Barrie Thome’s (1994) work through observation of males and females in school and classroom culture.4 Where Thome’s ethnographic inquiry focused on children, positing the idea of “boys and girls together... but mostly apart,” my study also addresses the way boys and girls negotiate the processes of coming back into relation, moving closer together through the course of adolescence in the middle school years. As Thome’s study explored the intense “border work” practiced by children -- males and females creating separate spheres in a public site, my study explores how gendered boundaries are modified in the transition from childhood to adolescence. For example, I argue that during adolescence, the culture of childhood play becomes supplanted by the culture of “compulsory” heterosexualized performances of romance and dating (see Rich, 1980). Thus, my research considers issues such as the significance of idealized portrayals of romantic relations (i.e. from the cultural scripts offered by visual media such movies, television and music videos) within the context of social interactions of adolescents in school settings. Pertinent to this dissertation is the fact that these middle-school youth range in age from 11 to 14 years old — and thus will most likely experience and confront the onset of puberty during these years, especially its heightened attention to very gendered differences in physiological development (such as breasts in girls and voice changes in boys). The combination of physiological changes and the culturally gendered distinctions that follow those changes are especially prominent in this population. During elementary school gender is coded by separation and borderwork (e.g. Thome, 1994); however in 30 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. middle school, the physical changes which occur in the body are inevitably interlinked with the cultural differences which transform girls into women and boys into men. In combination with the onset of puberty, middle-school youth face greater evaluations by their peers in various contests which determine popularity (e.g. Adler & Adler, 1998; Eder, 1997). That contest often involves fashion, style codes and subcultures. One goal of feminist cultural scholarship has been to highlight and examine the very gendered way in which adolescent and youth subcultures have been represented (e.g. McRobbie, 1979,1991; McRobbie & Garber, 1976/1978). Reflecting upon earlier studies of youth culture and subcultures, McRobbie and Garber argue that “the objective and popular image of a subculture is likely to be one which emphasizes male membership, male focal concerns and masculine values” (in McRobbie, 1991, p.4). Addressing the notion of female invisibility in the scholarship on social worlds examined (for example) by Willis (1977), Hebdige (1979), Hall (1978), and Brake (1980), McRobbie and Garber state that “the exclusive attention paid to male expressions and male styles none the less reinforces and amplifies this image of the subculture as a male formation” (ibid, p. 5). They reinforce the double-standard that continues to exist for girls but also note how “at the same time the expanding leisure industries were directing their attention to both boys and girls” (ibid, p. 5). In the 1990s, the proliferation of “Girl (or Grrl) Power” iconography and activism, along with recent scholarship on girls’ subcultures has reinvigorated interest in the cultural possibilities of feminism, (e.g. Gottlieb & Wald, 1994; Inness, 1998; Kearney, 1998; Kenway & Bullen, 2001; Walkerdine, 1997). Thus youthful third-wave feminist 31 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. movements and subcultures such as “Riot Grrls”5 for example have contributed to a new aspect of youthful resistance to cultural hegemony and consumption ideologies (see Gottlieb & Wald, 1994; Kearney, 1998; Kenway & Bullen, 2001). However, it did not take long for marketers to catch on to the newer, younger, prettier, sexier, images of feminism that were being generated. In 1994 the head-strong liberated images of the Spice Girls musical act appeared on the scene, and in 1996 the television heroine of Buffy the Vampire Slayer hit the airwaves, both revealing how quickly adolescent empowerment is immediately co-opted, re-produced by, and translated into a huge profit- making industry. In this sense, a component of this dissertation is directed at contemporary demonstrations of feminism and how young adolescents create their own understanding of “Girl Power.” Building Towards an Intersection of Youth. Culture, and Consumption Relevant work that pertains to the study of children and culture situated against the backdrop of consumerism is particularly important toward conceptualizing my own research on pre-adolescents and adolescents attending middle school (e.g. Giroux, 1994, 1997,1998,2000; Gunter & Fumham, 1998; Kenway & Bullen, 2001; Kline, 1993; Seiter, 1993; Steinberg & Kincheloe, 1998). According to some scholars (e.g. Elkind, 2001,1998,1994; Postman, 1994) a range of factors (from single parent homes to television, etc.) has contributed to a contemporary crisis of childhood.3 While parents and educators focus on the contents or texts/images represented in popular culture/mass media genres as the major influences over children/adolescents, scholars (Kapur, 1999; Ken way & Bullen, 2001; Kinder, 1991, 1990) point out that new 32 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. interactive technologies (computers, video games) have proliferated rapidly, with a commensurate expansion of technical literacy among youth -- so much so that “children are no longer so dependent on parents for guidance in the world” (Kapur, p. 129). Kapur points out that as “children’s consumer culture has become increasingly unfamiliar to adults... .the gap between the narratives, games, skills and technologies that we knew as children and what our children know now is vast, and the distance continues to grow rapidly” (p. 129). Parental unfamiliarity is not just about new versions and updates of software, it is often about the workings of the machinery itself. New technology is an area where children/adolescents have mastery over -- often more so than their parents because they know ‘how to run the software and program the machines.’ It is in this area where parents, teachers and adults in general may need to defer to youth and their expertise. In recent years, a driven sub-population of baby boomers have had extensive expectations for their children. In addition to piping Bach and Beethoven into the womb, they must also find the right nursery school which will help their child get into the best colleges, careers, etc. Elkind (1981/2001) has pointed to a wider, more general plight of the “hurried child,” as adults more and more often encourage children to grow up faster, to learn more, to compete more. Along with the topic of children’s dress, which are now miniature versions of adult costumes, Elkind mentions a “pseudo-sophistication that is created by “the media, including music, books, films and television, increasingly portray young people as precocious and present them in more or less explicit sexual or manipulative situations. Such portrayals force children to think they should act grown up 33 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. before they are ready” (p. 84). While anxious baby boomers “hurry” their children towards success, television advertising has hurried children for different reasons. As television probably remains one of the most popular media that youth engage with on a daily basis, marketers are aware of the potential of taking hold of the current youth market. Further, television is not just about programming ~ it is about sponsorships, licensing, advertising and marketing. In this sense, corporate functionaries know that consumer socialization naturally begins at an early age (Gunter & Fumham, 1998). Hine (1999), for example has pointed to corporate attention paid to children and youth: “teenage consumers help drive such leading industries as popular music, movies, snack foods, clothing and footwear.. .Teen consumers are believed to have the economic power to make a new television network succeed or to enable retailers to make money on the Internet” (p. 23). Thus in addition to registering adolescent response to hegemonic cultural forms, it is also important to consider the many different ways in which these newfound consumers are represented in a larger, “adult” society. As Kapur (1999) mentions, “by the 1990s, a large number of multinational corporations were producing goods for children in an international market” (p. 127). A multitude of popular products — everything from toys, snacks, clothes, video/computer games, and amusement parks, as Kapur notes are most generally branded through recognizable names from General Foods, Mattel, Hasbro, Disney, etc. (p. 127); not to mention Gap, Nike, and Tommy Hilfiger — the most important brands for adolescents and teens. Marketers find that “people under twenty buy products based on their “aspirational” age, usually about five years older than their real age... young Americans 34 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. become part of the “teenage market” at around the age of nine” (Hine, 1999, p.23). For hurried children who have friendships with the media like televisions and computers, parental guidance may be abridged. Taking the place of parental guidance, according to Steinberg and Kincheloe (1998), is the corporate production of popular "kinderculture" and its impact on children. Such corporate socialization falls under the umbrella term of cultural pedagogy, which refers to educational activity which takes place in a variety of social sites including but not limited to schooling: "pedagogical sites are those places where power is organized and deployed, including libraries, TV, movies, newspapers, magazines, toys, advertisements, video games, books, sports, and so on” (pp. 3-4). Further, the “organizations that create this cultural curriculum are not educational agencies but rather commercial concerns that operate not for the social good but for individual gain... [thus,] “patterns of consumption shaped by corporate advertising empower commercial institutions as the teachers of the new millennium” (p. 4). Along with examining scholarly works whose aims reflect a critique of consumer capitalism, I also consulted research that was specifically directed toward marketers and advertisers and those who study and analyze the profit motive aspects of youth and consumption (e.g. McNeal, 1992; Kline, 1993; Tootelian & Gaedeke, 1992). Why are marketers spending so much time and energy pursuing the eccentricities of youthful subcultures, trends and grooves? Undeniably, the youth market has been increasingly seen as a highly profitable, lucrative market — meaning today’s youth have a lot of money to spend. However, the campaign of selling to youth has been an important industry since the 1950s, and according to Kline (1993), “between 1950 and 1987, spending by parents 35 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. on their children rose faster than disposable income” (p. 161). Research by Tootelian and Gaedeke (1992) claims that “the importance of the “teenage” market has long been recognized by producers of consumer goods and services. Despite the 15.5 % decline in the number of teenagers in the 1980’s, their spending increased nearly 43%” (p.l). The authors realized early that teens were a big profit category and if persuaded at younger ages, can perhaps cement a brand loyalty for life. In the 1980s and into the present, specialized marketing agencies were created that were specifically focused and positioned to study and sell all aspects of youth culture. Teams of “Cool Hunters” (marketing field researchers) scour the streets of city neighborhoods of every social class, and infiltrate school spaces, parks and playgrounds, shopping centers, and restaurants -- and every other place where kids and teens like to hang out, socialize, and congregate (e.g. Gladwell, 1996; Klein, 1999). Cool Hunters try to pin down who’s got the most cultural capital via style artistry and trend influence, uncovering new subcultural symbols that can be instantly fused into advertising campaigns and product endorsements, ultimately generating huge financial profits for multi-national corporations like Nike, Viacom and Microsoft. Expanding Literacy and the Future In the early 1990s, communications scholar Stephen Kline (1993) stated that “the academic and journalistic commentaries on childhood seldom acknowledge the marketplace as a part of the matrix of contemporary socialization or devote serious attention to how children learn those roles, attitudes and sentiments that reinforce the consumer culture”(p. 13). Significant is that prominent sociological studies of 36 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. children/youth have only dealt peripherally with consumption (e.g. Adler & Adler, 1998; Corsaro, 1997; Eder, 1997; Glassner & Loughlin, 1987; Thome,1994). I argue through this project that consumption is an important component in the lives of youth and therefore is a subject in need of continued exploration. If youth spend more time today shopping for the latest brands, surfing the Internet, gaming with Playstations and X Boxes, with MTV as the soundtrack to their lives, the need for new forms of literacy is timely and relevant. With more focus on cross disciplinary insights over the past decade, this has led a few pioneering scholars to examine the relevance of new literacy concerns and pedagogical approaches to popular culture (e.g. Giroux, 1997,2000; Gunter & Fumham, 1998; Kellner, 1995, 1998; Kenway & Bullen, 2001; McLaren et al., 1995; Shohat & Stamm, 1994). Kellner has reflected that in “our current times, media culture has replaced traditional institutions as major instruments of socialization, and young people often receive role models and materials for identity from media corporations rather than their parents or teachers” (in Kincheloe and Steinberg, 1998, p. 85). Thus, “if our culture is increasingly a media culture, then media education should be an important part of general education” (p.98). In their discussions on multi-culturalism and the media, Shohat and Stam (1994) have argued that “contemporary spectatorship and media pedagogy must also be considered in the light of changing audio-visual technologies” (p. 356). They also argue for a radical pedagogy of the mass media which “would heighten awareness of all the cultural voices they relay. It would point both to the “off-screen” voices of hegemony and to those voices muffled or suppressed” (p. 356). 37 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. While media literacy campaigns are potentially effective pedagogical measures, I tend to agree with Males (1999) who has noted that “it [media literacy] doesn’t get at the real problem. What is really required is a reevaluation of the larger effect on youths of growing up in a product-driven society whose adults, including parents and teachers, spend $5 trillion dollars on personal consumption” (p. 274) racking up a huge debt to credit organizations, and paying excessive interest on loans (see Williams, 1996). In conjunction with these themes, Gunter and Fumham disclose that it has not been until recently that researchers have looked at young peoples’ reasoning and understanding about economic issues” (p. 65). Furthermore, the reality of economic polarities in states like California where, according to Males (1999) “California’s young have fallen from among the nation’s richest to among its poorest. Poverty doubled among youth, exceeding 25% in 1997” (p. 21) and has made economics an even more tenuous situation, contributing more evidence for a greater need of expanding economic education and literacy programs for youth in America. The topic of money and its cultural implications among children and youth has also seen little attention in recent sociological literature; years ago, Anselm Strauss (1952) indicated that “a child’s concept of money starts with them believing that they can buy anything with money” (in Fumham & Argyle, 1998, p. 64). This idea profoundly rings hue today, where for youth, income is disposable and is used to consume entertainment, and brand names; income for youth is not about ‘making ends meet’ or providing for ‘basic needs.’ Therefore for most adolescents living in the United States, a logic of survival doesn’t resonate with a logic of luxury and status. Finally, in 38 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. comparison with other social movements, consumer advocacy is limited and often dismissed (see Pope, 1991). Yet, if money remains the bottom line in American society, why has it seen lackluster points of inquiry? In socio-economically stratified cities like Los Angeles, how can money not play into understanding the dynamic of consumption? Questions as these only touch the surface of the very complicated subject of youth- identified consumption politics and practices. In the preceding review of the literature, what struck me most was that the most prominent American sociological youth ethnographies (Thome, 1994; Eder, 1997; Adler & Adler, 1998) rarely engaged in discourse and analysis of the macro-society — the culture at large as having an impact on their findings. Further, I was surprised that ethnographies on youth rarely addressed the significance of consumption participation as a mitigating factor in terms of strategies of interaction (i.e. gendered “border work,” etc.). Along with the more established variables of influence (i.e. family, school) that are discussed in tandem with youth (children to adolescents), I also address the ‘influence of the media’ as an institution of consumption — not as one that should be simply blamed for too much sex or violence, but as one that should be recognized for its importance to youthful interpretations, perceptions and definitions — hence negotiations that contribute to identity formation. Ideas. Integration, and a Unique Empirical Research Framework This dissertation project continues to build on the findings and methodological practices from prior research that examined mass produced, popular magazines for adolescent girls and focus groups of readers (Kaplan & Cole, forthcoming).6 While the 39 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. themes of cultural hegemony are analyzed within the popular, mass produced texts and images of television, print media, film, music, software, and fashion that are widely consumed and enjoyed by American adolescents, this dissertation examines how a particular sample of middle-school youth responded to these themes at the turn of the millennium. Research questions were designed and adjusted to address the specifics of Los Angeles middle-school youth. Research questions were also targeted toward the general category of consumption and included elements such as: How do the themes of cultural hegemony become adopted, adapted, enacted and understood by a unique segment of the multi-ethnic, socio-economically diverse population in Los Angeles? How do these themes present a unique challenge to immigrant youth -- from first and second-generation, to those whose American roots are multi-generation? How do these themes allow for the possibility of employing agency and resistance? How self-conscious are young adolescents of their own politics; and how complex are their strategies for action? These questions are particularly important to probe and explore in light of the current culture’s obsessive pandering to the whims and desires of sponsors — mostly advertisers that foot the bill to make shows like Friends, Dawson’ s Creek, and The Simpsons stay on the air, and magazines like Teen People and The Source stay ‘in business.’ With the realization that mass media marketers seduce youth by offering a sense of respect by attempting to speak in their language, and promote the relevance of their culture, what can educators, scholars, and researchers offer as pedagogical suggestions that will empower youth and not talk down or patronize their sensibilities in 40 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. these areas? These questions are important to ask as there has been limited inquiry (especially situated in Los Angeles) in these areas pertaining to youth, culture and consumption. In addition to examining the above questions, I further develop my own pedagogical strategies that address the concerns of this population - strategies which respect their extensive knowledge of popular culture, yet also provide a guide for that knowledge base, encouraging new insights to light the spark of critical thinking. Moving beyond the domains of media literacy, I seek to develop strategies that bridge the gap between media and commerce, production and consumption, creativity and critique. Personal Standpoint My own interest in this research was initially stimulated by my own experiences as an L.A. youth who was intrigued by the splendor of consumption. I was bom in Los Angeles and was raised in a quasi-suburb, Monterey Park, five miles from Downtown and bordering Interstate 10 and 710 freeways. I was an adolescent during the late 1970s and early 1980s, privy to, but not yet in possession of MTV, a PC or multiple pairs of Nikes. Growing up in the Los Angeles area has provided me with some personal connections with the contemporary concerns of immigration, entertainment consumption, diversity, and multi-culturalism which this dissertation addresses. The neighborhood in Monterey Park where I grew up in and attended public school through the seventh grade was noticeably culturally integrated. In the early 1970s, my neighborhood had many 2n d generation Chinese, Japanese, and Korean families living alongside Anglo families. As the 1970s progressed, my neighborhood experienced an expanded version of “white flight,” where Anglos along with 2n d generation Asians 41 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. moved away and many 1st generation Asian families from China, Taiwan, Korea, and Vietnam moved into the housing tract. In elementary school, immigrant students from Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan grew in numbers along with already established Chinese, Japanese and Mexican communities as our housing tract bordered the Latino area of East Los Angeles. In my family, immigrant associations were also present with my mother who was a post Word War II refugee/displaced person from former Soviet-occupied Latvia whose family was church-sponsored by my father’s family in Los Angeles. My father grew up working class in Central Los Angeles and my mother was an aristocratic refugee of sorts (a college professor’s daughter lucky to escape Stalin’s regime.) The obscure cultural capital that my mother possessed didn’t cany much cachet in Monterey Park, where kids from 3rd and 4th generation Chinese families constantly asked me why my mother, whose accent was never missed, spoke so strangely — and why I never got a Wonder Bread sandwich in my lunch. When I left my neighborhood elementary school at the end of the 7th grade to attend a Catholic girls secondary school in Alhambra, the next city north-east of Monterey Park, it wasn’t surprising to realize my peer group was comprised of girls whose parents were from Nicaragua, Italy, Mexico, the Philippines, and Egypt. However, in my peer group during adolescence, immigrant mothers presented more of a social hindrance to us rather than a link to ethnic pride. During these years, I had little conception or foresight of the structure of “white privilege” (McIntosh, 1988). The wealthiest girl in my peer group was African-American. Like many of the Mefferin 42 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. youth, for me during secondary school, it was more disconcerting to get used to the strict uniform codes of “brandless” clothing - white blouse, blue plaid skirt, white socks and saddle shoes. I was in the 8th grade when I remember being thoroughly mesmerized by Brooke Shields cooing about there being “nothing between me and my Calvin’s.” The mystique of jeans with the requisite label! My generation (Generation X) was perhaps the first generation of American youth to become attached to the glamour of designer and name-brand status materialism, therefore it seemed quite an easy transition to follow the path of the next generations. Consequently, the experience of living in and around Los Angeles has allowed me to reflect on and examine some of the taken-for-granted cultural complexities that exist here on such a wide scale. Unlike other U.S. cities, Los Angeles is both a center of immigration and multiple cultures, as well as the center of a vast and pervasive entertainment industry — “the Industry” — whose film shoots, premiers, and awards shows are hard not to encounter. One is hard pressed to find anywhere else an environment where a “re-combination” of identity and national heritage is mixed in, meted together, stirred around and at times spit out. Method and Sample I chose Mefferin Middle School because I wanted to conduct research among youth that reflected the cultural diversity of the Los Angeles region. According to a February 2001 Mefferin School “Accountability Report,” the racial demographic of the student population during 1999-2000 was approximately 50% Latino, 33% African American, 10% Caucasian, and 6% Asian. A significant number were first generation 43 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. immigrants. The ethnographic site of “Mefferin” school in West Los Angeles is part of Los Angeles’ largest public school district, and is located adjacent to Beverly Hills, Century City and Westwood. What is particularly unique about the cultural geography of this school site is that a comprehensive affluence abounds in a surrounding vicinity that includes high rent districts, million dollar homes, and high tech businesses and entertainment venues. However, an overwhelming majority of Mefferin students do not reside in the areas around the school, but are bussed from other lower-income Los Angeles neighborhoods. Mefferin school represented a promising population because there was an interesting ‘class’ juxtaposition: the majority of students lived outside of the high-class district where the school was located and were bussed in from lower and working class areas of the city. A unique ‘disjuncture’ as this was not reflected or referenced in any of the prior literature that I reviewed. Silverman (1993) offers important justifications for conducting qualitative research, while others inspired by Silverman have emphasized the need for establishing connections of data collection and analysis in a close relationship which allows grounded theory to develop (see Strauss and Corbin, 1998, p. 12). Furthermore, to maximize on the limited time frame I had in the field, I was prompted to adopt a triangulation (Denzin, 1970) of methods for data collection. This combination of methods included 1) a questionnaire about popular/consumer culture interests administered to 132 middle school students in the 7th and 8th grades and 2) classroom observation of 7th grade World History and 8th grade U.S. history classes, and 3) fifteen semi-structured, focus group interviews with 50 students in the 7th and 8th grade history classes. 44 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. In terms of the complications of studying youth, Robyn Holmes (1998) provided insight into doing fieldwork with children and young adolescents in school environments. Holmes used a culturally based approach to study youth in multi-cultural domains in the United States (p.85). Importantly, she stressed that when coming to work with children, it is important to let them speak for themselves as much as possible, rather than keeping a rigid agenda (p.78). According to study designs by scholars such as Corsaro (1997) and Corsaro and Eder (1990), their successful research methods have included observing the development of children’s interpretive cultures and peer group interactions. Corsaro for instance focused on local peer cultures that are produced and shared primarily through face-to-face interaction (p. 81). Based on these methodological innovations, I decided that the best way for me to understand peer cultures was to organize focus group interviews that were generally based on friendship groupings of students, or those who hung out in class together. According to Kreuger (1998), analyzing the data obtained from focus groups is difficult but can offer a unique and richly defined perspective that challenges the researcher’s assumptions and contributes to a free exchange of ideas (pp. 15-17). Alternatively, critical studies scholars like Corsaro (1997) and Kline (1993) have addressed the value that focus group research implies for marketing studies. This aspect also inspired me to pursue this method as it was being used in studies by BOTH social researchers engaged in critical analyses of consumption, and marketing researchers, engaged in profit-making analyses and conclusions (e.g. Siverman and Zukergood, 2000; McNeal, 1992). Corsaro (1997) has noted that the main reason historical and marketing studies identify the importance of the children’s collective actions is that their research 45 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. designs (which are more qualitative and interpretive in nature) do no close themselves off from such possibilities while testing how toys affect individual development (p. 110). McNeal (1992) points out that the focus group method “appears to be the most popular marketing research technique for exploring the mind world of young consumers” (p.215). Research Procedures The procedures I used for collecting and analyzing data for this project took place in three stages. Stage I included classroom observation, Stage II included administering the consumer culture baseline survey, and Stage III included conducting 15 separate focus group interviews with 50 students, and brief telephone interviews with five parents. Stage I Since I am an acquaintance of one of “Mefferin” Middle School’s teachers, Miss “Isabel Hillmont” (real names has been changed) served as my main contact and administrative liaison for this project; a contact as this was especially helpful in expediting my gaining permission to conduct this research from the school principal, Los Angeles Unified School District administration, and the Institutional Review Board at the University of Southern California. In May 1999,1 began stage I by spending about twenty hours informally observing the classroom culture of Miss Hillmont’s 7th and 8th grade history classes where I initially noticed the ethnic diversity in the Mefferin student population — mixed ethnic identities and bi-racial identities appeared to be fairly commonplace. I augmented this stage during May/June 2000 when I was conducting the focus group interviews. Since I was in the classroom for nearly two months, often times there would be empty time during certain 46 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. periods so I was able to observe the classroom structure extensively. This made me aware of how complicated qualitative research can be. Observational methods have been key for sociologists who believe in entering the field and engaging with, hanging out with the population of study (e.g. Gaines, 1991; Glassner & Loughlin, 1987; McGuffy & Rich, 1999; Thome, 1994). However since limited research has addressed the consumption practices of young adolescents in diverse populations as this one, spending time observing in the classroom enabled me to become familiar with the nuances of adolescents’ current vocabularies and interaction methods. This in turn allowed me to develop my own strategies for asking pointed questions about cultural products and consumer choices. Stage II Having gained a sense of what the population was like, I began to develop the questionnaire that, in addition to gathering the more standard demographic data, would ask a variety of questions pertaining to adolescents’ consumption practices regarding entertainment-oriented products, and their time spent in leisure or afterschool activities. As a pre-test, in October 1999,1 gave a lecture to an undergraduate “Sociology of Childhood” class at USC where I discussed my project and obtained feedback on the questionnaire, and thus refined my points of focus. During the same time, I formally contacted Principal Larson at Mefferin School and asked for official permission to conduct my research. Upon obtaining the approval from Principal Larson and the L.A.U.S.D., I applied to the University of Southern California Institutional Review Board (IRB), required of all researcji conducted on human subjects through the university. 47 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. On January 28,2000,1 came to Miss Hillmont’s classroom at Mefferin and administered and collected 132 anonymous surveys [see Appendix A] from her 7th and 8th grade World and U.S. History students. Not knowing what to expect from the students, I simply introduced myself as a graduate student from USC and that I was doing research on the kinds of entertainment youth are interested in. I explained that it was often very difficult to obtain accurate information and honest input from youth — that teens and pre-teens are important segments of the population and that their opinions are very important for social research, education and especially for understanding our contemporary society and culture. Students took between 25 and 45 minutes to fill out the questionnaire; the majority took the effort quite seriously. Each of the surveys was stamped with a number and a blank file card was attached. I explained that if students wished to further participate in this research with me, they could fill out the card and that I would contact them soon after. Among the students that filled out cards (approximately 75), I provided them with consent forms that would have to be signed by parents before they could participate in the next stage of research. Stage III During May and June of 2000,1 conducted 15 focus group with a total of 50 Mefferin students who had turned in Parental Consent forms. For the most part, these groups were made of close peers/friends and were brought together by a voluntary basis. Ten groups were comprised of three students each, four groups were comprised of four students each and one group had five students. Of these groups, eight groups were made up of girls, five groups were made up of boys, and two groups were mixed girls/boys. 48 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. While I originally anticipated that I would conduct only five focus groups (total) for my study, after I had conducted the first couple of groups, more and more students wanted to participate in this project. This methodological choice indicated the strength of peer symbolism among youth at this age: when key players nod their sign of approval, the masses follow. Since I didn’t want to turn anybody away, given my limited time constraints, I decided to accommodate as many students as I could. When I would come into Miss Hillmont’s classroom each day, I would refer to the students who had turned in consent forms and ask for volunteers for the day’s focus group. At that time I would specify a request for an all boys group or an all girls group. After students indicated their interest, I would always ask if the arrangement of the groups was OK with everybody involved. This worked fine up until the last two groups where there was a confusion of names and one of the students involved was definitely not welcome in one group and had to wait until the next. Generally, before the group interview began, students were directed to fill out the IRB-required Assent forms along with a short demographic form [see Appendix B ] in which students had to choose a pseudonym as I explained that for this project, all real identities needed to be kept confidential. Thus, I received a variety of interesting monikers which adds flavor to the personalities profiled in this dissertation. Since all participants were asked to write down a made-up name, I copied these versions verbatim, spelling errors and all. Also, students were asked to specify their own ethnicity clarification. At Mefferin school, since there were so many students of mixed heritage, I chose not to offer assigned categories so students freely mentioned their own identifications with cultural heritage. 49 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Focus group interviews provided quick views or quick glimpses into the social worlds of adolescents. One clear advantage of the focus group method was the fact that students were able to discuss subjects of clear interest to them and for which they felt a degree of expertise. I allowed them to talk and discuss tangential subjects at times with a minimum amount of probing on my part, [see Appendix C] Focus groups were about an hour in length — this being the maximum time the kids could keep still and in control. After all focus group interviews with students were completed, I chose five parents (1s t generation immigrant status) of students who participated in focus groups to answer a series of questions about their child’s consumption practices and interests. Miss Hillmont and I contacted them by telephone in September 2000. [see Appendix D] By the end of June 2000,138 students had participated in this research project — approximately 10% of the total Mefferin school population. Among these students, 18 (13%) expressly indicated that they were bom in other countries outside the United States (1st generation immigrants); and another 49 (36%) mentioned they were bom here but with parents from other countries (2n d generation immigrants). Among this larger sample, there were fifteen countries outside the United States represented in students’ ethnic / national origins; and among the focus group sample, there were fourteen countries represented, [see Appendix E] In January 2000,132 7th and 8th grade students 75 (57%) were female and 47 (43%) were male) filled out the questionnaire; and in May/June 2001, 50 7th and 8th graders of whom 29 (58%) were female and 21 (42%) were male students (six of whom did not fill out a questionnaire originally but did so later) elected to participate in focus groups. Of the original 132 students who filled out the survey, 68 50 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. (52%) were in the 7th grade and 64 (48%) were in the 8th grade, and of the 50 students who participated in focus group interviews, 40 (80%) were in the 7th grade and 10 (20%) were in the 8th grade. Since Miss Hillmont taught three sections of 7th graders and two sections of 8th graders, and that since focus groups were conducted near the end of the school term when 8th graders were concerned most about upcoming graduation and high school, I was not surprised the interview sample was made up of a majority of 7th graders. Regarding the demographic data pertaining to students’ race/ethnicity: for racial categorizing, students were asked to self-identify their ethnic origins whereby I was able to broadly code them. Among the 132 students who answered the questionnaire in January, 2000, 64 (48%) were Latino; 20 (15%) were Black/African-American; 3 (2%) were white/Anglo/Caucasian); 9 (7%) were Asian; 4 (3%) were Middle-Eastern; 17 (13%) were Mixed Race/ethnicity; and 15(11%) did not specify any race/ethnicity identification; and among the 50 students who participated in focus groups in May/June 2000, 32 (64%) were Latino; 6 (12%) were Black/African-American; 1 (2%) was white/Anglo/Caucasian; 1 (2%) was Asian; 3 (6%) were Middle Eastern; 5 (10%) were Mixed race/ethnicity; and 2 (4%) did not specify any race/ethnicity identification, [see Appendix F] Regarding the demographic data pertaining to students’ socioeconomic class: since I did not have data on actual parental income, assets/debts, education etc. I had to estimate SES based on 1) the status of parental jobs that students indicated, 2) whether one or both parents worked outside the home (and whether it was a single or dual-parent household), and 3) the area/district/neighborhood where the student lived (based on what 51 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. zip codes students indicated.)7 Based on these assessments, among students who answered the questionnaire in January 2000 (N=132), there were 62 students (47%) in the Low category; 33 (25%) in the Low/Middle category; 28 (21%) in the Middle category; 4 (3%) in the Middle/High category; and 5 (4%) in the High category. And among students who participated in focus group interviews in May/June 2000 (N=50), there were approximately 33 (66%) students were in the Low category, 4 (8%) were in the Low/Middle category; 7 (14%) were in the Middle category; 3 (6%) were in the Middle/High category; and 3 (6%) were in the High category, [see Appendix G] Data Analysis Data analysis has incorporated elements from the Interpretive framework (Corsaro, 1997) as well as the Social Worlds approach (Glassner & Loughlin, 1987), along with attention paid to the political frameworks employed by prominent cultural scholars (e.g. Hall, 1973/ 1980).4 This analytical structure was utilized to show how encoded meanings and symbolic elements are decoded and understood within the realm of adolescent interactions. As adolescents offered me some alternative vocabulary words/ slang expressions, I recorded and provided translations, [see Appendix H] Simple statistical measures were derived from survey questions to highlight the wider scope of consumption practices and cultural patterns in the population. To gain insight into my intended population of study I conducted a content analysis and used quantifiable measures like percentages and frequency calculation. I counted the number of times various responses occurred to establish a foundation of concrete patterns with respect to categories of popular culture and consumption — with which I would be able to 52 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. follow up with questions in focus group interviews. Culling from the answers to open- ended surveys questions, I coded for categories that included levels of participation in consumer/brand name culture, knowledge about girl power, and money and economics. These categories became prominent as I coded the focus group data. Further, more specific coding categories emerged as I analyzed the focus group transcripts and created the chapters for discussion which include an emphasis placed on group identity and conceptions of popularity, the construction of being cool, social stigmas, brand name awareness, the relationship to money, gender relations, ethnic enclaves, and suggestions of resistance to American mainstream and dominant culture ideologies. I found myself continually attempting to look deeper. Limitations and Conclusions One the greatest limitations in conducting research of this manner (qualitative, ethnographic) is the time required to investigate a culture thoroughly. Since I did not have additional financial funding for this project, I was not able to hire assistants to code or transcribe. From its inception, all aspects of this project were conceived of and executed by myself alone. In this sense, a more comprehensive picture could be offered by a team of researchers rather than a solo performer. Furthermore, this study is quite small in scope compared to the large scale studies produced by Kaiser Family Foundation for example, or those of marketing super-firms like Teenage Research Unlimited, even though I tackle many of the issue and topics they address (e.g. teenage consumption, spending, styling, and trends, etc.) Perhaps lofty in scope, my aim was to integrate the politics of business along with a sociological analysis of a population of youth. 53 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Since Los Angeles Unified school sites are often over-crowded (which was the case at Mefferin), there was no free classroom or office space in which to conduct the focus groups. We had to make do in the back of Miss Hillmont’s classroom and had to contend with quite a bit of background noise which brought further challenges to the transcribing process. When I first came to the classes to administer the surveys in January 2000, there was immediate interest from the students since we were taking up a whole class period for them to answer take the questionnaire, however when I came back in May to ask for focus group participants, there was more reluctance. My original intention for this stage of my research was to have 25 students participate — five focus groups with five students each, however, during the first week only about ten students (out of 150) had signed up and had turned in their parental consent forms. I watched the classroom dynamic change however as after the first three groups took place in three different classes; students were animated, laughing and appeared to the others that this was a “fun” activity. More and more students approached me with a wish to participate, consent forms in hand, until I had to actually start turning people away as my sample steadily grew larger. I eventually drew the line as I considered the prospect of data analysis for a sample of over 50 people. During the groups, I also realized that each group was very different, posing first a comfort challenge (how they felt toward me the researcher asking all these questions - those that had limited English skills were more quiet, self-conscious than others), and second the group interaction dynamic. I had to learn how to become adept at how to proceed when there was discord, know where to interject while keeping abreast of the Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. time and pace of the interviews so that most of the questions could be uniformly addressed. Foremost I had to learn to keep my own interaction expectation in check. Working with and spending time with a group of young adolescents between 12 and 14 years old — leaving childhood, yet far away from adulthood — was perhaps the most challenging component. In adult public worlds (universities, the workplace), our interactions are ritualized, and solidified in such a manner that we do not question much of the validity of things that are naturalized in adult models of discourse with a generalized, linear logic. Talking with young adolescents was quite different, however. They would often employ sophisticated-sounding explanations and justifications for certain things, yet those responses were derivative of knowledge bases that weren’t fully loaded. They possessed a precarious and seductive quality of imagination and flair for the dramatic that infuses their discourse and is often largely absent in that of adults. What was doubly difficult at times while conducting the groups was that I had to defer to their “expert” status regarding the subject of consumption, media and popular culture, and treated what they said as fact and truth during the time in which I was interacting with them. At times, I could feel myself inwardly cringing when the students said things that bothered me intellectually or politically, or when they surprised me in their interpretation/ understanding of the workings of society and culture. During my coding procedures, and through the analysis of the transcripts, I realized what sources they refer to most, what information they don’t really understand. Believing in urban myths and legends, they are indeed gullible and impressionable. I reminded myself that I was not the teacher, nor the 55 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. parent in these discussions, therefore I did not attempt to teach, educate, provide mentorship or model exemplary roles or behavior of any kind — except as an interested listener. This I felt was what they most appreciated and has provided this study with such rich interview transcripts. This careful balance is what I think adults — researchers, educators, parents — should keep in mind; while adolescents are not privy to all of society’s legal rights and freedoms, they represent an aspect of society all the same. And as long as they have their own space, they will create, mimic, alter and overthrow certain things that adults hold dear. Therefore, it remains germane that as social researchers, we adjust our own levels of perception and understanding as we attempt to encounter youth on their own terms, and in their own worlds. 1 The hegemony of patriarchal organization around capital and profit motive remains fairly constant, even in the transition to a “re-production” based economy, under a new form of advanced capitalism. In his analysis of gender and power, R.W. Connell (1987) devotes attention to industrial, commercial capitalism. Connell directs us to the fact that regardless of how ethereal or sublime the poetics of postmodern virtual capitalism may appear, the structures of inequality and their historical dominance have not yet metamorphosed into nihilistic oblivion. A prime example is when Connell theorizes “hegemonic masculinity,” he refers to the dominant version/principle/mode of masculinity that has been institutionalized as the driving force that built industrial society, and it can be argued that it is consequently re-building post-industrial society, and in turn, a global society. What remains intact is that the replication of gender-specific image stereotypes has been guaranteed by those who have access to the manufacturing of image: those who have the greatest access to technology, finance and power. Through the ability of corporate institutions to manipulate, recast and replay specific image stereotypes successfully to the culture at large, larger cultural associations with institutions of hegemony and influence has become endemic. Since these have been masculine in structure, the representation of public versions of womanhood and the social construction of feminine identities have been historically under their supervision and control. 2 To Heywood and Drake, the second and third waves of feminism are neither incompatible nor opposed. Rather they define feminism’s’ third wave as a movement that contains elements of second wave critique of beauty culture, sexual abuse and power structures while it also acknowledges and makes use of the pleasure, danger and defining power of those structures. Thus, in the current historical moment, third wave feminists often take cultural production and sexual politics as key sites o f struggle, seeking to use desire and pleasure as well as anger to fuel struggles for justice. Heywood and Drake note that it is necessary to look at how cultural context shapes feminist strategies and concerns. Early first wavers worked for abolition, voting rights, and temperance causes. Second wavers concentrated on ERA and wage equity, developed ‘gender’ and sexism as key categories of analysis, critiqued beauty culture, and often worked in black, gay and New Left movements. 56 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 3 The study of youth has been long established in the United States but historically has been polarized around issues pertaining to juvenile delinquency and deviance (e.g. Matza and Sykes, 1961; Chambliss, 1973). Studies in mass communications, especially in the ‘effects’ tradition (e.g Blumer, 1933; Schramm, Lyle and Parker, 1961) that focused on media influences on youth from movies to television violence have supported the belief that violent images contribute toward youth violence, and delinquency. According to Brake (1980) representations of youthful subcultures often focus on depictions of deviance and delinquency through which youth subcultures are viewed as a social problem. This is also tied to race, class and immigration issues (p. 22). For contemporary discussions and debates about these issues re media culture, see also Kinder (1999), Males (1999), Giroux (2000). 4 While Thome’s (1993) ethnography is a prominent and well-known model, some limitations of her study should also be addressed. This dissertation will complement Thome’s work through observation of classroom culture in a school in contemporary urban Los Angeles - a culture which necessarily differs substantially from the one observed by Thome more than twenty years ago. In a different manner, Kaplan uses an ethnographic approach to provide an intricate picture of how societal gender, race, and class struggles are played out in the personal lives of Black teen mothers. Unlike Thome, Kaplan’s work engages with larger cultural and political frameworks - the structural inequities that contribute to girls’ interaction strategies. In this project, I intend to expand such analysis further by exploring how the developments of contemporary entertainment technology and consumerism are integrated in the codes of gender play. 5 Third-wave feminist scholars such as Kearney (1998) have suggested that “in this postmodern moment when class, nation, and other conventional forms of political identification are being profoundly challenged and altered....riot grrls engage in a reformulation of girlhood as a powerful position of social, cultural, and political investment, and their construction of a collective identity which refuses the paradox of feminine adolescence” (p. 150). Riot Grrls have publicly refused interviews by the main stream media whose structure, they feel, misrepresents their motives. Riot Grrls are radicalized adolescent girls who are more aware of the relationship between politics and culture. Riot Grrls front their own brand of feminist discourse - Revolution Girl-Style Now. Kearney notes how Riot Grrls break the code of silence by reacting openly “with a rage giving voice to the horrors many girls experience as their childish bodies develop into physically mature forms too often perceived as sexually ripe and available for plucking” (p. 155).Included below is an excerpt of a contemporary feminist manifesto issued by the original riot grrrl band, Bikini Kill, in the early 1990s. See www.columbia.edu...ne/bik2/riot-grrrl.html): “Because we know that life is much more than physical survival and are patently aware that the punk rock “you can do anything” idea is crucial to the coming angry grrrl rock revolution which seek to save the psychic and cultural lives of girls and women everywhere, according to their own terms, not ours. Because we are interested in creating non-hierarchical ways o f being And making music, friends, and scenes based on communication + understanding, instead of competition + good/bad categorizations. Because doing/reading/seeing/hearing cool things that validate and challenge us can help us gain the strength and sense of community that we need in order to figure out how bullshit like racism, able-bodieism, ageism, speciesism, classicism, thinness, sexism, anti-Semitism and heterosexism figures in our own lives. Because we see fostering and supporting girl scenes and girls artists of all kinds as integral to this process. Because we hate capitalism in all its forms and see our main goal as sharing information and staying alive, instead of making profits of being cool according to traditional standards. Because we are angry at a society that tells us Girl=Dumb, Girl=Bad, Girl=Weak”(1991). 6 Perhaps every era of discourse implies this notion — that because of the particular popular or youth oriented culture that adults don’t quite understand, the innocence of children is always in jeopardy. I use Elkind’s and Postman’s assertions to illustrate the recent dialogue taking place in contemporary culture — particularly resonating with the growth and expansion of high technology (computers, DVD players, etc) and new media (Internet sites, video games, cable channels). 57 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 7 Our research was informed by previous scholarship that addressed the onset of puberty in girls’ lives and the pressure to live up to idealized images of femininity. These images are generated in popular cultural products and in turn reinforced within girl’s peer groups (Brown & Gilligan, 1992; Brumberg, 1997; Lees, 1986, 1993; Pipher, 1994; Thome, 1993; Tolman, 1994). In our study of image and textual content of Girl’ s Life, Seventeen, and Teen, we demonstrated how these magazines serve as cultural indicators which continue to promote a discourse which capitalizes on girls’ emergent, yet “innocent” sexuality and fertility potential. Our study examined the ideology of American consumption in relation to the commodification of emergent sexuality in girls, one which cultivates an underlying framework of desire and dependency. 8 Class becomes a variable that is the most ambiguous and fluid — it is dependent upon what culture it is analyzed within -- for example, the parent’s socio economic status, or the system of status and hierarchy that is established in adolescent culture (namely the divided nature of groups, brand knowledge and practice, interest in high technology consumption, and media participation and consumption). Accordingly, I created estimated socioeconomic categories as: Low, Low/Middle, Middle, Middle/High, and High. These categories pertain to the specific population of students at Mefferin school and not the general U.S. population. 9 According to Simon Dining’s (1993) discussion of key foundational works in cultural studies, he posits Paul Willis’ (1977) Learning to Labour, David Morely’s (1980) The ‘ Nationwide’ Audience, and Hall and Jefferson’s (1976) Resistance Through Rituals. During’s mention of these texts was key in my own establishment of qualitative research -- Willis’ work brought forth the impetus to do participant observation in a youth-dominated institution like a school; Morley’s work brought out the focus on how young adolescents ‘read’ and consumed certain popular culture texts -- the youth in my study were definitely audiences of sorts. Finally, Hall and Jefferson’s collection encouraged me not to anticipate that youth are just dupes of culture -- and that youth subcultures may “use commodities, the primary products of the system that disadvantages them, as forms of resistance and grounds on which to construct communal identity” (p. 10). One key element according to During is that the work does not emphasize at all how ‘youth markets’ were created and exploited especially through the music and fashion business, (p. 10). 58 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER 2 Ethnographic Insights from L.A. Youth: Inside/Outside Middle School Structures and Cultures LC: Wow, this is pretty unique — being in Los Angeles and seeing so many cultures, many people coming here from different countries... do you think that’s a good thing, or does it create problems? Jenny: I think it creates problems — So-o-o-o many cultures! Jose: Y eah.. .sometimes they just call you “immigrant.” -7th grade students, Mefferin Middle School, June 2000 This chapter provides information that contributes to the ethnographic foundations for this research project. In the first part of this chapter I present observational and narrative details/descriptions about the population of young adolescents at the forefront of this study -- the students who attended Mefferin Middle School during the 1999-2000 school year. I also address the current social geography and relevance of the cultural diversity in the Los Angeles region. Further, I point out significant historical and demographic changes (from influx of immigration to today’s polarized employment sectors) across the population of Los Angeles city as well as consequences faced in the Los Angeles Unified School District. In the second part of this chapter I present an overview of how young adolescents in the Mefferin sample 1) spend their time when school ends for the day, and 2) express selective consumer interests and practices pertaining to the fields of mass media, new/high technologies and fashion. Additionally, this chapter highlights the overarching patterns of participation in, and consumption of popular culture genres, with attention to the intersections and variations of gender, race/ethnicity, class/status across this population of “new millennium” middle school students. 59 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The Culture of Los Angeles in a City of Contradictions During the mid 1990s, urban scholars such as Dear et al (1996) offered a bifurcated vision of Los Angeles in its popular representations: “...utopian images of the burgeoning World City - a collage of prosperity, fantasy and play.. .Beneath such images is a cityscape more reminiscent of a Third World Nation, a dystopia that is increasingly polarized between haves and have-nots, in which neighborhoods increasingly resemble combat zones as warring gangs struggle for turf supremacy” (p. x). The world outside of Los Angeles has often arrived at this view through mediated contexts that have portrayed a “spectacular” mixture of tensions and conflicts: earthquakes, bank robberies in real time, and freeway car chases - to racial and political uprisings (Rodney King to O. J. to Rage Against the Machine).1 And along with the images of disaster and discontent, there are images of ‘Dream Works’ glitterati on perennial award show red carpets, of NBA champions going to Disneyland. Second in the triad of most populous U.S. cities (New York is first, Chicago third), Los Angeles must often contend with a cultural reputation of self-indulgent parody — laid-back, pumped-up, pinned-down. While Los Angeles is a thriving West coast metropolis and central to the television and film industries, Los Angeles is also a key center for immigration. The representations of a third world dystopia at the heart of L.A. may not be at all deserved, but it is true that many people have migrated to the environs of the inner-city, forming their own ethnic enclaves that today include recognized districts such as “Little Armenia,” “Korea Town,” “Thai Town,” “China Town,” “Little Tokyo,” and “Latino * Byzantine Quarter.” Immigration scholars (e.g. Waldinger and Bozorgmehr, 1996) have 60 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. stressed that “unlike New York, Los Angeles is fairly new to its present-day role as an immigrant mecca” (p. 9). In 1920, 35% of New Yorkers were bom abroad, whereas only 17% of Los Angles residents were foreign-born. However, by 1990, 33% of all those living in Los Angeles county were foreign-bom (p. 8). According to recent Census Bureau statistics, in 2000, California topped the country with an 8.8 million foreign bom population followed by New York with 3.6 million (Census Brief: Current Population Survey, 2000). In California, the Los Angeles metropolitan area reportedly had approximately 4.7 million who were foreign-bom (ibid.) with the majority hailing from Mexico and Central American countries. During its early history, newcomers to L.A. tended to be U.S-born whites migrating from areas of the country in search of employment opportunities and temperate climate. Furthermore, between 1920 and 1965, the percentage of immigrants coming to L.A. was fairly low in comparison to “the large scale arrival of African Americans, attracted by the region’s relatively hospitable race- relations climate and its burgeoning economy” (Waldinger & Bozorgmehr, p. 8). Seeking refuge from political and economic strife in their home countries during the 1980s, many immigrant groups increased in number throughout Los Angeles County. The Los Angeles Times (8/12/2000; 8/30/2000) reported that since the mid-1980s, the overall population of Los Angeles County has increased by almost two million. Outside of their countries of origin, there are now larger concentrations of Mexicans, Iranians, Samoans, Filipinos, Salvadorans, Armenians, Guatemalans and Koreans in Los Angeles than anywhere else in the world. While Latino and Asian populations expanded widely, the overall population of native-born whites and blacks decreased. 61 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Historical research (e.g. Waldinger & Bozorgmehr, 1996) has also indicated that “for most of the twentieth century, the Los Angeles region has been home to a fabulous job machine... the heavy industrial base that developers and business interests so coveted arrived in the 1930s in the form of branch plants of the tire, steel, and auto giants of the time — and post war defense, electronics, and aerospace industries along with the presence of the Hollywood movie and entertainment industry” (p.7). Even with a severe economic recession that plagued Los Angeles throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s, along with the downsizing of the aerospace and defense industries, today Los Angeles remains a large manufacturing center. Los Angeles, and all of California, is hardly immune to the problems of economic disparity that arise as businesses change at a quick pace, along with customers’ demands and needs. Like other industrial U.S. cities in the 1980s and early 1990s, “post industrial transformation” yielded “service industries with a bifurcated job structure, offering both high wages and stable employment for highly educated workers and low wages and unstable employment for less skilled workers displaced from manufacturing” (ibid, p.25). This has resulted in greater levels of inequality — a greater polarity among those who are rich, and those who are poor — with the greatest concentration of people of color, predominantly Latinos from Mexico and Central America, at the bottom. The reality of L.A. poverty is that close to two million people in Los Angeles County live below the poverty line of $16,700 a year (approximately 19%) of the county’s population,) with another 1.5 million just above the line (Bobo et al, 2001). According to Census 2000, in Los Angeles county, nearly 21% of adults and nearly 31% of children were living below 62 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the poverty line. As California boasts one the highest costs for living standards in the U.S., Bobo et al (2001) have asserted that for this population (who experience the greatest burden in finding affordable housing) very little has happened or is being done to lighten the burden of poverty and the inequality of people of color, namely those who are part of migrant groups.2 The Ethnographic Site of Mefferin Middle School Patricia May: But even though the school has some bad things, it has good things LC: Like what? Patricia May: Michael Jackson came to our school. LC: To perform? Patricia May: No, he came here. LC: Oh, he went to this school? Vanessa V.: Yes, and Marilyn Monroe too. Patricia May: And it’s like really so cool that THEY came here. (GP7) - 7t h graders, May 2000 I have many memories at Mefferin. Some good, some bad. And then there are the memories I didn’t have a chance to have because there was not the opportunity. For instance, a field with real grass for sports. Football on grass would have been better than football on asphalt!... Although Mefferin isn’t known for its sports, it is one of the best for learning. And that is what really matters.. .1 thought it was too strict at times, but I got a great education. -James Lyon, 8t h grader, “The Puma Press,” June 2000 Part of what some students experience when they go to schools in Los Angeles is both a myth of cinematic lore and glamour, along with the reality that district and school resources fail to match the image of the myth. Indeed, celebrities like Marilyn and Michael graced the hallways of Mefferin in years past, but past celebrity hardly bestowed prestige or dignity to their daily lives in the school setting. As I entered Mefferin Middle School for the first time, I instantly experienced a vivid sense of organized mayhem. The constantly moving bodies of 6th , 7th, and 8th graders swirled in and out of corridors, raced down hallways, and spilled out onto 63 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. asphalt playing fields in a tidal wave of “regulation” navy blue and white. Because students were required to adhere to a strict uniform dress code, they appeared at first glance to be models of conformity, but at any given time, I could hear the unique strains of Farsi, Arabic, Mandarin, Korean, Tagalog, and Spanish above the roar of the crowd. Amidst the hundreds of cotton polo shirts tucked into corduroy and twill, there remained a sense of the unbridled energy of youth, and waves of cursing and shouting often competed with a teacher’s attempts at achieving orderly discourse in the classroom. Located in Westwood, which is adjacent to Beverly Hills, Century City, and West Hollywood, Mefferin Middle school is part of Los Angeles County’s largest public school district, Los Angeles Unified, with over 700,000 students. Designed in 1935 by renowned architect Richard Neutra, Mefferin stands as a remnant of Roosevelt’s ‘new deal’ optimism and urban restructuring. Even 65 years later, its California art deco facade still exhibits the feeling of streamlined efficiency. Contained on two floors, Neutra designed the 55 classrooms to be large and spacious, complete with views onto greenery- filled courtyards and quads, along with ample window space to maximize natural light. Neutra’s original designing for classroom space was for 20-25 students, but in May 2000, these rooms felt stuffy and cramped as 35-40 students filled desks up to the periphery. In winter months, the steam heat radiators are adequate; but in Southern California, there is more need for air conditioning, which was nowhere to be found in Mefferin classrooms. Teachers like Isabel Hillmont, for example, were forced to make their own classroom accommodations by bringing in fans from home in hopes of creating an environment more conducive to learning. It was clear that teachers like Miss Hillmont 64 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. were often frustrated by working conditions that were in conflict with their original career aspirations: “the crumbling buildings, lack of supplies like chalk and paper, no air conditioning, overcrowded classrooms — basic things. And when you’ve attained a certain educational level and you compare the amount of work that you’re doing and the location of your work as opposed to what private industry offers you, what the military offers you — other avenues. I think these are the reasons why people leave this profession.” These unfortunate circumstance illustrated by Miss Hillmont are not unique to Mefferin, but are experienced across LAUSD. Colvin (1999) reported that while enrollment in LAUSD was growing by 10,000 new students a year, “since 1978, the district has built only eight new schools” (p.Al). According to Miss Hillmont, Most of these urban districts, and I’m talking about LA unified primarily... these districts are really facing a crisis because they have such a need for qualified experienced teachers and what they’re getting as a result are people who are working on emergency credentials who are struggling to go to school at night, and this is not the ideal situation at all. There are so many long term substitutes - often not fully credentialed - so its a question of selection and retention. It’s a very complex problem because there are salary issues that come into play, the poor working conditions, and the general stress of it all. When I conducted my research during the 1999-2000 school year, there were 59 full-time credentialed teachers and at least eight teachers with emergency permits employed at Mefferin. Other school employees included an administrative staff of 18, among them Principal Charlene Larson and three Assistant Principals; 6th , 7th , and 8th grade counselors, a school psychologist, a school nurse, an ESL/bilingual education coordinator, a Gifted and Talented education coordinator, a School Improvement Coordinator, and a security unit with an on-site uniformed policeman. Mefferin offered fully funded (and mandated) School Improvement, ESL (English as a Second Language) 65 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. /Bilingual, and Special Education programs, along with a small but prominent GATE (Gifted and Talented Program) on site. Mefferin students in general, however, were among those in LAUSD who had low scores on standardized tests and the (API) Academic Performance Index.4 During the 1999-2000 school year, the Mefferin student population hovered around 1460, yet according to the current school site report, the school’s capacity is 1420. A significant number of students were disadvantaged by low-socioeconomic status as more than 50% of Mefferin students qualified for the Federal Lunch Program and State Title I programs. Mefferin was a culturally diverse student body representing 33 different languages. Because a significant number were 1st generation, foreign-born migrants, approximately one third of Mefferin students were considered “English Language Learners” and were filtered throughout the program levels of ESL and LEP (Limited English Proficiency) classes which have steadily increased over the past five years.5 Mefferin and the New Era in School Busing Issues of immigration, school crowding and poverty all meet in the problematic course of transporting student to Mefferin and elsewhere in the LAUSD. In the past 25 years, the organizing structure of the LAUSD has been mired in conflicts over its attempts at dealing with dramatic changes in the population (as well as substantial changes in demographic composition). While the late 1970s brought in mandatory busing as a measure to foster racial integration among grades four through eight in the inner city, enrollment among black and white middle-class students was already on the decline.6 Colvin (1999) reported since the beginning of busing in Fall 1978, a heavy influx of 66 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. newly arrived immigrants (mostly Latino and Asian) into the inner city domains has contributed to increasing student enrollment rates — today 70% of LAUSD students are Latino. As middle class families moved out of the inner cities in search of their suburban dream, those who remain are likely to be ethnic minorities and those living in poverty. Over 60% of Mefferin students took LAUSD buses each day to and from school. Neither a magnet school nor a charter school, Mefferin was often sought out by parents because it is in a ‘safe’ area of the city, and has a reputation for having strict academic standards along with a uniform dress code. While overcrowding may be a factor in the lengthened school commute which many LAUSD students now face, Mefferin students that I interviewed for this project mentioned and discussed other reasons that mainly centered around crime, violence, and “gangsters.” LC: So how come you guys come to Mefferin School? Michelle: you know why because where we live — over there in Los Angeles is like a lot of gangsters and — that’s what my mom said — that’s why she doesn’t want me to go to my neighborhood school. (GP8) Alex: Me, I live like forty-five minutes from here - cuz the schools that are close to me, there’s too many gangsters and stuff like that. LC: What area is that? Alex: It’s over there by Crenshaw, on Crenshaw there’s like too many people - and at even my house, if you leave like your bike outside for ten minutes, or even five minutes - it’s gone! LC: What about this neighborhood? Do you like this neighborhood? Alex: Yeah, I like it. Tony: See the thing is like, you could leave things right here. (GP2) This indicated to me that while many of Mefferin’s immigrant youth live in poverty- riddled neighborhoods, many of the parents had the desire to seek out a better environment for their children’s education possibilities. It was clear that many parents found ways and means to ‘work the system’ of LA unified -- an understated tenacity 67 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. amidst the confining limitations of structural and cultural disadvantage. A tenacity I often witnessed as parents would meet with Miss Hillmont during her free conference period. With concern for their children some immigrant parents did not think twice about taking a two-hour bus ride to spend twenty minutes with “Maestra.” A Typical Day at Mefferin Between 7:00 and 7:45 am, the busses would roll into the parking lot and drop off hundreds of students, many of whom who had begun their commute almost an hour earlier. Before the 8:00 am bell, students would assemble in various groups: some would stake out terrain on the 8th grade quad to laugh and gossip; others (mostly boys) would maneuver around basketball and dodgeball courts; a few would prepare last minute homework assignments and gather on tables near the cafeteria entrance. The doors to the main classroom buildings would remain locked until 7:55, so when I met Miss Hillmont in the main office at 7:30, there was always a peaceful calm as we strolled through the halls, and across the school yard. Each day, students would run up and greet Miss Hillmont, yelling “Hiiii Misss Hillmont!” “Whatcha’ been up to Miss Hillmont?” She would often have a coterie of students in tow, as she had the reputation of being “pretty cool” in their eyes. Whenever we entered the vast, empty hallways of the Neutra buildings in the early mornings, a few classrooms would be open; I would peek at Miss Smith preparing her science lesson to an audience of iguanas, hermit crabs, and assorted rats and mice. Sometimes Principal Larson — charismatic, quirky, and always multi-tasking — would rush by and give an update to Miss Hillmont about some of her “Resource” students. She 68 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. would then dash into a few more classrooms and comer a few more teachers, before heading back to her schedule of meetings with parents, administrators, district officials, and faculty program coordinators. She was one of those convincing few who could be in three different places at the same time. The first thing Miss Hillmont did when we entered her classroom was to go over to the windows and crank them wide open; then she would hit the buttons on various sized fans lining the back of the classroom. It was early May and the Southern California weather was bringing temperatures into the mid eighties. In Miss Hillmont’s World and U.S. History classroom, bulletin boards along the walls displayed student work: biographical presidential reports, essays on famous first ladies, and artistic renditions of medieval armor — Reynolds’ foil swords, sabers and knightly chain mail were artfully attached. On one occasion, Miss Hillmont was dismayed as she noticed that only half of her blackboard that lined the front of the class had been resurfaced. She mentioned that that a maintenance crew came to do work during her 6th period yesterday. With half the work done, she anticipated they would probably finish up today at the same time. According to Miss Hillmont, it was not uncommon to have workers making classroom o repairs during the hours of instruction. Just before 8:00am the bell would ring, setting the stage for chaos outside Miss Hillmont’s door. She always kept it closed and locked until the students were lined up, quiet, and orderly. For the next 35 minutes, students were here for “Mefferin Time” (MT) or homeroom period, before they proceeded to 1s t and 2n d period classes before breaking at 10:25 for a 15 minute “nutrition” recess. During MT, students could 69 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. complete homework while listening to announcements by the Principal which were broadcast over the Public Address system wired into each classroom. Along with team scores and testing schedules, she would announce the “Thought of the Day,” along with the winning student response to the prior day’s thought. On one occasion that was particularly interesting, the thought of the day was “If I could choose one thing, I would...” and the winning response was “I would be rich — a millionaire and in the White House.” During MT, the most important interaction between teachers and students entailed recording attendance and checking for uniform violations. Since uniforms first became an integral part of Mefferin school culture during 1997-1998, they have been a constant source of conflict and contention, and students have continuously railed against the fact that their sense of style has been compromised: Gina: I think it’s a violation of our freedom, you know. Patricia May: yeah.. .we don’t want to just show off our clothes, we just want to wear something that’s comfortable for us. Gina: Yeah, how we feel — we feel all locked up in these uniforms. (GP7) However, the majority of parents, teachers and administrators have applauded the adoption of uniform standards, the “platform” of which was posted and on display in every classroom, [see Appendix I] As I read the platform, I wondered whether uniforms weren’t instituted for the purpose of achieving a professional edge through a league of conformity. The standards began with a mission statement for classification and justification that seemed almost corporate in character: In order to provide a positive learning environment at Mefferin Middle School, all students are expected to dress for success. Our standard is that Learning is the students’ job and our business is Education. In addition, we want to provide for students’ safety. 70 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Some of the specifics included that shirts must be white and tucked in. The only emblems allowed were school related. Further, the colors of jackets/sweaters were limited to blue or black and could display only a Mefferin (school oriented) logo or emblem, if any. All shoes were to have closed toes, and no slippers or sandals were allowed. Most prominently, the standards stated that “any clothing or accessories which are associated with gangs are prohibited.” Consequently, the standards detailed that pants were to be uniform style twill or corduroy and had to fit properly - nothing over-sized. Pants were to be worn at the waist and remain at the waist when the belt was removed. They were to be within one inch of the students’ waist size. These codes amounted to a single prohibition against a baggy “gangsta” look.9 For most students, the mention of gang associations was sometimes offensive but mostly a reminder of how their style interests had to be curtailed: Gina: You can’t wear colorful shoes cuz it’s like a, they think it’s like a gang color or something. Patricia May: That’s why they put us in uniform because of the gang colors. They see somebody they think, and if they see red, they’ll start fighting. Gina: It’s that the colors are related to the gang -- like if you wear bright like, blue, they think that you’re a crip or if you wear red -- they’ll give you a citation. Vanessa: Yeah, it’s gang related - Everything to THEM is gang related. Gina: If you try to be unique, THAT’S gang related. (GP7) When the bell would ring at the end of Mefferin Time, the volume of voices would increase as students proceeded on with their schoolday routine (two class periods, nutrition break, two class periods, lunch break, two more class periods). At Mefferin, all students took six periods of classes encompassing English, Math, History/Social Studies, Science, P.E. and an elective (language, computer science, art, etc.) for 177 days of 71 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. instruction per year. Unlike elementary school, where one teacher is with a classroom of students all day, Mefferin Middle School functioned like a high school, where students move from class to class throughout the day. During the 1999-2000 school year at Mefferin, Miss Hillmont taught three sections of 7th grade World History and two sections of 8th grade U.S. History. Among the 7th graders she taught, two sections were considered “sheltered classes” because of the number of “limited English speakers.” During the time I conducted my research, Miss Hillmont was in her third year teaching at Mefferin middle school. A bi-lingual credentialed teacher for five years, she taught elementary (bi-lingual) 5th grade in the Long Beach Unified district before teaching at the secondary school level. During her teaching experience in Los Angeles county school districts, Miss Hillmont has long been acquainted with “special” populations of students, many of which increasingly seemed to appear to constitute the norm rather than the exception. In addition to the sheltered classes she taught during the 1999-2000 school year, th • Miss Hillmont taught one regular English proficiency section of 7 grade World History, and two regular sections of 8 grade U.S. History. However, even in the regular sections, there was considerable variation. “Resource Students” — students with learning disabilities (and this population is also steadily rising) are often “mainstreamed” into certain courses like U.S. History, whereas English and Math courses are taught in the context of separate, day-long Special Education classes. Mainstreamed as well as Special Education students require Individualized Educational Programs (IEPs), thus teachers had to utilize a different type of curriculum and meet with a Resource coordinator throughout 72 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the year to monitor students’ special needs. Miss Hillmont mentioned that this year, in her 8th grade U.S. History class in 6th period, there were 14 students who were Resource/IEP: IH: In a class of 35 - 1 had one class that was that high. LC: So one third of the class is technically special Ed but you’re supposed to teach mainstreamed requirements? IH: Yes, but that goes into the fact that teachers are expected to meet the needs of all the students , which is very difficult. I basically taught that one 8t h grade class as if it were a sheltered class. They didn’t realize, but I did - 1 had to. It was the only I could get to all the different needs. There was a growing concern among teachers who saw these variations in student abilities and must be held accountable for creating the more individualized programs even though they must teach over 150 students daily. A further challenge facing among teachers was interpreting and teaching the required curricula in the most beneficial manner. For years, teachers have recognized the steady increase of the limited-English speaking population of students in LAUSD schools; however, teachers like Miss Hillmont who must work with both Limited English Proficiency (LEP) and the Resource/IEP students were definitely alarmed at the growing number of students with IEP’s who were also “Resourced” or “mainstreamed” into their own classrooms. Subsequently, in a more recent interview (March 2001), Miss Hillmont attempted to give some explanations for this trend, including wider social and cultural factors: LC: Why is there such an increase do you think? IH: I think a lot of it is that you have children that were crack babies, kids with ADD, and things often a result of the environment. LC: So what would be the biggest problem -- is it poverty? IH: Low socioeconomic levels definitely; .. .well there is a huge difference between immigration and special ed. But when you’re talking about low test scores, API scores -- of course if they are given these standardized, norm referenced exams in English that are culturally biased, there is no way they can compete. 73 with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Pointing to these key concerns (from a teacher’s point of view) among the Mefferin population (low socioeconomic status, and a large immigrant population that speaks little English) are indeed important factors and are therefore “re-interpreted” in the worlds of the adolescents themselves. Who are the Kids in the Wood? — Profiles of the Mefferin Focus Group Participants In attempting to understand the cultural factors and connections to the wider society (namely based on issues surrounding consumption) in which the Mefferin students circulate in and out of on a daily basis, the focus groups allowed students to give a voice to their preferences and interests. In May/June 2000, fifty students participated in fifteen focus group interviews. These were the young adolescents I most interacted with and spent time with -- not only interviewing them but also developing relationships with them. As mentioned in the previous chapter, among the students who participated in the focus groups, 29 (58%) were females, and 21 (42%) were males. Of these fifty, the self identified race/ethnicity categories were grouped accordingly: 32 (64%) were Latino; 6 (12%) were Black/African-American; 1 (2%) was white/Anglo/Caucasian; 1 (2%) was Asian; 3 (6%) were Middle Eastern; 5 (10%) were Mixed race/ethnicity; and 2 (4%) did not specify any race/ethnicity identification. Of these fifty students, measures of class/socioeconomic status grouped participants accordingly: approximately 33 (66%) students were in the Low category, 4 (8%) were in the Low/Middle category; 7 (14%) were in the Middle category; 3 (6%) were in the Middle/High category; and 3 (6%) were in the High category. Of these 50 students, at least 8 (16%) were bom in other countries 74 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. outside the US — 1st generation immigrants; and at least 32 (64%) had parents bom in other countries — 2n d generation immigrants. In total there were 14 countries outside the US represented in students’ ethnic/national origins. The following personal vignettes help illustrate the context and culture of the voices that will appear consistently throughout following chapters. One important component of the study which deserves attention is the selection of names by which students are identified. Before we began each group, I asked students to fill out a brief demographic form where they could also choose a pseudonym for their identity in the duration of this project. I indicated the ethical dimensions (youth, protected status, etc.) of why it was required that researchers keep participant’s identities secret. So in the following profiles of students that I present, special attention has been taken to accurately record (including spelling variations) the pseudonyms chosen by the Mefferin sample: FOCUS GROUP #1 Quack-Quack, Vanessa Gomez, and Mary Garcia were 8th grade girls in Miss Hillmont’s first period (regular English proficiency) U.S. histoiy class during the 1999- 2000 school year. Quack-Quack identified herself as black, and her parents were American bom; Vanessa and Mary Garcia both identified themselves as “Hispanic”; their parents were bom and raised in Mexico, but they were bom and raised in the U.S. Quack-Quack was outspoken and confident about expressing her opinions about school, peer groups, and particularly about shopping and consumer culture. Often sarcastic but comical and witty, her eyes carried a mischievous glint. She was proud of the fact that her father worked as an engineer (a high-status profession compared to the 75 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. other girls’ fathers in this group), and proud that her mother was more permissive about money and entertainment in comparison to the other girls in the group. Miss Hillmont described her as “more academically inclined because her mother would push her. .. .but she could definitely be very mouthy, very vocal.. .she was just, you know, your precocious adolescent.” Vanessa too was often sarcastic and outspoken but demonstrated an eagerness to please and to be heard above the rest. Mary, on the other hand, was the more quiet of the three girls, but in the course of the interview disclosed a complex life outside of school. She had the most developed romantic interests of the group, proclaimed an avid interest in pursuing teenage boys, and was an avid reader of Bride magazine. According to Miss Hillmont Now, Vanessa, she could be passive resistant... But after awhile she was fine; she was just exhibiting that typical adolescent rebellion... In the classroom, though, she would act out sometimes. Mary was a little bit like Vanessa but definitely playing up her charm, trying to charm you constantly into getting out of class. They were both D and C students, not too academically inclined. FOCUS GROUP #2 Alex Menez, Max, and Tony were 7th graders in Miss Hillmont’s 2n d period (sheltered/ limited English proficiency) World History class. Alex and Max were bom in other countries (Mexico and Honduras) and came to Los Angeles at an early age. Alex was definitely the most outspoken of the group; he was one of the “skater-cool” boys with gelled, highlighted and spiked hair. He was one of the more popular boys in the 7th grade, but was also compassionate and polite. He was very respectful of Miss Hillmont and myself, and in the focus group talked about how he believed in supporting his friends above else and how it was important to not make fun of students who didn’t speak English well. However, he liked “tagging” the back of his garage as well as hanging 76 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. out with his older brother, and was folly engaged in all aspects of skateboard culture. Miss Hillmont mentioned that Alex was definitely not working up to his potential as a student; he also “could be a discipline problem.. .but he could be VERY charming.” Tony was the most quiet member in this group, although he spoke readily about his avid interest in sports. Unlike Alex and Tony, Max’s voice hadn’t deepened yet, and he was one of the smallest in stature compared to many of the boys in his grade. Along with Alex, he was quite talkative and especially willing to offer his opinions about school and how he intends to “finish university someday.” Miss Hillmont stressed that “Max was extremely concerned about his grades. He was a straight-A student, and was always eager to please. He was a very easy student because of that.” In this group each boy was extremely well versed in subjects such as sports, video/computer technology, and camping/mountain adventures with animals, and equally well versed in the lore of violent events in their neighborhoods. Each boy took turns and shared individual stories and insights, and there was very little demonstration of ‘one upmanship’ in their interactions. The only real point of contention occurred when the boys were talking about going into the 8th grade next year. Alex was excited, but Tony was wary and said that he didn’t like to study much, and that studying gets harder as you move up the grades. Immediately, Alex challenged him, stating “well if you don’t go to school, what are you going to do then?” Max also chimed in: “because if you graduate from school, you can have a lot of money.” Alex added that he came to school so that he could have a lot of money later on. This signaled to me that the topic of money would be something that I wanted to further explore in the Mefferin students. 77 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. FOCUS GROUP #3 Gabriela, Emily and Damb were 7th graders in Miss Hillmont’s 3rd period (regular English proficiency) World History class. Damb was the most outspoken student and perhaps the most privileged in terms of socioeconomic status. One of the few students in the sample who actually lived in the Mefferin neighborhood and was able to walk to school, Damb also stressed that when she wanted to buy something, her mother gave her money. She was technologically adept and mentioned that she used Internet for shopping and checking out new clothes. Damb lived five years in China, then seven years in Japan (Tokyo) before coming to the U.S. last year. Mentioning that the school work was definitely easier at Mefferin, Miss Hillmont also noted that Damb “was definitely an A student.. .really motivated to do well.” Even though Damb was in sheltered/ESL classes the previous year, Miss Hillmont explained that she was “removed because she was not being challenged enough so her parents came in and said ‘we want her in the regular Ed program.” Emily and her family were first-generation immigrants from Mexico. An average student, Miss Hillmont pointed out that “Emily had some discipline problems, and her parents had to come in with the counselor one day because she was ditching classes... She could be kind of passive-aggressive with me at times, but she never posed any serious problems as far as defiance.” Gabriela noted that her parents were from Mexico but that she was bom here. A Chicana, Gabriela often watched Spanish TV at home but didn’t “really understand it... .only the bad words.” Miss Hillmont also indicated that Gabriela was an overall B student and “kind of a follower with her peer group.” Unlike 78 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Damb, who was economically better off, both Emily and Gabriela, for example, did not own nor have access to a computer at home. FOCUS GROUP #4 Donnan, El Meno Jr. ‘de la Rampart’, Roger, and Manny were 8th graders in Miss Hillmont’s 1st period (regular English proficiency) U.S. History class. Donnan was slim and very coordinated, lacking much of the awkward gawkiness of many of the boys his age. His hair was expertly styled in a collection of mini-dreadlocks that framed his face in a cartoonish but distinctly ‘fashion-forward’ manner. His father was from Jamaica and owned a music production/distribution business in Los Angeles. Donnan offered a lot of knowledge about fashion and music trends; he mentioned he was going to “bum Miss Hillmont a CD with some cool rap tunes.” Miss Hillmont specifically noted that of all the kids in the class, Donnan was one of the most unique, possessing a varied storehouse of cultural capital: “He knew the movie The Gods Must be Crazy and was trying to convince the class to watch it.. .sometimes a lot of kids really listen to him.” Further Miss Hillmont indicated that “Donnan got D’s and C’s even though he had the capacity to get A’s. When he slipped down to the D’s, that’s when his Dad got really involved. He was also in a class with students who weren’t too motivated.” Manny’s home life also shared the upscale materialism enjoyed by Donnan. A second-generation Persian, Manny had an aristocratic heir with his finely chiseled facial features and well-creased uniform. He liked to trade stocks over the Internet and was willing to offer me information about Cisco Systems, and Microsoft. He also mentioned that his father, a fairly well-known Persian singer who performs at major Las Vegas 79 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. venues, was fairly strict, warning Manny about drugs and threatening home schooling instead of a future at Beverly Hills High. Unlike Donnan and Manny, El Meno Jr. and Roger did not come from upper middle class, wealthy families; they lived downtown near the Staples Center, an area stigmatized by some in Los Angeles as a kind of ghetto. However, these boys didn’t falter much in their own group performances. El Meno Jr. was often joking and cajoling the others in the group, and often bragged about his girlfriend. Roger assumed the ‘cool pose’ of an urban hipster and stressed that he was going to get his ear pierced when he had money. According to Miss Hillmont, “Oh, now Roger — he was a charmer. .. .he tried to sell me something — I think he told me he stole it but he was always charming about it.. .1 think he’s a little hustler.” FOCUS GROUP #5 Cristal, Angela, and Maria were 7th graders in Miss Hillmont’s 2n d period (sheltered/limited English Proficiency) World History class. This group of girls consisted of all first-generation immigrants: Cristal was from El Salvador, Angela and Maria from Mexico. All were soft-spoken and left me with an impression of nearly total innocence. Interestingly, while all three have real names that are Indian/indigenous, they all chose westernized interview names that evoke connotations of purity and reverence. They all commuted from the Westlake area of inner-city Los Angeles, a crime-ridden, low- income/working-class area where many families live below the poverty line. However, these girls were carefully guarded by their parents; they were required to come directly home after school and were not generally allowed to spend time with friends. All 80 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. of the girls mentioned the importance of their contribution to domestic labor in the home: Cristal had to clean the house, Maria had to wash the dishes, and Angela had to cook and clean. These girls were clearly a friendship group; they were all Mends inside and outside of class. This interview group felt more like one unit, rather than a collection of overt individual personalities vying for leadership and power. Whereas the boys in the last group spent a good deal of time performing “for the tape recorder,” one-upping each other, and searching for opportunities to tease or laugh at each other, this group of girls was mutually supportive and respectful. Miss Hillmont seemed to concur by stressing that “these girls were in the sheltered class - they were immigrant girls, they gave me no discipline problems — just very docile.” Furthermore, these girls were also very good students; they also had career aspirations that went beyond those of many of their classroom colleagues. FOCUS GROUP #6 T, Monkey, and Anfome were 7th graders in Miss Hillmont’s 3rd period (regular English proficiency) World History class. This was a group of ‘quasi-entrepreneurs’ — boys who were clearly engaged in profit-seeking strategies and hoping to make that profit at a young age. As soon as the interview began, both T and Anfome whipped out business cards (complete with spelling errors) from the relatives they were “currently working for.” T worked for his barber uncle at Looks o f Love - Cuts by Tommy D on “La Cienga” Blvd., [La Cienega] and Anfome had connections to “sells and bookings” [sales and bookings] at his brother’s talent agency, “No Curfew, Inc.” There was immediate 81 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. competition and joking in this group - especially as the conversation addressed what they do after school; they would all usually “hang out” somewhere, and they were not forced to go home by parents. They all shared stories about how they stayed out late the previous weekend. They noted that they were friends in this class but did not indicate that they shared a social camaraderie outside of Mefferin. They enjoyed promoting a rebel persona, often bragging about how they have all been searched for drugs and weapons by law enforcement authorities. At one point during this interview T tried to sell me a key chain after I had asked the boys how they get money for things — and he said that he’d sell it to me for three dollars — “hustling, hus-lang, s-lang...” The boys briefly explained this concept to me when I asked if they were good ‘slangers.’ The boys again competed for displaying street-wise knowledge about scamming, including selling illegal duplicates of Lakers basketball game tickets. In class, Miss Hillmont did not have any problems at all with Anfome or Monkey. However, she did describe a situation that occurred with T: T was an interesting child... T was sometimes surly and defiant, and, I would say, a little spoiled. And I had to meet with his mother a couple of times. One time I got very upset because he made some implication about racism, and I actually wrote his mother about this and I feel strongly about this subject — I was very hurt by this because my mother suffered racism in Texas when she came to this country from Mexico, and so then as a result we had a conference in the counselor’s office where I asked him in front of his mother if he thought I was racist towards him. He then said no I don’t really think that - but then his mother intervened and said that T was constantly hanging around an uncle of his who would always tell him that the plight of the black man is such because of white people and so he was being affected by that. Once she said that I then understood, but I was shocked at first when he said that. FOCUS GROUP #7 Gina, Patricia May, and Vanessa L. were 7th graders in Miss Hillmont’s 5th period (sheltered/limited English proficiency) World History class. When I conducted this 82 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. interview I was surprised that these girls were in a “sheltered” History class because they all possessed well-developed communication skills which they displayed both in the focus group and in their written survey responses. Miss Hillmont also said that “I think they could have done fine in regular English, but it’s not an overnight process - they have to submit writing samples, etc. Now that I teach ESLI am much more aware of how that works, but back then I just remember telling Gina to go to the school -- if a parent goes in and insists on it then the school will take immediate action.” Gina and Vanessa mentioned that they live over an hour away from Mefferin school so they had to start their commute early each morning. Patricia May, however, lived in the vicinity of the school. All three girls readily talked about the importance they placed on their extra-curricular activities. Vanessa was taking dance — hip-hop, ballet and jazz; Patricia May was taking piano lessons, and has participated in the Mefferin School youth show as well as a Persian music video. Gina has studied piano but at the time was taking voice lessons, and had aspirations to become a singer/performer in the future. All the girls displayed an interest in the cultural diversity of Los Angeles, and they marveled at the fact that all of them were bom here, were attending middle school together, yet were bom to parents who came from opposite ends of the world. Vanessa’s family was from El Salvador, Patricia May’s parents were from Iran, and Gina’s were from Eritrea (Africa). FOCUS GROUP #8 Gisel Gutierez, Yuri Murrilo, and Michelle Gomez were 7th graders in Miss Hillmont’s 5th period (sheltered/limited English proficiency) World History class. This 83 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. group of girls yielded an interview that was infused with bouts of giggling and subtle criticisms of other students. Gisel was an average student at Mefferin. Full-figured, jovial and outspoken, she readily described how “one of my favorite things to do is go out with my friends and go party. Crossing around East LA, that is what I do.” Gisel, even though she was thirteen years old, frequented night clubs with her aunt, who would vouch for her status as an eighteen-year-old. She loved Ranchero music and at the time of this interview was dating a seventeen year old ‘cowboy.’ Miss Hillmont noted that Gisel Gutierez “definitely had that ‘chola’ girl attitude. She didn’t give me a lot of problems but one time she was really defiant and she just snapped at me, which surprised me... Gisel, I didn’t get to know too well... .but she had a tough edge to her.... In fact, out of the three, Gisel was the only one who seemed kind of tough.” Gisel also mentioned that her Dad worked as a mechanic generally but now was in jail, like Yuri Murrilo’s brother. Yuri Murrilo, exotic and waif-like, had long hair and graceful, angular features. She alluded to a troubled home life that included an older brother who was in jail at the time. Miss Hillmont mentioned that Yuri was in the resource program and was aC/D student. “She was also Bi-cultural -- half Lebanese and half Hispanic — and I do remember her telling me that she wanted to be a model. She was pretty passive though in general; however she had a lot of absenteeism problems; she would come in late. I remember speaking to her resource teacher who thought she definitely wasn’t working up to her ability level, which I agreed with. She was also complaining about having difficult [menstrual] periods once a month.” 84 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Gisel and Michelle also identified with “Mexican Brown Pride”1 0 -- but according to Miss Hillmont, Michelle wasn’t as tough-acting as Gisel: “Michelle seemed like a follower and she was very sweet, wanting to please.” She mentioned an uncle who thought she was a “gangster” and whom she had trouble getting along with because he didn’t seem to understand her. She lived in a single-mother family and at the time of the interview often spent time in church “just to relax.” Of the girls, Gisel was the most ‘boy-crazy’ and Yuri and Michelle were the most style-conscious, critical of everything from N’Sync and the Backstreet Boys (popular music bands with five males who sing in harmony and dance in choreographed synchronicity) to the “chunty” (expression of tacky) clothing of girls who didn’t know the right brands. FOCUS GROUP #9 Pippy, Maggie, and Baby Giggles were 8th graders in Miss Hillmont’s 6th period (regular English proficiency) U.S. History class. Full-figured, exuberant and outspoken, Pippy was a B/C student and portrayed herself as quite accomplished; outside of school she spent time playing sports and the clarinet. Pippy also participated in weekly Explorers meetings. According to Miss Hillmont, “Pippy was a little bit of a discipline problem — in fact I just found out that she had allegedly stolen some items recently when she was on a band trip.. .and I also understand she stole paper from my classroom when there was a substitute, but in general she was fine — you know, I really liked her.” Maggie was tomboyish and sports-minded whereas Baby Giggles was slight, delicate, well-coifed and manicured -- a self-proclaimed “girly girl.” Maggie worked as Miss Hillmont’s teaching helper during 6th period. She described her as “a very content 85 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. girl - just overall very pleasant - 1 never saw her lose her temper ever... She was low in certain skills but she told me she wanted to be a doctor, so I told her if you want to be a doctor you have to have stellar grades and be very driven — I just told her flat out — because she was your typical C student.” Baby Giggles, according to Miss Hillmont, “was more a B student - she was a pretty good student and she was very well-behaved, never a discipline problem.” Baby Giggles also said that her father was fairly strict and encouraged the practice of [fundamentalist] Christianity, one of the few students who even mentioned an attachment or connection to religion in their lives. FOCUS GROUP #10 El Chalinio, Playboy Bunny, and Alex Erez were 7th graders in Miss Hillmont’s 2n d period (sheltered/limited English proficiency) World History class. The most prominent image I have of El Chalinio, who was pudgy and awkward, is an incident in which he attempted to trip a girl in class, but instead lost his balance and fell over onto Miss Hillmont’s desk, knocking over her fish tank, drenching everything. Miss Hillmont recalled that “El Chalinio drove me nuts — he wouldn’t sit still, and I asked him if this is how he behaved at home, and he flat out said ‘yes’ — so he’s allowed to run wild in the home, and I’m sure Playboy Bunny is allowed the same.” Playboy Bunny, large, loud and boisterous, had just finished spending six weeks in a boot camp for boys with discipline problems. Miss Hillmont stated that “Now, Playboy Bunny, he told me that he liked boot camp and he wanted to go into the army. So that says a lot to me --1 thought to myself, here’s a bright boy; he needs structure and limits, and there’s not enough structure in the school setting. He knows how to work the system. He knows he can get away with so 86 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. much at school so he doesn’t have much respect for the system here.” Alex Erez, compared to the other two boys, was more subdued, but at times he freely joked around with the others. According to Miss Hillmont, she remembers Alex as “goofing off and playing around, getting D’s and F’s.” Playboy Bunny, on the other hand was a good student, mostly getting B’s in the majority of his classes. During the interview Playboy Bunny especially dominated the group, often to tease the other boys, but mostly to add comments of his own. All of the boys came from Mexico, a region (Zacatecas) where “there are the meanest bulls;” they often discussed ranch living, cowboys, and rodeos along with their experiences traveling back and forth between Mexico and the U.S. FOCUS GROUP #11 Blue Angel, Johanna, and Buttercup were 7th graders in Miss Hillmont’s 3rd period (regular English proficiency) World History class. Blue Angel was the most vivacious member of the group, eager to contribute her perspective with every question I asked. Miss Hillmont described how she “was just very interested in the subject matter - just intellectually inclined to this history class, always assertive in the classroom as far as providing answers, and very eager to raise her hand. She was getting A’s, B’s, and then at the mid year she slipped into the C range and had to be reminded.” Blue Angel was also friends in class with Buttercup who was quiet amongst her. classmates but spoke easily during the interview. Buttercup had recently come from Illinois and had lived in foster care since the death of her mother. She had a melancholy look about her, but during the group interaction she exposed a sense of warmth and sweetness. Miss Hillmont explained that Buttercup got C grades for the most part, but 87 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. “she seemed to possess a greater level of maturity compared to most of the kids in the class.” Johanna was a quiet girl from Guatemala, and I often felt she was intimidated by Blue Angel and Buttercup (both African American), who were friends and seasoned their conversation with numerous American slang expressions. In this group, it was Blue Angel and Buttercup who demonstrated how much they were involved in their own friendship group. However, while Johanna was part of this focus group and was accepted by the other two girls, she was not part of their social group in any other capacity. Still, all the girls were respectful of each other’s ideas and opinions. FOCUS GROUP #12 Mathew, Bee, and Yoshi were 7th graders in Miss Hillmont’s 3rd period (regular English proficiency) World History class. Bee had only been at Mefferin for one semester and was the only Caucasian/white participant in all of the focus group interviews (counting the survey, the entire study included a total of four Caucasian/white students). Bee was very interested in wrestling and was planning to make it his future career. He had an equally intense fascination with rap music, and with white rapper Eminem in particular. He was a pudgy boy with non-uniform baggy clothes, and a thick gold chain. According to Miss Hillmont, Bee was an OT, an “opportunity transfer,” which, she referred to as a euphemism for getting kicked out of another school. When he showed up, he was a surly looking redhead with freckles with a wrestling T-shirt on and I just sat him down and said, ‘now look, you just better tell me now what kind of a student you are because you are an OT’ - 1 wanted him to assess himself, and he immediately whined that the counselor said he didn’t have to say anything. But I said, ‘I want you to tell me if you are a trouble maker or a pretty well-behaved student in the classroom.’ And he said I’m not a trouble maker and I said, good, I’m happy to hear it. ...a rap-loving, wrestling boy, but when he brought in his baby rabbit, he was sweet, kind and responsible actually. 88 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The other boys in the group appeared to look up to Bee as the leader, the one who had the most knowledge of what was ‘cool’ and ‘tight.’ Yoshi, both Mexican and Jewish, was slight in stature, and still spoke in a high-pitched voice. He had hair fashioned in the style of skaters - dark roots with dyed blonde tips and highlights. He showed a tremendous respect for Bee, whereas Matthew (2n d generation Persian, upper middle class) was often contentious. Matthew was not a very popular boy, and until now, no groups were interested in having him join them. Miss Hillmont also noted that Matthew could be whiny at times: “He actually cried once when I called his Dad -- he got highly upset and his Dad came down hard on him on the phone. He was definitely under the thumb and had to get good grades or else...” FOCUS GROUP #13 Jenny, Amenda, Jose, and Ramiro were 7th graders in Miss Hillmont’s 5th period (sheltered/limited English proficiency) World History class. They were the first of two mixed male/female groups. All participants in this group interview mentioned they were first generation immigrants (Jenny, Jose and Ramiro from Mexico, and Amenda from Iran). Miss Hillmont pointed out that she had very few problems with any of these students; she recalled that “Jenny was quiet and a B/C student.. .Amenda was a good student — mostly A’s and B’s, although very precocious, outgoing, and talkative.” Both Ramiro and Jose were also good students — Ramiro maintained an A average and Jose, a B+ average. These students seemed to have few problems with acculturation into the new world of Los Angeles. 89 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. However, all of them did note the pressure they faced over the past year to fit in adequately rather than be labeled “FOB” (‘Fresh off the boat’). Apparently, they were able to move beyond this classification. All of them were well versed in the system of Mefferin hierarchies; however, they still were quite involved with their own ethnic cultural associations outside of school. Amenda frequented Persian chat-rooms on the Internet, and Ramiro in particular, prided himself on being “100% Mexican, and 100% Catholic” with music interests that centered on genres like “corridos, merengue, and cumbia.” I started to notice that students who were well-versed in American acculturation were also more comfortable sharing and expressing their affiliations with ethnic culture. I sensed that this was how youth were negotiating a hybrid style of cultural mixing. FOCUS GROUP #14 Baby Devil, Candy, Adriana Lopez and May were 7th graders in Miss Hillmont’s 5th period (sheltered/limited English proficiency) World History class. All of these girls were bom in Oaxaca, Mexico and immigrated to the U.S. fairly recently. They were all very close to their families — families that were often strict and protective as were those of the girls in Focus Group #5. However, Baby Devil mentioned that she studied Mexican Folklorico dancing on the weekends; and Candy mentioned that she played in a soccer league which she felt was an important activity in her life. According to Miss Hillmont, Baby Devil was “very outgoing, talkative, and jolly; she could be veiy assertive about complaints, but very charming. Miss Hillmont also mentioned that girls like Adriana were bright but not working up to potential. “She could have done much better — 90 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. she could also be passive-resistant — quiet about a complaint but slightly manipulative in responding.” All of the girls talked about how they were looking forward to going to college, and earning their own money in the fixture. On the whole, these girls seemed a little tired of and bored with middle school. With parents who did not allow them to do too many things outside of school and the family, they all desired more personal freedom. It sometimes seemed as if their perceived lack of freedom fed into a form of self-criticism based on their physical and social immaturity. This self-criticism tended to center around issues of body image, femininity, and physical attractiveness. Not surprisingly, self esteem became an important topic of discussion during their interview. I sensed an interesting combination -- of frustration and confidence — pushing and pulling at the expectation these girls had for themselves. FOCUS GROUP #15 Crysty, Star, Head, Rage, and Lowell were 7th graders in Miss Hillmont’s 5th period (sheltered/limited English proficiency) World History class. Crysty, who considered herself ‘spanic’ was thin and delicate; she wore carefully-applied makeup and tried to beat the uniform codes by sneakily wearing her own clothing. She would often wear her own t-shirts under a zipped-up uniform jacket. Crysty, like Bee from Group #12, had just transferred to Mefferin in the previous semester, so she often claimed she was unfamiliar with the codes. She also had a boyfriend who was a “skater,” one of the most popular of subcultures/groups at Mefferin, so her popularity was practically assured. 91 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Star, however, was small and quiet and not too well-liked. Her name was similar to another girl in Group #14, but that group was quite adamant about not including her, so I had to explain that she would be part of the next (and last) group. Interestingly, Miss Hillmont noted she knew Star quite well, “cuz I had her brother and they were very much the same — they were very academically oriented — they just wanted to succeed in school, do well and they didn’t require pushing or prodding -- self motivated, but they were kind of poor. They were mature and respectful and did very well — mostly A’s — they were A students.” As with Star, Head was often teased and made fun of by his peers. Head’s parents were from Guatemala, and he appeared small and corpulent. During the interview, he was often teased by the other boys because he would “tune out” of the conversation, appearing almost dopey at times in comparison with the others. During the interview, Amenda (from Group #13) stopped by and informed me that the whole class often made fun of him. Lowell was Filipino and Chinese, a solid B-student and an avid comic book reader and fan of “Mad,” “Marvel,” and “X-Men.” He had gelled and spiked hair in the style of many skaters, but asserted that he was not a skater per se. Rage was a 2n d generation Mexican and also embodied the skater persona. According to Miss Hillmont, Rage was often immature, and a D-student. Miss Hillmont remarked that she often “had to tell him not to say rude things to Head.” During the interview he focused mainly on his interest in wrestling sports culture from TV and Pay-Per-View, and on his interest in various Internet websites. For Rage, “WWF Smackdown” and “Monday Night Raw” were the ultimate entertainment venues. 92 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The Microcosm of a Young Adolescent Society: Grade Hierarchies. Group Labels The culture of Mefferin school was structured like a small society in which various groups were often in conflict with one another. To begin with, students had devised a collection of arbitrary standards and hierarchical divisions that were acted out, the most prominent of which involved the student’s grade in school. 7th graders, Patricia May and Gina discuss their feelings about those in the next grade: Patricia May: The 8t h graders here are - Gina: Rude! Patricia May: They push the 6t h graders when they’re walking down the hall - they just push em you know. Gina: Mostly, if you’re in 7t h they make fun of you - but if you’re in 6t h , it doesn’t matter because... Vanessa: You’re a SCRUB! (GP7) In addition to the structure of grade hierarchy, students assembled themselves, often claiming identification with various cliques and sub-cultures — groups such as “weirdos,” “drama queens,” and “over-achievers,” existed along with others: Roger: There’s the gang group, the wrestling group, the basketball group, the Black group (GP4) Amenda: I know they have one group that do drugs. Ramiro/Jenny: Sawtelles Jose: Skaters (GP 13) Inevitably many students experienced the divisive nature of cliques. For example, a discussion among a group of male students of color yielded a personal association for 8th grader Donnan, who was part Jamaican and part Belizian: LC: Now, what about here in school, do you see like people in cliques or groups? Donnan: Yeah!! I’m not tryin’ to be negative, but.. LC: How is it divided? Roger: Everybody ya’know has their own people — 93 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Donnan: I bet if I go over there and try to socialize [points to a group of kids in the class] they’ll tell me to get out. (GP4) While Donnan’s parents were foreign bom, he was bom in the U.S. into a family who was upper middle class. Still, he has experienced the taint of discriminatory labeling as he has been a target of racial profiling (an incident that recently had occurred at a local hobby store where he supposedly was caught on tape stealing glue — yet it wasn’t him.) Donnan, however, was quite popular in that he knew the latest rap artists and despite the uniform codes often wore (or had them hidden in his backpack) clothing items by East Coast fashion designers. Like some of the other 2n d generation immigrant youth at Mefferin, he was part of an elite group of kids who understood the power of “being cool” in America, and was able to transcend the provincial elements of ethnic parent cultures, understanding their exotic connotations and using them to his social advantage. He had attained a cosmopolitan attitude, reaping the benefits of globalization and hipness. Donnan often hung out with Manny, who came from a wealthy family and was 2n d generation Persian. According to Waldinger & Bozorgmehr (1996), “along with Latinos, Asians and Middle Easterners have been the largest ethnic groups coming to Los Angeles” (p. 18); this was also represented in the Mefferin school population demographics. They note that “many immigrants leap right into the middle class, not only because they import skills or capital but because of their pre-migration exposure to American culture and American styles of living and making money... [which involves] the relentless spread of the mass media and the globalization of American culture” (pp. 18-19). There is also a considerable difference that exists in the cultural patterns of 1st generation and 2n d 94 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. generation youth (see also Thome et al, 1999; Portes & Rumbaut, 1996). According to Suarez-Orozco & Suarez-Orozco (1995), “even though immigrant youths must cope with the losses and stresses of immigration, culture shock, and a wide array of difficulties and hostilities in conflict-ridden inner-city schools, they nonetheless desperately try, seemingly against all odds, to learn the language and to use the educational system, not the welfare system to become somebody” (p.5) For many immigrant students, many of whom have not been in the United States very long, the tendency was to associate with others who were a part of, or resembled their own ethnic groups. Miss Hillmont also discussed this with me at length: IH: In general, if you look on the campus, if you walk around during recess you will see a big group of Hispanic boys playing soccer, and yelling in Spanish; you will see a lot of the Bengali kids hanging around with other Bengali kids. There’s definitely little ethnic language cliques. LC: How defined is it? IH: There’s definitely mixing going on but there are also cliques. In my ESL class this year, there’s cliques - the Koreans hang out with the Koreans, the Hispanics hang out with the Hispanics. LC: Do the Hispanics hang out with kids from their own separate countries? IH: Oh they all hang out together - Spanish language unites them. Furthermore, those students who were not as familiar with American style — particularly consumer culture, media, and sport related subcultures (which will be folly explored in the following chapters) -- were often invisible participants in the student culture of Mefferin school, relegated to observing from the sidelines. A group of first generation immigrant Latina girls portrayed the sense of confusion and alienation regarding the subtleties of school subcultures and groups: LC: Now are you guys friends in this classroom? All: yeah LC: So you pretty much stick together? All: Yeah Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LC: Now do you think there are a lot of groups or cliques around school? [silence] Have you heard of that — cliques? Groups — like the skateboarders, rappers... Maria: Oh yeah LC: But groups here at school? Are you part of any groups? All: No LC: Do you see people that are? All: Yes (GP5) Miss Hillmont has made some significant observations regarding the acculturation and assimilation experience of newly-arrived immigrant students at Mefferin: IH: I do think that they feel - that the way the relate in school and what they value is important changes as they get more acclimated into American society and culture. LC: What do you mean? IH: Well because a lot of these immigrants when they first arrive, they’re not used to the culture and they’re just more focused on behaving well, and getting through school. LC: Like pleasing the teacher and obeying rules? IH: I think more than that - just kind of coping and dealing with getting through school everyday. Dealing with all the different types of students pushing and shouting through the hallways, getting to the cafeteria, figuring out what kind of new foods they’re eating, and county food - but then after a year or two, they’ve already figured out how the system works and then they move on to another level. Learning how to play the game of fitting in with the basics of American culture is just as complicated a journey as learning English is. To an outsider, and particularly to adult observers, the markers and definitions students create to denote status and popularity may seem ridiculous -- especially those that focus on brand name shoes and clothing. However, to students who participated in this research, these are serious concerns. This is how they make sense of their world. Life Begins After 3:00: Young Adolescents Tune Up. Hang Out, and Buy In When the bell rang at 3:00pm at Mefferin Middle School, classroom doors would swing open and the thunderous herd of ‘gotta-get-outa-this-place’ 6th , 7th , and 8th 'graders 96 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. would converge en masse in the hallways. An immediate goal was to attain the coveted position of being seen first outside on the front steps with the least amount of uniform clothing intact, and with the most electronic items prominently in view. In moments, Discmans, Gameboys, pagers, and even a cell phone or two (items not to be seen/used during school hours) were activated and made publicly visible. Since the majority of students would soon board waiting buses and family cars, they’d rush to exit the buildings, taking the few remaining minutes to linger briefly among their peers. In those few minutes, they had been able to adorn enough “civilian” clothing and had whipped out enough CDs (hidden in backpacks) to savor a few moments to show them off.1 1 In fifteen minutes, the Mefferin campus would be practically deserted, except for the few who were practicing in sports teams or attending after school tutoring and detention sessions. Mefferin is a “closed” campus, heavily surveilled and patrolled by faculty and law enforcement before, during, and after school. Since students are not allowed to remain in campus areas unsupervised, by 3:15 Officer Jones (followed by Principal Larson or Vice Principal Curtano) will already have begun walking his ‘beat’ up and down the hallways of the main buildings. By 3:30, the majority of students will have gone their separate ways, heading out in all directions with varying goals in mind. On any given afternoon, Alex Menes would set out for the Venice skateboard park, Mary Garcia would secretly meet her boyfriend, and Lowell and Max would battle it out in Dreamcast and Playstation worlds. If it happened to be a minimum day (12:30 dismissal, Yuri Murrilo and Gisel Gutierez would definitely be shopping at the Crenshaw mall, Rage would go to the game arcades at UCLA, and Gina would snack with her 97 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. friends at McDonald’s. Others who had to go straight home after school, like Cristal and Maria, would watch television after they did their household chores; Baby Giggles and Blue Angel would be chatting on the phone, and Gabriela was finishing her homework with the radio turned up full blast. Simultaneously, Jose might be playing baseball or soccer, Mathew might be shooting hoops, while Bee would be practicing his wrestling moves. In other parts of the city, Manny couldn’t wait to get back on-line to trade stocks, and Amenda and Ramiro were set to hit the Internet chatrooms. For the majority of Mefferin students, however, after school free time was limited and severely curtailed, since many faced a long and tedious commute back home. Transportation: Mostly by Bus, Sometimes by Car, but Rarely Ever Walking LC: You have to go on four buses -- how long does it take you? Baby Devil: Two MTA and two Big Blue Buses - like an hour and a half When the school day ended, the majority of Mefferin students would leave the affluence of “The Wood” and head eastward and/or southward back to their own neighborhoods — ghettos, barrios, and underclass areas of Los Angeles so often invisible to the public eye, completely incongruous with the myth of sun-baked Southern California so readily identified with Hollywood, the Westside and Beverly Hills. Indicative of this incongruity is the fact that of the students who were surveyed in January 2000 (N=T32), 99 (75%) students (42 boys, 57 girls) indicated they took bus transportation to school. This included the use of LAUSD school buses as well as public 98 (GP14) Playboy Bunny: El Chalinio: LC: El Chalinio: I take the Twinkie It’s got the cream in it Oh the school bus, you call it the Twinkie? ‘Cuz this bus is like filled with Mexicans... (GP10) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. transport: MTA (Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority covering the greater city of Los Angeles, and the Big Blue Bus (covering Santa Monica and Westside regions.) Out of the population of 132 students, 19 (14%) (8 boys, 11 girls) said they commuted solely by family cars to and from school; 9 students (7%) (3 boys, 6 girls) indicated they commuted by a combination of bus and car; and 4 (3%) (3 boys, 1 girl) mentioned they walked to and from school. In the focus group sample (N=50) 74% of the students indicated that they took the bus to and from school. In the group discussions, students elaborated on the extent of time needed for commuting to and from school. Bee said that his bus ride took him about 45 minutes each way, even though he lived in the Sawtelle area which is close to Westwood. Students like Yoshi had to face a 35-minute bus ride then another 35-minute walk to/from the bus stop; and Pippy, along with Maggie and Baby Giggles mentioned that even though they were driven to/from school by their parents, that commute would often be 45 minutes. Mefferin students were forced into rising early. Baby Devil and Adriana, who lived in East L.A. noted that they have to leave the house as early as 6:30. Since Mefferin school is in Westwood, an affluent area of Los Angeles, students who lived close to campus were generally of a higher socioeconomic status. Thus, in some focus groups, a contrast was apparent between students who lived in the close proximity of campus and those who lived farther away. Some students who lived closer to Mefferin found it hard to believe and were surprised that their peers lived and traveled so much further than they did: LC: Some of you take the school bus? Mary Garcia: Yeah, but usually I take the Blue Bus Vanessa Gomez: I catch the bus at the Rimpau station Quack-Quack: (to Vanessa Gomez) You’re way over there? - Man! (GP1) gg Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LC: Now where do you guys live? How far from school? El Meno Jr: I live like two blocks away from Staples Center. LC: Oh near downtown? Donnan: (laughs at El Meno Jr.) Hey El Meno, do you really live THAT far? El Meno Jr: I really do (has changed his voice to a deeper volume) LC: And you get on the school bus over there? El Meno Jr: Yeah Roger: I live over there too. (GP4) This was an indication, I thought, of how these students were part of ‘dualing’ social worlds: a school social world and a home social world. It seemed to be a rare occurrence if the two coincided. Only Angela, Cristal, and Maria (GP5) noted that they hung out at school as well as lived in the same neighborhood. Another insight I gained about ‘dualing’ spheres was that for these youth, the teenage world portrayed on television was very different from the way they lived: LC: Do you find that living here is different from some of the TV shows? Vanessa G: Yeah! It’s like so annoying having all these shows that like have all these friends living right next door to each other — and just like they all go to the same school and they’re like best friends — and like, hey well... Do you know Anybody that’s that close to their friends, that actually lives close to their friends ? Mary: Oh, like on “Sister Sister”.. .Roger lives like next to them, and they’re best buds, and they go to the same school. Vanessa G: Oh that’s like s-o-o-o impossible! (GP1) Life Outside “The Wood” When they were not in school or on a cross-town commute, Mefferin students made choices (either according to their own or their parents’ wishes) to participate in either solitary or group activities; they also chose activities that either relegated them to the confines of the home (e.g. watching television, playing video games, talking on the phone), or outdoor activities (e.g. sports). Noticeable gender patterns began to emerge. Among the 132 students who answered this question in January 2000, 60 (45%) 100 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. students (39 girls and 21 boys) indicated that they spent more time inside, whereas 48 (36%) students (24 girls and 24 boys) mentioned that they spent more time outside; and 24 (18%) students (12 boys and 12 girls) said they spent equal time inside and outside. In the following chart, I present in detail (separated by gender) the types of activities Mefferin school students mentioned -- the types of activities they mentioned enjoying when school was out for the day. Girls were seen to spend more time inside watching television, although watching television was a close second among the boys. GIRLS (N=751 FREQUENCY BOYS (N=57I FREQUENCY _________________ (# times listed)___________________ (# times listed) watch television 39 play sports 28 see friends 22 Watch television 15 go shopping 18 play video games 14 play sports 17 see friends 10 talk on phone 15 Listen to music 5 listen to music 13 talk on phone 5 go to movies 9 Study/homework 3 play video games 7 go to movies 2 study/homework 4 Further examples of gender division in the after-school lives of Mefferin students were described in more detail through the focus group interviews. According to the interviews I conducted, there also was some apparent gender variation in after-school activities, interests, and practices. For many of the girls interviewed, after-school life took place in the confines of their homes; they were generally expected to come directly home after school. Candy stated, “When I get home, I go to my room, then I take a shower, then I go play outside — but only at my house.” May, one of the girls who had a long bus commute to the more eastern areas of Los Angeles, noted: “When I get home, it’s like around 5:00 — I take a bath, change, then I eat and after that it’s like 7:00, so then 101 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. I watch TV, or I do homework.” Further, only girls mentioned having to do any sort of domestic work/chores as part of their after-school regimen. First-generation immigrants like Cristal, Maria and Angela mentioned that they had to contribute to cleaning the house, cooking for the family and washing the dishes. For other girls like Amenda and Patricia May, and again more so than boys, they were required to report home, and only then were they allowed to see friends and hang out. While Donnan and Max were the only boys who mentioned that they were required to report home before going out, in general few boys mentioned having to abide by familial expectation/obligations during the afternoons and said they just often hung out, “kickin’ it with my homies.” When I conducted my content analysis of student surveys and calculated responses among students’ preference for after school activities, there was very little evidence of participation in extra-curricular activities involving groups, lessons, clubs or “organized” sports teams (although there was a wide interest in sporting culture and fandom).1 2 Among students who participated in focus group interviews, Monkey and Adriana Lopez mentioned that they played on soccer teams/leagues outside of Mefferin. And a few others discussed music, dance and church-going, and volunteering. Patricia May took piano lessons, Gina took voice lessons. Baby Devil danced Mexican folklorico, Pippy spent time helping out at the Promise and Creation recreation center, and Baby Giggles moaned that she had to go to church every Friday. Mefferin Students’ Consumption Interests and Consumption Practices Young adolescents living in Los Angeles readily traverse an inter-connected landscape of sounds, symbols, and images -- heavily corporate, shamelessly commercial, 102 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and oh so pleasurable! As the majority of Mefferin students appeared to not participate widely in organized activities, they were however quite avid consumers of entertainment. Mefferin students pursued consumption interests across a wide spectrum of contemporary media and popular culture products/commodities. Working-class immigrant girls like Cristal and Angela devoured magazines (after completing household chores) that corresponded to Spanish telenovelas and boys like Alex, Max and Tony, expert video gamers, collected numerous titles for their Sega and Dreamcast systems. Wealthier students like Quack-Quack, Manny, Donnan, and Patricia May for example, parceled out their free time among numerous media from Cable TV viewing, using the Internet for purchasing clothes, pop music concert tickets, to shopping at upscale malls like the Beverly Center and the Westside Pavilion. In this section I present some details of the consumption interests of the Mefferin students who helped me with this research. The primary findings for this population of young adolescents is organized according to categories of 1) Mass Media (television, movies, music/radio, and magazines), 2) High/New Technology (electronic gadgets, video games, computers/Internet), and 3) Shopping/ “Mailing” (hanging out, buying products, store and brand preferences). Consuming the Mass Media In November 1999, the Kaiser Family Foundation published its recent findings from Kids & Media @ The New Millennium, a comprehensive study conducted with over 3000 youth aged 2-18. They found that children over eight years old consumed close to seven hours each day of media which included television, computers, video games, music 103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and print media. Their study pointed out that the majority of time was still spent watching TV followed by (in descending order of preference) listening to music/radio, reading, using the computer/internet, and playing video games. While large scale studies such as these are significant in terms of presenting an overview of time and energy spent consuming, they provide little opportunity to hear the voices, the reasoning, and development of knowledge that these research subjects possess. Further, studies as these are often used as grist to back the arguments that center on child protection campaigns. They do not seek to examine why students watch what they do. Always the quest is to protect the children. Rather than ever really explaining to them what they are being protected from, these campaigns are targeted toward media content; never do they address the pervasive commercialism that encompasses both medium and message. Television In the larger Mefferin sample (those who were surveyed in January 2000), even though a substantial number of students mentioned having cable television at home, the majority noted that their favorite television shows run on standard, non-cable VHF networks. Further, their choices did not air on the “big three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC; instead, they preferred networks such as Fox, WB, and UPN. And overwhelmingly, most of their television viewing was centered on shows airing before 9:00 p.m. weekdays. Very little weekend television viewing (other than sports and cartoons) was mentioned. Students listed over forty different “favorite” television shows [see appendix J -1 for the most frequently mentioned shows] that encompassed the generic categories of Comedy, Drama, Talk/Games, Fantasy, and Ethnic Enclave. Under 104 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. these categories, comedies, with the exception of the satirical animation of The Simpsons, nearly unanimously consisted of syndicated sitcoms with black/African American casts (e.g The Fresh Prince o f Bel Air, Sister, Sister, The Wayans Brothers). Dramas unanimously were teen oriented (e.g. Popular, Dawson’ s Creek, Roswell), and sports viewing was centered primarily on wrestling (e.g. WWF SmackDown!). As television watching was listed as one of the most popular after-school activities among Mefferin students overall, strong patterns of gender variance became apparent. For instance, as boys dismissed the teen-oriented dramas as “gay” or “lovey- dovey crap,” girls, on the other hand readily watched many of the teen dramas and pointed out why they found them appealing. What was interesting was that teen dramas appealed to girls of all ethnicities and all socioeconomic status levels for the potential models and scripts they provided for social interaction. Girls such as Blue Angel and Buttercup (GP11), who were native bom, and whose parents were also native bom discussed how “they have in those shows things that we’re going through — you know they bring in issues.” “Issues” often took the form of relating to boys through romantic narratives. Wealthier 2n d generation immigrant girls Gina and Patricia May (GP7) elaborated on why they watched certain favorite shows: LC: What do you guys like to watch - what are some of your favorites? Gina: Sister Sister, Popular. Patricia May: Charmed, Popular — all those shows. LC: Oh, you mean the prime time shows that are supposed to be for teens? All: Yeah! LC: So what do you think about these shows are for your age group? Gina: Oh it’s better, because on TV, it’s mostly shows about adults like The Practice — It’s all adults, and it’s kind of boring. Patricia May: Plus, people say that because we’re 12 we can’t watch it until we’re 15, and maybe they still won’t let us watch it, but you know, we already 105 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. know stuff that’s going on. We learn it anyway - sooner or later. Sometimes they [adults] think that we don’t know nothing about stuff. (GP7) This interest in social knowledge also appeared in conversation with girls who were 1s t generation immigrants and living in poverty: LC: Ok, so on TV, what kind of television shows do you like to watch? Angela: Sister Sister Maria: The teenager shows. LC: Oh so you like the teenager shows? Tell me more about the teen shows— why do you think they’re good? Cristal: Because they’re funny and uh, sometime they show things that maybe - you have to know - or stuff like that. LC: Do you think they’re helpful? Cristal/: Yeah Maria Maria: On Popular — like uh, they show things that, maybe you have to know when you go out - LC: Oh, what do you mean, like dating? Cristal: Oh yeah LC: Does it help, do you think? All: Yes (GP5) Music and Radio Along with television, music was one of the most reliable stimulants of Mefferin students’ interest in and consumption of the mass media. Today, the music-based youth market is tremendously successful in generating huge amounts of capital from a select few musicians who are fortunate enough to attain high public profiles, and plenty of Music Television coverage and hype. Until now, kid or teen pop music was more of a novelty than the storehouse and profit generator than it is today (for example, Radio Disney, whose programming is almost wholly devoted to an age 8-14 demographic). In 2000, for instance, ‘boy’ band ‘N Sync generated over $212.9 million in combined U.S. album sales and concert tickets, followed by Lolita-esque pop sensation Britney Spears 106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. with $162.7 million, and ‘angry white boy rapper’ Eminem, who grossed over $128 million (Hilbum, 2000, p. FI). In my research Mefferin students readily listed approximately fifty different performers/groups that encompassed these genres: Hip-Hop/Rap, Pop-R&B, Ethnic Enclave, and Rock.1 3 [see J-2 for most frequently mentioned performers] Among boys in the Mefferin sample, the majority preferred Hip-Hop/Rap as their favorite, while girls preferred the sounds of Pop-R&B, although Hip-Hop/Rap was also heavily repeated. Even though Los Angeles has a vast array of radio entertainment, Mefferin youth appeared to have their dials set according to a limited selection of FM stations that solely represent their above mentioned musical tastes. Except for those who listened to ethnic enclave radio (Spanish, Korean, Persian), the majority of students tune in to commercial stations that predominantly play Hip-Hop and pop music, [see Appendix J-3] Interviews conducted in focus groups provided detailed glimpses into how music (especially rap/hip-hop genres) was integrated into the lives of students. Rap music’s association with a primarily African-American urban culture has evolved and been adapted to produce somewhat varying meanings for its listeners. The following illustrates different associations as Bee, the only white male in the sample, and Yuri, a girl of mixed, Lebanese and Honduran parentage, discuss their own viewpoints on rap music. Both Bee and Yuri are assuming a high degree of extroverted performativity (hence cool posing): LC: What kind of music do you listen to? Bee: I listen to only rap LC: Nothing else, no rock? Bee: Nope LC: How long have you listened to rap? Bee: Like 4 years Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LC: Now who are your favorite rappers? Bee: Eminem (proudly) - Did you know Eminem’s in jail right now? (GP12) LC: Oh - so then do you like rap better or? Gisel: Oh yeah, cuz it’s true -- everything that like happened to them — they’ll be singing it — like oh, my homeboy got shot - and that was true - everything happened, it’s real not like some others who just [laughing] - like those boys [boy bands] LC: Now what about those boys - N’Sync or Backstreet boys? Yuri: I hate ‘em! They are so like — Backstreet Boys — they look gay!! Gisel: Yeah — they do — I’m like what’s that about? LC: [to Yuri] Now how do you know that what those rappers are saying is true? Yuri: Oh I know it because one of them is my brother’s friend — he’s in the same gang; he’s a rapper. That’s why — and he gave me a CD before it’s out -- and I have it at home and my brother told me that I have the only one. LC: Really. So you think they speak a lot of truth then? Yuri: Yeah, they are true not like Backstreet Boys or anything like that. (GP8) Students in focus groups also discussed aspects of their interest and association with ethnic enclave music. This was particularly apparent with students who live in immigrant households, where children are either first or second generation immigrants. The majority of ethnic enclave listeners were both Latino boys and girls. For instance, Maria, Cristal and Angela (GP5) were interested in ‘Mana,’ a Spanish-language rock band (Roq en Espanol), whereas Jenny and Ramiro (GP13) were interested in the banda style. Further, Latina girls, like Gisel Gutierez and Michelle Gomez were also part of a localized Los Angeles following of Spanish singers/performers, Juan and Lupillo Rivera,1 4 whom they were particularly enamored with. Part cowboy (ranchero) in style but singing newer versions of “narco-corridos” (drug ballads), these performers are predominantly attracting young Latina teenage girls: Michelle: I like singers — especially Spanish ones LC: So those are hot singers right now? All: Yeah! LC: Oh have you gone to see their shows? 108 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Gisel: Oh yeah!...They were in McArthur Park [near the Westlake and Koreatown district in Los Angeles], and then they went to this club that when I went, they were singing - Oh they’re so cute and it was like they were singing something special for me. (GP8) Due to the large number of Latinos/Hispanics living in Los Angeles and Southern California, there is a highly established Spanish Ethnic enclave media culture that has 1) a long tradition of styles from Mariachis, Ranchero and Banda to Roq en Espanol; and 2) teen appeal — these music media may understood as cool, and cutting edge. Other Ethnic enclave media (for smaller populations of ethnic groups — e.g. Persians and Koreans) do not carry the same cachet, as they are not as mainstream, not as slickly produced. In one instance when I asked Amenda, who is Persian, if she listened to Persian music, she replied: “I don’t listen to Persian music that much --1 mean when I’m with my dad and my sister, they do listen to it a lot. But I gotta listen to English.” Magazines and Movies For Mefferin youth, reading was relegated almost entirely to mass-produced popular magazines. Out of 132 students, only one mentioned an interest in reading Young Adult oriented book literature (e.g Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’ s Stone). For the majority of survey respondents, preferences centered on categories such as: Fashion/Beauty, Entertainment (celebrities & gossip), Hip-Hop music culture, Sports, and Video-gaming. Magazine preferences also marked a significant gender divide, [see Appendix J-4 for most frequently mentioned titles] Among the students, only girls mentioned a preference for Fashion/Beauty, and only boys mentioned preferences for sports and video-gaming. However, both girls and boys mentioned strong interest in reading magazines about Hip-Hop culture (e.g. “Vibe,” “The Source”). 109 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Mefferin students listed over sixty different movie favorites, and these were coded into categories encompassing Comedy, Horror/Thriller, Action/Adventure, Fantasy, and Romantic Drama, [see Appendix J-5 for most frequently mentioned titles] Only one student listed a movie (The Sting) that was over five years old or could be considered a “classic.” Further, most students chose one or more R-rated movies (even though they are well under 17 years old) as part of their favorites. For the most part, students are easily able to rent R rated movies (either alone or with older siblings), but mostly watch them on cable channels via Home Box Office, ShowTime, Encore, Cinemax, and Pay- Per-View options. Among Mefferin students, movies appeared to be the medium for which consumption was the least gender-differentiated on the whole (except for the specific appeal of the movie Titanic among girls.) As opposed to the extremely wide distribution for more mainstream television, music/radio, and magazines, there are fewer outlets by which ethnic enclave film media can appeal to teens and adolescents. Ethnic films are generally produced and marketed as ‘foreign films’ — more elite, high-brow culture products that tend to target adult audiences. Ironically, the Hollywood film Titanic held a nearly universal appeal for first-generation immigrant girls (eleven Latina girls, one Middle Eastern girl, one Asian girl, and one girl of Mixed Race/ Ethnicity). Among boys of all ethnic groups, none mentioned Titanic as a favorite film or in any other capacity. Among the students, this was the most extreme example in the gender divide over entertainment/ media-related consumption interests. The romantic narrative that underlies Titanic’ s storyline attracts girl audiences far more than it does boy audiences. 110 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Consuming the New Technology While the previous section presented data from mass media genres (those which are generally understood to be non-interactive, involving more or less passive participation on the part of the adolescent consumer), this section shows students’ consumption interests in the realm of “interactive” media and high technology entertainment (e.g. video gaming, computer use/Internet.) At 12 and 13 years old, a significant number of Mefferin students were already technologically savvy and heavily involved in the world of gaming, cyberspace, and cellular communication. In January 2000,132 students were asked to indicate what electronic items they had and used at home, and they mentioned the following items: TV, radio, VCR, CD Player, cable TV system, Satellite Dish, DVD player, Computer, Modem, CD ROM player, video game console system; 78 students (nearly 60%) said they had at least seven of these items, and only nine students (7%) said they had under five. Even though Mefferin codes did not allow electronic paging devices to be used on campus, 48 (36%) of the 7th and 8th graders said they carried and used a pager. Video Gaming Students affirmed their interests in video gaming.1 5 A large proportion (83%) indicated that they liked and played video games regularly, while only 20 students (15%) expressly stated they did not like playing video games. From my content analysis of game titles, students listed over sixty titles in Playstation, Sega, and Nintendo formats. Game genres such as Fantasy/Action, Contest/Combat, Car Racing, and Sports were among the best represented categories, [see Appendix J-6 for most frequently 111 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. mentioned games] Video-Gaming was a noted top favorite entertainment activity among boys whose interests centered on Sports (wrestling, basketball, skateboarding, football). For girls like Amenda and Quack-Quack, they stated that they might sit down and play for a few minutes at a time as a brief escape to relieve stress. Boys, however were highly invested in all aspects of gaming culture, reading magazines such as “GamePro” and “Tips and Tricks” and keeping abreast of new titles and updates. Boys were frequently absorbed in the operation of their high tech products. One of the best examples is a focus group discussion among some of the boys regarding their interest and involvement in the future possibilities of these products. Here they demonstrate their knowledge of how new/high technology media (video games, cyberspace) are becoming integrated into new formats: Max: I’m saving and saving to buy a new system and it’s gonna be from Microsoft... X-box - it’s going to be 300 bits Alex Menes: It’s going to be like a new system - where you can play movies on it - Max: But X box is three times powerful than Playstation II. And you can play with Internet - more Internet with that. Alex: but the thing that I have, the Dreamcast, you can go on Internet with it. Max: I did not know that you can do that with Dreamcast Alex: Yeah, it’s a different thing connected to it. Max: You have to connect it to the computer, huh? LC: Oh so it goes through the modem and you can play against other people - Max: like around the world Alex: yes, and DVD - you know you can play movies right there too and listen to music. (GP2) Their enthusiasm can also be gauged by the fact that the discussion took place in May of 2000, while the Xbox system was not released until November 2001. It became clear that these boys demonstrated a highly developed knowledge base and possessed extensive literacy skills when it came to new technology and electronics. This should definitely indicate an area of interest to educators who are not familiar with youth vocabularies. 112 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Computers and Cyberspace When I first obtained a personal computer, it seemed like a glorified typewriter. And indeed I purchased one simply to replace my typewriter. Thus, my initial entree into the world of personal computing came with my motivation to more efficiently prepare (word process) college term papers. This is hardly the case for today’s children and teens, whose involvement with the world of high technology and computers is most likely through entertainment -- Internet web sites, chatrooms, and “instant messaging.” The following excerpt from one focus group discussion illustrates just how far that ‘glorified typewriter’ has come during the past twelve years: LC: So as far as the computer, what do you mostly use it for? Rage: Internet and like games, Head: Chatrooms and where you can watch videos. Rage/Head: Wrestling Lowell: Sometimes I go to MTV.com Rage: Oh, me too. (GP15) When 132 Mefferin students were asked if they had a PC at home and used it regularly, 100 students (76%) said they did, and when they were asked if they logged on to the Internet/World Wide Web, 70 students (53%) responded positively. While these are significant numbers among such a diverse population across ethnicity and class as the Mefferin students in this research exhibit, nearly a quarter of this population noted that they did not have home computers, and almost half of this population did not use or have access to Internet and World Wide Web resources. Students who did spend time going on-line listed over 58 different Internet web sites and chatrooms that they liked to frequent on a regular basis. The majority categories listed were Music (MTV.com), Sports (wrestling: WWF.com, basketball: NBA.com), Video Gaming (Gamepro.com), 113 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Clothing/Fashion (Nike.com), and Ethnic Subcultures (Seoul chatroom, Persian chatroom, blackvoices.com, lowriders.com). Girls on the whole were more apt to list ‘chatrooms,’ whereas boys listed specific ones related to sports culture. No girls expressed an interest in frequenting sports-related sites or chatrooms. However, the largest gender crossover sites were Internet platforms for commercialized music and fashion culture (MTV.com and Nike.com). During focus group interviews, students discussed a variety of dimensions, impressions, and uses pertaining to computerized worlds. All students I interviewed were familiar with computers and the Internet, as those who did not have a PC in the home had access through school computer labs/classes. Among students who did not have computers at home, the majority were 1st generation Latina girls. The following transcript excerpts show conversations with girls (both Latina and Black/African American) who must make do without much access to computers and the Internet: LC: Now, what about computers, do you use a computer? Adriana: Yeah, at school - but I don’t have one. Candy: I don’t have one. Baby Devil: I know how to use it but I don’t have one.. .1 have a typewriter, but I can’t do nothing with a typewriter! LC: Now do you think you will get a computer soon? Baby Devil/: Yeah (GP14) Adriana LC: All: LC: All: LC: All: LC: Angela/: Maria LC: Now do you spend more time watching television - no, first, do you have a computer? No, No, No None of you guys use or have a computer at home? So have you ever used a computer or Internet? Yes.. Do you like it? [girls shrug and shake heads not really having much of an opinion] Do you want to get a computer? Yeah Do you tell your parents that you need to get one? 114 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. All: Yeah Maria: They - uh, my mom said that maybe she’s gonna buy me but like - ‘cuz maybe we’re gonna like go to Mexico. (GP5) First-generation immigrant girls didn’t have access to a home computer, and they also didn’t have many other electronic extras like cable TV, etc. This was different from native bom girls like Blue Angel who had satellite TV, but no home computer. LC: Now, what about - do you use a computer at home at all? Blue Angel: No - we don’t have a computer at my house - like, if I go to my cousin’s house, my cousin has a computer, you know, and if I have some stuff I want to type up, I go to my cousin’s house. See, I bring my own m materials, my own disks, CD ROM, my own little AOL Internet thing. LC: So no computer at home - but have you used Internet before though? Johana: Yeah -- here. LC: Here in the school? But can you go in the chatrooms here at school? Blue Angel: No, some people basically ruined it for everyone- ‘cuz we were able to go onto like Nike.com. We used to be able to do stuff like that but not anymore because they were goin’ in and chattin’ and then put a bill on somebody. (GP11) Students who did not have computers at home or Internet access such as Johana, Baby Devil and Maria also mentioned that if they did, they would use it for homework. However, among seasoned computer users and expert net surfers, there was no mention about using the computer for study/homework. Instead, it was all about chatrooms. Boys easily discussed their interests in chatting with girls and going to sports and music sites: LC: You guys all use Internet? All: Yes LC: Oh, all of you guys. Do you have computers at home? All: Yes LC: So what do you guys do on the Internet? Monkey: I go to chat rooms. Anfome: Chat rooms. T: And sports. (GP6) LC: Now, would you say you spend more time watching television or surfing the Internet or going shopping? El Meno Jr.: I go to the chat rooms. I talk to girls. LC: Oh, so that’s a good place to meet girls? Roger: Sometimes I go into chatrooms and sites for sports. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Donnan: I like to go to rap sites, and like echo.com and stuff. I look at sports, too. El Meno: Especially for music clipboard. LC: So sports, music, El Meno: And porno, [laughing] (GP4) In one instance, Bee enlightened me regarding the benefits of using mixed media in pursuing his interests as a wrestling aficionado. Here he explains why Internet chatrooms and other electronic platforms have been particularly helpful for him in understanding details about his sports interest: LC: Do you all go to the chatrooms? Bee: I talk about wrestling in chatrooms... I get like wrestling stuff off the Internet — you can find out stuff that you can’t really know on TV... it’s like you could find out what’s happening in wrestling for years and years -- like this one guy in the WWF is getting deported for being an immigrant. See nobody knows. (GP12) Girls on the other hand, were more specific about whom they chatted with and what rooms they went to, and mentioned nothing about sport culture: LC: Now, let’s see, do you use Internet at all? Patricia May/: Yes Gina LC: What do you do? Do you have it at home? Patricia May: Uh-huh. I go on and just chat. LC: So you do the chat rooms? Patricia May: Yes LC: So when you do the chats, is it designed for your age group? Patricia May: Yes, for our age group. LC: And whom do you chat with? Patricia May: Friends Gina: Friends Patricia May: I go to the Persian Chat — and it’s only for teens, kids and teens. LC: Now do you type in Farsi? Patricia May: No, I mean you can type normal -- in English. It’s just called Persian group chat. (GP7) Buttercup: LC: Buttercup: LC: Buttercup/: Blue Angel When I go over to my Grandmother’s house, I go to the chatrooms sometimes but not all the time. Like which are good ones? The one I went to was African American Teens So they’re teen related basically? Yeah 116 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LC: So do you talk with guys or girls, or... ? Blue Angel: You, you basically have a choice - you can talk to guys or you can talk to Girls. Buttercup: I talk to both. (GP11) Unlike boys, girls not only were concerned about parental controls on their use of the medium, but themselves were concerned about their safety and privacy: Gina: Patricia May: LC: Patricia May: Gina: LC: Gina: My mom says be careful not to like get sucked into it. But the AOL, when you sign up, it like prevents you from not doing that stuff- it won’t allow you to do that stuff. Why? Because you have to tell them your age? Yeah.. .the only guy friends I talk to are people that I know. But other people — they just like ‘IM’ you -- they ‘Instant Message’ you - and I’ll be like, how’d you get my screen name? Yeah sometimes they don’t let you -- if they ask you ASL, which means Age, Sex and Location. They say it’s kind of seen as harm. It was an operator that said that. Oh, really? Uh-huh - the operators watch for that. (GP7) LC: So in those chatrooms, there hasn’t been any strange things happening — like how you hear about people stalking other people? Blue Angel: That’s more adult. I’m not able to chat with people over 18. But it’s scary - you know, like it’s like it seems like some girls are selling themselves to guys over the Internet, and then they don’t own up. It’s a good thing that they have the police on their side to get rid of ‘em. I think it’s good if they can get rid of them, so in chatrooms, you don’t have to wony. LC: Right - so do you ever worry about that? All: Yeah (GP11) While no boys indicated any Internet-related fears about harassment, abduction, etc., girls had a different view. Perhaps this is just another indicator that girls are socialized in to fearing strange boys/men (more so than boys vis-a-vis strange girls/women). Scholars who have begun to investigate Internet safety (e.g. Males, 1999) have noted that “the actual extent of abduction and molestation of young Intemetters appears minuscule. In 1995, the National Center for Missing and Exploited children reported 10-12 cases per 117 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. year. .. .Statistically, youths are far safer in front of an unregulated screen than with their parents, priest or scout leader” (p. 278). In May/June 2000, some students (Alex Eres, El Chalinio from GP10) who had a lot of knowledge about computers and emerging new technology and integrated media platforms were already using new products such as digital camera devices. Others like Amenda and Jenny (GP13) compared how many MP3 (Internet based music files) they had downloaded from the Web and amassed on CD re-writing drives. Still, for others, shopping was another function the computer performed in some students’ lives. For example, Yoshi stated, “I go on line to buy stuff, but when I get bored I just play the games.” Quack-Quack and Damb (among the more wealthier, more privileged students I interviewed) noted that they had freedom to shop or buy things if they wanted to. Students like Gabriela and Emily felt a little left out because they did not have computers at home, and school computers would not allow students to shop for and purchase goods. LC: What do you do on the Internet usually? Do you go to any chat rooms? Quack-Quack: I go to like chatrooms, download CD’s, get like concert tickets. LC: Oh, you buy stuff? Q-Q: Ye-ah. (GP1) LC: Now do you use the chat rooms, or what do you use it for? Damb: Looking for web sites... like for shopping and... LC: Oh you shop on the Internet? Damb: No, I just look at it. LC: Oh. So it’s like one big catalogue? Damb: Uh-huh (GP3) Without having to rely on magazines, students are able to log onto Nike.com or TheGap.com to check out what’s new and currently featured in the stores. For most middle school students, on-line shopping does not take the place of actually going out, hanging out, and shopping at the mall or favorite store. Limited access to credit cards 118 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. (required for on-line purchases) is one factor, but the main reason that students continue to shop “in real time” is for the camaraderie of the peer group and other ‘sensual’ stimulation (eating, girl- and boy-watching, etc.) experienced in public spaces such as shopping malls. The following chapter section will examine further the interests and attitudes pertaining to shopping and visiting the mall. Consuming or Shonning with the New Generation of “Mall Rats” In this final section detailing the consumption practices of young adolescents at Mefferin Middle School, we can see how the shopping mall represents more than just an outlet for consumption. Rather, shopping malls become main outlets for after-school peer activity, as they are one of the few commercial arenas that offer the physical appeal of public space. For contemporary youth, the operative question is, why hang out at a park or some boring old “rec” center when I can hang out at the mall? For youth, a mall can combine a sense of expansiveness, interaction with peers and the pleasures of ‘spectacular’ commerce. As Danesi (1994) stated, the mall is definitely not just for shopping: “The mall satisfies several symbolic needs at once: it provides a space for human socialization and thus alleviates loneliness and boredom; it provides a theatrical atmosphere proclaiming the virtues of a consumerist utopia; it imparts a feeling of security and protection; the mall is placeless and timeless” (p. 93). According to the population of Mefferin students who filled out surveys and the sample who participated in focus groups, hanging out at the mall was the most universal category of consumer participation across all gender, class, and racial/ethnic groups. Thus, when the 132 students were asked “do you like going to shopping malls?”— 118 119 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. (89%) answered Yes, while only 11 (8%) answered No, and 3 (2%) neglected to answer the question. Among the 50 students who participated in focus group interviews, the subject of shopping was often discussed with considerable interest and fervor, especially among girls: LC: Which is the most interesting - television, Internet, or shopping? All: Shopping! [loudly] LC: Now do you like going to the mall?: All: YES! (GP3) I was surprised at some of the boys’ interest as demonstrated in the interviews: LC: Ok, so anyway, do you like to go shopping yourselves? Matthew: I do LC: Really. Where do you like to shop? Bee: I like the mall (GP12) LC: Ok, So when you’re at the mall, do you like to shop for clothes? T: Oh Y-eah! LC: So you guys like shopping too (to B2/B3)? Monkey: Yeah, I like it too, and we also go to those outlets. T: Oh yeah, the outlets, like in Barstow. (GP6) During the focus groups, there were very few ‘mall dissenters,’ however Rage and Head (GP15) exhibited some obvious dislike: LC: So do you like to shop? Head: Not really. LC: You don’t like to shop, either? Rage: No, sometimes when I’m with my mom, they take like too long. LC: But you guys don’t like to go to the mall and hang out? Rage: No, there’s better things to do than go to the mall. LC: Like what? Rage: Video games. (GP15) While it has been established that Mefferin students enjoy going to and hanging out at the mall, I was surprised to see that a number of boys specifically mentioned shopping when they filled out the survey, [see Appendix J-7] 120 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. In focus group discussions, boys affirmed they hung out at shopping malls, but they rarely mentioned “shopping” (freely mentioned by girls) as a reason for frequenting them. For example, T, Monkey, and Anfome all felt the mall site was definitely important, but their discussion of its importance differed from discussions within girls’ focus groups: LC: But what about after-school, what are some of the things that you like to do? Anfome: Go to the mall, party T: Yeah, the mall LC: So you all go to the mall? All: Yeah (GP6) And in another interview, El Meno Jr. mentions the mall in a similar fashion: LC: Describe to me like what happens when you get out of school? El Meno Jr.: I usually just go mess around. LC: You go hang out somewhere? El Meno Jr.: Yeah, to the mall. (GP4) Girls in focus groups elaborated on fashion purchases and especially on the time spent shopping for clothing at the mall. Further, it became clear that the girls in focus groups spent a lot of weekend time at the mall — a shared activity in which they could spend time with girlfriends and mothers. Amenda: I go every Friday and Saturday -- cuz every Saturday, I’m going out with my friends and we go shopping. (GP13) Baby Devil: I go with my sisters and with my mom — we go all the time.(GP14) Blue Angel: I think I go shopping with my friends at least once or twice a month. Buttercup: I go once or twice a week - 1 go constantly. On the weekends. (GP11) While girls specifically mentioned shopping as a shared activity with parents (i.e. mothers), this aspect was never mentioned by boys. Boys would never admit to shopping or spending time in this capacity with a parental figure, especially one’s mother. 121 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The importance of shopping in specific stores to look at and purchase goods was soon apparent, as students displayed a well-developed knowledge of stores they frequented and the items they sought out for purchase, [see Appendix J -8 for most frequently mentioned stores] Most students mentioned shopping at major department stores (e.g. Macy’s, Mervyn’s, Sears, JCPenney) where top name-brand shoes and apparel could be purchased. Similarly, brand name apparel shopping was also highlighted at stores such as Gap, and Footlocker. Mefferin students’ store preferences are represented in nearly every L. A. area shopping mall. In focus group discussions, students mentioned fifteen different L.A. area shopping malls, most of which were located in close proximity to their homes. During the discussions, students would take turns rattling off names of shopping malls and specific stores, often completing each other’s lists of venues. However, I was struck by what occurred in one group of girls (GP1: Quack-Quack, Vanessa Gomez, and Mary Garcia) in regards to Mary’s interest in shopping at the Crenshaw Mall: LC: Which mall do you like to go to? Vanessa: Pasadena Mary Garcia: Fox Hills Vanessa: Santa Monica Mary: Crenshaw Mall Vanessa: Oh she’s goin’ to the ghetto! [laughing] LC: Oh...? Vanessa: It’s the ghetto!! LC: Yeah, but they have the same stores... Quack-Quack: No they don’t ,they don’t have Hot Topic... [a store geared toward “alternative” rock music trends, fashions, accessories] Vanessa: They don’t have rock — not going to find Hot Topic in the ghetto... Most ghetto people don’t like rock, they like rap. LC: Oh, how do you know that? Mary: ‘Cuz, there’s only like black people.. .I’m like ok, right on. LC: And you said you like going to that mall. Why do you like that mall? Mary: I don’t know, maybe cuz when I was little, I got raised like, in the neighborhood there was only black people, and I got used to it. I like being around black people... That’s my forte.(GP 1) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This was one of the rare occasions in which students consciously invoked a concept of race relations and consumption. What was interesting was that the Crenshaw Mall was subsequently brought up without any reaction, nor mention of “ghetto” reputation among Alex, Max and Tony (GP2), nor with any dispute among Gina, Vanessa and Patricia May (GP7). These interchanges prompted me to note the many variables which are intertwined within the framework of American consumption and the practices/opinions held by contemporary youth populations. How youth make sense of greater social issues through their own interpretive schemas became immediately visible at the onset of the focus group interviews. Conclusion In this chapter I have introduced and presented a selection of findings/observations and key descriptive statistics in order to provide a comprehensive outline of after-school interests and activities among Mefferin Middle School students. It should be apparent by now that young adolescents (including those as diverse as Mefferin students) are a driving force which supports the American mainstream, hegemonic culture industries. Students in this research population demonstrated that many of their entertainment and consumer choices are conditioned by, formed with, and integral to American corporate capitalism. Through the participation of Mefferin students, the world of advertising (from commercial breaks on television and radio to product placement in movies, to glossy spreads in magazines) is integrated into the popular culture landscape, constantly fiimishing new means of commodity spectatorship and consumption. On one hand there is a text/image audience, and on the other there is a commercial audience. 123 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Further, a market-driven economy fosters a body of key industry players (e.g. AOL/Time Warner, Sony, Microsoft, Nike, etc.), style-culture ‘monopolies’ that have interconnected, integrated, multi-media platforms that beckon adolescents to become involved in a variety of ways (through television, music, Internet, shopping). These all have an underlying commercial structure that pushes adolescents toward adopting arbitrary, socially-sanctioned brand preferences and alliances. This raises questions about how these commercial enterprises are integrated into the lives of youth populations across the United States. The “brand-name” society (especially in a “looks-driven,” “discover- me-now” city like Los Angeles) underlies a contemporary American Dream ethos which promises celebrity prestige, monetary flash, and upscale “cool.” Thus, in the next chapters, I explore the salient issues for young adolescents in relation to consumption — issues which encompass popularity and the meanings of cool, and the significance of the brand name which embodies the corporate stranglehold that crosses all demographic divisions including class, race, and gender. 'These events have been key markers of L.A.’s controversial history that is so often compounded with race and politics. Rodney King: In 1991, a video-taped beating of a black man by white police and their subsequent acquittals of wrong-doing contributed to a series of urban uprisings in 1992. Cornel West (1993) notes, “What happened in Los Angeles in April of 1992 was neither a race riot nor a class rebellion. Rather this monumental upheaval was a multiracial, trans-class, and largely male display of justified social rage” (p.3) O.J. Simpson: The former football superstar accused of double murders in 1994 was acquitted in 1996 of criminal charges yet held liable in civil charges. Following on the heels of the Rodney King- related uprisings, this trial enveloped much of television, news coverage and sparked further controversy about race relations in Los Angeles. “Rage Against the Machine” was a former Los Angeles band with a political edge, that played a free concert across the street from the 2000 Democratic National Convention. Amidst heavy police protection, barricades, etc., protests occurred which were supposedly inspired by this band . The band was formed in 1991 as a mix of heavy metal guitar and hip-hop with confrontational, political rap styled lyrics. The DNC concert was one of their last, as the band broke up soon after. Before the concert began, it was not uncommon to see many young fans, mostly people of Latino descent (middle school and high school age) wearing images of Che Guevarra emblazoned on t-shirts. 2 For important discussions of the varying experiences of people from different national origins, see, for example, Hondagneu-Sotelo (1994) for an examination of the Mexican migrant experience; For Los Y2A Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Angeles migration experiences, see Lopez, Popkin, and Telles (in Waldinger and Bozorgmehr, 1996) for a comparison of Central American ethnic groups. See also, Thome et al (1999) who studied central American and Mexican immigrants in the Pico Union area of Los Angeles; see Cheng and Yang (in Waldinger & Bozorgmehr) for a comparison of Asian groups, and see Bozorgmehr, Dermartirosian, & Sabagh (ibid.) for a discussion of Middle Easterners in Los Angeles. See also Portes & Rumbaut (1996) for a key discussion on acculturation, assimilation, and immigrant adaptations. 3 Richard Neutra was one of the original Modernist architects of the Los Angeles and Southern California region (designing in the 1920s through the 1960s.) Neutra’s designs included private homes, university and municipal buildings such as Mefferin school. See Wedlan (9/27/01, Los Angeles Times, E2. 4 During the 1999-2000 school year, API for the overall Mefferin school population was 530 [from a possible 200-1000 score] and corresponded to a rating of 3 out of 10. According to the Stanford 9 Achievement Test, 65% of students tested below grade level in reading, and 68% were below grade level in math. With the high rates of failing test scores in LAUSD schools, and greater numbers of students requiring special needs and accommodations, many have voiced concerns about proposed LAUSD mandates targeting the area of grade advancement by social promotion. In December 1999, the Los Angeles Times reported that ‘if the LAUSD were to completely stop promoting students who are not ready to move up a grade, roughly 50% or about 350,000 students would be held back, top district administrators said.... ‘more than two thirds of 8th graders would be flunked if social promotions were frilly ended, (p. 4). The Times report states that “what worries students most is the unforgiving ridicule that would inevitably follow retained students” (p. 5). Among adults, the assumption is that grade retention inevitably translates to lack of popularity, and a stigmatized existence in the eyes of other students. While there does seem to be some truth to this assumption, my research indicates there are also far more complex ways in which students determine popularity and success amongst themselves. Approximately 33% of Mefferin’s students are considered “English Language Learners” and are being filtered through the program levels of English as a Second Language. In the past few years, there has been a steady increase in Limited English Proficient (LEP) students at Mefferin: during the 1995-96 school year, there were 235 LEP students, in 1996-97, there were 302 LEP students, and in 1997-98, there were 394. In 1999-2000, there were 434 students. This increase indicates that Mefferin school continues to be a destination for immigrant student families with more students pouring in who still have little proficiency in English language skills. 6See Wilsdn, 1978, 1987; MacLeod, 1987/1995; Kaplan, 1997 and see chapter 7. In Los Angeles especially, as more non-English speaking immigrants moved into the cities, many native bom people moved out, including black and white middle classes. 7 Today LA Unified has the second largest school busing operation in the country after New York (p.7).The Los Angeles Times reported that in the 2000 academic year, overcrowding was a large (if not the largest) factor in the decision to bus students to different schools outside of their own neighborhoods. With a record enrollment of 723,230 pupils-which is already an increase of 12,000 pupils from the 1999 academic year - the district buses over 15,000 students daily to ease the burden of overcrowding (p.6). 8See Kozol (1991) and MacLeod (1995) for discussions on how this aspect o f public schooling has been pervasive especially among low-income populations. 9 Baggy clothing is associated with gang affiliations (deviance, crime, etc), and therefore Mefferin keeps a close watch on male students’ trousers. Because Los Angeles has very active, very real gangsters, public schools like Mefferin make this a priority with the uniform codes. 125 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1 0 This was a political phrase, designed to signify La Raza (power of the race) which was used by Michelle and Gisel only. While they portrayed themselves as tough-acting (chola) girls who had an “in” with gangsters and cowboys, I questioned their true allegiance with “Brown Power” and saw it as more stylistic than revolutionary. However, they were the only students of color to address racial or ethnic pride in this capacity. 1 1 Most Mefferin students carried around book bags or back packs, where in addition to requisite school materials, were often stuffed with “legal contraband” such as clothing items, electronic devices like pages, cell phones and CD players, and magazines. Students would cleverly conceal these items and at the same time, carefully show them off. A form of humiliation occurred when a teacher or school official saw these items and then confiscated them. If and when students were subjected to random searches by school officials who are looking for drugs and weapons, students are not punished for carrying these items. They are only penalized when they are brought out and used at the wrong time (i.e. in class, at nutrition and lunch.) 1 2 Nothing was cooler than the Los Angeles Lakers, who were crowned NBA champions in 2000,2001, and 2002. This was a big factor in girls’ interest in sports culture - the public fervor of everyday citizens hanging gold and purple flags from their cars. The culture of sports participation and fandom has often been stratified by gender, by class and race/ethnicity. While that participation is frequently important at times in the lives of young adolescents who go to Mefferin school, there is also variation and subtlety in the practices they engage in. Clearly, the culture of sports and sports fandom is pervasive across American culture. Like entertainment and mass media in general, it is both readily consumed passively and interactively through team and spontaneous play. Among the Mefferin 7® and 8® graders whom I engaged with regarding this research project, there was an interesting array of responses to the question, “Do you spend more time outside (playing sports, etc. or inside (watching TV, etc.)?” While this question was previously analyzed according to overall inside/outside preferences, I decided to examine it further. After further reflection, I noted that from the original population of students who answered this question, of the 75 girls, 40 girls specifically mentioned preferring to stay inside and watch television, while only nine specifically mentioned preferring to be outside playing sports. Out of the 57 boys surveyed, 23 boys specifically mentioned a preference for playing outdoors sports, while 15 boys preferred to stay inside and watch television. Further, among all 7® and 8® grade girls and boys, across all races and ethnic groups, Latino, Black, Middle Eastern and mixed race/ethnicity students tended to mention playing and participating in sports as a favorite activity; whereas, among Asians and Whites/Caucasian students (both girls and boys), this was not the case. 1 3 While this category (HipHop/Rap) was the favorite, other genres were also listed. These included R/B (more pop oriented), frequently listened to on KIIS FM. The station’s preferred playlist does not include much of Motown R &B. Among Mefferin youth (pop)R&B was centered on Destiny’s Child, Mariah Carey, Brian McKnight. Also, the classification of Rock music among these adolescents implies a specific type of rock music - more ‘alternative’ than mainstream/classic - smaller bands with punk foundations, and often incorporate hip-hop sensibilities into their repertoire: Limp Bizkit, Korn, Blink 182. Rock remains more affiliated with white musicians from America and England. Ethnic music genres (Spanish — roq en Espanol, Nortenas, corridos -- also Persian, Korean) and performers who were also mentioned were contemporary. 1 4 The Rivera brothers are best-known for singing narcocorridos. The genre began as a result of the drug- trade economy that developed in the Mexican state of Sinaloa in the 1970s. Beginning in the 1980s, the Mexican army tracked down growers and smugglers with equal vigor. Since many local residents had already been growing crops for the narcotraficantes, the residents and smugglers united in a socioeconomic symbiosis in which the narcos gave ailing ranchos financial aid while local citizens continued to grow drug crops for them (Arellano 2001). In the late 1980s, Chalino Sanchez, a Sinaloa immigrant to Southern California, crafted some of the first narcocorridos. The corrido itself is a form of historical ballad, but, according to Arellano, Sanchez “turned the corrido into something like journalism, singing about 126 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. contemporary but otherwise anonymous people whose only claim to fame was their (usually violent) life story.” In those stories, the invisible lives of immigrants were transformed into “heroic songs of violence, hard work, and tragedy.” In 1992, was assassinated in Sinaloa, creating something of a legend for himself and his genre. In the late 1980s, the narcocorrido was circulated in Southern California through an underground market “catering mostly to blue-collar immigrants via word of mouth, disseminated on cheap cassettes and promoted in live performances in barrio bars from Huntington Park to Lynwood” (Gurza 2001, 3). Lupillo Rivera was part of this world as a child. According to Gurza, “On weekends, he was up at 5 am to help his parents set up their spot at the swap meet, where they peddled cookies, cassettes and medicines from Mexico” (p. 68). According to Mena (2001), today corridos are a multimillion-dollar Southern California-based industry, and Sony has signed the Rivera brothers and others onto their label; further, it has established a number of divisions nationwide dedicated to regional Mexican music markets (B8). Lupillo Rivera himself has become something of a celebrity in Southern California. And Gisel and Michelle were not alone in their adulation of the raspy-voiced singer. A visit to the Yahoo.com fan message boards yielded a cascade of messages from adoring female devotees. 1 5 In 1999, the video game industry had a $6.9 billion revenue and was growing faster than any other sector of the entertainment industry (Fraser, 2000, p. 16). 127 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER 3 Seen in the Eyes of One’s Peers: The Power of Popularity, The Glory of the Brand Name In the previous chapter, I presented an ethnographic overview of how consumption was integrated into the lives of Mefferin Middle School students during the 1999-2000 school year. I also showed the very comprehensive path consumer cultures take: multi-mediated texts and venues from the television set to cyberspace to the shopping mall. In this chapter, I address some of the more emotional issues attached to consumption that come into play in a population that worships brand-name clothing and athletic shoes. I argue that the lure and spectacle of consumption serves to mask and obscure the realities of how young adolescents in the Mefferin population experience social inequality and discrimination. The importance of group identity politics (from grade hierarchies to an ephemeral style-culture and definitions of “cool”) along with the underlying desire for popularity and acceptance is discussed especially with regard to the difficulties experienced by 1st and 2n d generation immigrants. I show how corporate commercialism has become heavily entwined with the acculturation and assimilation processes in which many Mefferin youth participate. For many immigrant youth, learning to fit in with American cultural standards is as simple as donning the right brand of footwear, listening to POWR 106, knowing how to lace your shoes right, be a Lakers fan, and have some knowledge of the celebrities in the WWF; for others, there is often confusion, and sometimes isolation. 128 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Group Identity and Popularity Among Mefferin Middle School Students Mefferin students created their own specific definitions of what and who was considered popular and cool — and what and who was considered ordinary, unfashionable and fake. As students attempted to create positive identity associations through their group demarcations, they also created negative associations, and labels (i.e. stigmas). As I studied this population, I began to notice that sociological variables such as class, gender, and race/ethnicity were clearly interwoven into this framework — sometimes quite subtly, at other times quite blatantly. When children move into early adolescence, the desire for popularity often leads them in search of a self-identity comfortably located between the demands of their peer groups and the demands of consumer culture. By the time most young adolescents enter middle/junior high school, they will have completed about half of their compulsory education, and have spent close to six years interacting among peer cultures1 both inside and outside of the school environment. In the young adolescent population at Mefferin school, students created peer groups around key distinguishing characteristics such as 1) grade hierarchy, 2) English-language proficiency (centered on immigrant status, not academic achievement), and 3) knowledge of, and participation in trend/style-oriented subcultures and cliques (centered on music, sports, new technology, and fashion). To reinforce a prior point brought up in Chapter 2, the majority of students I interviewed led double social lives: one centered on school culture, another on after- school culture. ‘Dualing’ social worlds often forced Mefferin students to separate their peer groups between those defined at school, and those outside of school.2 While in- 129 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. school groups and cliques tended to focus on students that were clustered together by age, and grade standings, those groups were often ethnically integrated (except for those students who were new immigrants with limited English speaking skills.) Outside of school, peer groups were often broadened to include family members — siblings, cousins, etc. as well as neighborhood friends who attend different schools. These social worlds, (because of neighborhood ghettoization) appeared to be ethnically homogeneous, rarely integrated in most cases. Grade Hierarchies and Group Representation at Mefferin School The structure of Mefferin, as with every middle or junior high school, supports a class-based system and meritocracy of sorts (albeit one with automatic social mobility th tfi privileges) as students progress from the entiy-level of the 6 grade toward 8 grade graduation. Since the majority of students who participated in this research were in the 7th grade, they often reflected on how they felt caught between the status polarities of lowly 6th grade ‘scrubdom’ and 8th grade ‘royalty:’ Gina: Well, they’re scrubs, and we’re scrubs and the 8th graders, they’re not scrubs. LC: Oh, what are they called? Gina: They’re like the Kings and Queens of Mefferin. (GP7) LC: Now - what do you call the 6th graders again? Lowell: Scrubs - and they call the 7th graders like... Rage: Scrubs but also Toilet Cleaners Head: And King of Toilets is like for the 8th graders (GP15) Gina, Vanessa, and Patricia May (GP7), who were middle class, 2n d generation immigrants in the 7th grade, were particularly knowledgeable about how the 6th grade scrubs were often subjected to ridicule and torment by those in higher grades until they 130 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. learned their own strategies for competing in this game of interaction. They mentioned that there were “unofficial” scrub days at Mefferin throughout the year in which variations of hazing -style rituals took place: Patricia May: And they scrub the 6th graders; they make ‘em do stuff that - Gina: They flush you in the toilet, you know. It’s mostly the boys though. (GP7) The most pronounced hazing (i.e. toilet flushing) was experienced and conducted upon younger boys by older boys. Girls did not mention participating in these rituals. I noticed that the rhetoric surrounding both ‘toilets’ and ‘scrubs’ occurred among discussions with boys (e.g. GP10, GP15), whereas girls (e.g. GP7, GP9) did not identify with or even completely understand the “toilet” humor that the boys would often allude to. Later I realized that this initial example of gender division also reveals the influence of current popular culture referents involving bodily functions which are generated specifically to appeal to boys.4 Since girls did not mention participating in hazing rituals like the boys, I began to also learn that girls were not as committed to marking the lower status of young scrubs. Because Latina girls (1s t and 2n d generation immigrant status) were the largest racial/ethnic group in my sample, I started to look for in-group variations (both in social interaction as well as popular culture/consumer culture participation). As opposed to the ways in which Gina, Patricia May, Rage and Head advanced and understood grade hierarchies, I noticed that these meanings did not resonate with the first generation immigrant students in my focus groups. For example, Cristal, Maria, and Angela (GP5), had little understanding of the symbolic grade classifications and the toilet rhetoric — except that the rituals made them feel uncomfortable. This indicated to me that this 131 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. was a clear disjunctive between American acculturation and the lack of understanding experienced by immigrant girls. Angela: Yeah, I liked my elementary cuz, here, there’s more girls - that think they’re... Maria: yeah, because when they go to middle school, they think that they’re bigger and stuff like that. Cristal: Uh - huh!... Angela: Sometimes they’re mean - but not all the time. Cristal: They think they’re better than other people. LC: Are they mostly in the 8th grade? All: Y eah... (GP5) In contrast, second-generation Latinas, like Yuri Murrilo and Gisel Gutierrez, who had developed the tough, rebellious “chola” attitude, understood the game early on and reacted quite differently: LC: Do the 8th graders boss people around? Gisel: Yeah - they’ll be like - “move - move stupid.” And I’ll be, “ayy, watch your language” - I’m not gonna let them boss me - Yuri: Yeah, never let anyone push you around - that’s what I learned from [my brother] Gisel: For me - my mom and my dad taught me- especially my dad because he’s the kinda type that likes to fight a lot... H e’s a boxer. (GP8) These two groups of 7th grade girls were quite interesting in that the girls in GP5 did not have the same valued cultural capital of the girls in GP8. Both groups were approximately in the same social class level — lower, working-class. The girls in GP5 were all excellent students, whereas those in GP8 were average to below average. However the girls in GP8 had the upper hand in the teen popularity world — which is really the world that counts for youth. While the 7th grade girls in GPS worried about how mean 8th graders were, and while GP8 boasted about not being intimidated, my interviews with 8th graders (GP1, GP4, GP9) revealed that having reached the regal station of the 8th grade at Mefferin did 132 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. not necessarily bestow benefits and privileges which might otherwise have been expected. When I conducted interviews, it was near the end of the school year so for most of the 8th graders, despite their status, they were most concerned with their worries about their upcoming transitions to high school -- where they knew that being a scrub again was just a few months away. The sense of comfort some students experienced with guaranteed upward mobility in advancing from 6th to the 7th grade was juxtaposed with the realization that in the 8th grade this form of status attainment would be stripped away as they readied themselves for the ultimate social transition of high school — where most youth enter as young adolescents at age 14 and leave as legal adults at age 18. Furthermore, a common factor in urban environments like Los Angeles Unified School District is the worry of not just popularity and cliques, but the more ominous aspects of the broader society of the city: LC: So are you looking forward to going to high school? Bee: It’s gonna be hard - not hard but like nerve wracking and stuff.... Because there’s lots o f gangs Yoshi: Probably there’s lots more groups in high school. LC: What kind o f groups? Bee: Gangs, like with lots o f people. (GP12) As students move through the three-tiered educational system (elementary school, middle school, high school), with each institution becoming larger than the previous, the system also enlarges opportunities for the elaboration of cliques and hierarchies in the school setting (Corsaro & Eder, 1990, p.208). Among the Mefferin students, most of the seventh graders were definitely looking forward to ruling over the school, but I also found admitted trepidation common — the slipping away of childhood: LC: Are you excited about being 8th graders next year? Lowell: Uh-huh 133 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Star: Yeah, maybe Rage: No, it’s too fast - it’s like today, and then tomorrow it’s going to be like 8th grade like that. (GP15) This indicated to me that Elkind’s (1981/2001) ‘Hurried Child’ concept was being articulated by children themselves — that at age twelve, they were already aware that some sort of innocence and gullibility was being replaced by an existence predicated on increased competition and social division. For the last half century, the cliques and hierarchies found in American high schools have also involved the appropriation of popular culture. According to historians (e.g. Danesi, 1994; Hine, 1999) who have studied the development of youth and peer cultures throughout the twentieth century, a context through which teenagers could see themselves and become known was provided by the culture industries. By the late 1950s, radio, TV, film and music had firmly established a teen-oriented industry with icons like James Dean, Elvis Presley (Danesi, p. 21). And the high school setting increasingly served as the venue in which these new formulations of adolescent identity were negotiated. Danesi mentions that teens started “to see the high school context as the central locus for gaining and maintaining social status, primarily through symbolic codes, actions, and behaviors that were deemed to be socially advantageous by the peer group” (p.23). By the 1960s, the clique hierarchy was firmly entrenched in the school culture (ibid, p.23). Accordingly, “if certain students have more positive visibility they are likely to form the core of the elite group, since in this type of environment, status is often based on being known by your peers” (Eder, 1985, in Corsaro & Eder, 1990, p.208). In 2000- 2001, my research indicates that this situation is now occurring among populations that are much younger than high school students. 134 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Following the Strains of Groups. Cliques, and Sub-cultures5 How students at Mefferin chose to identify themselves in various groups, cliques, and subcultures was definitely divided by gender. For example, girls discussed at length their personal associations with campus-based cliques: LC: So there are a lot of different groups on this campus? Blue Angel/: yeah!!! Buttercup Blue Angel: We’re kinda like a “normal group” that likes nearly the same things... Sometimes we like different things - sometimes we agree, but sometimes we disagree - but sometimes we just leam how to get along with each other.(GP11) Pippy: My group - they’re like smart people Baby G: (interrupts) no weird people! Pippy: Well my group is mixed - cuz we’re like all friends - but with other groups, there’s “smart”, “funny,” “weird,” “really weird”(GP9) Vanessa: (speaks up definitively)Nutrition and Lunch, we are considered - the weirdos. Quack-Quack: Oh, that’s my group, the group I hang out with , Vanessa: we’re the weirdos, and the people across from us are the over achievers - it’s like we have battles and stuff... and they’re always talkin’ about us, thinkin’ that they’re so tight because they’re in drama .. .they’re like drama queens and stuff, like they think they’re all high and mighty — ha-ha, no [with sarcasm]. (GP1) The delineations of on-campus groups/cliques was something that the girls on the whole would discuss and discriminate by, yet there was no indication that “weirdos” and “drama queens” had credibility outside Mefferin boundaries. Within the Mefferin sample, boys would acknowledge the presence of a lot of groups and cliques on campus, but they did not discuss their personal affiliations with on- campus groups. Rather, they tended to identify with groups that tended to be more culture-wide, rather than school-specific. Boys tended to discuss group membership that 135 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. included outside cultural affiliations (i.e. embodying a kind of sub-culture directive). In their scope of affiliations, gang and music-related sub-cultures were mentioned (which will be discussed later); however, the sub-cultural affiliations mentioned most often were sport cultures, such as wrestling, basketball, biking, and skating. “Skaters”6 (some of whom used inline skates/rollerblades, but the great majority of whom used traditional skateboards) were by far the most visible presence; the skaters were also the group most readily discussed, critiqued, and ‘dissed’ by peers. In one example, Bee equated skaters with a type a music he disliked: LC: Why don’t you like to listen to rock ? Bee: Cuz it resembles skaters and I just don’t like skaters. LC: Oh OK - like what’s with the skaters? Bee: I don’t know - 1 just hate ‘em - they listen to dumb music and all that. (GP12) In another example, students in a mixed male/female focus group point to other negative associations: LC: D o you like the skater people? Ramiro: Kinda - but they do a lot o f drugs and stuff. Jose: yeah - some o f them they don’t. Amenda: Yeah - 1 like skaters - but I really don’t care what a guy likes - what his favorite sport is - LC: Oh, now are there girl skaters? Amenda: N o - not me .. .1 use the skates too and stuff - when I like go to beach - but I’m not a skater. LC: But then with the ‘skaters’, are there guy and girl skaters or is it pretty much just guys? Ramiro: I think its pretty much guys Amenda: Yeah it’s guys - like with skateboards and everything Ramiro: And they all have the spiky hair. LC: Oh right — the spiky hair -- but there are no girls like that? Jenny: No, not really. (GP13) The gender divide was further clarified by girls (GP7) who discussed skaters as representative of culture-wide, and campus-based group: 136 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Patricia May: yeah - there’s like skaters, LC: Are you guys? All: no LC: Is it more girls or guys? Vanessa/: It’s more guys. Gina Patricia May: yeah, there’s a girl that wears skater shoes who’s pretty bizarre... Gina: Uh, I don’t like that. Patricia May: It’s Ok — they do whatever they want. Vanessa: But then they’re like -- they don’t really know how to skate and all that... .They’re just becoming a tomboy and all that. Gina: If you act like too tomboyish, they’ll suspect that you’re gay. (GP7) In these discussions, the students illustrated some of the symbolic codes that are employed in the construction of middle school style culture. Skaters, in this case, were associated with drug culture (socially deviant behavior), rock music, unique style (spiked hair — brown with blonded tips, baggy clothes), and masculinity for the most part. Students created their own stigmatizing labels (.. .“there’s a girl that wears skater shoes that’s pretty bizarre”) when the norms of this subculture were violated. Stigmatizing was often constructed around violation of the dominant gender codes of masculinity and femininity.7 Style Culture. Cool Culture Vanessa: Like if you wear skater shoes, you usually are a skater and into rock music. If you wear like Adidas... QuackQuack: If you wear something like Adidas, then you’re into rap, if you wear like basketball shoes, you probably play basketball, but then like Jordan’s are usually for rap. (GP1) Aside from the significance of grade hierarchy, lunch-break cliques, and outside subcultural interests and affiliations, Mefferin students were most involved in fostering peer group identities that were based on achieving popularity through adopting a specific style and maintaining its image. Frequently, one’s association with a particular brand name acted as a symbolic indicator of status and worth. Students scrutinized each 137 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. other constantly, observing details of who was wearing what, and creating associations and attributions which, at times, were extremely value-laden. While they were desperately seeking their own autonomy, their own “unique” style, undeniably they held fast to the opinions of their immediate peers. This has also been affirmed in prior sociological research by Eder (1997): “because no one wants to be left out, there is often a strong desire to conform to the clothes, hairstyles, and even mannerisms of others” (p.2). Apparently, Los Angeles public schools are no exception: according to Ken Williams, an organizational facilitator who provides crisis intervention and psychosocial support to K-12 students in LAUSD, “maintaining dress and appearance” is the biggest o pressure kids face in Los Angeles. In their studies of working-class youth and youth sub-cultures (e.g. Clark, 1975; Willis, 1977; Hebdige, 1979; McRobbie & Garber, 1979; Brake, 1980), British sociologists were some of the first scholars to develop a body of theoretical and empirical examples explaining how elements like style, fashion and appearance — key visual symbols and markers of identity — were interwoven with the more structurally-oriented variables of class, and to a lesser extent, race and gender. Style, according to Brake (1980) was defined empirically as consisting of image (appearance - clothes, accessories, hairstyles), demeanor (expression, posture), and argot (specialized vocabulary and how it is delivered) (p. 12). Through this formation of symbolic interaction, youth pick and choose, combine and re-combine style elements, thereby creating a “bricolage”9 in attempts to set themselves apart both from the mature style of their parents and from the child-like “cuteness” that they have just escaped out of. At the same time, they are 138 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. following a strict code of style standards developed in their own peer groups. Along these lines, Willis (1990) further noted that “youth actively construct meaning, identity, and lifestyle through their interpretation and consumption of television, advertising, music and clothes.” Willis referred to this active construction as “symbolic creativity.” He argued that these creativities are also “negotiated within structural constraints (such as memberships of race, class, gender, age, and region) in order to give meaning to one’s consumptions and experiences” (in Wilson & Sparks, 1996, p.405). These elements of style have also been have also been explored through the ethnographic work of American sociologists and cultural researchers (e.g. Gaines, 1991; Majors & Billison, 1992; Wilson & Sparks, 1996). These works have also pointed to style as an important factor in understanding youth identity. Among the Mefferin sample, style became a key component of identity that I quickly became aware of. The following excerpts from focus group transcripts illustrate some of the more subtle elements — situations in which students devised ways of understanding and participating in their own specific versions of style: LC: Well how do you decide what to pick? Lowell: It’s based on what you like. Rage: It’s based on, like um, style - like that... Like not wearing tight clothes- Lowell: No, that’s not cool. LC: That’s not your style? Rage: N o LC: So you like it more baggy? Why? Rage: I just like it Crysty: Cuz like well, what I think is that when you wear like normal pants, and your friends w ill be like oh, you look like a nerd and things like that. I think that’s why they wear baggy — to be part o f what’s cool. LC: Oh, Ok, so that’s sort o f the definition o f what’s looking cool? Crysty: Yeah LC: So that overlaps like rappers and skaters, right? Ciysty: yeah (GP15) 139 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. I began to realize the importance of wearing baggy clothing as not just associated with rap/hip-hop subcultures. Rage and Lowell mostly listened to rap and hip-hop. For youth, the baggy look has been embraced by those who consider themselves skaters and wrestlers, along with those who embrace gangster/gang culture associations. Bee and Yoshi (GP12) liked wrestling and also listened to rap and wore baggy clothes; Alex Menes (GP2) was a skater and wore baggy clothes. In this example, Bee, Matthew, and Yoshi go into further discussion about wearing baggy clothing. Bee makes a point to validate Yoshi, but discredit Matthew: LC: What about when you choose your clothes outside o f wearing a uniform? Bee: I wear baggy clothes. LC: Why do you wear baggy clothes? Matthew: Cuz they’re — Bee: (interrupting) they’re comfortable Yoshi: Yeah, you get more air inside — Bee: They’re cooler too -- not all like tight and stuff — Yoshi: They’re not like floods — like Matthew’s Bee: yeah - his shorts are way too high LC: Oh his shorts are way to high so they have to be at least down to here (calf area) Matthew: Sure -- I’m just sitting down, that’s why. (GP12) At Mefferin school, wearing baggy clothes was considered a uniform violation so students came up with ways to associate themselves with wearing baggy clothes even though they couldn’t literally do so. The ways of displaying allegiance to the various baggy sub-cultural associations (rap/hip-hop, skating, wrestling, gangsters) was often translated into the ways that shoes were laced. Girls that I interviewed were especially aware of this practice: Gina: Even if you wear your shoe laces like that (points out certain way), it’s like there’s pressure to do it because you want to be, you want to fit in. Vanessa: Yeah, you don’t tie them up, you just put them inside. LC: N ow what does that mean? 140 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Gina: Style! Vanessa: It means like other people doing it. LC: .. .But is it from music, or what? .. .Guys used to wear them a few years ago - you know like the basketball players. All: yeah! Gina: and in music videos too. All: yeah (GP7) For girls especially, shoe lace displays were one way that girls could show some affiliation with the sub-culture (rap/hip-hop, sports, gangsters etc.) without actually admitting any sort of actual membership: Patricia May: Or like if you want to tie your shoes in a bow tie - like I do. LC: (going over various lacing strategies) oh and you tuck them and put them in this way - and yours (To Vanessa) are down on this side - Vanessa: yes LC: So these are all deliberate? All: Yes Patricia May: but her shoes are loose (point to Vanessa) - see when you tie them up too tight, they say that you lik e , choke your shoes. You should leave them like that or like that (pointing). Vanessa/: yeah, loose Gina Vanessa: And sometimes the 8th graders—they put like socks under so it can look fat. Patricia May: yeah, they wear like three socks layers. LC: Why would you want to do that? All: cuz it’s the style! LC: Oh so it’s kind o f a unique expression? All: yeah (GP7) Michelle: Yuri: Michelle: LC: Michelle: Yuri: Michelle: Yuri: LC: Gisel: Look, I don’t put this outside, right here (indicating on the shoe)- Naah, nobody does that anymore. And then I put it back here, inside. Ohh Nobody wears them out. Oh Especially for gangsters -- they be wearin’ them shoelaces like that — Yeah they know how -- They know how to match like the theme, you know what they’re wearing, like be like, putting their shoe lace right there (indicating) ... See I have one kinda right there too. So do you wear your’s like that (to Gisel Gutierez) Naa, I don’t do that; I just do it like this, cuz it’s for girls — and it looks like guys when they put it like that. 141 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LC: Oh you mean there’s a difference? Gisel: Yeah — it’s different. (GP8) Clearly, the symbolic creativity exercised upon the lacing of shoes has also been framed within structural constraints. Not only did Yuri and Michelle reinforce codes of gender differentiation, but they also used this element of style as a means of reinforcing the kind of racism often associated with stigmatizing immigrant groups: Yuri: Cuz they don’t know how to wear them — people don’t know how to wear them but when you know how to wear them, they’re nice. LC: Like explain — how would one wear them? Michelle/: Like those shoe laces, some people wear them tight but with these you.. Yuri .. .don’t wear them tight -- like that girl over there (points to 1s t generation immigrant Asian girl who also spoke little English), she’s wearing really tight like that. That girl - she’s got her beat up shoes and they’re laced tight. ... That is ugly - that’s ugly. ... the shoes that I have, they come with skinny shoe laces, but you have to wear big ones... Especially shoe laces — you need to know how to learn — how to use the, uh, the shoes. (GP8) Here, Yuri and Michelle clearly were displaying their cultural capital — a knowledge and performance base the wields them tremendous power and status in the world of adolescent cool. It’s All About Being Cool Ramiro: C-h-i-d-o LC: And what does that mean? Ramiro: Cool. Jenny: Like cool - it’s like saying ‘cool’ (GP13) Until the time I interviewed Ramiro and Jenny, I hadn’t heard this particular Spanish slang construct for conveying the sense of “cool,” describing a unique sense of style according to Latinos. In many ways the concept of style is not just a fashion statement per se — it is imbued with meanings that are, for adolescents very personal, sometimes political, and always integral to forming a sense of self that is emerging out 142 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. of childhood and converging upon adulthood. Thus, according to Brake (1980), “Style also indicates a life-style, and as such has an appeal to subterranean values which combine to make a visual challenge at both a structural and an existential level” (p. 18). In this sense, I also argue that adolescent style culture attempts to capture some of the ever-evolving meanings of cool, moving with and helping to shape the American fascination with cool styles.1 0 Being cool has always involved a fairly developed collection of symbolic codes and performances fashioned for the purpose of differentiation from the hegemony of mainstream cultural ideologies. According to scholars like Danesi (1994) and Majors and Billison (1992), who have studied the ways cool is perceived and expressed by American youth, coolness is a defensive behavioral strategy used to deflect the criticism of peers away from themselves, “a strategy designed to transform the physiological and emotional changes that occur at puberty into peer-shaped and peer-acceptable patterns of social behavior” (Danesi, p.43). However, what is considered a measure of coolness is also subject to variations and definitions — especially when concerning children and young adolescents. For example, in the sociological findings of Adler, Kless, and Adler (1992) and Adler and Adler (1998), “cool was a social construction whose definition was in constant flux” (p. 173). As I conducted my interviews, the constructed versions of what was considered “cool” by the Mefferin sample began to emerge. Coolness for the Mefferin students was often about style and fashion, and was a term used equally among boys and girls. And it was used as a term of judgment (generally among girls). Because nobody identified 143 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. themselves as cool (self-identification is never part of the “cool” performance), Mefferin students often used cool as a key descriptive to identify what others were not: Patricia May: And see like the 6th graders, I don’t think they would know, they’re just like learning. Oh some want to be like the 8th graders - all cool. And stuff like that, so they do it too. (GP7) Gina: Pippy: The cool people hang out in the quad. LC: W ell w ho’s cool - how do you know who’s cool? Pippy: (silent) I don’t know .. .It’s not like they’re cool - like it’s the people that THINK they’re cool - LC: So there is a lot o f judgment? Did they ever judge you guys? Pippy: N o - 1 go from one group to another group - Maggie: I keep changing from group to group and this girl, kind o f like the main one, well she told me that “Oh but you left” and then I’m like “no I didn’t I have a right to like hang around with who ever I want.” (GP9) Patricia May: W ell, there’s some group who think they rule but sometimes they don’t. They think they’re very cool because - 1 don’t know - Gina: --their shoes are green, their socks are green - they put green ties in their hair Patricia May: yeah, they do that and they think they’re so cool. LC: Oh that’s one group here? All: yes LC: well do they call themselves something or do they? Gina: No, they just - Patricia May: Especially the girls, they like to do all these styles and stuff - Gina: They think they’re UNIQUE - they wanna be unique. LC: Oh I see, now what do you think about that? Gina: That’s Ok, I like to be Unique too - not the same, it’s boring being the same. (GP7) LC: Buttercup: Blue Angel: Buttercup: LC: Blue Angel: Oh Ok - is there like a group at all that’s considered to be Cool here? Yeah - there’s a lot o f ‘em. You know, ok, they like walk around and they tie their shoe laces - they have acrylic tips - their nails done, you know - it’s all about them, that they’re all that! They’ve got the Gap backpacks you know - they have Nike shoes. some that have Jordans! So they have the most expensive stuff? Yeah, and they like come to school and they pull out their money and then they think they can count it just to see how much they have and if people don’t have that - 144 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LC: They just pull out money - to show off? Blue Angel: They show o ff just to count it. (GP11) While the pursuit of cool produces its own stigmatizing discourses and dimensions of inequality, Mefferin students also had their own ways of further discussing those who were in violation of a cool image (see earlier discussion with Yuri and Michelle). These tactics often took on a vernacular aspect regarding the argot that was used (i.e. ethnic enclave groups had their own unique variations.) This also draws attention to the overall significance of language malleability in the Mefferin population of young adolescents. Social Stigmas: “Chuntvs.” “FOBs.” and “Posers” In relation to adolescent structural hierarchies represented in grade advancement, group membership and perceived conceptions of cool, adolescents develop evaluative measures to single out those who deviate from the way in which the majority or dominant (or specific) group sees itself. In some cases deviation (as in having a unique hairstyle) is highly praised. Recalling the discussion I had with Jose, Ramiro and Jenny about “chido” as a description synonymous with “cool,” other students in the Mefferin sample used words such as “dope,” “tight,” “bad,” and “da’ bomb” as variant descriptors of cool. Using variants of ‘cool’ imply being singled out as a group leader (for example) — yet still maintaining and upholding standards of conformity that group membership demands. Accordingly, variations o f‘non-cool’ distinguish others as group outsiders.1 1 For various reasons, certain students, individuals as well as certain social groups, tend to be singled out as not fitting in, not adequately representing what the majority feels or looks right. In this sense, many students will experience what Goffman (1963) called “stigma,” a discrediting, marginalizing attribute placed upon a person’s identity. For 145 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. young adolescents, stigmatized identity classifications are socially constructed categories of difference; these are often only understood within a small zone of reference (i.e. stigmatized identity labels at Mefferin Middle School such as “chuntys,” “F.O.B.s,” and “Posers”) and may not have the same strength or value as those at another school in another city. For most adolescents who look to each other for validation and acceptance, this is a serious issue and may not be fully appreciated by adults who often see these attributes as ‘silly kid stuff.’ At Mefferin school, one of the ways students are stigmatized is in relation to how well they fit within the norms of certain style cultures (an essential attribute of a profit economy). In prior ethnographic research among middle school students, Evans and Eder (1989) found that “isolates in middle school tend to be the targets of aggression and that the persistence of the rejection is due in part through attempts by other students to distinguish themselves from those students they perceive to be deviant” (in Corsaro and Eder, 1989, p.209). From the population of Mefferin students in this study, many of the 1st generation immigrant students seemed to experience the weight of this classification, as well as those who did not fit in adequately with the style cultures in place at Mefferin. Often these groupings overlapped. Consequences included teasing, insults, marginalization, and rarely the chance to improve one’s reputation. Style is definitely more than just fashion, clothing, or costuming. Because Mefferin school students had to wear uniforms, they were often complaining about what they were missing in terms of free dress -- individuality was reduced at the behest of institutional conformity. However, L.A. city schools like Mefferin have many students 146 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. whose families find it difficult to provide the latest styles because they are poor and working class. One would suspect that a uniform code would shelter these students from discrimination, but Mefferin school was still not immune to discrimination and division based on markers of style and fashion. Since the Mefferin standard for footwear simply required closed-toed shoes with laces, there was considerable leeway for variation and thus for symbolic status presentation. In one specific example, Alex, Max and Tony made the significance of this aspect of their peer culture very clear: Alex: Yeah, so many people like look at you and then later they’ll be like, look at you, look at your shoes - LC: So they’ll be judged by the shoes? Alex: Yeah, Max: Or their clothes. LC: Oh, ok, has that ever happened to any o f you? Alex: Not me, but I see that happen like eveiyday Tony: I’ve seen kids say things to other kids - even your friends. LC: So it’s important? All: Yeah (GP2) The “Chuntv” and “F.O.B.” Labels For immigrant youth at Mefferin school, stigmatizing labels had at times dual meanings - incorporating fashion, taste, ethnic discrimination and racial tensions. For Latino/a youth, one stylistic element that stood out was the use of slang terms. While Ramiro and Jenny mentioned “chido” as indicative of a positive stylistic description, students like Gisel and Michelle, Pippy and Baby Giggles used the word “chunty” or “chunt” as a descriptor indicating lower levels of understanding with regard to current fashion trends. These were 2n d generation immigrants who represented a privileged place in the Mefferin population: they were the few who were knowledgeable about Americanized depictions/representations of a cool image, yet could also import the 147 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. articulations of this from their own ethnic heritage without carrying the stigma of ‘immigrant.’ For example, during my interview with 2n d generation Latina girls from GP8, Gisel and Michelle brought this first to my attention after I asked if they minded if their mothers picked out their clothes: Michelle: N o, she has like bad taste - LC: Oh really, she has bad taste -- w ell what do you mean? Michelle: Oh well, I hate colorful stuff - pink and green — and I h ate, hate pants that are up to here (ankle length) — that’s chunty!! (all break into laughter) You know what chunty is...? Gisel: That means like - nerdy - Yuri: Nerdy clothes - yeah. Gisel: That’s sad - That’s like they’re a nerd - They’re just different kinds o f people. Michelle: Like him (pointing to boy in the class) - like the pants that he wears... like high-waters, you know? (GP8) Candy (GP14) noted that her friends call her chunty as a joke because she didn’t put much effort into dressing up. Along with the stigma associated with lacking the right fashion sense, chunty also brought in more meanings that were tied to structural stigmas: Pippy: Chunts are - Baby Giggles: They’re like weird people - Maggie: People who cannot match - Baby Giggles: Chunts - Chunta - Chuntara (whole group) - chunty Maggie: My dad - especially like in M exico, he said that’s what they call some people - but that’s in Mexico. Baby Giggles: But for here, it means someone that doesn’t know how to dress - Maggie: M y dad said it’s a definition like for poor kids - it’s like they don’t know how to dress. Baby Giggles: Like the weird people. (GP9) While girls were more quick to associate chunty with fashion stigmas and used the term liberally, Latino boys (2n d generation, or those who came here when they were infants) were most apt to use the word in terms of ethnicity and migration — transnationalism: 148 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LC: So the girls were saying that if somebody looks nerdy, they were saying that they were chunty. Do you guys say that - what does that mean? El Chalinio: Naaa- that’s not a chunty Playboy Bunny:It’s like you come to here without no papers- E1 Chalinio: Probably like, you know like they wanna be like they’re Mexicans but they want to be like a real American more. Playboy B: Like a chunty is the one that like, somebody comes from M exico to here but they don’t want to act like they were Mexicans, you know hiding their race. LC: Oh really — but the girls were saying it’s like somebody who’s kind o f nerdy. Playboy B: Oh — yeah-yeah — somebody who looks like different. LC: They were saying it was somebody w ho’s got bad taste — well what do you guys say if somebody looks kind o f dorky or nerdy? El Chalinio: I never use that word LC: so what would you say if somebody’s not cool? Playboy B : slugs -- hoochies — j ackass (G P10) The only time I heard a non-Latino participant use this term was when Bee, the only white male in the focus group sample, discussed his fear of going to high school where he believed he would encounter gang members. Bee used this term as a derogatory stereotype of Mexicans: Bee: Gangs, like lot’s o f people — Yoshi: Usually, Usually in high school they’re separate - there’s a black gang, a Mexican gang Bee: The Mexican group is a bunch o f chunts with guns. (GP12) While Latino students used “chunty” to indicate lower social status among themselves, Mefferin students applied analogous terms to other immigrant groups (i.e. Middle Easterners, Asians); in this case, the term used most often was “F.O.B.” (an acronym for “fresh off the boat”). Amenda, a first-generation immigrant from Iran brought this to my attention and explained how she learned the operative dynamic: LC: Now, how do you know if somebody is cool or not... Some girls were telling me about chunty. Amenda: 0 umPs > n) yeah, like nerdy LC: N ow do you guys, girls ever use that? Amenda: No, we use FOB [she pronounces it like fobe] LC: And what does that mean? 149 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Amenda: Its like the people that just got here - from like other countries, and they act like - you know ... It’s like you’re a nerd or something and you don’t know about like uh, you know, you just got here but you don’t know how to act or anything. LC: So were you a FOBs once? Amenda: Yeah, I was. LC: You were. And then you realized - learned how to play the game? Amenda: Yeah, I got a lot o f experience - from my friends.. .and it’s just that, I don’t know, I just figured it out. (GP13) Amenda seemed to have successfully completed the American acculturation process. Not only was she was popular, but she also 1) spoke English well with only a slight accent, 2) knew American slang, and 3) was a heavy participant in all aspects of consumer culture. Having been in the U.S. for only four years (since she was 10 years old), she told me that it was really important to speak good English, and to have others see you only speaking English. In an interview with Miss Hillmont, she added her own insights into this issue of acculturation and assimilation: N ow what I have noticed is that I had a girl named Sara Park in my 7th grade class — regular Ed and this year she’s in 8th grade and in the regular Ed program for everything, but she has only been here three or four years and she still has a Korean accent and she has exhibited some disdain for my Korean immigrant kids. She said they told her why don’t you speak Korean? And her attitude was that — she was very sassy, wanting to pick a fight. I also asked her why she thought some students were labeled FOBs as Amenda indicated: They might be considered nerdy, and they aren’t hip to American w ays... The inferiority would come in, you know, as you observed, with clothing and affluence and name brand items - that whole subculture that exists amongst the students themselves. The “Poser” Label Among the Mefferin sample, stigmas were not only created around foreign students who did not possess sufficient American (youth) cultural capital. For example, 150 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the “poser” (poseur) stigma (a prominent expression of American slang) was negatively associated with those who attempted to participate in adolescent subcultures such as skateboarding (i.e. with “skaters”). Immortalized on numerous video games, “Tony Hawk, Pro Skater” was the celebrity of the moment, an image to which many aspired, a model of ‘licensed’ cool in the world of many adolescent boys. What also became evident during the time I conducted the focus group interviews was that boys often made these images a top priority in terms of judgment regarding style culture, incurring both high praise and scathing critique. If one attempted to enter the “skater” subculture, the worst fate awaiting the novice was rejection as a “poser.” For some students, when they were continuously classified as a poser, they would often admit defeat and move on to a different sport interest and hope to recover their reputation: LC: What about some o f the groups that are on campus here - groups or cliques? Head: Like the posers. Rage: Oh the skaters are like that.. .1 used to be a skater LC: But you’re not one now, why not? Rage: I quit Head: He’s a loser, and they’re all a bunch o f losers. (GP15) There seemed to be something dangerously cool and glamorous about skaters that provoked emotional responses in boys’ discussions. Bee (GP12) was adamant about how much he hated skaters because they listened to rock music, and had invaded the parklands near his home. Interestingly, this subject propelled the boys in GP10 to exhibit some animated interaction maneuvers and competitive behaviors. In this purposely chosen ‘long’ example, I draw the reader’s attention to not only the text of the transcript excerpt but also the unfolding of the dynamic of group interaction. Cutting-up cross bantering was typical among the more popular boys (and often the loudest in the classroom): 151 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LC: (to El Chalinio) So you skateboard? Playboy Bunny: (chimes in loudly) H e’s a fake skater LC: Why is he a fake skater? Alex Eres: He’s a poser Playboy B: Cuz he’s a poser El Chalinio: I’m Just barely starting to skate... LC: So how can he be a poser - he’s trying to skate Playboy B: Tries ?? - 1 don’t know (ha-ha-ha) LC: But he’s a skater right? (about Alex Eres) El Chalinio: Naa Playboy B: To be a skater - look, he can’t just try, he gotta do it - Never say try. Trying’s not enough - you gotta do it. El Chalinio: Suppose you’re tryin’ to be a soccer player and you just tryin’ - and you’re not professional - Playboy B: (interrupting) - yeah you’re just trying and you’re not gettin anywhere - oh You’re a poser. . El Chalinio: No, you’re a poser Playboy B: Poser El Chalinio: Poser Playboy B: Poser LC: Ok so both of you guys are posers? Playboy B: He is (pointing to El Chalinio) El Chalinio: He is (pointing to Playboy Bunny) Playboy B: I’m not a poser El Chalinio: Well I’m not a poser Alex: I’m a skater. (GP 10) In the Mefferin population, along with being labeled a chunty or FOB, being labeled a poser was one of the most humiliating descriptors, and it was many students’ goal to avoid it at all costs. A poser was someone who was in such violation of coolness standards — someone who’s tried to be cool but failed. However, in other studies, cool projects other definitions and alliances. According to Adler, Kless and Adler (1992), along with athletic ability, “being cool generated a great deal of peer status” and was thus, the outstanding factor in achieving popularity (p. 173), Here I was struck by the very gendered aspects in which coolness only focused on and applied to boys in the Adler’s research. At Mefferin the traditional categories of school elites (jocks and cheerleaders (see Eder, 1997, Gaines, 1991, Adler & Adler, 1998) and their ‘wannabe’ followers who 152 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. emulate their modes of dress, behavior, etc. were virtually non-existent since there were no school organized sport teams such as football that has public spectator ship. Brand-A wareness or Brand-Bewareness? While the style stigmas mentioned above were perhaps more selective and unique to certain groups of students (chunty — Latino girls and boys; FOB — Asian and Middle Eastern girls; poser — boys in sports-related subcultures), Mefferin students from all groups and subcultural affiliations demonstrated that owning and wearing corporate brand name shoes and clothing was integral to being perceived as popular and cool. When I first came to Mefferin school and saw the students clad in their basic navy and white uniforms, I thought that I wasn’t going to experience much in the way of teen ‘style culture wars’ among the ‘brand gangs.’ However, when I started observing in Miss Hillmont’s classroom, I saw that my initial expectation was thrown into question. Regulation and restriction was apparent with clothing (plain white shirts, dark blue pants or skirts) without any sort of corporate logos or advertising; but once again, the standard for footwear simply required closed-toe, thick-soled, sports/casual style shoes. While the “baggy” lacing of shoes made a few statements received by the fashion conscious at Mefferin, the fact that Mefferin students were given discretion to choose among any number of branded types for this one item eventually promoted shoes into walking commercial endorsements of product prestige and peer popularity. The shoe phenomenon in particular, allowed students a forum for self-expression. This provocative and limited connection to style and agency was something I pursued further. Shoes were the most prominent branded item students mentioned 153 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. (probably due to the fact that shoes were not policed by uniform requirements); however, shoes were not the only object of brand fascination among Mefferin students. In the January 2000 survey that was administered to 132 of Miss Hillmont’s students, I asked one open-ended question in which they were to “Describe what you would like to wear on a “free dress” day? While a number of student answers described the desire to wear “normal looking clothes” or “all brand named clothes,” many were far more elaborate and specific: (specific brands are in bold face) “Gear like Nike, Fubu, DAD A” (8t h grade, male, Latino) “A pair o f kinda baggy jeans, a Tee shirt with a Roxy symbol on it, my Skechers and that’s it.” (8th grade, female, White) “Jeans, Fubu shirt with Fubu shoes.” (7th grade, female, NRS) “Tommy Hilfiger” (7th grade, male, Black) “M y Tommy shoes, Tommy shirt and Tommy pants.” (7th grade, female, Latina) “Tommy Hilfiger shirt, cargo shorts that are Tommy too. Nike or Tommy shoes” (7th grade, male, Latino) “My Polo jeans, Structure shirt, my Adidas shoes, my Nike jacket” (8t h grade, male, Latino) “My baggy stonewash blue jeans, my gray Polo America T-shirt, my Nautica jacket, and my white K-Swiss shoes” (8th grade, male, Black) “M y Hugo Boss shorts, my W WF shirt, and my Jordans” (7th grade, male, NRS) It became quite apparent that Mefferin students were very dedicated to brand name clothing products because almost 90% of students surveyed indicated that they had at least one favorite brand of clothing/shoes, and over 60% noted at least three favorites. In the past twenty years, young people have become aware of brand names at earlier and earlier ages and also recognize more and more products. On a daily basis children and 154 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. adolescents who interact with popular media are subjected to a continuous stream of product endorsements, celebrity profiles, along with peer group validations. Marketing analyst James McNeal (1992), who reviewed a number of studies regarding marketing to children and adolescents, concluded that “children are very conscious of brands and they value certain brand names” (p.54). According to journalist Naomi Klein (1999), “logos by the force of ubiquity, have become the closest thing we have to an international language, recognizable and understood in many more places than English” (p. xx). I also came to realize that certain brands were favored over others. For example, the top brands that students listed included: Nike (appearing 88 times), Adidas (appearing 41 times), Tommy Hilfiger (appearing 28 times) and Gap (appearing 23 times). After noticing this “brand monopoly” emerging from the questionnaire data, I made sure that I judiciously pursued this topic in the focus group discussions. While I expected girls on the whole to be more attuned to shopping for brand name clothing and shoes (especially those girls who were middle class and had more money to spend like Quack-Quack, Patricia May, Gina, and Amenda). I was surprised to find many more boys than I anticipated who were involved in shopping and brand name clothing pursuits: LC: Ok, So when you’re at the mall, do you like to shop for clothes? T: Oh Y-eah! LC: So you guys like shopping too (to Monkey and Anfome)? Monkey: Yeah, I like it too - w e go to those outlets.. .They have Tommy Hilfiger, Timberland, Nautica, Peny Ellis, FuBu, Nike LC: How do you guys know what’s a good brand? Monkey: I don’t really go for the brands, I go for the way it looks. And then, like I have Tommy Hilfiger Anfome: I go for the brand and the looks. T: Yeah (GP6) 155 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Both girls and boys were also quick to inform me that shoes were the most important symbol of style and status at Mefferin: LC: Well what about shoes, tennis shoes? There are so many different brands. Patricia May: That supposedly the important thing. Gina: Shoes - yes! (GP7) Anfome: Basically it starts with shoes - then you’re supposed to coordinate and match. (GP6) Students also explained to me how they decided to wear certain brands over others: LC: How do you know like what’s a good brand of shoes - is it just based on looks or style or? Johana: Mostly it’s based on looks Blue Angel: Other times it’s based on the brand name - like Ok, if they see like one of their favorite people - and they have those kind of shoes on - they’re like I’m gonna get the shoes - just like that. LC: Do you guys ever do that? Like see somebody and you’d want to get their shoes? Buttercup: yeah I would - because my cousin that goes here, he tells me about the 8th graders and they have some shoes that I really like and I was like I’m gonna get some of those shoes like Justin , the guy from ‘N Sync. (GP11) T: So how do we know what brands are in? LC: yeah T: ... the way everyone wears LC: Where here at school, or someplace else? T: out, everywhere, out LC: but how do you know though? Monkey: the most popular things — and plus they’re out in the news and eveiything - you look at the stocks of them and see like on Internet. (GP6) As Monkey and T attempted to research the quality of certain brands, Gina and Patricia May discussed quantity — in that they realized in order to keep up with the latest styles, shoes needed to be purchased quite often. Never did I encounter anyone mentioning the need for new shoes because they grew out of them or actually wore them out. 156 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LC: Patricia May: Gina: LC: Gina: LC: Patricia May: Gina: Patricia May: Gina: Patricia May: Do you have all different styles or do you wear the same one? all different styles yes, all different styles. Now how many pairs of shoes do you guys have? I have like six Like how often do you get to buy a pair? Probably like every two or three months. Every two months. I’ve had a pair of Skechers before, and I don’t wear them anymore. I’ve had Adidas before, I’ve had Nikes before. The newest shoes are Jordans Oh no the Jordans - 1 wouldn’t buy them because they get old fast. I mean next month, they’re gonna have a new pair. But now like, the latest fashion is like Skechers. See there are a lot of people in this class who have Skechers - the girls. (GP7) These middle-class girls (GP7) were noticeably different from working class girls like Yuri, Michelle and Gisel (GP8): Yuri: Oh I don’t like Skechers. Michelle: yeah, I don’t like them. Gisel: I like Converse LC: Oh Converse and what about Vans? Yuri: OOOh I used to wear Vans - Oh my God, I used to wear them. Michelle: They’re for skaters Yuri: Skater shoes are bad [meaning good] (GP8) LC: Do the guys wear the same brands? Patricia May/: Guys wear Nikes mostly. And they wear Vans. Gina Patricia May: I hate Vans - Vans are so like skaterish. (GP7) As a form of self-expression, brand name associations were heavily integrated into identity formation and social interaction among these young adolescents, I started to become aware that for Mefferin youth, brand name awareness and solidarity often linked together 1) social class assessments, 2) subcultural controversies like skaters, and 3) immigrant stigmatizing — that branded products were substantial contributors to the arbitrary values and hierarchies that perpetuated levels of inequality among groups and individuals. 157 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The High Status of Nike® vs. the High Stigma of Pavless® LC: Why do you think shoes are so important here? Matthew: Cuz they look cool LC: Like what looks cool, how do you know what’s a cool shoe? Bee: Shoes that basketball players have - their own brand -- their own type o f shoe. LC: So which ones are the coolest? Matthew: Nike Yoshi: Nike Payless shoes ain’t got no grip, They’ll make you fall and bust your lip. Payless shoes ain’t got no grip, They’ll make you fall and bust your lip. Sound o ff -1,2 Sound o ff - 3 ,4 Break it on down, 1,2,3,4! -courtesy of Blue Angel In the realm of consumer culture, Mefferin students enlightened me on the polarity of social inequality they helped to construct between the high status of ‘brand’ Nike, and the low status of ‘brandless’ Payless. And with regard to Nike, it also became apparent that this brand, more than others, defined the social divide between “haves” and “have-nots.” Nike was a consistently high-status brand among Mefferin students. In the larger Mefferin sample (N=132), 76 students (58%) noted that Nike was their number one favorite brand of shoes/clothes. 51% of girls chose Nike as their favorite and 76% of boys chose Nike as their number one brand name. In focus groups, I was interested to see how students expressed their devotion to this brand. I was especially intrigued when girls like Gina mentioned how she was so loyal to Nike; but I was particularly floored when Yuri and Michelle noted that Nike was “owned by everybody” — the lure of the right 158 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. image through consumption hides the reality which is quite the opposite of these girls’ assumptions: LC: Is it important to you to have a certain brand? Damb: I like Nike. LC: And you have Nike on (to Damb), and so do you (to Gabriela), oh and you have New Balance (to Emily). Now how would you decide between Nike and New Balance? Emily: The style Damb: Oh that Nike mark. LC: So does that mean that it’s good? Damb: Kind of... I just like it better, that’s all. (GP3) LC: But I would imagine that a lot of people watch what different brands people wear? All: yes Gina: But I’m most loyal to Nike (GP7) LC: Really — so how do you know that Nikes are the good brand? Yuri: It’s like -- it’s owned by everybody. Gisel: Yeah exactly Michelle: Yeah — it’s like even from the first style that came out, you know that’s what I think.. Yuri: ‘Cuz my brother was always buyin’ Nike, he’d never buy like Skechers or Reeboks -- Only one time he bought K-Swiss cuz I told him to buy em. LC: What about Saucony? Michelle: Only Nike (GP8) Mefferin students repeatedly mentioned frequenting favorite stores for their sports/athletic shoes; those favorites included stores such as Footlocker and Foot Action - - stores commonly located in shopping malls and which offer the latest styles of Nike and its offshoot company, Air Jordans (specific styles that are worn and endorsed by celebrity basketball star, Michael Jordan.) Most of the styles that students desired ranged in price from $75-$150. Out of the 132 surveys, nobody ever mentioned frequenting any 17 discount stores such as Payless Shoe Source. However, when I conducted focus groups 159 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. in which shoes were mentioned, the subject of discount stores (specifically Payless Shoe Source) became a pivotal area: Yuri: I don’t like Reeboks — those are cheap; and I don’t like Payless. (GP8) LC: Ok, do you think it matters if you went to let’s say Payless to buy shoes? Amenda: I don’t - 1 would never buy there! LC: So Payless then is... Amenda: Yeah, Payless is bad. I don’t think they have cute shoes. LC: Would you ever go to Payless? (to Ramiro, Jose, and Jenny) Ramiro/ NO. Jose: Jenny: I don’t like their shoes — but well maybe old people -- they go shopping there. (GP13) LC: QuackQuack: Vanessa: QuackQuack: LC: Vanessa: LC: All: But then, as far as shoes go, would you wear something that didn’t have any brand at all, something from Payless, let’s say? (loudly) OH NO! No. It’s too cheap? But what about what you said about the brand, the brand must mean something? Well, like, it doesn’t mean that much on clothes, as much as shoes. Because, shoes are like for most people, the first thing they see is your new shoes. It takes them awhile to realize what your pants are because most of your pants look the same, your shirts look the same. Oh I see, so everyone here at school looks at the shoes? Yeah, yeah! (GP1) LC: Are there any brands that you wouldn’t buy or use at all? El Meno Jr: Well like with Reebok and stuff. Reebok is like a cheap brand and it’s like not so good. LC: So if you see someone like wearing a cheap brand, does that mean something like if you see people at school wearing Payless or K-Mart? Donnan: A lot of people are WACK-Os who wear that stuff (GP4) LC: Well, do you ever go to Payless to buy tennis shoes? Gina: Nooo. LC: Why not? Gina: Because it’s not name brand. LC: It’s gotta be the name brands? All: yeah LC: What does the name brand mean? 160 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Patricia May: It’s like you have to buy name brands or uh, or, you know, something bad will happen — it’s just like that. Gina: It’s what people THINK about you. Like, oh my gosh, she got her shoes at Payless... Vanessa: Yeah, then you’re “Payless girl” or you know, “Payless boy” — you have to hear that. LC: Well do you see some o f the kids here that are suffering from that -- the sort o f Payless syndrome ? Patricia May: W ell they don’t know — They don’t know. Like, they just came to this country. LC: Oh so do you ever try to help them? Vanessa: We pretty much don’t know them — we just see them around. They don’t speak English. (GP7) Because many of the Payless Shoesource stores are located in the neighborhoods that Mefferin students live in, they are well aware of Payless; Payless runs many TV commercials on local LA networks like the WB, Fox, and UPN (the most widely watched networks in the Mefferin sample) as well as the Spanish language networks such as Univision and Telemundo. Many of the students interviewed who were first-generation immigrants, admitted to wearing Payless shoes when they were in elementary school, but when they came to middle school they had to confront the stigma that was attached. This, too, develops within the social context that defines what the group deems as creditable or discreditable. For instance, when I traveled through Mexico I noticed many people, and youth in particular, wearing cheap, duplicated versions of top name brand shoes; but they would also wear a t-shirt with the Nike swoosh or Reebok symbol, seemingly denoting their continued allegiance to the brand. However, this strategy does not hold up when living here and attempting to really fit in. Therefore, based on these focus group discussions, I contend that another aspect of acculturation for immigrant youth is a recent redefinition of the categories of status and privilege which they hope to attain (i.e. the American capitalistic middle class). Not only 161 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. must immigrants aspire to the privilege of buying (literally) into America, but they must also aspire to buy into American style — in this case the style of displaying key logos and ‘solid brands’ on one’s person — signaling one’s personal involvement with the exemplary dynamic of commodity fetishism. Thus, in the Mefferin sample there was contradiction and contention surrounding Payless and the brand names. For students, who had experienced the stigma of poverty (e.g. Cristal, Maria, Angela, Roger, Gisel, Michelle) tended to be more critical of the apparent commodity fetishism: LC: Is one brand better than the other? Maria: Yeah -- because the kids wear it -- a lot of them, they buy it. LC: What if you went to Payless and bought shoes there? [girls get animated] Angela: Yeah, many people say that... Maria: Yeah because (interrupting)Payless are bad... Angela: (also interrupting) and that you’re bad because you buy Payless Shoes... LC: Oh, they tell you that? All: yeah Cristal: And if they see you... Maria: They say ‘hey there Payless shoes’ Angela: And they start laughing at us Cristal: I just think that when you buy shoes -- they’re the same Angela: Yeah, they’re [Payless] nice too — at least you have shoes. (GP5) El Meno Jr: I used to wear Payless, I know -- cuz that’s why I don’t laugh — I get in their face. Cuz I didn’t know anything about shoes before. LC: Would you guys go to Payless now? El Meno Jr: No! LC: Why El Meno Jr: Because your feet stink. Donnan: No, it’s not that, it’s just that, it’s just like -you pay less for shoes, but they’re not that good. Roger: There’s nothin wrong with it - you just payin less for shoes... Well you won’t get pounded if you’re wearin Payless shoes, just to play in and stuff. But you buy shoes cuz it’s the style you like. (GP4) Baby Giggles: For me, in 6th grade, I just wore whatever my dad bought — LC: So it wasn’t as important then, you think? Maggie: No LC: And now it’s pretty important? Baby Giggles: Now it’s like you know — if you don’t wear those shoes Maggie: they’re gonna bag on you and everything; ones that think they’re all that. 162 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LC: Is it only 8th graders? Maggie: No — everybody — 6th graders, 7th graders and 8th graders now (GP9) Head: Eveiybody does compete. LC: So they’re competing? So why do you think there’s like all that competition between brands? Lowell: Oh cuz some people say -- oh, they’re cheap like that - LC: Like Payless or something - so if you saw somebody wearing Payless shoes, would it matter? Head: At least you have shoes Rage: Yeah -- Oh, they go ‘you and your Payless shoes’ and all that. (GP15) LC: If you see that they are wearing Payless — Michelle/: Oh they’re gonna make fun. Yuri Michelle: I don’t laugh at them cuz I understand that they don’t have enough money to buy normal ones. Yuri: The good thing like the smart people; they don’t got money and that’s it — they have Payless shoes and all. Gisel: Cuz I’ve been in there --1 know how the poor people, you know, live, cuz I’ve been there (GP8) Inevitably, this phenomenon was linked to popularity and status. Thus, many in the Mefferin sample highlighted the willingness of themselves and others to spend the money necessary to acquire the high status labels. Maggie and Baby Giggles pointed out this connection: LC: So is money important? Maggie: Not so much money - it’s like I guess it’s all about the shoes- Baby Giggles: Sometimes it’s just like ‘oh she’s got the most expensive shoes’ and like ‘oh, she’s rich, she’s richer than this person’ LC: Ohhhh Baby Giggles: ... ‘she has more money then this person’ LC: Does that really matter — why do you think people care about that? Baby Giggles: I don’t think it really matters Pippy: (chiming in) But people try to be better than other people! LC: Oh, so it’s about being popular? All: yeah!! (GP9) This specific materialist or brand conscious identity is what immigrant youth in Los Angeles are forced to develop if they are to ever attain any social status or popularity 163 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. at Mefferin school. For youth who were American bom, they were equally cognizant of the low status of Payless shoes, but for students like Blue Angel (who supplied the ‘rap’ about Payless shoes), style criticism could reach even higher levels of sophistication. For example, Payless may often sell shoes that look similar to high-profile athletic shoes like Nike and Adidas models. Some of the students referred to them selling “fake Nike.” If posing as a skater was something of a crime, wearing faux Nikes was the closest thing to a mortal sin in the adolescent style culture of Mefferin school: Maggie: People wear different shoes and stuff, but like if you don’t wear the real thing, they’ll start bagging on you - they’ll start like making fun of you. LC: Oh really? Maggie: yeah if you wear fake Nike or something, they’re all like Oh, she can’t afford the real thing - and they’re expensive - like Jordans. (GP9) Roger: At Payless you know they have shoes that imitate like other shoes. Donnan: I think that’s kind of messed up. Roger: Cuz they makin’ them to be like the name brand shoes - that’s messed up. El Meno Jr: I know they make the commercials and they think they are the Jordans - they think like they’re real. LC: Oh. El Meno Jr: And like my next door neighbor, she’s kind of like broke, and so she’s like last night I got these new shoes. And I’m like oh, ok, I got these Jordan’s - and I’m like you did, cuz you’re so broke? And she says still, I just got em and she like brought them out and they were the fake Jordans (bursts into laughter). Donnan: They were number 25’s huh? LC: What’s a number 25? Roger: Number 23 is Jordan’s number so the fake ones use like number 25 or something. El Meno Jr: At Payless, they have a basketball player selling like Jordan’s shoes - Roger: I know, that’s why I’m saying why they’re trying to copy Jordans. (GP4) T: Like they got some fake - those fake Jordans - they got some fake whatch ya call it? - they go like this (motions to shoes)and it’s like - well see how it’s black right here (on his shoes), they got this other thing - and they’re like this thick, (others start laughing) 164 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Anfome: Their shoes are not great - they’re fake T: yeah they have something like that here (points to shoes again). Monkey: The thing is that, -- the brands -- you think certain things are expensive; ...and people are like wow, mine cost a hundred dollars.’ LC: Do people brag about that? All: Yeah!! (GP6) Students have arbitrarily devised a symbolic framework of evaluative measures, their own versions of taste cultures and hierarchies that encompass what is considered cool, unique and original. But are their choices really indicative of free thought and creative insight, or do they react according to a prescribed code of marketing ethics that has embossed its seal of approval upon these young minds? Despite the endless inventiveness of individual Mefferin students, ultimately the brands supply them with a common, standardized “language” of style. According to Klein (1999), corporate logos (and the products and styles associated with them) have become international, global languages (of status, selective participation, and awareness). This ‘logo-universality,’ however, is quite misleading in that, while it invokes a popular audience of everyday folk, it remains a proprietary currency which enhances commercial power and control. With the logo is at the center of attention, it doesn’t matter if one is in the ‘first’ world or the ‘third’ world, its recognizability remains the proprietary constant in the consumption process. Conclusion I conducted my own research originally because I believe that consumption — a topic that has been neglected in sociological literature — plays an important role in the lives (and socialization) of young adolescents. In prior ethnographic studies about American youth (e.g. Adler & Adler, 1998; Eder, 1997; McGuffy & Rich, 1999; Thome, 1994) there is virtually no discussion about the importance and significance of 165 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. consumer culture (along with media and entertainment) and how students “import” this institution’s politics into many aspects of their everyday lives. Prior American sociological research employing ethnographic methods in studying children and pre-adolescents (e.g. Adler & Adler, 1998; Adler, Kless & Adler, 1992; Corsaro, 1997; McGuffy & Rich, 1999; Thome, 1994) and adolescents (e.g Glassner & Loughlin, 1987; Gaines, 1991; Eder, 1997) have contributed to my own research, particularly in its attention to the ways in which young people create and construct meanings in their own social worlds through social interactions inside and outside of scholastic and familial institutions. These studies clearly point to how youth (both children and adolescents) established their own social status symbols, norms, customs and language. However, the populations investigated in these ethnographies were primarily native-born, Anglo-Americans who generally did not reside in large urban centers on the West Coast. In these studies, there is the general assumption that youth studied were native bom. In my study, a significant portion of my sample were foreign bom, and the majority of parents were foreign-bom. This sample raised questions for me about the processes in which immigrant youth forge their own peer identities which could not be answered in the current literature. This sample also raised research questions that challenged the existing assumptions of the complex dynamic of social class. According to studies by Eder (1997) and Adler and Adler (1998), students’ popularity and status was dictated by the social class positioning of their parents. In the Mefferin sample, this was not the case as many students who were considered popular and of high-status (e.g Yuri, 166 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Michelle) did not come from families identified as middle-class. Too many popular students at Mefferin came from working class backgrounds so it was difficult to attribute Adler & Adler’s social class positioning to these students. In the prior ethnographic research on youth, there are limited examples that detail the symbols, norms, and customs specifically related to youth and consumption in multicultural urban centers like Los Angeles. In this regard, my project opens up new dialogues within these sociological inquiries. My research also bridges the gap between the association and connection that adolescents have between the macro-society that includes public institutions like Mefferin school and the micro-community that encompasses key examples of youthful interaction. The integration of macro-micro probing brings my research into a unique position — a position that has not been adequately explored in previous ethnographic research. 1 Corsaro and Eder (1990) expanded upon prior research on children and addressed the idea that peer culture reflects “a set of activities or routines, artifacts, values, and concerns that children produce and share in interaction with peers” (p. 197). They assess the theoretical frameworks of child development from the cognitive developmental theory of Piaget, to the constructivist approach that advances children’s agency, to the interpretive approach that stresses the interactive strategies children build on in terms of how they assess the social world, then expand upon it. (pp. 198-200) 2 Because my interviews were relegated to in-school time and location, I was not able to observe any of the students outside of the school, thus my understanding of their interests and behaviors outside of school were solely derived from what the students said during our focus group sessions. 3 Hazing rituals are activities that have traditionally symbolized initiation into a club (e.g., a college fraternity or sorority), organization or gang. Members with seniority often force new pledges or potential members to perform humiliating, but often humorous stunts. However, in certain cases, students have been subjected to extreme measures that have caused injury (e.g. being “ jumped” into a gang). In the case of Mefferin students, the 6th grade scrubs are often pushed and shoved by older school mates, and boys may have their heads dunked in toilets as an initiation tactic. 4 Thome & Luria (1986) found that gender arrangements were very prominent in elementary school children who tended to associate in same-sex groups. They saw this as a ‘with then apart’ structure as put forth by Goffinan (1977). When they noted rule breaking and the use of dirty words by students, they noted that boys far more than girls participated in this behavior, “flaunting of the words and risking punishment Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. for their use” (p. 180). They also pointed out that rule transgression and risk-taking behavior in public was particular to boys; boys also were more likely to use words and bodily connotations like “fart” and “cunt” compared to the girls in their sample. See also Thome, 1994 for a complete discussion on children and gendered behaviors and social arrangements. Over the past decade mass media products targeted toward a youth audience have featured forms of humor related mostly to bodily functions. Once taboo topics for the mass media, they now have become key themes of entertainment targeted toward adolescent boys. Examples include MTV’s cartoon adolescent satire “Beavis and Butt-head”; movies and TV shows featuring Tom Green, Adam Sandler, Mike Meyers and the “Saturday Night Live” group; the Austin Powers sagas of the mid 1990s, and the Farrelly Brothers’ movies such as “There’s Something about Mary” (1999) and “Shallow Hal” (2001). From all these productions there emerges a portrait of the American teenage male. This portrait or caricature, according to Douglas Rushkoff (2001), is called “the mook” in industry circles - “what critics call the crude, loud, obnoxious, in-your-face character... .a teen-age persona “frozen in permanent adolescence.” According to Rushkoff, the “mook” is “a creation of marketers, designed to capitalize on the testosterone-driven madness of adolescence.” The mook “grabs them below the belt and then reaches for their wallets.” See Douglas Rushkoff, “The Merchants of Cool” website, www.pbs.org and Kellner (1998) “Beavis and Butt-Head: No Future for Postmodern Youth” (in Epstein, 1998.) 5 The study of subcultures has been examined and developed by British sociologists (see, Hebdige, 1979; McRobbie, 1991,1994 ; Brake, 1980). Brake describes the evolution of subcultural theory which has developed over the past 40 years. Based on studies of primarily working-class populations, this disciplinary focus has included Hebdige (1979), who asserts that “the meaning of subculture is then, always in dispute and style is the area in which the opposing definitions of class occur with the most dramatic force” (p. 3). Further, Hebdige mentions that “in terms of the strength of maintaining cultural hegemony over those who are perceived as subordinates, subordinates are often part of subcultures” (p. 15). McRobbie (1991) has argued that the masculine bias of foundational subcultural theory and empiricism hs not been adequately considered. See also, Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain (1975), Stuart Hall and Tony Jefferson, Editors; The Subcultures Reader (1997), Ken Gelder and Sarah Thornton, Editors; for a selection of American subculture derivatives, see, Generations o f Youth: Youth cultures and History in Twentieth-Century America (1998), Joe Austin and Michael Nevin Willard, Editors. 6 Skateboarding, once considered a sport appealing mostly to suburban white males (a kind of inland surf culture), and often associated with a reckless, risk-taking, rebellious attitude (hanging out in parks, taking drugs, etc.), has now evolved into an urban Los Angeles phenomenon. In LA skate parks are now gaining popularity in lower income areas such as Lynwood and Bell Gardens with additional parks to be built in Huntington Park and South Central Los Angeles areas. (Reported in the Los Angeles Times, 6/18/01, by Richard Marosi). Marosi also covered an additional story (Los Angeles Times, 9/10/01) about a new skate park that recently opened in the Westlake district in Los Angeles, an area where a significant number of Mefferin students live and are bused from. Marosi mentions that youths can use the park five days a week, but in return they must do volunteer projects and take classes on drugs and gang prevention at the park’s on site classroom. Further, kids must maintain a C average in school and be subjected to random drug, alcohol testing, and weapons searches. 7 The importance of gender-code violation, especially the use of labels such as “gay,” is discussed at length in Chapter 6. 8 This was reported in the Los Angeles Times Magazine (4/22/01) which offered a special edition that focused on the diversity of kids growing up in contemporary Los Angeles. In addition to the changing demographics and amalgamation of various immigrant communities, Ken Williams reinforced that students desperately wish to fit into the peer group (p. 6). 168 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 9 According to John Clark (1975), “In describing the process of stylistic generation, we have made partial and somewhat eclectic use of Levi- Strauss’ concept of bricolage - the re-ordering and re-contextualization of objects to communicate fresh meanings, within a total system of significances, which already includes prior and sedimented meanings attached to the objects used (Levi-Strauss 1966; 1969. When the bricoleur re-locates the significant object in a different position with that discourse, using the same overall repertoire of signs, or when the object is placed within a different total ensemble, a new discourse is constituted, a different message conveyed”(p. 177). Like Levi-Strauss’ myth-bricoleur, the practitioner of subcultural bricolage is also constrained by the existing meanings of signs within a discourse - the objects, the ‘gear’ used to assemble a new subcultural must not only already exist, but must also carry meanings organized into a system coherent enough for their relocation and transformation to be understood as a transformation, [e.g. the way students do the shoe laces according to gangster - rapper associations.] See also, Hebdige (1977) Subculture: The Meaning o f Style. These elements have also been developed through the ethnographic work of American sociologists and cultural researchers (e.g. Gaines, 1991; Majors & Billison, 1992; Wilson & Sparks, 1996). These works have also pointed to style as an important factor in understanding youth identity. 1 0 Just as “cool” has devolved into “trendy,” cool began as a documentable counterculture which was later transformed into something else. On both sides of the Atlantic, “cool” originally appeared as the product o f post-WWI urban alienation, a fraternal twin of jazz (McNamara, 2000). In the U.S., Harlem was the origin of cool, and the Zoot-Suiter seemed to be its ambassador. The Harlem Zoot-Suiter wore new, oversize suits and with pants clipped at the cuffs, slicked back (or “conked”) his hair, and smoked marijuana. According to Kelley (1998), the hip hustler, or “hipster,” sought alternatives to wage labor and found pleasure in the new music, clothes and dance styles of the period. Kelley asserts that they were ‘race rebels’ of sorts, challenging middle-class ethics and expectations, carving out a distinct generational and ethnic identity. Lewis MacAdams(2001) writes that “The birth of the cool took place in the shadows, among marginal characters, in cold-water flats and furnished basement rooms. Most mid-century Americans were defined by their role in WWII, but cool wasn’t drafted; and cool didn’t serve. Cool was too young, too weird, too queer, too black, too strung out, too alien to take part. Cool wasn’t part of the victory celebration” (p. 23). After the War, however, cool became a lifestyle for a new generation of artists, and many of them were white. According to MacAdams, “War victory euphoria gave way to the paranoia and conformity of the Cold War, and artists were forced to turn inward and go undergound... .Before, there had been many individual acts of cool. Now cool—a way, a stance, a knowledge-was bom” (p. 27). Changing developments in jazz accelerated the trend. According to Boyd (1996), a number of white jazz artists emerged on the West Coast in the early 1950s who were playing music that was radically different from the bebop music that been the rage in New York. Boyd asserts that the West Coast “cool” sound, which borrowed from many of the stylistic innovations o f Miles Davis’ album, “The Birth of Cool,” rejected East Coast jazz as a truly Black idiom of expression. Hebdige (1979) asserted that East Coast bebop had been a racially integrating force which brought about not only a convergence of black and white listeners, but a racial and sexual rebellion that managed to generate moral panic. By the late 1950s, however, the appropriation of cool was nearly complete. “Beat” writers such as Jack Kerouac not only looked up to the “Black Man” as a model of cool, but adopted the cool pose as his own—a cool that was far more widely publicized than anything found in the work o f black contemporaries such as James Baldwin and Amiri Baraka (p. 47). 1 1 A classic American sociological study in the creation of ‘outsiders,’ and how certain behaviors are deemed deviant, is found in Howard Becker’s (1963) Outsiders. Focusing on the subaltern domains of drug cultures and jazz musicians, Becker’s work can be seen to precede the work of British cultural studies scholars. In regards to style, John Clark (1975) has noted that “the process of forming the group’s identity is as much due to “negative” reactions to other groups, events, ideas, etc. as it is to positive reactions.... One 169 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. of the main functions of a distinctive subcultural styles is to define the boundaries of group membership as against other groups” (p. 180). Clark also mentions that “the evolution of style has consequences, both for the group, and for how the grow will be seen, defined and ‘reacted’ to by others. Sub-cultural styles have become the principal way in which the mass media report or visualize youth. Judges, the police and social workers will use stereotypes based on appearance and dress to label groups and link them with certain characteristics and behavior... Aspects of dress, style and appearance therefore play a crucial role in group stigmatization, and thus in the operation and escalation of social reaction” (p. 184). For another kind of discussion that situates the experience of outsider-status, with regard to age, race, class and gender, see Audre Lorde (1984), Sister Outsider. 1 2 Payless Shoes was originally founded in 1956 in Topeka, Kansas, and today Payless Shoe Source, Inc. is North America’s largest family footwear retailer. Payless operates stores in all 50 states as well as Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Saipan, and Canada. Payless attempts to offer fashion- conscious, forward designs at a very inexpensive price ($15-$20); the shoes themselves are often made from synthetic materials. With more than 4,500 retail outlets throughout North America, their stores are widely represented both in shopping malls and min-malls throughout urban and suburban enclaves. See also www.paylessinfo.com. 170 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER 4 Cajoling and Pigeon-holing Youth: The Successful Ventures of Advertising and Marketing In the previous chapter, I showed how young adolescents identified and evaluated each other through their conceptions of “cool.” Interpretations of “cool” determined status and popularity among peer groups, and were also linked to the specifics of consumption practices. I highlighted practices in which 1) students appraised cool in the context of certain fashion styles (e.g. from rap music artists to sports-related subcultural groups like skaters); and 2) in which students explicitly used brand name products (e.g. footwear) to advance their interpretations of cool style. In Chapter 3 ,1 also explored how these consumption practices not only codified social interactions among Mefferin students but were also translated by them into expressions of discrimination and inequality. In Chapters 2 and 3 ,1 drew attention to the ways in which adolescents specifically engaged with various consumption genres and products. In this chapter I now draw attention to the ways in which specific culture industries have engaged with young adolescents. As I focus on the “marketplace of cool,” I examine the role that the advertising and marketing industries have played in making youth consumption of brand- name agendas and corporate ‘ideo-logos’ so successful over the past twenty years. With the precision of social and behavioral scientists, and with the additional sensitivity required of qualitative researchers, these industries have carefully developed a research paradigm that emphasizes the lives of young adolescents, detailing multiple 171 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. dimensions of their pleasures, interests and desires. And it is these industries which have been integral to making corporate commodities like MTV and Nike the pinnacles of cool in the eyes of today’s youth. The Developments of Brand-Name Hegemony Unlike any other western industrialized country in the world, the United States has established itself as the benchmark of free-market capitalism on a global level. On any given day, the economies of Asia, Europe, the United Kingdom, and Latin America are influenced by the fluctuations of the Dow Jones, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 averages. And unlike any other western industrialized country in the world, the U.S. is the global leader in media-related exports such as films, TV programs, and software. For better or for worse, American cultural texts, images, and values are beamed onto every continent, and are constructed into various interpretations of, and associations with liberation and domination. In a free-market economy like that offered by the U.S., a ‘robber-baron’ mentality is still part of the cultural scene. As media critic Mark Crispin Miller (2001) asserts, today “our media landscape is heavily dominated by just a handful of gigantic... transnational corporations” (p. 1); “we often hear there are more choices — there’s a seeming multiplicity, a great ostensible diversity out there; but behind the surface of that apparent vast range of choices, there’s really not all that much in the way of true difference or true diversity” (ibid. p.2). This multiplicity is also amplified in the way choices and products are advertised. The same products which provide the same functions, but which happen to be named differently (e.g. Nike and Payless shoes), can 172 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. become the ultimate stigma, implying low social status, lack of cultural capital, or the opposite — a high-status conduit to the world of cool. These are interesting contradictions that are part of the ‘magic’ that is mystifying about advertising and marketing Perhaps more than any other country in the world today, the U.S. spends the most money ‘hawking its wares’ through the business of advertising and marketing — an artistry of selling strategies that has few rivals on a global (or even local) scale. Advertising accompanied the boom in American industry and material production at the turn of the 20th century, and while advertising has evolved, it has never wavered in its intent to manufacture images and scenarios of success and betterment that ‘naturally’ incorporate material products into lifestyle and personal identity. The freedom of opportunity to create a campaign to sell a product and generate a large profit is one of the more outstanding elements the American free market ideal has achieved. Placing the interests of youth in the limelight of image and fantasy, these industries also gamer huge profits by selling a form of respect to an otherwise powerless population. In essence, a symbiotic relationship exists between products, marketers, merchants and consumers (in this case, young adolescents and teens). How Advertising Has Evolved The relationship among products, marketers, merchants and consumers over the last century has become more sustained, solidified, and complex. According to Pope (1991), the advertising industry throughout the 1950s was “a force for cultural homogeneity and standardization of daily life,” while today advertising has grown to an industry that recognizes “social and cultural diversity and presents consumption as an 173 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. arena of expressive individualism” (p. 50). It was during the post World War II years that “advertising volume expanded along with the booming economy, but perhaps more crucially, it employed the new medium of television to reach its audiences” (ibid, p.49). Television,1 more than any other communication medium to date, updated and expanded the relative uni-dimensionality of radio and print. Television brought text and image, sound and sight together to create stories -- attempting to mirror the viewer’s life (with a few alterations like the addition of a Ford Thunderbird in the driveway, a Magic Chef self-cleaning oven in the kitchen). While television advertising originally catered to the desires of adult suburbanites and “young marrieds” needing to keep up with the Jones,’ television created a new venue for commercialized culture which would eventually grow in magnitude for children and teens. In the 1940s and 1950s, teens were already a desirable “market” however, in those early days, “teenage” was often constructed as a “sub”culture, and was controversial because of its association with rock and roll music (Miller, p. 5) -- a style of rebelliousness also portrayed in films (e.g. Marlon Brando in The Wild One, James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause.) But the youth subculture market was different from the more general, universal youth culture market. Understanding the youth market, amorphous as it was, required advertising to adapt its “science” into expanded dimensions. For example, in the 1960s, the advertising industry shifted gears toward “market segmentation” that focused on studying key social demographics (e.g. age, gender, income, etc.) pertaining to the population at large, with the realization that “targeting slightly different products to specific groups of consumers is significantly more effective than manufacturing one 174 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. uniform product for everyone” (Frank, 1997, p.23). With an incentive of greater profit potential, the goal for marketers/advertisers was to figure out how, why, and where each of these segments would spend the most money. Between the 1950s and 1980s, advertisers “were the first to take note of the trend of the 12-24 market becoming more independent” in the sense that 1) they had money to spend, and 2) “they were not buying the same products as their parents” (ibid, p. 164). In this manner, children represent a huge “market potential” where they are not just one market but three: primary, influence and future (McNeal, 1992, p.3). Reinforcing that children’s and adolescent-oriented media and advertising is a lucrative market and has been for quite some time, McNeal writes: Looking back through marketers’ eyes, the‘50s provided children in large numbers, the ‘60s gave them increased incomes to spend, the ‘70s developed and produced many new products and services for the children to want and buy, and the‘80s gave the children legitimacy, or equality of sorts with adult consumers (P-6). Marketing scholarship (e.g. Kline, 1993; McNeal, 1992; Pope, 1991) has pointed out that the 1980’s in particular was a decade that took kids’ consumption to new levels. Along with an “explosion in kids’ media,” marketing strategist McNeal notes “sociological changes” addressing children’s “new found economic status:” “particular changes in the family dynamic such as fewer children per parent, postponement of having children, and dual working families” (p.7). Furthermore, the growing popularity of cable services and video cassette recorders greatly expanded the television experience of children. The greater number of commercial spaces that opened up in the 1980’s thus allowed advertising to flourish. 175 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. In addition to the developments described above, another explanation for the ascent of advertising as a social force is the increasingly limited role played by federal regulations, mandated guidelines, rules and sanctions. Historically, American business, private, and corporate entities have been engaged in a precarious dance with public institutions, government regulators, and political reformers. In the case of advertising to children/teens, for example, guidelines set during the 1960s and 1970s restricting television advertising targeted toward children were essentially obliterated during the 1980s.2 Kline (1993) has reinforced that: The rise of “business culture” during the 1980s was not simply an ideological blip on the cultural scene. Reagonomic policies resulted in profound changes in the regulatory structure of the culture industries, enabling a cycle of enterprise that expanded the manufacture, marketing, licensing and retailing of children’s goods (p. 214).. .Commercial television was ‘deregulated’ on the singular idea that all matters of popular culture — even children’s cultures — are best determined through the marketplace mechanisms of consumer choice and unfettered commercial media. The FCC position was justified on the grounds that the children’s cultural marketplace should only be restricted if there is proof of harm done to children (p.278). As a consequence of this ruling, discussion of commercials/advertising has rarely included assessments of public welfare. Rather, the politics of regulation has become centered on the politics of censorship, and the majority of organizations with any interest in the issue have been parental watchdog groups. These groups have concentrated their demands on the content of media (i.e. music/film subject matter was either too violent or too sexual). Some attempts at establishing new policy decisions were achieved in the Children’s Television Act of 1990, which limited television commercials on children’s television to 10.5 minutes on weekends and 12 minutes during weekday programs. Regardless of the number of programming minutes which have been shuffled around, 176 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. over one third of children’s television programming today is composed of commercial advertisements — the majority focused on a few key brand named products and services. How Mefferin Students Look at Advertising TTY Commercials & Brands) Since I was in secondary school more than twenty years ago,31 have witnessed an undeniable increase in brand-name marketing/advertising targeted to youth (ages 12-19). The most important for me were television commercials. Even with the multiplicity of commercial venues, television remained the common medium by which Mefferin students received their advertising messages. Among Mefferin youth, when I asked them about television commercials, it almost wasn’t a question of whether they liked them or not but how they liked them: LC: Now what about TV commercials? Do you guys like TV commercials? All: Yes LC: Why? Quack-Quack: It’s cool. LC: Oh better than regular TV? Quack-Qck: Yeah, sometimes Mary Garcia: There’s a really funny commercial like - the girl’s like leaving the guy and then he takes out that Coke and then he starts like screaming all around cuz he won like a thousand dollars. I think that’s what it is, and then when the girl comes back in, he acts like he’s crying. (GP1) I quickly noticed that Mefferin students would be more apt to purchase a product if they liked the advertising, and also that it was fairly commonplace for students to associate advertising they liked with a popular brand: LC: And would you buy a product that you saw advertised and you liked the ad? All: yes LC: You definitely would? - like if you saw a cool advertisement for Coke, would you buy Coke over Pepsi? Gabriela: yes (GP3) 177 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Food-related commercials effectively evoked an emotional response from some students: LC: Now do you like advertising in magazines or TV commercials? Quack-Quack: (instantly) TV Commercials! LC: When you see a commercial that’s really cool, are you gonna then buy the product? Vanessa: Yeah, like in some commercials they make you want it soo bad! ..It was just eat something. (GP1) LC: Do you think that if you saw a commercial you liked, do you think you’d buy the product more? Adriana: Oh yeah! Candy: When they make me hungry. (GP14) Other students didn’t care at all about food commercials but were equally involved with other corporate consumer satisfactions. Girls were more apt to mention fashion-related commercials, and boys were more apt to mention video games: LC: would you be more apt to buy a product — seeing it advertised in a cool ad -- when an ad is good, are you more likely to buy something? All: yeah LC: Like if there was an ad for Pepsi or Coke? Amenda: Not really -- not with foods. I never like watch a commercial for food. For shopping like clothes and shoes, yes. LC: Ok, what about you? Ramiro: Video games (GP 14) Blue Angel: Basically to me it depends on what ad it is cuz like what they’re advertising, if they’re advertising Calvin Klein or Tommy Hilfiger — something like that; if it’s a good ad, I’d get it. (GP11 ) On one level, marketing mobilizes a great deal of creativity and talent to convey expression and dimension to inanimate objects. Successful ad campaigns use successful impression management techniques. As Pope (1991) notes, today marketers also “routinely aim their sales efforts not at everybody but at a carefully defined and closely scrutinized segment, delineated by demography, social class, or psychological traits” (p. 50). On another level, marketing remains quite simplistic — marketing strategies emerge 178 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. from rather straightforward, practical selling guidelines referred to as the four Ps: Product, Price, Place and Promotion” (Kline, 1993, p.26). Still, even with this simple yet important equation, marketing is a vast research dynamic that has tapped into many resources, where “most people have only a vague awareness of the scale of planning that is directed at controlling our beliefs, values, and consumption patterns” (p.26). Key Tactical Strategies Used in Marketing/Advertising According to Kline (1993), “marketers claim that advertising reflects rather than leads social change” (p. 33). He further states that “through their cultural sensitivity and research, the advertising agencies must become adept at working with cultural ‘givens’” (p.33.) However, the “business” of cultural sensitivity is often a narrow enterprise overall. In the past twenty years there has been a steady increase in the creation of niche markets directed at people of color. For example, marketers today are scrambling in Southern California to reach the Latino population — a population of 18-49 year olds that is “expected to grow by 27% over the next decade, far outpacing the general population growth” (Johnson, 2001, p. Cl). According to Carlos Santiago, a partner in a Southern California Latino Marketing firm, “marketers are starting to grasp the sheer size of this market, but I don’t think many of them truly understand the economic power of Hispanics... and it’s not just income that marketers must learn to differentiate. People think Hispanic means one thing, but it’s different from Miami to Southern California. And here in California, it’s not just Mexicans, it’s Guatemalans, Salvadorans and other people from Central/South America” (ibid). In just a couple of years, the majority of Mefferin students will join this new demographic “sweet spot.” 179 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. While Hispanic marketing is in its infancy, Black/African-American marketing has had a longer history and substantial dispersion across cultures and ethnic enclaves. Still, marketing to blacks accelerated in the 1980s — especially as Nike, rap, and even celebrity athletes themselves became high profile commodities, and especially as economic downturns hit the black working-class community hardest. For example, de industrialization of the manufacturing sector in the late 1980s (that sustained a heavily working class black concentrated work force) was key in upsetting and unsettling many peoples’ standards of living. This is also problematic for the Latino population, largely situated in and around Los Angeles, of which, a significant portion of the population are part of the lowest levels of the socio-economic strata. A rising percentage in the Latino middle class is exhibited on one hand, but not any where near the levels of those in the Latino working/underclass segments. In general, marketers have attempted to appeal to African Americans by creating images of cultural integration within the American mainstream. At its most benign, such advertising simply encourages African American confidence in the American Dream. In their interview with Thomas Burrell of Burrell Advertising (an African American firm), Cassidy and Katula (1990), addressed the trend in “positive realism” in African American -oriented advertising campaigns. Burrell advocates portrayals of black people at their best, participating in mainstream American culture without foregoing pride in their heritage. However, marketing to African Americans is also complicated by the society-wide identification of “cool” with black culture (which is of itself partially a product of 180 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. advertising). Thus, African Americans who have achieved more conventional measures of success (e.g. Bill Cosby) are not featured as frequently in advertising as cool icons such as Michael Jordan or Spike Lee. At the very least, positive portrayals of African Americans in advertising constantly replays specific images and themes. For example, in her discussion on advertising targeted to children, Seiter (1990) noted that “most commercials which use African American children today feature a rap theme and/or some reference to sports” (p. 104). It may be that because consumer niches are multiplying throughout the wider society and across culture, consumption of particular products is integral to social identity formation for adolescents of color. Thus, sport celebrities such as Michael Jordan have become a cultural role model for adolescent boys — while endorsing products from the Nike Corporation (see also Goldman & Papson, 1998; Katz, 1994). Through streamlining the niche marketing segments and principles, one of marketing’s key strategies is to discover the most creative ways to interpret, even usurp youth culture, and then sell it back to them in some precarious ways. Some L.A. Observations: “ Billboarding” Down the Street In Los Angeles, advertisers have readily attempted to harness ‘ghetto cool’ and sell it back to youth. In the early 1990’s it was not uncommon to see the iconography of the now defunct (and outlawed) “Joe Camel” — the animated spokesman for Camel Cigarettes — on billboard adverting spaces across the city. Billboard advertising in L.A. is notoriously extensive, covering space on the myriad freeways and city streets. Joe Camel would pop up in Hollywood, South Central, and the West Side. Joe Camel 181 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. imagery looked like a cartoon in part but drew on themes of conventional hipness: he was always seen wearing sunglasses and playing the sax in a night club — a glimpse of the urban cool nostalgia of the 1950s Jazz musician. When Bill Clinton was campaigning for the presidency, he looked a bit like Joe Camel when he donned his sax and sunglasses playing up his cool on late night TV. During the same time I also recall the ads for Seagram’s “Gin and Juice” combo cocktail — these ads were located along Century Blvd, the standard airport route to LAX, in close proximity to the primarily working class African-American neighborhoods near Inglewood and Watts. Rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg had recently released a song by the same title. The Joe Camel motif borrows from the animated, cartoonish, ‘Joe Cool,’ the alter ego that “Peanuts” cartoonist Charles Schulz created for his canine character Snoopy — originally a youthful, childhood-related icon. Decades later, rapper Snoop Dogg apparently utilized the Schulz creation in his own persona. Snoop’s album covers have also been cartoonish, particularly “Doggystyle”- in which “Gin and Juice” is a featured track. Further, Snoop Dogg has long been a favorite of children and teens. So as youth remember their fondness for the cartoon cool of the persona and the cover art, why is it that Camel and Seagrams are not far behind? Finally, both campaigns were both mounted on billboards — prominently visible, selectively placed. Billboards in general are at the perfect sight location for those traveling in buses. Perhaps advertisers have realized early that in Los Angeles, a quarter million kids take the bus to and from school daily. When bus commutes may last 45 minutes to an hour, that becomes a huge window of opportunity. Of course, billboards are not just about alcohol and tobacco. Style and 182 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. cool are not far behind. In Los Angeles, a large percentage of billboards advertise movies and television shows, and of course clothing and footwear brands like Nike, Adidas, and The Gap. And around Mefferin school, billboards abound on the major thoroughfares near the campus. Trees are sacrificed so billboards can be the predominant street decoration. Furthermore, the affluence of the specter of Westwood is reflected on billboards with high-end, up-market advertising for the likes of Calvin Klein and Courvosier alongside those for the latest Hollywood movies. Marketing Cool and Cool Marketing Somewhere along the line, the counterculture hepcat outsider came in from the fringe and became a mass-market commodity. During the last 40 years, Americans have watched as hip moved from a suspicious looking counterculture to a consumer-driven mandate. It has become our national currency, our social deity. Everyone from Tina Brown to Target wants to be hip. At clothing companies, car companies, cola companies, coffee companies, dot-coms, and of course in nearly every conceivable publication, the directive is constant and inarguable — get hip, stay hip and then get hipper. Hip sells. And more important, Hip buys. from “Whatever Happened to Hip?” Los Angeles Times, 2/22/00 (p. El) What happened to the “counter-culture” in America that was originally flavored with bohemian impulses of expressive sexuality, racial tolerance, music, poetry and art? A vanguard rebelliousness that was the non-conformist antithesis to the Gray Flannel suit generation of the 1940s and 1950s provided the inspiration for the corporate onslaught that grabbed onto the forces of the hip and cool. In 1967, Ned Polsky wrote about Hustlers, Beats, and Others, and noted how, shortly after the 1957 publication of Jack Kerouac’s novel, On the Road (which became a testament of anti-establishment post-war youth consciousness), the Greyline tour buses were already rolling through the enclaves of New York’s Greenwich Village and San Francisco’s North Beach. Polsky specified 183 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. that “there has been in three years a great proliferation of Village coffee shops, chiefly because square patronage makes them profitable. New York’s beat scene has become a major tourist attraction, just as it happened earlier in San Francisco” (p. 148.) Decades later, and drawing on the aura of these images of hip and cool, the 1993 “Who Wore Khakis?” advertising campaign was launched by The Gap, featuring the likes of Kerouac, James Dean, and Miles Davis wearing the blandly colored trousers. As Naomi Klein (1999) writes, “If you take a ‘cool’ artist and associate that mystique with your brand, you hope it wears off and makes you cool too” (p.45). In 2000, The Gap was listed high among Mefferin students as a favorite brand, a cool brand. To reiterate an earlier point, the appeal of counter-culture melding with commercial interests is not a new phenomenon. As Frank (1997) has pointed out, long before the 1960s, and particularly in the 1920s,4 “Young people had always been an established part of marketing and a staple image in advertising art, largely because of their position as trend leaders” (p.24). What changed in the 1960s, however, was that “youth” ceased to be a selective subculture — “No longer was youth merely a ‘natural’ demographic group to which appeals could be pitched: suddenly youth became a consuming position to which all could aspire” (ibid, pp. 24-25). Frank further contends that the function of “youth” in advertising became “an easy metaphor for a complex new consumer value-system” (p. 121). What is key in this framework is that youth does not have any association with the realities of actual childhood and children. In this regard, Lynne Spigel (1998) aptly noted that “childhood is the difference against which adults define themselves” (p.l 10). Adult rhetoric has a clever way of 184 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. divorcing itself from the mundane but reaches for its own definitions in the sacredly symbolic. Adults wish for and worship a “fountain of youth” mythology, but would never sacrifice their adult minds, their life experiences, for the likes of a 14 year old’s! For actual young people, such as those in the Mefferin population, they yearned to be older, often lying about their ages to appear older (e.g. Gisel Gutierez from GP8 who would often say she was 16 or 18 when she was really 13 years old). In terms of lying about one’s age, adults (especially those over 35) tend to lie ‘down,’ whereas young adolescents (especially those under 21) tend to lie ‘up.’ This is (deliberately) done — virtually for the benefit of public performance and public reception. Thus, I argue that “youth oriented” marketing is promoting ideological directives that cajole children and adolescents into early maturity alongside the directives that force adults into believing that they can look twenty years younger. Furthermore, Frank (1997) saw the early counter-culture mystique not as a historical element, but rather as a co-opted mythology: “Madison Avenue’s favorite term for the counter-culture was “the Now Generation,” a phrase that implied absolute up-to- dateness in every sense” (p.121). Advertisers and media-makers sell the product of youth over and over, splicing and dicing in counter-culture images to motivate the quest for an “edge,” for both the au courant and “avant garde” of culture and style. However, while the youth/counter-culture sensibility is used to sell to everybody, what happens to real young people? Over twenty years earlier, similar questions were explored by Clark (1975), who concluded with some of these probable consequences for real youth: Exploitation of subcultural style, by the dominant culture, has itself two opposed aspects: on the positive side a heavy commercial investment in the youth world of fashion and trends, and on the negative side a persistent use 185 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. of style-characterizations as convenient stereotypes to identify and, hopefully isolate groups dominantly regarded as anti-social (p. 195). Clark’s insights were very telling in that youth-related subcultures’ styles and symbols remain virtually innocuous (especially if they are stimulating business profits) until something goes wrong in real society. Take, for example, the Columbine shooting spree of teens Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, whose actions were attributed (in the news media) to violent video games, Marilyn Manson music and Goth subculture, the film adaptation of Jim Carroll’s Basketball Diaries, and the fashion of black London Fog trench coats (e.g. the Columbine killers’ interest in style subculture of “the trench coat mafia.” Even though Americans have channeled millions of dollars into entertainment and leisure for their own enjoyment, many Americans love to blame the popular culture when a unique incident occurs and becomes symbolic of all youth -- whose darker implications could extend even to your own child - when in fact youth have been co-opted, abducted and imprisoned by a selective media culture. Place stigma on Marilyn Manson of course, but keep buying those Nikes, keep watching MTV, keep the corporate cool alive. If the idea that youth are imprisoned by their own “cool” culture today seems exaggerated, consider the situation among black ghetto youth. The cool product, not the provocative content, is consistently a source of conflict. Majors and Billison (1992) point out how, according to “Billy, age 24, “cool is no different between black and white. People killing people for a jacket, because they think it’s cool. For a pair of shoes. There’s more pressure in the black community to be cool, the negative type of cool. All the commercialism going around. Get what you want.” (p. 10). While this example points to 186 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. an older male persona than those in the Mefferin sample, the seeds of this sort of thinking have already sprouted in the younger set - a population of youth that has high regard for corporate cultures that manufacture cool. And while Mefferin youth have not ‘killed’ for shoes, some have certainly formulated creative ways of obtaining shoes. My research leads me to believe that youth not only have their choices of style pre-packaged for them, but that the majority of youth today probably determine what’s hip and cool directly through today’s corporate style, one which embraces just enough of the flamboyant aspects of youth (counter) culture, but one which also fully embraces the capitalist spirit. When Mefferin students discussed the meanings of cool, quite often their interpretations drew from their consumption interests in television, music and sports. With this in mind, I find it important to address the “coolest” of corporate commodity brands: MTV and Nike — which encompass the domains of television, music, and sports. MTV Cool Nothing merges youthful counter-culture motifs, the projection of cool into advertising style and trends, and the spirit of contemporary global capitalism better than MTV (Music Television). Indeed it has been over twenty years since “video killed the radio star” as MTV first went on the air in 1981. It was the first all music-centered, youth-oriented cable television channel. Its 24-hour format has gone beyond music videos to include live concerts, teen dramas, current events/news documentaries, and a new genre of music/fashion awards shows. In 2001, MTV found viewers in 342 million households in 140 different countries across the globe (in Goldstein, 2001). E. Ann Kaplan (1987), who conducted some of the earliest cultural research on 187 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the MTV phenomenon, argued that “the main force of MTV as a cable channel is consumption on a whole variety of levels, ranging from the literal (selling the sponsor's goods, rock stars, and MTV itself) to the psychological (i.e. selling the image, the "look," the style, p. 143). Further, Kaplan states that: MTV, the institution, is itself embedded in contradictions that are an inevitable part of its cultural context. For example, reading MTV as a merely co-opted kind of postmodernism that utilizes adolescent desire for its own, commercial ends. The adoption of adolescent styles, imagery, and iconography by the adult fashion and ad worlds., .does not necessary signal a healthy acceptance of youth's subversive stances; it rather suggests a cynicism by which profit has become the only value (p. 148). The youth culture that MTV represents is not counter or oppositional culture; rather, it capitalizes on the myth of the rebel in a highly packaged commodity. It subverts the dominant culture ruled by adults in a loose manner, but is hardly transgressive. MTV is owned by Viacom, one of the few (under seven corporations in total) media conglomerates “responsible for selling nearly all of youth culture. They are the true merchants of cool5 ” (Rushkoff, 2001). MTV also has a charismatic ‘chief at its center — Tom Freston, who once chased his beatnik dreams to Greenwich village, then to an Indian ashram for spiritual enlightenment, and now to a position as chairman of MTV networks (which includes cable stations VH-1, Nickelodeon, and TVLand) since its inception in 1981. MTV has cornered the market for music videos — a true contemporary corporate monopoly. According to ex-Virgin Records chief Jeff Ayeroff: “It’s hard to be big and be cool too, but when it comes to institutions, MTV is about as corporately cool as you can get.. .If MTV was just about the bottom line, it would have failed. Tom Freston’s brilliance is 188 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. that whenever things feel complacent, he shakes it up. He knows that if they keep their cool, the money will follow” (Goldstein, 2001, F6). And the money has indeed followed — MTV has had the unique ability of being able to combine ‘brands and bands’ that continuously produce an idea of hip, cool, the edge — the intersection of fashion and fortune.6 Tom Freston, along with Nike founder and C.E.O, Phil Knight remain entrepreneurial giants, multi-national pioneers in the marketing and merging of “youth” and “cool.” Nike Cool. Nike Corporation, Nike Capitalism By early 1993, one of every three pairs of athletic shoes sold in the US were Nikes. There was by then a discernible Nike way of shoe design, marketing, advertising, and corporate governance. There was a more widely understood Nike mystique, a Nike irreverence and a special Nike strain of the myriad intricacies of cool (p.8). — Donald Katz (1994) Just Do It: The Nike Spirit in the Corporate World No other company has perfected the combination of youth and marketing strategies (this time through sports culture) to achieve global brand recognition with equal success to Nike. Watch any televised, publicized, and respected sporting event like the Olympics, Wimbledon, World Cup Soccer or the NBA playoffs, and that Nike logo, that mercurial “swoosh,” will be understated, yes, but always visible. And like MTV, Nike is received across every world continent. Nike sells it products to approximately 18,000 retail accounts in the U.S. and distribution subsidiaries in approximately 110 countries around the world (Goldman and Papson, 1998, p.6). Even those who can’t afford to spend their money on Nike products publicize their solidarity by simply wearing the swoosh logo — emblazoned on T-shirts and shaved into haircuts. 189 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Garnering huge profits through their creative and innovative advertising campaigns, Nike is an interesting case study to address since this brand was so fully integrated into the lives of the students I encountered at Mefferin School. While its global dominance7 and its use of contracted labor has attracted some controversy, such backstage politics are virtually unknown to adolescents and teens, the largest market for Nike shoes. Recall that Mefferin students, Yuri, Gisel, and Michelle (GP8) believed that Nike was a company “that is like owned by everybody.” In the minds of students, because everybody wears Nikes, and because Nike offers so many styles -- thus offering an opportunity for “everybody” to buy Nikes — everybody has the opportunity to own Nike. That these students were so unaware of Nike’s status as a powerful ‘for-profit’ enterprise is yet another testament to the extent of Nike’s success. While not part of the public domain, Nike’s presence is certainly a ubiquitous one, on a par with Coca-Cola for instance. What is different is that Coke has been around for over a hundred years and Nike is a relative upstart. The company began as a simple sport shoe company in 1972 and didn’t become a big player in the public consciousness until the late 1980s (see Goldman & Papson, 1998; Katz, 1994). The crucial turning point came when Nike decided that advertising was more about “culture” than it was about “demographics.” The following illustrates Nike’s ‘rebirth’ due to the timely nature of innovative advertising campaigns and strategies — built on the simple formula of what was cool and elegant, reflective of the times. The story of Nike’s “rags to riches” success is due in large part to the convergence of contemporary innovations in production and marketing at the end of the 20th century. 190 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. In the early 20th century, companies such as Ford and Frigidaire produced cars and refrigerators in house, then hired advertisers to promote the benefits of each new model. However, in the late 20th century, companies such as Nike and Tommy Hilfiger produce nothing in house except for the product designs. In the case of Nike, “almost all production of shoes, apparel and accessories is outsourced to contract suppliers in developing nations while the home office in Beaverton Oregon designs, develops, and markets the branded goods... .Virtually all the company’s products are manufactured by independent contractors” (Goldman & Papson, p.6). In the meanwhile, American advertising has undergone a few recent changes of its own. In the 1980s, when more commercial spaces opened up to product vendors, marketers had to create more sophisticated advertising packages, from licensing agreements across venues to brand-name/life-style campaigns across cultures. Companies from Starbucks to Microsoft to Nike and Tommy Hilfiger have all taken advantage of the brand-name/lifestyle campaign. With the advent of production “outsourcing,” companies like Nike devote the bulk of their resources to marketing, and to brand-name campaigns in particular. They hire advertisers to promote the essence of what their brands signify — vibrant lifestyle, success, cool. Klein (1999) reminds us that in the old paradigm, marketing was about selling the product; “in the new model, the product always takes a back seat to the real product, the brand” (p. 21). What is interesting to note in the context of the recent development of these advertising campaigns is the historical “placement” of the Mefiferin sample: all were bom between 1986 and 1988. Not only has Nike and MTV managed to comer a good deal of the 191 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. “market” on their conceptions of cool, but the near-universality of the brand image in their lifetime has discouraged curiosity about the profit generated by the brand image at their expense, and even encouraged them to see brand names as standard-bearers. For Goldman and Papson (1998), Nike is the ultimate embodiment of a “global and transnational capitalism [that] has brought with it industries where commodities are themselves symbols” (p. 169). They also stress that “the primary vehicle through which Nike has built its cultural icon and its symbolic capital has been its advertising and sports marketing” (p. 169). The history of Nike sports marketing illustrates a further development in what has been called “brand building”- in this case, the never-ending search for “authentic” signifiers which have the ability to maintain and expand the cultural capital of the brand. In the mid 1980s, Reebok came on the scene especially in terms of marketing their shoes to women who were going to aerobics and jazzercize classes in droves. Reebok eclipsed all other players in the sports shoes market until Nike began an unduplicatable advertising endeavor. In 1987, when the company turned to the advertising agency, Wieden and Kennedy, Nike C.E.O. Phil Knight wasn’t thrilled and pointed out first that he found advertising phony and that everything about his corporate vision was about focusing on the greatness of the athletes (Katz, p. 136). Katz discussed how Phil Knight related to marketing “as sociology” — “What Nike does well is interpret what people are doing, what they are interested in, and we’ve been lucky enough to align ourselves completely with what we perceive....for us marketing is building awareness around the products and reminding people what we do” (p. 151). Knight’s philosophy was breaking new ground and many were already taking notice. According Wieden: 192 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Nike made it very clear that they hated advertising. They had developed close relationships with athletes, and they didn’t want to talk to them in any phony or manipulative way. They were obsessed with authenticity, in terms of both the product and the communication. And they had a sense of what was cool (in Goldman & Papson, p. 171). To promote “what people are doing,” Nike spent $250 million on advertising, marketing and promoting the Nike brand in 1993, and by 1997, that total had grown to $978 million (in Goldman & Papson, p. 16). Finally, whether or not African American youth have had their social identities manufactured for and marketed to them, it is very clear that Nike and other companies have not only borrowed but chased down contemporary African American “cool” for the purpose of creating a “hip” identity for their brand. Klein (1999) writes: Nike is focused on borrowing style, attitude and imagery from black urban youth that the company has its one word for the practice: bro-ing. That’s when Nike marketers and designers bring their prototypes to inner-city neighborhoods in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago and say, “hey bro, check out these shoes” to gauge the reaction to new styles and to build up a buzz. .. .Tommy Hilfiger, even more than Nike or Adidas has turned the harnessing of ghetto cool into a mass-marketing science. Hilfiger forged a formula that has since been imitated by Polo, Nautica, and others looking for a short cut to making it at the suburban mall with inner-city attitude (p.75). The Nike practice of “bro-ing,” mentioned above, was exactly what Nike needed to keep the symbolic capital of its brand authentic and alive. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, Nike’s strategic campaigns fronted film maker Spike Lee and the best athletes (e.g. Bo Jackson, Michael Jordan), highlighting their grace and elan, were also directed toward black inner-city male youth — perhaps a significant pre-cursor to the growing neo liberal attention on multi-culturalism, and racial elaboration in the mass media (see Wilson & Sparks, 1996; Dyson, 1993; Majors & Billison, 1992.) According to Wilson 193 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and Sparks (1996), within the realm of sport, this “cool pose” is often best symbolized by the emergence of an expressive style among Black basketball players that encompasses creativity, grace and agility embedded in an aggressive assertion of masculinity. And, it appears in Dyson’s (1993) assertion that the “sneaker symbolizes the ingenious manner in which Black cultural nuances of cool, hip and chic have influenced the broader American cultural landscape” (p.72). Furthermore, Goldman and Papson (1998) also stress that in today’s culture, when Nike celebrates athletic activity as self-affirming, liberating, empowering, and transcendental, and by representational equivalence attaches itself to its own promotions in order to swell its sign value, Nike practices become a ready target because its advertising has made the swoosh so very visible, and so loaded it with significance. In other worlds, the very thing — the swoosh — that has made Nike successful in the world of consumption also acts like a magnet for negative publicity (p. 183). The Hunt for Cool Since the baby-boom generation grew up and had their own children, today’s teenage population has increased significantly. In 1998 U.S. teens were at 27 million (Johnson, 1999). A population explosion of teens also means more dollars spent on products targeted to them, and this is why teenagers sit in corporate boardrooms discussing trends, products, and styles — because they represent profit and because they represent “cool.” Marketers have realized that teenage cool was “the make or break quality of 1990’s branding” (Klein, 1999, p. 70). In 1997, Malcolm Gladwell wrote a revealing essay about the growing number of fashion sleuths whose job was to find those “certain kids in certain places.” According to Gladwell, “only the cool hunters know who they are” (p. 78). While fashion generally has had a history of trickling down, in which 194 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. trends were dictated by the rich and famous, today’s cool style is about trickling-up, where trends are dictated by the poor and nameless. Thus, the job of the cool hunter is to collect spontaneous observations through “a window on the world of the street” (ibid, p.78). Because selling to teens in the last decade has become a highly competitive industry, Rushkoff (2001) has pointed out how companies relish the chance to “get in on a trend or subculture while it is still hidden so they can be the first to bring it to market” (p. 1). Hence, the importance of ‘cool hunters’ — those who can track down the latest cool trends in teen life — can make a lot of money marketing their expertise to companies marketing to teens” (p.l). For this study, I reviewed the web sites of two agencies (Teen Research Unlimited and Look-Look) which specialize in (cool) marketing research on youth. Teen Research Unlimited (TRU), located in the Chicago area, was founded in 1982, and has been the nation’s foremost market research firm specializing in teen culture. In addition to custom research programs, TRU offers subscribers access to a bi- yearly study that incorporates a sample of 2000 teens ages 12-19; according to TRU, the sample is nationally representative of the U.S. population (weighted to census data) in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, geographic region, etc. Sample selections are derived from the American Student List, and methodology includes self-administered surveys via U.S. mail and the Internet, along with “Pre-” developmental and “Post-” analytic focus groups. TRU boasts that more that 150 of the world’s leading youth brands subscribe to the TRU study; clients include prominent clothing/footwear brands like Adidas, Nike, 195 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Calvin Klein, etc. to snack foods like Coca-Cola, Kraft, and Frito-Lay, along with the NBA, NFL, MTV, Mastercard, Visa, and even the U.S. Department of Defense, [see Appendix K] Teen Research Unlimited locates and secures and large corporate clientele because they offer unparalleled services: The TRU study keeps you attuned to what’s on teens’ minds and what’s in their hearts. It lets you know what they’re doing, what they’re enjoying, and what they’re thinking about doing next. It gives you the marketing intelligence you need to grasp opportunities as they develop, and to assure your brand remains relevant over the long term.. .We understand how teens think, what they want, what they like, what they aspire to be, what excites them, and what concerns them. We understand what they’re going through and what really moves them. So, we’re able to better understand how they view advertising, products, promotions, media, and new ideas. And, we understand how they think about and interact with brands (p. 1). When one becomes a TRU client, services include two study reports whose findings are enriched by TRU’s uniquely designed research measures: Teen/Types ™: TRU’s segmentation Model, TRU’s Coolest Brand Meter ™, TRU Score ™ Celebrity Ratings, TRU’s Teen Value Monitor ™, and Sports Affinity Index ™. Before and after each new study, a select group of teens (TIP — Teen Influencer Panel) contribute feedback in focus groups. Along with the report subscriptions, clients are also offered the opportunity to structure custom research that includes comprehensive quantitative and innovative qualitative methods. The qualitative methods include Total Immersion ™ (in which the client is immersed in all aspects of teen culture, from food to music, at a particular site), and Mirrored Immersion ™ (in which the client directs and/or watches o focus groups through a one-way mirror at the TRU focus-group facility). Similarly, if one becomes a client of the Los Angeles-based Look-Look agency, 196 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. one can participate in “trend trips” that foster immersion in youth culture with a personalized guided city tour of the most important youth hangouts in cities like Los Angeles, New York, Austin, Seattle, London and Tokyo, etc. Look-Look also offers a subscription research data website, but Look-Look differs from TRU in that the agency has created a global network of over 10,000 youth correspondents, respondents, and photojoumalists who report on their own culture: “Look-Look is a bridge that connects youth culture to the professional who wants to understand it.” Their methodological twist is their cinema verite ’ approach: “The Kid, the Laptop, and the Digital Camera.” Look- Look hires ‘real’ young people to report on their own culture, “all hand-picked and pre screened.” Recruited youth are paid $5 per survey filled out, $50 for photos of new trends and styles. As with TRU, Look-Look’s services are not geared towards style alone. Their promotional spread also speaks to covering the “whole” culture of youth, categorized into specific channels like ‘fashion’, ‘technology’, and ‘mindset.’ As the cool hunters spot the trends that are most popular among teens, they sell their findings to media outlets, magazines, and corporate design houses like Nike and Tommy Hilfiger. Then these corporations reproduce the trends and sell it back to youth en masse and in toto — the transfer of power from “bro-ing” on the inner-city streets to suburban “mall-ing” in Oklahoma and Indiana. For example, a key strategy that teen magazines employ (that will inevitably lead to more products sold and consumed) is the way they highlight ‘hot new stars’ and ‘hot new trends’ on a continuous basis — combining the mass-consumed, mediated genres of music, fashion, new technology, and TV/movies through a litany of critiques, reviews and recommendations that ultimately 197 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. translate into well-packaged sales pitches. Consider the growing magnitude of one magazine, mentioned as a favorite of Mefferin students, Teen People: On the December 2000/January 2001 cover, pop/R & B singers Beyonce Knowlls, Pink, and the Backstreet Boys appear beside the heading “What’s Next.” Detailing the top things teens will be wearing, from Nike to Old Navy, Teen People's offerings promote the corporate solidarity that began the whole cycle. Aside from noting the contradictions inherent in selling cool back to the teens who generate it, the practice of “cool hunting” deserves additional scrutiny. For instance, the agencies use ‘human subjects’ for research with (apparently) little regard to the ethical issues that the use of human subjects entails. On the one hand, Look-Look adopts a “living research” aspect and is dedicated to studying all aspects of youth culture because young people are incredibly fascinating, innovative, thoughtful and increasingly influential on the culture at large. They are frequently the harbingers of new ideas because they are open to new things and experiences. They are our leaders in adopting and innovating the digital age. They have their own voice and we want to assure that it is heard with credibility and accuracy. On the other hand, these agencies who claim to respect the opinions of youth never mention how respondents and recruits are protected through anonymity or parental consent. Perhaps most significantly, neither agency mentions how teens themselves can actually benefit. Despite their pretensions to serving as a forum for the voices and concerns of teens everywhere, the cool-hunting agencies lavish their attention and “care” on a select group of Teen Influencers and Trend Setters. Ultimately, agencies like these help to perpetuate the inequality exhibited among Mefferin youth. While the trend- 198 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. setting few reap the benefits of heightened visibility, other teens may not be so fortunate. Miller (2001) reminds us that: Kids feel frightened and lonely today. It’s because they are encouraged to feel that way. Advertising has always sold anxiety and it certainly sells anxiety to the young. It’s always telling them that they are not thin enough, they’re not pretty enough, they don’t have the right friends, or they have no friends, they’re creeps or they’re losers -- unless they’re cool.... It is thoroughly about being on display. It’s about how you look (p. 15). In this manner, there are consequences that adults today can rarely recall; if they do, they hardly reminisce fondly about them. Miller reinforces that: Teens suffer from acute self-consciousness to begin with. Their bodies are changing and they feel awkward and they often are awkward. This system comes along and heightens that anxiety by constantly confronting every kid with a kind of mirror in which you’re supposed to look at yourself and like what you see or not like what you see, depending on whether you’ve bought the stuff that they’re selling. That’s what its all about (p. 15). It is clear that the culture industries designed for youth seem to forget some of the unpleasantries of these times and thus, end up promoting a strange and selective version of reality. The extent to which marketing agencies like TRU and Look-Look fulfill the needs of teens is completely dependent on the extent to which cool corporations like MTV and Nike can generate profits from them. Conclusion The ubiquitous presence of this ‘business ethic’ has not been adequately addressed in American sociological research on children and adolescents. While prominent sociological (ethnographic) scholarship on children and young adolescents (e.g. Adler & Adler, 1998, Eder, 1997, Thome, 1994) has provided extensive discussions of popularity and social stigmas, these studies have barely touched on the contemporary significance of 199 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. consumer cultures in the lives of young people. Further, sociologists who study youth have rarely inquired into the relationship between marketers, merchants, products, and consumers. To gain an understanding of this relationship required me to expand my review of recent scholarship into other disciplines. For example, education scholar, Henry Giroux (2000) has affirmed how: childhood at the end of the 20th century is not ending as a historical and social category; it has simply been transformed into a market strategy and a fashion aesthetic used to expand the consumer-based need of privileged adults who live within a market culture that has little concern for ethical considerations, noncommercial spaces or public responsibilities...as culture becomes increasingly commercialized, the only type of citizenship that adult society offers to children is that of consumerism (p. 19). The integration of Giroux’s insights into my own ethnographic focus has allowed me to investigate the ways in which the socialization and acculturation practices of contemporary youth become intimately intertwined with the structures that underpin the marketplace of cool. Further, my study explores how the strategies of the marketplace have likewise become increasingly sophisticated, intimately tracing intersections of race, gender, and class. This raises questions and issues for future research that can incorporate the marketplace motif as a site of oppression - particularly evidenced by the discriminatory practices which are instituted by consumers both young and old in pursuing and acquiring the power of the right brand name (i.e. Nike vs. Payless). My research is timely in that it makes clear that communication, media and technology have expanded the texts and images available to youth today compared to even twenty years ago; my research also demonstrates the importance of these technologies in the evolution of corporation and commercialism at the opening of the 21s t 200 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. century. Advertising and marketing industries have vastly changed since the mid 20th century in their service to corporations intent on selling ‘cool.’ Corporations are not only desirous of establishing brand loyalty early, they are constantly devising new configurations for channeling teen money into a greater scope of consumption arenas. From my research with the Mefferin sample, these strategies seem to have paid off. In the next chapter I focus on some of the more salient aspects of teenage disposable income, and how money was understood by the Mefferin students. As that chapter will demonstrate, not only are Mefferin students (like most contemporary young adolescents) intimately connected with corporate consumption and marketing, but they also inevitably see money as a conduit to entertainment and having a good time. 1 Some important discussions of the medium of television in post World War II America have been put forth by Lynn Spigel (1992) Make Room fo r TV, Susan Douglas (1994), Where the Girls are: Growing up Female with the Mass Media, and Ellen Seiter (1995), Sold Separately. 2 Pope (1991) pointed out that extensive hearings on advertising in 1979 produced no Federal Trade Commission Action (p.52). Kline (1993) further points to the rise of “business culture” during the 1980s (p. 215). According to Kline, “The growing reverence for the marketplace dynamic inspired by Reaganomics had an enormous impact on U.S. policy debates about children’s television in the 1980s, tipping the previously established balance between the vulnerability of children and the rights of commercial interests” (p.278). In 1996, according to Lowiy (12/12/01), “broadcasters reluctantly agreed to Federal Communications Commission rules calling upon them to offer three hours a week of educational or informational programming as a condition of their broadcast licenses - advocates noted the goal was not to teach curricula but ensure there was some programming for kids infused with loftier values than what action figures to buy at Toys R Us” (p. FI). 3 In the past twenty years, media have been fully integrated into a web of commercial connections. For example, licensing and promotions unite film, TV characters or sports celebrities with fast food, school supplies, radio spots, toys, games, etc. on a large scale. Now the world of the Internet is also connected with promotion and advertising. Mefferin students would often go to GAP, Nike, MTV web sites to check out new products and styles. By comparison, when I was 13 years old, there was no cable TV, no Internet- - key media that today’s youth are plugged in to. 4 The 1920s brought in the first stylistic youth revolution on a mass level. In the “Jazz Age,” the idea of youth began to take shape in popular culture representations (e.g. literary works like F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Flappers and Philosophers or Warner Fabian’s Flaming Youth). In both the decades of the 1960s and 1920s, there was the sense of a strong economy and the liberation of social constraints, particularly those linked to racial intolerance and women’s sexuality. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 5 By owning this network of media divisions a conglomerate like Viacom (owns CBS, MTV, VH1, UPN, Paramount Film Studios, Blockbuster Video, Simon & Schuster book publishing, and Infinity Network radio stations to name a few) can relentlessly cross-promote its products. Other key conglomerates, include Disney, which owns ABC, Infoseek, Miramax films, and ESPN; Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, which owns Fox Broadcasting, the L.A. Dodgers, the New York Post and Avon Books; Universal, which owns A & M records, Motown records, Island Def Jam music Group and Universal Pictures, with partial ownership of Home Shopping Network, Ticketmaster, and Seagrams; and AOL/Time Warner, which owns HBO, Warner Bros. Pictures and Television, the Atlanta Braves, CNN, and New Line Cinema, People magazine, and Sports Illustrated magazine. 6MTV’s ability to expand its market and appeal continues with its recent (2002) addition of The Osbournes, the reality based series of former Black Sabbath frontman, Ozzy Osbourne who along with his wife and two teenage children share their day-to-day family values. Utilizing their pioneering success in creating the original reality television series The Real World (now in its eleventh year), The Osbournes is a new marketing coup — this series appeals to both the aging MTV viewer as well as the younger generation of viewers. 7 Nike and globalization has had a controversial histoiy with sweatshop politics in third world countries. Nike’s contract labor politics. See Katz, 1994; Goldman & Papson, 1998; Klein, 1999. *TRU boasts a unique teen focus-group facility as the centerpiece of its suburban Chicago offices: “Unlike the typically stark, “business-type” rooms most facilities offer, our group room is designed with teens in mind ~ to put them at ease and to get them to open up! The furniture is fun, comfortable, and colorful. The lighting is diffused and teen-friendly. Even the interchangeable posters of current music artists tell teens this space is for them alone. And, we didn’t forget you [the client] in the facility design, either. Although we put teens front-and-center, we took just as much care in designing the viewing room around clients’ needs. A huge mirror, extra comfortable chairs, and a great working surface with easy-to-get to AC for laptops assure that your viewing experience will be extra productive as well. A state-of-the-art AV system, including client-controlled zoom-and-pan video camera, gets you up-close and personal with your respondents. And because we know our clients were teens once themselves, posters of musicians from the Stones and Marvin Gaye to the Sex Pistols and the Police grace TRU’s viewing-room walls.” 202 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER 5 “We’re in the Money” but Still Cursed at the Bottom Line Social constructions of “childhood” and “youth” change over time and have sparked all maneuvers of reinvention; however, much of this youth culture today is related to the peculiar pressures, whims, and fluctuations of a market economy that is controlled by adults. Not yet granted any rights of adult citizenship or able to hold legal employment, middle school youth have been socialized into a profit-driven, money- centered culture that enshrines and encourages values such as competition, material wealth and the pursuit of high social status. Recall that in Chapter 3 information was presented about the ways in which young adolescents in the Mefferin school sample devoted their time and energy to being and becoming cool, hip, popular, and validated by their peers. The desire to fit in was frequently related to wearing and displaying (consuming) the right brand name products such as Nike shoes. In the previous chapter I argued that a version of corporate hegemony -- where marketing techniques build an expansive domain of segments and niches -- contributed to the hierarchical divisions exhibited in my research sample of Mefferin youth. In this chapter I address how this ‘power bloc’ of culture and industry attempts to retain young adolescents as both long-term and high-volume consumers. Because the bottom line of consumption is about money, I also discuss the ways Mefferin teens viewed and understood money in their lives and how they spent their disposable incomes. When money represents entertainment access, parents often model and play “co-consuming” 203 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. roles as they maintain that leisure access for their children. However, parents often became co-consumers whether they wish to be or not. In 2000, teens in the United States spent an estimated $105 billion and influenced their parents to spend an additional $48 billion.1 Consequently, trips to the mall send millions of U.S. teens to the “culture-counters” of stores where they will attempt to purchase the hip and cool by acquiring such brand name, logo-driven commodities as Nike, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, etc. Projecting a rich image is costly — especially since the majority of Mefferin middle school students do not come from wealthy families or higher class backgrounds; yet the pressure to be hip and cool is magnified in a city like Los Angeles, where the entertainment and glamorous media-oriented industries constantly hover on the sidelines, in the shadows. I conclude this chapter with a rarely discussed repercussion of the American pursuit of life, liberty, and branded hip and cool: the harsh reality of the growing escalation of consumer debt in America. Further, I analyze this situation in terms of what this implies for youth. In a society where spending money beyond one’s means is now heavily encouraged, and in which adolescents are encouraged to aspire to cultural affluence through their leisure consumption, the relative ease of access to consumer credit becomes an issue of concern as adolescents will soon be abandoning their current co- consuming roles and become adult consumers themselves. Wherever the Money is. Childhood Follows To what extent has the business culture and corporate stratagem reconstructed past environments and meanings of childhood over the past few decades? Mefferin 204 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. students expressed their almost total satisfaction with watching re-runs of the Fresh Prince o f Bel-Air on television, listening to music on POWR 106, flipping through the pages of Teen People, downloading from America On Line, and expressed their satisfaction with no compunction or hesitation over the totalizing environment of commerce, promotion, and consumption campaigns which these particular entertainment outlets entailed. For example, the world which Mefferin students and other teens enter is not just the television show a viewer watches, it is the entire audio-visual commercial package that includes approximately one quarter to one third of programming time devoted to advertising various products and services. Similarly, licensing agreements between products and services connect more genres and venues of youth-targeted consumption: fast food outlets like Taco Bell have promoted movies like Star Wars on their paper wrappings and drink cups; pop singer Britney Spears is a high-profile endorser of Pepsi Cola. In 1998, U.S. companies spent nearly $200 billion on advertising, with world-wide advertising spending estimated at $435 billion (from reports cited in Klein, 1999) — a lot of money spent on the cultivation of needs, wants, and desires. As Chapters 3 and 4 made clear, American teens are not just surrounded by commercial culture but actively pursued by marketers. With increases in the current spending power of young adolescents, Kapur reinforces that “children, that is pre-teens, have emerged as the fastest growing market segment” (p. 125). “Spending power” means, on one hand, the disposable income that adults (parents) bestow on their children, and on the other hand, the potential seen in kids from marketers on all sides of the private sector. According to marketing scholar McNeal (1992), to maintain a successful co-consumption 205 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. relationship between children and parents, marketers/advertisers should ALWAYS consider the parents when designing a children’s product (p. 192). But the 1990s corporate model has also stressed that “successful new products for kids are those that meet parents’ approval but are planned for kids, developed for kids, tested on kids, and marketed to kids with kids’ needs uppermost in the minds of those that set new product strategies” (p. 182). Although the emphasis is now on the spending power of children, American business rarely ignores the possibilities for extending “co-consuming” relationships to other institutions outside of the family. And in fact, for a number of years now schools have been fulfilling this function. Before discussing the history of the trend itself, however, some developments in children’s media are worth mentioning. Recall that in Chapter 4 ,1 pointed out that deregulation in the 1980s opened children’s television programming to increased advertising. By 1993, scholars of the medium like Kline, stressed the point that “the sole purpose of children’s television”.. .is to make money for the people who have a stake in the business” (p.214). Furthermore, the contemporary work of interdisciplinary youth-focused scholars (e.g. Giroux, 2000; Jenkins, 1998; Kapur, 1999; Postman, 1994; Elkind, 1994, 1981/2001) has reflected on a history of American culture leading towards a debate over the ‘loss of childhood’ in the midst of commercialization. For example, Kapur has argued that since the 1950s, “there has been an active effort on the part of industry to transform the 20th century notion of children as innocents in need of protection to one of children as sovereign, playful, thinking consumers” (p. 125). From my perspective this 206 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. component is brought forth through my own empirical observations and research. The heightened commercialization of children’s television programming, which is still expected to include some educational goals and purposes, may well have helped to foster a tolerant attitude towards the heightened corporate presence in public schools. The reach and influence of commercial concerns in public institutions was not always as widespread as it is today. In the recent past, “mom and pop” operations such as “Gloria’s Flower Shop” or the “Jiffy Dry Cleaners” would donate books, band uniforms, etc. and receive ad space in year books or on ticket stubs, but these localized community business exchanges have rarely played the pervasive, influential role of corporate sponsors. As with children’s television programming, the deregulation of the early 1980s encouraged business “to play a vital role in redefining the purpose and meaning of public schooling” (Giroux, 1994, p.48). The “supply-side” economics of the 1980s, as Giroux notes (1994), fostered legislative measures which tacitly or expressly advocated that “government should get out of the way of entrepreneurial innovation by reducing taxing and thereby increasing business incentives to reinvest capital in modernizing production and expanding the output of consumer goods”(p.49). Schools, it was discovered, were untapped marketing spaces, so during the 1980s, business leaders “organized ‘compacts’ with school districts, in which the corporate sector provided money and expertise for the schools while simultaneously influencing curricula and school administration. Corporations such as GE, Exxon, Kodak, IBM, Coors donated large sums to upgrade the public schools” (ibid, p.49). Today, as Giroux (2000) further explains, the “for-profit education market represents $600 billion in revenue for corporate interests” (p.85). 207 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Additional insights from Giroux are painfully specific to school-related commerce: Corporate culture can be seen not only in the placement of public schools in the control of corporate contractors. It is also visible in the growing commercialization of school space and curricula. Strapped for money, many schools have had to lease out space in their hallways, buses, rest rooms, lunch menus and cafeterias to the highest corporate bidder (p. 94). Schools benefit in part by striking deals with corporations which include discounts, free materials and equipment; but for these companies, the revenues received from students easily offset their largesse to schools; in the meanwhile, the institutional legitimation of their products and the opportunity to expose children to their brands may be priceless. In recent years the trend that began with greater commercialization of children’s television programming has come full circle. Today thousands of schools in the U.S. who have been financially strapped have enlisted the services of Channel One Television, a service that provides schools with free audio-visual equipment in exchange for allowing them to broadcast twelve minutes of news/current events and two minutes of corporate advertising in classrooms on a daily basis. While Mefferin School does not offer Channel One to its students, their cafeteria and nutritional planning includes offerings from Pizza Hut, Subway Sandwiches, and PepsiCo. Klein (1999) outlines the development and scope of these ‘corporate partnerships’ and ‘sponsorship arrangements.’ Channel One, with its particular promotion of “school branding,” is a new arrival, and it was unheard of in the 1980s to see “companies like Pizza Hunt, McDonald’s, and Subway set up in the lunchrooms” (p. 90). But these recent investments in schools have already yielded a handsome dividend. For example, vending machine services in schools generated an estimated $750 million in revenues in 1997 alone, according to a recent Merrow Report 208 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. (2000). Consumption of vending machine soft drink beverages among 13-18 year olds has gone up 80% since 1980. At Mefferin school, during Nutrition and Lunch breaks, students generally bought food and snacks at 1) the school cafeteria and its “hash line,” where, according to Patricia May and Gina, “you can buy cookies, candy, Gatorade, all that stuff’ 2) at the student store “where you can buy supplies like pencils and candy.” Candy and soda were mentioned as favorite foods to purchase, and they were quite visible in the classes. Miss Hillmont would collect Coke and Slice cans after lunch, and she read in the empty containers signs of the impending arrival of students “amped” on sugar and caffeine, who would add an additional factor of difficulty to managing the afternoon periods. During lunch the cafeteria offered its standard daily hot food entree (students designated this as “county food”), alongside the brightly packaged combinations of Subway sandwiches and Pizza Hut mini-deep dish pizzas. The presentation of the “branded” foods definitely stood out in comparison to the county food. Financially disadvantaged students were given coupons to redeem for county food lunches (for which over 60% of Mefferin youth qualified). However, these coupons did not include the branded foods for which one was obliged to pay cash. On some days, I noticed a few students would offer Miss Hillmont their county food so that they could be seen buying and eating a brand item. Miss Hillmont would often comment on how much food is wasted daily at Mefferin. Second-generation immigrant girls who tended to be status seekers explained: Patricia May: They have county food here but we eat REGULAR food. Like Pizza Hut and Subways. LC: But why, is the county food bad? Vanessa: Everyone makes fun o f the people that eat county food. (GP7) 209 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. It became clear to me that social judgments made when students wore Payless shoes also applied to county food — the associated stigma of poverty, the pinnacle of un-cool. Eating ‘regular food’ or branded food was seen as superior to eating county food, creating yet another symbolically imposed division of social inequality. While this aspect didn’t totally surprise me, given what I learned earlier (see Chapter 3), what I did find interesting were Gina’s and Patricia May’s expectations regarding food choices. In elementary school, they brought their lunches from home, because “you didn’t have a choice — just county food.” But now that they were in middle school, where there was the choice between county and brands, the choices still weren’t enough: Patricia May: Yeah, but you know, we always have the same thing. Gina: See there’s only Pizza and Subways. Patricia May: Yeah Vanessa: I know. We should have McDonald’s or Carl’s Junior - LC: Other middle schools have this? Vanessa: Yes - my home middle school- they have like Carl’s Jr., McDonald’s LC: Which would that be - which school? Vanessa: Bermombo Middle school, it’s in LA - in Korea Town. (GP7) What made the presence of branded food at Mefferin so remarkable was the fact that the school itself had a formative influence, however inadvertent, on the informal social divisions created by students. While the school administration hardly had any advice or influence on the selection of shoes, here the school, acting as a “co-consumer,” presented these foods as a legitimate consumer choice for its students. Buying Pizza Hut’s offerings was a “regular” choice for Mefferin students to make. At the same time, the corporate food vendors had substantial resources at their disposal to market and package their products in an attractive manner. Yet the school also treated students as 210 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. sovereign consumers, letting students decide nutritive values, and the relative merits of packaging and advertising. Mefferin Youth and the Culture of Money Along with Channel One and the Corporate Cafeteria, advertising and marketing enter into an exclusive adolescent environment (the school space) and hawk their wares through all senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell); but most importantly, marketers and advertisers are players in a game that is frequently stacked in their favor. I argue that it is clear to marketers/advertisers that the majority of American children and adolescents have limited media and economic literacy (consumer literacy) skills. Skillful exploitation of limited literacy not only increases the likelihood of brand loyalty but can yield a significant increase in the potential spending power of the youth market. While corporate snack and food vendors are eager (for this and other reasons) to invest in schools, an examination of the wider context reveals that companies marketing to youth are equally eager to cultivate a culture around teens which encourages them to associate money with leisure consumption. In the Mefferin sample, the majority of students I interviewed generally offered an understanding of money as to what things it would buy - - and most frequently what consumer entertainment it could provide. While marketing encourages youth to solidify such perceptions of money, the predicament of working class families attempting to meet the consumption demands of their children is a difficult one. While historical scholars (e.g. Thomas Hine 1999) reinforce that “the largest source of funding for youth culture is parents” (p. 226), other scholars, such as Schor (1999) note that “the average American now finds it harder to 211 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. achieve a satisfying standard of living than 25 years ago. Work requires longer hours, jobs are less secure, and pressures to spend more intense” (p.2). Yet since the early 1990s (and until last year - 2001) the United States has promoted itself as having a comfortably expanding profit economy. All too often the image has belied reality. Even in the booming economy days, circumstances for many people in California were very different. In California’s prominent urban centers of Los Angeles and San Francisco, the overall economic stratum was heavily bifurcated, polarized around a significant income gap with a shrinking middle class.3 The current consequences, according to Males (1999) have been that “[throughout] the last quarter century, California’s young have fallen from among the nation’s richest to among its poorest. Poverty doubled among youth, exceeding 25% by 1997” ( p.21). Nearly 72% of Los Angeles Unified School district students reportedly come from families living in poverty (Saurwein & Cohen, 2000, p. Bl). Among Mefferin students, many could indeed be classed as poor, but few students had parents who were unemployed. Ruth Sidel (1996) has argued that “it is clear that millions of American are working very hard indeed and yet are still not able to raise themselves and their families out of poverty” (p. 77). From this description of “the working poor” (ibid), it became clear to me that many of the Mefferin population who had participated in my study would indeed be classified as such. Many Mefferin students experienced directly the bifurcated reality of Los Angeles as they commuted from lower/working class neighborhoods to their school site in the affluent environs of Westwood. While their own neighborhoods may not have the cultural fame of the opulence existent near Mefferin, students rarely 212 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. mentioned these differences overtly. However some students definitely reinforced how the Mefferin neighborhood was definitely safer than where they resided. Among the Mefferin population, which was so ethnically and racially diverse, it was difficult to discern why some students lived in poverty and others not. The only real discernible cue was that overall, students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds were most often migrants coming from Central America and Mexico — many of whom were also recipients of free lunch programs. These students’ parents often worked the longest hours at the most low-paid, low-status service work (housekeeping, baby sitting, car repair, gardening, restaurant cooks and bussers.) These parents heavily encouraged academics over socializing, “character” over consumption. While ‘good’ values were instilled in girls like Cristal, Maria and Angela (GP5), they were among the most stigmatized students at Mefferin, constantly ridiculed, and labeled as chuntys, relegated to observing the cool and the popular at Mefferin from distant sidelines. Whether they participated or not, students like Cristal, Maria and Angela always felt the pressure of hegemonic American consumption values. It is important to reinforce, as a number of scholars (e.g. Wilson, 1978; MacLeod, 1987/1995; Kaplan, 1997) have noted, that one variable (such as race or ethnicity) cannot provide all reasons for why people live in poverty in America.4 However, Mefferin youth have shown that some can be classed as economically impoverished even as they enjoy cultural affluence among their peer groups (when they are considered popular, wear the right brands and exhibit cool.) Yet cultural or symbolic affluence cannot completely erase the conditions of poverty. In cities like Los Angeles, with considerable race/ethnic 213 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. diversity and the presence of many different immigrant enclaves, the United States, MacLeod maintains, “has a remarkably stable class structure, albeit one that is so obscured by the rhetoric of classlessness. To be sure, social mobility does exist — just enough to maintain the myth of America as the land of opportunity” (p. 240; see also Sidel, 1990). The consumption of branded cool goes a long way in supporting the rhetoric of classlessness mentioned by MacLeod. Youth-oriented advertising is fairly universal in that it rarely targets levels of social class and rarely affects a high-brow/low-brow division. Trying to reach for the popular and cool, Beverly Hills teens may be just as likely to swill Pepsi, watch Britney on MTV, and wear Nikes as Westlake District teens. Furthermore, much of advertising and especially advertising centered on youth comes to them fairly democratically. What is key is that the cultivation of desire comes into play whether adolescents are graced with extensive disposable incomes or have incomes that are severely limited; even for those in poverty, a few dollars handed to a 13 year old will generally be spent on commercial, entertainment/ leisure commodities. When I noticed this pattern in the Mefferin students, I realized that for so many youth, money presented instant gratification. It may be that the gratification is instant but never total, and that for these students money in whatever quantity temporarily fills a void of deprivation and disadvantage — emotional, cultural or social. As more and more people or target groups enter into the arena of entertainment consumption, the more they enter a (symbolic) middle-class category. Their leisure consumption defines general market niches between the super-consumers and the low- 214 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. tech non-consumer, but does not denote actual social class standings. Among Mefferin students, financially well-off students like Manny, Donnan, Damb, and Amenda were already high status consumers. Those who were less privileged, like Cristal, Maria, and Angela would probably like to enter the middle category. A large number of students seemed to represent this trend to the middle; however, among my small sample, even among the lowest socioeconomic groups, many students wished to be and sometimes were in fact high-status and high-volume consumers, such as Alex, T, Monkey and Anforne. When there is a large enough of a group of people who are consuming at higher and higher levels, more economic transactions yield new conceptions of what ‘middle class’ implies. For example, today most people are conditioned to consume to higher levels ‘aspirationally;’ Schor (1999) contends that: Social comparison and its dynamic manifestation - the need to “keep up”— have been long a part of American culture. .. .What’s new is the redefinition of reference groups: today’s comparisons are less likely to take place between or among households of similar means. Instead, the lifestyles of the upper middle class and the rich have become a more salient point of reference for people throughout the income distribution. Luxury, rather than mere comfort, is a widespread aspiration (p. 4). Mefferin students represented this trend in microcosm. For many students, brand products served as concrete representations of their aspirations to higher status. As these students continued to buy products, their aspirations translated into a higher, middle-class potential of spending power for marketers and advertisers to draw upon. This trend is not limited to native-born youth. According to Waldinger and Bozorgmehr’s (1996) studies on ethnic groups and immigrant assimilation/acculturation 215 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. in Los Angeles, “many immigrants leap right into the middle class, not only because they import skills or capital but because of their pre-migration exposure to American culture and American styles of living and making money” (p. 18). They argue that because of globalization and the world-wide popularity of American mass media, “acculturation now begins before the newcomers ever move to the United States” (p. 19). Girls like Damb, (GP3) who recently migrated from Japan, and Amenda, (GP13) who recently migrated from Iran, were already quite familiar with American culture (but also came from families who had the money to afford American culture in their native countries.) It should be noted, however, that a number of newly migrated students from Mexico and Central America like Cristal, Maria and Angela, clearly did not fit into this trend. In any case, as Census data and changing demographic constellations in cities like Los Angeles continue to reveal new population enclaves with differing levels of acculturation, marketers and advertisers are standing at the finish line waiting to capture the prize demographic. With each new data set, they develop research to yield consumption patterns from demographic patterns and develop advertising campaigns based upon them — and in this case squeeze every last bit of acculturation to the American Dream into potential new sales. The Dynamic o f‘Adolescent Disposable Income’. ‘Allowances’, and ‘Spending Money’ Parents and adult figures are “co-consumers” along with children and youth. Scholars have continued to point out that while youth appear to be such a large ‘demographic’ of big spenders, the majority of adolescents’ money comes from their parents.5 Miller and Young (1990) report that “most adolescents see pocket money as 216 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. either an entitlement for basic support or earned income” (p. 84). McNeal ‘s (1992) study on youth and money affirms that “children’s money is parents’ money being spent by children;” but McNeal adds, “It is all discretionary. In fact, no other consumer group has a larger proportion of their income earmarked as discretionary. This means they can spend it for whatever they want to, whenever they want to, wherever they want to” (p.34). Fumham and Argyle (1998) have noted that “until recently there has been little research on the economic beliefs and behaviors of young people and still less has been done on how knowledge and beliefs are acquired as opposed to the content of the knowledge base. Furthermore, it has not been until recently that researchers have looked at young people’s reasoning about economic issues such as consumption, saving, marketing and work-related knowledge” (p.63). One cause for concern, if not alarm, is the fact that the great majority of research gathered on the subject has been generated from marketing studies (p.79). Given this information, I decided to pursue some of these themes with the Mefferin students. When Mefferin students were surveyed in January 2000 (N=132), and asked “if they got weekly spending money/allowance,” 105 (80%) said they did, 22 (17%) said they did not and 5 (4%) did not answer this question. In the focus group interviews, students mentioned spending money ranging between $10 and $40 per week. In focus groups, students further discussed how they obtained their spending money. My interview with the girls in Group 5 clearly hinted at the family hardships that made acquiring money for them difficult: LC: Do you get a weekly allowance? Cristal: No LC: Well then how do you get money? Angela : Oh sometimes my Dad gives me, but not always. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Cristal: Yeah, sometimes, but not always. LC: So when you want to buy something, you tell your parents that you want this and they give you money? Angela: Or they buy me when they have it. Cristal: Uh-huh, when they have it. Maria: Yeah (GP5) While Cristal, Maria and Angela mentioned they had to perform weekly household chores like cooking and cleaning, those were standard family duties and did not carry a paycheck. Upper middle class girls like Damb (GP3) and Amenda (GP13), on the other hand, presented a stark contrast to the girls in Group 5: LC: And if you see something you really want, will your parents generally purchase it for you? Or do you have to do something first — work or clean the house? Damb: No (GP3) LC: Now do your parents give you an allowance or how do you work out the money situation like if you really want something? Amenda: Um, my dad gives me the money; he like gives me money every month and he tells me to save it but sometimes if I can’t save that much, he just gives me more money. (GP13) In approximately one half of the focus groups, students discussed how they earned their allowances by performing tasks and chores. Middle-class Lowell (GP15) was paid when he brought home good grades, and working class Alex (GP 2) was paid by his aunt when he took care of his little cousin and mowed her lawn. Girls in Group 14 and boys in Group 4 described common scenarios: Candy: In order for me to get the money I need to earn it by doing chores...sometimes I do my dishes, my bed Baby Devil: My Mom gives me five dollars when I clean my room. LC: Oh, so that’s like your allowance - So you generally get an allowance if you finish the work that you do? Candy: Yeah, I make like twenty dollars in a week. Adriana: I get - the most I get is fifteen (GP14). Donnan: I get an allowance. Roger: I do too. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LC: Like a weekly.. Roger: Every Sunday. Donnan: Depends on how much work I do....Yeah, if I don’t do the work, I don’t get the money - so I have to work.(GP4) It appeared to be fairly common among some of the working-class Latino and black students to earn money doing chores and odd jobs for extended family members who generally lived nearby: LC: Yes - so how do you like get money to buy stuff - do you guys work? Blue Angel: Well - 1 work- like I have to do my chores - sometimes I do like a little bit of extra credit stuff - like I help people out - like if they need help, I’ll help them. I help my Mom, I help my Auntie, I help a lot of people. Like I try cleaning up the yard or something for a little extra cash to go shopping. (GP11) Oh, now you guys work? How do you get money to buy all these things? I work My brothers, Mom, they give me the money.. .1 want to work, I want to start working (Anfome hands me a business card) Oh this is where you work? Yeah, we look for people who are talented, like who can sing, rap and all that. Oh, so you’re in the entertainment business. Yeah That’s pretty good (T handed me a card as well) -- oh this is yours? He’s my uncle, and he’s a barber who lets me work at his place.. .1 can get you a good discount. (GP6) For these students who worked to earn money, I sensed a pride and self-confidence in themselves. However, Anfome and T were also striking cool poses and clearly showing off, a dynamic demonstrated in all-male groups in which group members competed for status. I found myself questioning the reliability of the boys more than I did of the girls for the reason that the boys’ performances were often so orchestrated. 219 LC: T: Monkey: LC: Anfome: LC: Anfome: LC: T: Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. While girls rarely attempted to fashion a “player” image for themselves, some girls did showcase the relative ease with which they acquired money from their parents: LC: Now, do you guys get a weekly allowance, you know, spending money? Or, Vanessa: I just go and ask my parents and they just give me whatever. Quack-quack I just get my money from my parents. LC: Just for no reason, when you want it? all: Yeah, Yeah. Mary: Yeah, I just ask for it. (GP1) LC: So do you guys get an allowance? Damb: I get money when I want to buy something. I ask my Mom and she just gives it to me. LC: And that works pretty much every time? Is that how it works for you guys when you see that you want something? All: Yes (GP3) Considering the sample in general, the results were varied. Many students understood that work was a requisite for the money they received, and seemed to perceive (if dimly) a connection between these conditions and the relationship between labor and income in the adult “world.” Yet other students displayed little awareness of this connection, while others displayed a conscious sense of entitlement. In the case of Group 1, the sense of entitlement verged on a conscious assertion of status among their peers. As the next section demonstrates, what did unite most of the Mefferin sample was an interest in using allowances as a gateway to participation in the rituals of consumption. What Mefferin Students Like to Do With Their Money When Mefferin students surveyed (N=132) were asked, “When you get any spending money, what do you usually do with it?” They responded in various ways but mainly preferred to spend it on 1) clothing and shoes, 2) candy/ food, 3) Compact Discs, and entertainment (arcades and movies). Separating the sample by gender, the top 220 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. consumption-oriented category for boys and girls was “buy clothing/shoes;” this was mentioned 25 times among girls and 14 times among boys. This was followed by “spending it” and “buying stuff,” which appeared 14 times for girls and 12 times for boys. Buying food and candy appeared 11 times among girls and 3 times among boys. Other than material possessions sought, adolescents mentioned they would spend money on various entertainment venues, including trips to the movie theater (4 times for girls and 0 for boys) and playing video games (6 times for boys and 0 times for girls). For middle-class girls in the focus groups, shopping was one of the most popular after-school/weekend activities. Quack-Quack (GP1), for instance, went shopping every weekend with the $40 her mother generally gave her; but she also informed me this was only for “fun shhuuppping.” When she needed clothes and shoes — expensive things — she went with her mother, who generally footed the bill by credit card. In another survey question, I asked students (N=132) what they would do “if someone gave them $25 today?” In the results, 72 (55%) said they would spend it, 39 (30%) said they would save it, 17 (13%) said they would both spend some and save some, and 4 (3%) did not answer the question. Some participants in focus groups seemed to represent the “spend some and save some” category. Roger, when he got extra money, saved it to buy the newest Nike or Jordan’s shoe style6. Max, also interested in games and computers, told me that he was saving up for a new Microsoft X-box system. On the other hand, Tony told me he just couldn’t seem to hold on to his money, which he often spent on entertainment and candy at school. Candy/sweets was something that Gisel and Michelle often spent their money on as well.7 221 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. In the focus group interviews, students also offered responses which indicated both an interest in saving for “essentials” yet an overwhelming willingness to spend on items regardless of whether they were essential or not. Adriana and May, Jenny and Jose noted: LC: And then do you use it to buy clothes, or music or? May: No, I save it. LC: You save it. May: Yeah, cuz I don’t like — Candy: I only like to buy things that I really need - not spend it on junk LC: Like what do you spend on? Adriana: Well, I buy like party clothes; I buy myself a Walkman, CD’s -- that kind of stuff. LC: Oh, but you have to plan, to save it? May: Yeah — and I buy my brother’s present cuz his birthdays coming up. And, cuz when Mother’s Day comes, you know I want to buy a present. (GP14) Jenny: I like to save my money Jose: I do save it -- my Dad gives me money — like every month he gives me money to save. LC: So you save for something bigger? Jose: Yeah LC: Is it easy to save money? Ramiro: No Amenda: Actually it’s not — like when you go shopping, you really have to buy something -- you can’t just not. Like me, I can never stop myself when I see clothes, I have to buy it. (GP13) Among students surveyed, saving money appeared 24 times among girls and 20 times among boys. However, for girls, total spending appeared 69 times and for boys total spending appeared 39 times. Whereas as no girls mentioned spending any money on boys/boyfriends, two boys in the 8th grade mentioned buying items for their girlfriends as something they would do if they got $25.00 today. Because consumption was paramount in the lives of many students, money, in all its mystery, yet generic simplicity was also undeniably important. When Mefferin 222 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. students thought about money, it was not exclusively about what they would buy; it was also about how they envisioned future career aspirations. While well over half of the parents in the Mefferin samples (survey, interviews) were identified as having lower status professions, [Appendix G] most students were engrained with a desire for upward financial mobility. The Future Needs Money In focus groups, I followed up on one of the original survey questions which asked about future career plans. Many of the subsequent discussions also centered on making money: LC: What kind of job would you want (to Tony)? Tony: I would like, not a hard like, not construction, but as a carpenter. LC: That’s hard work. Max: I know. Alex: My brother, he’s already gotten a job, and when I get to 16, I’m going go to work, cuz he’s a manager, and he makes a lot of money. (GP2) LC: So now what do you want to do for work? Bee: Wrestling Yoshi: I will try to be a doctor or a lawyer. At least I get money then. Bee: You get paid a lot, but you piss a lot of people off. (GP12) LC: What do you think about what you’d like to do later on? Like what kind of job you’d like. Amenda: Anything with business — I want to work in business. Jenny: My mom says I should work in business, too. LC: So you are interested in that? Jenny: I also like to paint. LC: Oh you like to paint - so creative stuff? Amenda: Whatever has good money in it (laughs). Ramiro: I would like to be an animator, but my family wants me to be a doctor. (GP13) Maria: I think about money, sometimes when someone in the family dies, but you can’t just rely on their money. LC: Do you want to be rich when you grow up? Is that important? Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Angela: Well, I just want to have a “bad” life [bad meaning really good], you know, when you have your house and your car, your job. Maria: Yeah. (GP5) Some of the transcripts made me recall Glassner and Loughlin’s (1987) study on adolescent worlds, which mentioned that “one passes from adolescent to adult when one gives up the glamorous roles of the adolescent world, such as athletic hero or beauty queen, for the prosaic roles of the adult such as business person or spouse” (p. 262). In the Mefferin sample, 1st and 2n d generation Latino immigrants like Angela (GP5) mentioned she would like to be a singer like Britney Spears, and Yuri (GP8) mentioned she would like to be a super model: “Oh my God, that’s what I’m gonna do. I would like to be like Cindy Crawford.” Bee (GP12) proclaimed that at any cost he will become a professional wrestler, and Ramiro (GP13) wanted to be a soccer star. Mexican immigrant boys in Group 10 bantered about glamour and less lucrative careers: Alex: Hey, when I grow up, I’m gonna try to be a football player, and if I can’t, I’ll be a police officer. (El Chalinio and Playboy Bunny are interrupting and kidding him) LC: But your first thing is to be a football player? Alex: Yeah LC: And then a police officer? Alex: Yeah, but if I don’t get a scholarship, I’ll go to the Navy — LC: Navy — uh, that’s good. Alex: Or work at In N’ Out. LC: What about you (to El Chalinio) what do you want to do? El Chalinio: I want to be a singer — Like a Mexican singer - like cowboys. LC: Ranchero stuff? El Chalinio: Yeah, rancheros, like corridos- LC: Oh, corridos. El Chalinio: And If I don’t get to be a singer, I’ll like work for my Dad, like planting trees. (GP10) The kind of economic and career expectations expressed by these students must certainly aid marketers. These conversations also seemed reminiscent of Mefferin student views on Nike shoes and brand name foods in the cafeteria. Nikes were shoes 224 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. for normal people, and Nike was owned by everybody (only chuntys and wackos wore Payless shoes). Brand name food was regular food. At the same time, Nike and Pizza Hut were status symbols that could propel the bearer into realms of cool fashion and style. From the broadest perspective, this was not really a contradiction at all, but simply a sign of aspiration to middle class status. On the other hand, students seemed to have multivalent perceptions of consumer goods. Any marketer aware of this trend would most certainly appeal to every value and perception available (however contradictory) in order to attract the young buyer. It was still clear that glamorous careers were the goal, however distant. Mefferin students were interested in making lots of money, which at the turn of the century seemed to be a goal of many youth (and adults) at the turn of the century. Money and affluence was considered the chief goal among college freshman Fall 2000 — almost 75% of America’s 1.1. million college freshman noted they want to be very well off in the future (Sax, Astin, Korn, & Mahoney at UCLA Higher Education Research Institute). Yet the desire to be well-off financially can never cover over the reality of financial depletion for many of these students. Recall that in chapter six, I presented a rarely discussed (in the sociological literature on youth) consequence of our glorious American freedoms — a ffee-market economy that supports and fosters a trillion dollar consumer debt. Carpenter (2001) stresses that, without effective consumer literacy programs in schools, “.. .most students don’t understand the implication of taking on debt and often don’t have anyone to advise them. Trend conscious and highly impressionable, college students are influenced by celebrity culture and the images they 225 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. see in the media and may emulate a lifestyle that is simply outside their reach” (p. E3). As more and more twenty-somethings file for bankruptcy, how will working-class and immigrant students like those in the Mefferin sample negotiate these economic risks? The discussion of personal economics and wealth still remains an under addressed topic. At the same time, youth are expected to become significant players in a consumer society because adult society casts them as our hope for a future of fulfilled expectations - - both social and economic. According to Corsaro’s (1997) study of children: Adults most often view children in a forward-looking way -- with an eye to what they will become — future adults with a place in the social order and contributions to make to it. Rarely are they viewed in a way that appreciates what they are — children with ongoing lives, needs, and desires. The current lives, needs, and desires of children are often seen as causes for alarm by adults, as social problems that are threatening, that need to be resolved. As a result, children are pushed to the margins of the social structure by more powerful adults (including social theorists) who focus instead on the potential and the threat of children to present and future societies (p. 7). Corsaro also points out that contemporary society offers “fewer after school and summer jobs are available that provide the kinds of experiences that enhance childhood and adolescence or prepare children and youth for the transition to adulthood” (p.81). Few mentorship situations exist, and students who don’t have the advantage of helpful extended family members are left to navigate a very confusing cultural terrain. I contend that youth today (especially considering the population at hand) are in a tremendously difficult position as they must realize, compete for, and choose their positions as adults. In adult society, if your SES doesn’t “work” for you, you can attempt to compensate with image. And if adult society functions in such a capitalist free market- driven economy (and all it ensuing cultural products), then youth society must function similarly. 226 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. In general, the survey and focus group interviews contribute to assertions made in previous chapters. Not only do Mefferin students create status hierarchies centered around consumption; most, if not all Mefferin students fulfill the dreams of youth marketers, viewing allowances primarily as money to be used (either in the present or in the future) for leisure consumption. While spending money is prominent in the Mefferin population, one aspect of this topic of socio-economic orientation — credit or buying on time — has had little discussion even though this aspect of social economics is common place in the lives of youth today. American Credit Card Status: From Short Term Glamour to Long Term Poverty? One focus group topic that took me somewhat by surprise was the discussion of credit cards. I was impressed by the fact that Mefferin students, all of 12 or 14 years old, even had any idea what credit cards were. For the most part, what they did know was that you simply didn’t have to pay any cash when you wanted to purchase something — just put down that plastic card. Most students who were aware of credit cards did not quite understand how they worked: LC: Now, do you guys any kind of weekly spending money? -- in order to buy shoes and clothes or? Pippy: No, 1 get $20 allowance Baby Giggles: I have my Dad’s credit card. LC: He lets you use his credit card? Baby Giggles: Yes LC: Oh, you can go shopping with it? Baby Giggles: Yes, but I have to take my mom, though. (GP9) LC: When you shop, do you usually pay with a credit card or...? Damb: My mom uses a credit card. LC: And your parents? Gabriela/: Credit cards LC: Now do you have your own credit cards? Gabriela: No LC: Do you want to? Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Gabriela: Yeah, I do cuz its easy to buy stuff? LC: Yes, but do you know how it works? Damb: You don’t have to mess with all those coins and stuff... (GP3) Interestingly, it was the working-class, 1st generation immigrant girls from Central America and Mexico who were the most knowledgeable about credit cards and the idea of credit in general:8 LC: Do your parents pay with credit cards, or do they pay with cash? Cristal: Cash Maria: Cash Angela: Credit card sometimes LC: Do you like the idea of credit cards, is that something you would like? Cristal: No LC: Why? Cristal: Maybe you don’t know how much money you wasting- - you waste it and can’t pay later. Maria: Like when you have credit cards, you have money and then you can spend it now, but you have to pay later. (GP5) I was genuinely surprised that these girls understood about “spending now but paying later.” As they were in the lower socioeconomic ranks among the Mefferin students, they had knowledge about creditors who don’t care if anyone is in the top or bottom rungs of the financial ladder when credit is (initially) extended. For some students, a credit card, coupled with Internet commercial sites, offered a convenient (for some too convenient) avenue of consumption: Vanessa: You go on the Internet and like you give them your credit card number. QuackQuack: Yeah, I give ‘em my mom’s credit card number. LC: So she gives you her credit card? So do you guys use credit cards for a lot of stuff to buy? QuackQuack: Yes LC: Do you have your own credit cards? Mary: My Dad does LC: [to Mary] So do you buy stuff on the Internet too? Mary: No. QuackQuack: Ha-Ha [in a teasing, competitive tone] — You can buy a lot of stuff on the Internet, like books, CD’s, clothes. Vanessa: Oh, if I had a credit card, it would be maxed out really soon. (GP1) 228 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LC: Anfom e/ T: LC: Anfome: LC: Anfome: Now do you guys use credit cards? Yeah Monkey: Monkey: LC: Oh, do you have your own credit cards? I do, but I don’t use it. I save it for emergencies. Oh right. I could use it if I want, like if I really, really, really wanted something. I can’t have a credit card Why not? When I get money, oooh, I have to buy something. And then I want to buy more. (GP6) I found it surprising at times to see how “adult” some of these conversations sounded at times — 13-year-olds like Vanessa knew what “maxing out” the card meant, and Monkey was already worried about his spending habits. Of course, spending and saving of money are significant and should be of concern for youth today — especially given some of the statistics that point to the detriments of a profit society that is connected with a credit society. For instance, on February 12, 2001, Channel 7 “Eyewitness News” in Los Angeles, an ABC affiliate, reported that household debt (consumer debt) is at its highest in 13 years.9 As an economic perk developed in the 20th century primarily for those of the wealthier strata, consumer credit may well become the bane of the middle and lower classes in the 21st. According to the 1998 Consumer Alert Report, “Consumer short term debt, a controversial force in the booming US economy, is approaching a historical turning point - having risen at an abnormally fast rate for ten years. Consumer credit in the U.S. has reached the unprecedented level of $1.23 trillion. Credit card debt alone amounts to $528 billion of that total” (p. 1). These figures gain poignancy in view of the fact that so many Mefferin students from lower socioeconomic strata aspired to middle-class spending power and status. They also gain poignancy in view of the fact that, for some Mefferin parents, status was a 229 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. motivating factor in purchases for their children. When I asked Damb’s (GP3) mother whether it was “important to buy brand name shoes and clothes for your child?” -- she responded that it was “somewhat important,” although “there are disagreements about what kinds of jeans to buy, what kinds of shoes to buy.” Patricia May’s (GP7) mother, however, emphatically responded, “YES, because it shows we can afford it.” Many Mefferin parents apparently did view their children as co-consumers. In one focus group conversation, Alex Menes told me that his mom just bought him “three Sega games for like $117 dollars.” In this light, it is also interesting to recall how Quack- Quack’s mother not only gave her money for “fun shuupping,” but occasionally would bring her to the mall to make substantial credit card outlays for clothes. If Quack-Quack was given money for “fun,” these trips to the mall, by comparison, must have been the “real” thing. Thus, these trips can be seen as a “co-consumer” induction into the arena of high stakes (if not high status) consumption. As discussed earlier in the chapter, keeping up the image of the cool and popular requires a significant amount of money, especially for children. But for those growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, there have never been so many new markets and venues readily available to integrate and elicit response from them. As parents support children in the brand manner that they have become accustomed to, or at least, lend support to their view of brand name products as normative objects of desire (as the Mefferin cafeteria did), these children may become highly prized targets for creditors as they become adults. Is it any wonder, then, that so many college students today take advantage of campus credit card options?1 0 After all, the companies offering the cards seem to promise lifestyles of 230 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the rich and famous translated as (more) glamorous lifestyles for the poor and (relatively) nameless. In just a few years, Mefferin students will be in the population most courted by credit companies — college age youth, 18-24. Carpenter (2001) notes that “until the late 1980s credit card companies saw college students as poor risks because they didn’t have full-time jobs. They only issued cards when students neared graduation - even then parents had to co-sign. That began to change around 1990 when the companies decided to bank on the graduate’s earning potential and removed the co-signer stipulation... Thus, between 1990 and 1995, the average student credit card debt more than doubled from $900 to $2100 and by 1997, graduate students averaged seven cards and carried a total balance of almost $6000” (p.E3). According to Brett Williams (1996), stories such as these point (again) to forms of governmental deregulation in the 1980s which “offered retail bankers exciting opportunities to experiment with credit as a commodity” (p. 351). In the Reagan era, Williams observes: Bank credit cards fueled the consumer spending which refired the economy after the 1982 recession, and credit card interest and fees served as banks’ chief source of profit over the 1980s decade. This continues in the 1990s as banks harvest high monthly interest from maxed-out consumers - what they call their ‘mature’ accounts” (p. 351). Carpenter (2001) further reported that credit card companies’ aggressive marketing to (now even younger populations) high school and college students today is often cited in the growing number of youth bankruptcies. “Walk on to any university campus, and you’ll see fliers promising instant credit (p. El) [and that] just five years 231 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ago, only 1% of personal bankruptcies filed were by those age 25 or younger. By 1998, that number had risen sharply - to 4.9% according to the American Bankruptcy Institute” (p. El). Overall, as Earnest reports (9/22/01), “the percentage of consumers falling behind on credit card payments rose.. .to the highest level in nearly three decades” (p. C3). Carpenter further notes that students from low-income and immigrant backgrounds are especially susceptible to financial problems. In one extreme case a 24- year-old second generation Mexican American college student declared bankruptcy after acquiring nearly “$20,000 in credit card expenses... .most of it was for clothes, dinners, and drinks with friends” (p. E3). Williams (1996), arguing from a race-based perspective, contends that the credit-card system has always been “awash with inequality” (p.352). “In the mid 1980s banks began to expand the uses of credit cards, proliferate new services, reach for the less affluent and charge higher interest rates” (p.352). Canner and Cymak (1985) offered the statistics that 45% of blacks and 43% of Hispanics hardly ever pay in full versus 25% of whites” (in Williams, 1996, p.357). And finally, another point made by Williams is that more lower income individuals “have had easier access to this form of unsecured debt than to debt secured by property” (p. 360). What this implies is that while consumer credit can be had early on in life, consumer debt is further mounting - and when one doesn’t have a middle class job and other assets, the chances to qualify for secured loans (i.e. property) become virtual pipe-dreams. In states with inflated prices for houses and condos (i.e. California), unsecured debts, marred credit ratings, and bankruptcy push that pipe dream even further out of comfortable reach. 232 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Conclusion Prominent youth ethnographies (e.g. Adler & Adler, 1998; Eder, 1997; Thome, 1994) have examined the components of social class in the populations they studied. However, the topic of money is never mentioned — in terms of how it is spent, saved, and understood. Money changing hands among children and adolescents has remained a fairly neglected subject among social science and cultural researchers even though it is part of the composite of social class/socio-economic status (SES). Psychologists have investigated behavioral patterns about youth and consumption, hence ‘the psychology of money’ (e.g. Fumham & Argyle, 1998; Gunter & Fumham, 1998). Yet sociologists translate money into class-related variables. In this project, I made it a goal to ask specific questions about money (allowance, disposable income); students themselves often chose to bring the topic of money into significant points of discussion. Marketing research has always been intent on understanding where people are spending their money. Sociologists should be as well. Me Neal (1992) noted that “the most dramatic change in children’s purchases from 1984 to 1989 was in clothing. In 1984 there was no clothing category.” (p.41). Recent sociological research on the spending habits of youth has featured a gender analysis (Kamptner, 1991 in Gunter & Fumham, 1998) which demonstrated that only girls were interested in spending money on fashion; yet in my study, this was clearly not the case, as boys mentioned fashion/clothing at similar rates as the girls. Perhaps this finding suggests that what was originally stereotyped as gender biased is now moving in a different direction. But it could also indicate increased commodity fetishism. In order to explore a question like this one, 233 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. sociologists need to engage in a market analysis as well as an analysis of gender relations. In the youth ethnographies mentioned above, students were assumed to take on the social class status (i.e. wealthy, middle class, working class) of their parents, families. (See Adler & Adler, 1998 for associations of girls’ popularity with social class of parents). But in the ethnographies above, the commercialization of the school spaces are not addressed. In the Mefferin sample, students could acquire greater status when they were actively buying brand names at school — purchasing Pizza Hut and Subway rather than taking advantage of the free “county” food. In the Mefferin sample, it wasn’t just middle class or wealthier students who flaunted ‘high status’ (and expensive) consumer items like Nikes and Jordans. Consequently, when youth are forced (by peer pressure, etc) to consume at higher and higher rates to enhance their resumes of cultural capital (as in the Mefferin sample), this suggests a greater capacity of youth to become heavily entrenched in the unsecured debt framework of bank and credit cards. In this sense, consumer debt is something that is little discussed, but which promises to become a 21st century issue of debate and concern. How and why has unsecured debt become such a serious (and an often hidden) issue in public discourse? It remains difficult to come to any conclusions about Mefferin students and their potential consumer credit standings since they are so young; however, students like Mefferin youth could easily become victims, given their own participation in a social framework of status and inequality that is centered on brand awareness and the definition of cool. This raises questions that have not been brought up in the previous literature that 234 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. investigates how and what youth understand about the significance of money — what is its broader significance? 'These were the most recent statistics (compiled by Teen Research Unlimited) and were presented in the “Teacher’s Guide” from “The Merchants of Cool,” PBS Frontline (2/27/01). Adweek (2/1/99) reported that “American teenagers, already some 331.2 million strong will top 32.3 million in just three years.” Further, teen consumer spending has nearly doubled to more than $100 billion since the late 1980s and continues to climb (p.3). The Los Angeles Times (12/3/2000) also reported results from the Rand Youth Poll survey of 2000 of Americans aged 10-19 in which “boys 10-12 average weekly income (allowance/earnings) was 27.50 on (movies, food, entertainment); girls 10-12 is $26.70 (clothes, movies, food, entertainment); boys 13-15 is $62.00 (food, movies, entertainment); girls 13-15 is $69.15 (clothes, movies, food, entertainment); boys 16-19 is $125.50 (movies, dates, entertainment, food); girls 16-19 is $131.10 (clothes, food, movies). In 1995, youth purchases totaled $74.9 billion and in 1999 it was $129.6 billion (p. Cl). This denotes a major growth rate of discretionary, disposable income of teens. Referring to the resounding power of the “Echo” generation, this appears to be a North American phenomenon (U.S. and Canada). Maclean’ s (3/22/99) noted that Europe, for example, did not have the same baby boom as in North America so there is “not the accompanying “boomlet”...the teenage population hasn’t taken center stage like this since the ‘50s and ‘60s” (p. 3). Further, according to Schor (1999), “trends in inequality helped create the new consumerism.” (p. 5). While wealth in the 1970s shifted in the direction of the top 20%, at the same time, during the recession of the early 1990’s, “conspicuous luxury consumption has intensified” (p.5). According to Schor, the “average American now finds it harder to achieve a satisfying standard of living than 25 years ago. Work requires longer hours, jobs are less secure, and the pressures to spend more intense.. .many American have long-term worries about their ability to meet basic needs, ensure a decent standard of living for their children, and keep up with an ever escalating consumption norm” (p.2). 2 For further discussions on Channel One television, see Giroux (1994), Klein (1999), the Merrow Report (2000), and Center for Commercial Free education (chapter 7). 3 A Los Angeles Times article (1/9/2000) reported that “despite the boom in high tech and other industries, the poor and middle class are lagging” and these deepening inequalities are worrying many. At the time of the reporting, “the state’s ongoing economic boom, led by high-tech industries but also fueled by light manufacturing and agriculture, has concentrated even more wealth at the very top of the income ladder according to studies by the California Policy Institute. The state’s poorest working families, meanwhile now bring home 22% less in real dollars than they did in 1969. Economists point out that the reason the boom didn’t translate into higher incomes across the board was two-fold: high tech doesn’t create a vast array of well-paying factory jobs, and it puts a premium on an educated work force. And California more than other states has a high concentration of uneducated immigrant workers. In Los Angeles county, it is mostly whites, and to a lesser degree, Asians who create and fill jobs in the computer and entertainment industries. Meanwhile, the burgeoning service economy - maids, nannies, cooks, gardeners, bus boys, retail clerks employs more and more immigrants from Mexico and Central America The income gap continued to persist even as the unemployment rate continued to drop (p.A16). It is important to note that since the attacks of 9/11/01, the service industries in the United States have faced massive layoffs, and at present California’s unemployment rates are on the increase. (L.A. Times, 11/15/01). 4 Wilson (1978) has argued that structural inequality and oppression by race “ has become less significant relative to social class a determinant of life chances”(p.247 in MacLeod). MacLeod reinforced that neither 235 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. race nor class can be reduced to abstract forces that mechanically manipulate people.. .rather race and class [along with gender, as Kaplan’s (1997) ethnography bears out] are interwoven in variable patterns...class and work simultaneously and each can magnify or mitigate the effects of the other” (p.248). 5 According to McNeal’s (1992) studies of children’s and adolescent’s spending, over 50% of children’s total income came from their parents and was provided in 55% of the households examined. Among parents who gave allowances to children, almost all said that the main purpose for it was to “help children learn to handle money” (p. 26). Parents however do not make it clear to children that allowance (which is designed for entertainment expenses mostly) has little to do with life and survival, and provision o f basic needs. Like McNeal’s participants, in the Mefferin sample, those who had little income tended not to give their children a regular allowance. For marketers, according to McNeal, when they attempt selling to a group with little income ($20-$50 per week), they know that as adults, they must create campaigns that are authentic in the minds of children and adolescents. Thus it is more of a gamble, but those who are successful have the opportunity to establish “a relationship with the children that could last a lifetime” (p. 35). 6 According to Katz (1994) in 1993 boys were really moving the market with athletic shoes. “ More than half of all the athletic shoe customers in the country were now young men under 18. The average American boy was estimated to own about 12 pairs of athletic shoes. Americans under 25 accounted for more than half of Nike’s sales, and Nike marketers estimated that 70% of the money spent on footwear by American boys between 13-18 was spent on Nikes”(pp. 260-261). See also Goldman and Papson (1998). 7 The subject of food was mentioned on far more occasions by girls than it was by boys. Recall that it was only girls who mentioned the stigma of county food (GP7) and that other girls mentioned they had no problem with forfeiting their free lunch to be seen eating certain brand names. 8 According to Gunter and Fumham (1998), they mention that “while working class parents may have lower incomes than middle-class parents, they may nevertheless often give their children greater exposure to the economic world and consumer experiences than middle-class parents do” (p.24). 9 Los Angeles Times (9/22/01) reports specified that “The percentage of consumers falling behind on credit card payments rose in the second quarter to the highest level in nearly three decades, according to a report released Friday. Analysts say that the report was particularly worrisome because it shows significant financial stress on households even before the Sept 11 attacks, which many economists believe will push the nation into a recession” (p.C3). While this aspect has been debated since the six months following the attacks, this delinquency rate is the highest since 1972. 1 0 Walk across any college campus from Junior colleges to Ivy Leagues, and you see credit card companies offering these 'incredible student rates." I was in one of these early phases. I got my cards in college in 1989; so I begin my inquiry into this domain ten year later as headlines proliferate about the growing problems of consumer debt, etc. As long as schools don’ t include an element of basic economics in their curricula, how can kids be prepared for these problems? They are given these financial instruments without also having been given tools to understand the implications of their use. The risks inherent in this neglect of education is likely to become more and more serious as more and more lower income students enter college, where they may be faced with an even bigger divide between income and the perceived requirements of consumer status. 236 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER 6 Hip-Hopping Around, but Out of ‘N Sync: Observing Some Standards of Youthful Opposition, Resistance and Compliance How do young adolescents react to, oppose, create, or negotiate strategies of resistance despite the pressures (cultural, social, institutional, etc.) that exist in their lives? This is a complex subject matter to address because as children/minors, their participation as citizens is undermined by age and dependency on family, parents, teachers, etc. -- adult role models in an adult society. In the previous chapter, Mefferin students’ parents were shown to be co-consumers along with their children (whether they actually wished to be or not.) In this chapter, I show that parents and children often experience some conflict within their relationships as co-consumers. This discussion of relationships contributes to the on-going discussion of the series of relationships and interaction combinations that I have addressed throughout this dissertation. Chapter 3, for instance, highlighted the relations among adolescents in their peer groups. Chapter 4 highlighted the culture industries (the market economy) and their relations with adolescents. This chapter brings together adolescent-parent relations with adolescent- parent/adult relations AND the culture industries. In this chapter, I argue that 1) “adult” society has created the largest framework of constraints which children/adolescents must learn to interact with, and when youth resist the authority of adult leadership, values and laws, the labels of delinquency and deviance are often applied; and 2) regarding consumption of entertainment media in particular, adult society promotes a ‘freedom of choice’ which enables youth, creating a sense of 237 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. personal agency, even as American censorship dogma follows close behind. By ex am ining how Mefferin students handled these issues, I am able to contribute further to the dialogue put forth by scholars who have engaged with the study of youth, popular culture and the mass media.1 Most importantly, I present the ways in which Mefferin students opposed, subverted, and resisted adult authority (such as parents’ guidelines, school rules), and I present the ways they opposed and resisted a leisure (market) culture that was targeted at their age group and interests. I also explore the ways in which parents and children responded to corporate media with special attend paid to their motives for compliance (and the more rarer elements of resistance). I conclude this chapter by examining these issues through a gender-directed lens. Gender is a salient variable that especially takes on important cultural meanings during adolescence, which I articulate through the case study themes of “Hip-Hop Masculinity” and “Romantic Femininity.” The particular structural institutions and interaction practices that nourish the mechanisms of adolescent compliance and resistance also evoke the framework of dominant gender patterns/relations in L.A. youth at the turn of the millennium. Family Relations to Parental Concerns: Protection and/or Censorship? During the middle school/junior high years, young adolescents are enveloped in the physiological changes of puberty. Along with receiving cultural and emotional messages that they are no longer children but years away from “official” adulthood, young adolescents grapple with balancing and maintaining the relationships in their peer controlled world, as well as those in their parental/adult controlled world. Parents of 238 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. adolescents don’t often face an easy task themselves, watching their once-obedient progeny turn at times into petulant rivals and virtual strangers. Parents, facing these changes along with their children may find themselves playing new roles from guidance counselor to drill sergeant, private investigator to prison warden. It seems that adolescence is about striking a balance between youthful independence and adult dependence — or youthful dependence and adult independence? Ultimately, parents are fearful of what this uncertainty brings, and adolescents appear fearless in uncertainty’s wake. Among the young adolescents at Mefferin, students articulated how they were caught in between the comfort of familial attachments, yet at the same time, trying vigorously to find an identity away from the family unit: LC: Do you spend more time hanging out with your family or your friends? Donnan: Both, but... LC: Well, what’s your favorite? El Meno Jr.: Friends - ‘cuz it’s like with your family - it’s kind of boring. Donnan: I don’t like my family that much. My family doesn’t let me hang out with people that much. They don’t like the people I like to hang out with.. .They say I play around too much. (GP4) In the focus group interviews, students were much more apt to spend time bragging about what they did with their friends — how they wished to get away from their families. The reality however, in this age group, is that the majority of students did spend more time with their families than friends outside of school. When the students (N=132) were surveyed in January 2000, 54% spent more time with family, 29% spent more time with friends and 15% spent time equally between friends and family. Among all girls (N=75), 53% spent more time with family, 31% with friends, and 16% with both. Among all boys 239 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. (N=57), 54% spent more time with family, 26% with friends, and 14% with both. One student did not answer the question at all, but it is interesting to note that two students, both white-identified 8th grade boys, wrote that they preferred to spend their after school ■j time alone. In the focus groups, when students mentioned the strictness of their parents, it was often in terms of restrictions/controls over their free time: LC: So the best thing to do then after school is to go out and hang with your friends? Donnan: I have to go home before going to a friend’s house — parents say “Super-vision” LC: Oh you do? Donnan: Yeah, someone to watch me -- my Dad, he doesn’t really have working hours. He’s got his own business. LC: Ok, so he’s generally home when you get back from school? Donnan: Yeah. (GP4) LC: So but what about your parents, are they strict with you? Max: Oh, yeah, sometimes they’re like, ‘Where you going? What time you coming back?’ Tony: My mom used to always say like — Max: (interrupting) “Don’t go all the way back there,” and they told me what area to stay in. Tony: Eveiy time I go out they say, ‘Don’t use drugs.” Max: My Dad told me that. Tony: Yeah, I’m always thinkin’ like, “You told me that a billion times.” (GP2) I sensed the frustration students felt at home, whether they were close with family or not. Girls like Blue Angel for instance, thought parents were over-protective of them, especially when they felt they didn’t have enough privacy at home: Blue Angel: Parents are like over-protective of girls and stuff. I know like your parents are worried about you. You know, they just want to be there for you, but sometimes like a girl just needs her own space sometimes. LC: So where do you go then; do you have your own rooms? Blue Angel: I have my own room, but sometimes my brother’s there cuz he doesn’t like to sleep in his room. Sometimes I share with my brother and sometimes I have it for myself. But the only time I 240 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. have it to myself is if he’s at his dad’s place. LC: Oh I see, then you have to split your space. Blue Angel: Yeah... So if I don’t get like the space that I need, I will go to his room, and I’ll lock myself in there, and I’ll come out like a half an hour later. I’ll take the radio with me, and I’ll come out a less stressed out person than I was before I was locked in the room. (GP9) Along with the need for private space, the question of family versus friends came up often during the course of the interviews. One particular pattern that stood out among Latino students (the majority of the Mefferin sample) was the fact that immediate family and extended family was most important to students who were first and second generation immigrants.3 In comparative studies conducted by Carola and Marcelo Suarez-Orozco (1995), their data leads them to conclude that “Mexican adolescents feel a sense of obligation toward the family.. .this sense of obligation is maintained among immigrant and second generation Mexican American youths who have been exposed to the dominant American culture” (p. 118). For the Latino students I interviewed, parents tended to be strict and concerned about the streets, the media, etc., yet older siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins often became surrogate parental/adult figures who bridged the gap between parents and same-age peers. This aspect provided some Mefferin students a greater sense of freedom and independence — especially in terms of socializing. I noted that Gisel (GP8) mentioned going night clubbing4 with her aunt. Monkey (GP6) and Alex Menes (GP2) also discussed extended family advantages: LC: Ohh, are your parents worried about that? I mean you’re in L.A. This is a big urban center and all. A lex Menes: They worry more about my sister — cuz me and my brother, my brother takes good care of me, and my mom knows that he’s a good guy. She like, my mom, like I’m always like with my brother, so she worries about my sister. She thinks, I mean, she’s — she thinks that my brother’s a good guy, so she let’s me go out a lot. (GP2) 241 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Monkey: Weekends I mostly spend going out with my brothers — late. Friday I go to the movies, come back 2:00 in the morning. LC: Oh do you? How can you stay out so late? Monkey: Cuz we would sometimes -Like this Saturday, no, last Saturday, 1 went To go to a party, and I came back at 3:00 in the morning cuz it was like one of my cousins got married. (GP6) Both 1st and 2n d generation Latina girls also mentioned that they appreciated having an extended family, especially when they needed someone to talk to regarding personal issues (generally pertaining to romance and sexuality): Mary: My Dad don’t know that I have a boyfriend. Usually when my dad asks me who this is [on the phone], I just say a friend or whatever. LC: Well what about -- does your mom know? Mary: No, just my big brother... .Urn, I just try to be good to myself because, umm, me and my step Mom don’t get along, and my Dad is not good with that. Usually I talk to my friends or my brother’s girlfriend. LC: So you don’t talk with your parents as much? All: No Vanessa: They don’t want to hear anything! (GP1 ) What became apparent was that students, while they relied and generally obeyed their parents’ wishes, were constantly searching out ways to avoid them. Especially in their world of market culture — which often produced too much questionable material in parents’ eyes (e.g too much sex, drugs, violence) - students felt a need to establish a sense of independence. Students like Rage, Lowell, Vanessa and Quack-Quack expressed their embarrassment when things like sex and drug use (expressively seen as deviant associations with youth culture) appeared on television while they were watching with their parents. When it concerned the youth culture marketed to them, they frequently chose not to share it with parents and other adults in their own lives. The irony of this situation is the fact that mediated, commercialized ‘youth’ culture is most often created and completely controlled by adults. 242 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. In adolescents’ eyes, parents are really only co-consumers because they foot the bill for the entertainment and fashionable commodities desired. Thus, they are not co consumers in the same relationship aspect that adolescents share with their peer groups. And the youth culture industries do not fail to notice and exploit the kind of rift evident between Mefferin students and their parents. As McNamara (2000) so aptly noted, “the media is constantly interested in new markets and the feeling is that youth are the best shoppers and should be catered to. Which is ironic when you consider that real teenagers and college age kids are not treated very well by anyone else -- teachers, parents, cops” (p. E42). In the business of commercial television, for instance, the network heads of ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox, in planning for the 2000-2001 season, brought together a panel of “new power brokers” — teenagers — even though the 12-17 age group still represents the smallest individual audience segment (Lowry, 1999, p.8). Media marketers, however, are not interested in a permanent rift between parents and children. They know that the co-consumption of teens and their parents makes for a very formidable and profitable business relationship and that it remains in their interest to keep both market segments happily wanting more. At the same time, parents are not always an easy segment to keep contented in the same way that children are. For instance, when children/adolescents consume entertainment, their first thoughts are never about safety, protection, or exposure to mature themes and potentially ‘dangerous material;’ this is solely a position reserved for parents and adults. What this suggests is that even in the form of ffee-market capitalism that the United States ascribes to, entertainment products are subject to heavy debate regarding 243 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. regulatory measure and guidelines. In the larger ‘adult’ political culture -- “resistance” to corporate media becomes an ideological demand for control of text and image content. Adult opposition and resistance to corporate media and the industries of culture is also a bi-partisan political concern, one backed by arguments supported by both the Right and the Left. While the 1980s sparked de-regulation of children’s television program advertising and bank/credit card guidelines, at the same time, the 1980s also produced the Meese Commission; New Right religious conservatives who were at the forefront in starting various media watch dog groups, and ‘decency’ campaigns aimed at censoring sexually explicit, “questionable” content. Prominent figures like the revs. Donald Wildmon and Jerry Fallwell mounted strident campaigns — the sentiments of which remain present today. For example, the Los Angeles-based “Parents Television Council” recently released data on an increase in explicit sexual references such as oral sex and pornography during television’s “sour family hour” of 8-9pm, when 10 million youth are watching (Garvey, 2001, p. A4). The entertainment dial of these organizations transmits an image of contemporary culture and its lost moral and cultural authority. Family-based organizations such as Dr. James Dobson’s “Focus On the Family” take a fundamentalist stand toward teens and popular culture. Their journal, Plugged In, offers hundreds of reviews of contemporary television, movies, and music to help parents in making their choices. A review of MTV states: MTV claims to be socially and sexually conscientious, yet preaches condom use, abortion and bisexuality. The network claims to be tolerant as it mocks God, Christianity and the very idea of moral absolutes. All the while, teens around the globe are soaking it up... If families haven’t already pulled the plug, now is the time - Luke 17:1-3 (pp. 3-6). 244 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The voice of conservative Christian Coalition political rhetoric generally attaches a moral justification to the censorship of image and content, whereas the equally prominent ecumenical voice of moderates and liberals (e.g. Clinton Democrats) places more emphasis on regulating or classifying content and image. Advocating a more universal appeal toward “helping all families,” leading figures like Tipper Gore and Senator Joe Lieberman railed against the over-production of violent films, video games and music lyrics. Gore, through the Parents’ Music Resource Center, was largely responsible for instigating the campaign to put “parental advisory” labels on many rap and hip-hop albums, a parental consumer awareness campaign that warned parents of the presence of violent and sexually explicit song lyrics. Furthermore, throughout the mid 1990s, terms like ‘Blocking,’ ‘Masking,’ ‘Filtering,’ and ‘Monitoring’ have became the new buzzwords in the new technology- driven world of parental censorship, regulation, and surveillance measures. The newest technology along these lines is DVD “masking” software, “a soon to be released computer program that automatically edits out violence, nudity, and objectionable language from DVD movies, essentially letting viewers change an R rated film to a G rating or anything in between” (Wilson, 2001, p. Cl). V-Chip technology (program blocking capability) was backed by both the left and the right wings of the US government and in 1996 was made a requirement to be installed in all new television sets. Rutenberg reports (2001) that today V-Chips are present in over 50 million televisions; however, based on a recent Kasier Family Foundation study of 800 parents, only 7% were using the chip (p.l). The reality is that parents on the 245 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. whole are less technologically savvy then their children (Kapur, 1999; Rutenberg, 2001). Too many parents would have to defer to the expertise of those whom they need to censor. Internet filters (e.g. NetNanny) are often used by schools and parents in the hope of blocking inappropriate websites; and also the newly launched “iamBigBrother” software, which monitors and records all web sites and chatrooms visited, along with email exchanges (Colker, 2001, p. Tl). In the case of the Mefferin sample, I was curious to see if they were subjected to parental censorship, blocks and monitors. Heavy Internet consumers such as Amenda, Alex Erez and Playboy Bunny, mentioned what they contend with: LC: Do your parents restrict your Internet practices? Do they check like what you’re looking at? Alex Erez: My Dad thinks I go to Internet and go to pomo. Playboy Bny: My Dad has a lock on the computer — I mean like you know a lock so they can check what I do...They’ve got their own code. (GP10) Amenda: I chat a lot, and sometimes it gets me in trouble. Yeah, with my Dad. Like sometimes it [the AOL server] gets disconnected for some reason. LC: Oh, mysteriously disconnected. Amenda: Yeah and now, my Dad says, he got my Internet back, but now I can’t chat — but I e-mail to my friends. I still e-mail them and talk to them. Actually my Dad wants me to have it, but my uncle is like really strict and everything. He said you can’t have it. But I’m getting a new account. (GP13) More commonplace were discussions about restrictions over movies and television in which students mentioned that their parents were most concerned about sex rather than violence on television and movies. For some parents, R-rated movies meant sexually explicit fare. This concern was mentioned most often by 1st and 2n d generation Latino students -- those whose parents were foreign bom: 246 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Yoshi: My mom doesn’t mind video games, but she doesn’t want me to watch dirty movies. .. .My mom lets me watch like bloody stuff but not rated R movies with sexy stuff. (GP12) These worries and restrictions were further apparent in the discussion of Latina girls (1s t and 2n d generation) who were interested in watching Spanish “soap operas” or telenovelas: LC: What about TV? Do they ever say you can’t watch this on TV or that kind of movie? Crysty: On Spanish TV, there’s some telenovelas that are really like - you know - and they don’t actually let me see that, or then they have to be there. That’s the only thing. (GP15) LC: Do you have cable? Adriana: No Candy: I do May: I do Baby Devil: I used to have, but they [parents] said I was watching too much LC: So do your parents care what you watch? May: Depends on it~ Candy: My mom does, but if she sees these movies that have a lot of Baby Devil: S-E-X - Candy: She doesn’t like me to see that. They think it’s a bad influence. Baby Devil: My Dad won’t let me see novelas.. .No, he says, but I see them sneaky LC: Why not novelas? Baby Devil: He said that I’ll get attached to the TV - everyday - and I have — he won’t let me cuz then I won’t do my chores. (GP14) The following transcript stresses how religious and conservative values of censorship and restriction do not automatically mean “white” or “middle-class.” Latina girls with immigrant parents like Baby Giggles also had to contend with religious conservatism. This aspect did not sound uncommon to me. In cities like Los Angeles, religious conservatism is as diverse as the city population. LC: What about the MTV website? Baby Giggles: Because he doesn’t like it - he doesn’t like the music and all that. Pippy: It all depends on like what religion you have. Baby Giggles/: Yeah, that’s exactly why. My dad says it’s against his religion. Pippy LC: Oh then he’s pretty strict? 247 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Pippy: Yeah Baby Giggles: When I go to my Mom’s house, though, it’s totally different. I can stay in bed. I can eat in bed, watch TV all day. LC: But your Dad is stricter? Baby Giggles: Right - Wrestling my Dad - won’t let me. I used to watch it like a long time ago, but like he saw one episode where they beat up this little man, and he started supposedly bleeding. But I know it’s fake, though. My Dad, he doesn’t know that, so he’s like no, I don’t want you to watch any of that stuff. LC: What about teen shows like Dawson’s Creek? Baby Giggles: I watch that once in a while. LC: So your dad lets you watch that? Baby Giggles: He’s pretty loose about that except for uh, MTV, wrestling, and those Spanish shows --the novelas LC: He doesn’t let you watch those? Baby Giggles: No, but I watch ‘em anyways. (GP9) The situation with Baby Giggles illustrates the contrasting parenting values exhibited especially among children of divorce. Baby Giggles, when she is with her father thinks of him as controlling yet her mother represents a more liberal existence. Where divorce disrupts the family dynamic it often positions parents against each other and often an easy way of achieving detente is through consumption. I noted these contrasts with Quack- Quack (GP1) and Bee (GP12) as well. For some parents of students in the Mefferin sample, regulation of entertainment consumption focused on content and subject matter; for others, time was more of a factor. For example, among parents whose children participated in focus groups (N=5), when I asked, “are you concerned about what your child watches on TV or about how much time they spend watching TV?”-- and one out of five parents (Damb’s mother) responded that she was “little concerned — only when the movie or show is too violent or sexy." The others, like Cristal’s mother, mentioned, “not much — I let her watch 1-2 hours of TV each day.” Angela’s mother said, “Only a little time is allowed to watch TV” and Patricia May’s mother reinforced, “She needs to spend more time doing homework instead.” 248 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Finally, in terms of the symbolic interaction among focus group participants, I noticed that some students used this topic to brag about how little parental restrictions affected them. The lack of regulation seemed to grace them with a sense of cool and expert status: LC: Now, do your parents say that you can’t watch certain things on TV or certain movies? QuackQuack: No. Vanessa: No. LC: They don’t like censor you? QuackQuack: Nope LC: What about things on TV that are supposed to be for older viewers? Mary: Like later on in the evening? LC: Yes, how late can you watch? QuackQuack: Actually late. Vanessa: It’s like sooner or later it comes on cable at anytime, so it’s like what’s the point? For my Mom she says, if they’re gonna see it later then why not see it sooner? (GP1) Jenny: I watch a lot of HBO on cable. LC: So do your parents ever say oh, you can’t watch that? Jenny: Oh no, they don’t tell us nothing. Amenda: My Dad doesn’t like the music that I listen to. But he would never tell me not to. My dad is never like, he’d never tell me not to do something. You know, I mean — he wants me to like understand everything. He doesn’t want to force me to do something, or not to do something. (GP 13) The debate over parents’ concerns about content versus time was magnified with Bee (GP12), for example, who lived full-time with his mother and whose father lived in England and only spent limited time with him in the summers. In discussing this subject of parental regulation, he noted: LC: Oh, now do your parents ever complain about stuff that you listen to or watch? Bee: Yeah — with wrestling. They say that I watch too much. My Dad got pissed at me. LC: Oh, because you were watching too much? Bee: Yeah, he was like, ‘Bee, fuckin’ work out!’ He got mad cuz I want to be a wrestler and all. (GP12) 249 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Yet, in another exchange, Bee mentioned the very liberal attitude his mother took with R- rated movies: LC: But how do you get to watch them? Bee: You just go rent‘em. LC: But what if you want to go to the theater? Bee: My mom will buy me tickets. (GP12) In the Mefferin sample, it was clear that immigrant/foreign-bom parents were the most strict about entertainment consumption in terms of both time spent and in subject matter. Many students admitted to complying with the rules set; however, there was quite a lot of discussion centering on students’ attempts to defy some aspect of authority. Agency. Opposition. Resistance Censorship advocates claim that “questionable and dangerous media” lead to questionable and dangerous behavior by youth (violent and criminal activity), yet in my sample, social deviance and rule-breaking behavior was generally expressed through performance, bragging, and striking a cool pose. One classic example was the way in which Bee (GP12) would interrupt focus group discussions: “Now, I’d like to know if anyone here has been arrested before?... It seems that I got kicked out of my last school.” A recent transfer student, and the only white-identified student in the focus group sample, Bee was an avid follower of rapper Eminem and loved to imitate his mannerisms and assume the “bad-boy” image in the focus group with Yoshi and Mathew, who would often look at him in awe. Bee would sit back and balance on the back legs of his chair, fondling a large gold chain around his neck and also brag about his surreptitious Internet activities: LC: So in the chatrooms, whom do you talk to? Bee: I talk to everybody in chatrooms. I like getting into arguments in the chatrooms, too. 250 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LC: Oh, really? You flame people? Bee: Sometimes. One time I went to a gay chatroom, yeah (laughs). I said all kinds of things, and then I went out. And then I went to the country music chatroom and said “howdy y’all,” and then I left.(GP12) And in another example, Alex Eres, Playboy Bunny and El Chalinio rallied around the subject of Internet pornography. Alex and Playboy Bunny admitted their fathers checked up on them, while El Chalinio taunted them with, “What, you guys have to wait until you’re married or something?”- to which Alex retorted, “No, we still find it all the time!” Mefferin students also used entertainment culture and venues on occasion to challenge adult authority in a much wider manner. As British scholars of youth and culture such as Brake (1980) have argued, social class position not only dominates adolescents at school “but also during leisure, where autonomy, excitement and enjoyment are sought to escape the monotony of school work” (p. 55). Brake asserts that “lacking the means to achieve the glamorous elements of leisure consumption, the working class boy reaffirms his working class value system. He finds that working class entertainment of a traditional form no longer satisfies him in leisure areas, so he reacts against both middle and working class culture” (p. 55). Fascinated by Brake’s assessments, I was surprised how some of my findings coincided. For some of the Mefferin boys on the lower ends of the socio-economic stratum, after-school hours indeed yielded a number of occasions for rule-breaking activities and exploitation of adult authority that were also associated with the consumer cultures youth find most important (music, sports, shoes): El Meno Jr.: Or my friends come to the Borders and steal some CD’s. LC: Oh, so they don’t get busted for stealing? 251 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. El Meno Jr.: No. That’s what they said. The thing is that they know how to open up that thing on the package Roger: But they not going to take that off so they say. Sometimes they just take the CD out of the case. (GP4) Boys in GP4 particularly offered a crafty appreciation for the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team and sports culture: LC: Anfome: LC: Monkey: Anfome: Monkey: LC: Anfome: T: Anfome: Monkey: T: LC: T: Anfome: LC: Anfome: Do you get to go to a lot of those games - Lakers games? I’m going to go to a playoff game; my friend has some tickets. Wow, how much do tickets like that cost? $60 to $80 No, they cost more than that. (to Anfome) Did you get them in the streets? Oh, are they real tickets? I think they’re duplicates. .. .But the people at the entrance they don’t look at them. Yeah, they just take the ticket and you go. If there’s somebody in that seat, you just take a different seat. Or you call the security, not the security, but the helper and tell them, ay!, they’re in my seat,’ and they just find you another one. Yeah, my friend, he’d be having the front row seats most of the time. Because nobody buys those tickets? No -- not front row seats because basically nobody can afford those seats, or people that can afford them, they don’t want to spend all that money on one little game. Well, my friend, he’s sellin’ ‘em for like sixty something, but I sell ‘em Like forty something. Oh you sell them too? Yeah (GP6) Consistent with Brake’s findings, working-class boys in the Mefferin sample were the most apt to participate in some sort of ‘alternative marketplace’ in which (through their own agency) could exploit large businesses and corporations like Borders and the Lakers. The presentation of these strategies was particularly effective in enhancing their performances and cool poses within the focus groups. However, it must be admitted that not all working-class rule-breaking was directed against middle class or corporate leisure culture. In one case, the lure of the consumer culture’s riches and symbols of power was a motivating source for transgressive behavior in the immediate family domain. In 252 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. this discussion, Anfome related how he had recently conducted some ‘shopping’ for Nike shoes on the Internet: LC: Do you guys ever buy anything on Internet? Anfome: Sometimes like my friend, he takes his grandma’s credit card and used it and bought me - 1 bought some shoes. LC: Did his grandmother find out? Anfome: Well not yet LC: So you got shoes? Anfome: Yeah, like two pairs of shoes - Nikes and Jordans. Monkey: When I get money, oooh, I always have to buy something. Anfome: That’s why you get the credit card. You can be sneaky with a credit card, but you can’t be so sneaky with money. (GP6) This example also points to the fact that in the consumer culture, deviance (today) is not rarely but frequently driven by consumer products — it wasn’t about Anfome getting athletic shoes, it was about getting Nikes and Jordans. While some scholars (e.g. Majors & Billison, 1992; Goldman & Papson, 1998) have documented a trend among youth of crimes, even murders, committed to acquire new Nike styles, this consequence of consumer culture has not captured the political attention of either the Right or the Left. They leave off at the censorship or regulation of media consumption but hardly acknowledge clothing and fashion in this framework. Furthermore, while discussions of deviance among boys yielded the most vivid interaction performances, with boasting displays of creative knowledge and expertise, girl’s voices were noticeably absent even though there were more girls in the sample. In only one group of girls was there any mention of participation in outside rule-breaking, authority-challenging activities. In the following transcript excerpt from GP8, Gisel stood out in the group, while her behavior was critiqued by her friend Michelle: LC: What are you going to do during the summer? Gisel: Go clubbing (others laugh) LC: Do what? (laughter) - You’re going to go clubbing? Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Michelle: She goes clubbing - you know, a 13 year-old girl. Gisel: Right down by Vermont and 24th LC: Oh, they don’t ask you for ID? Gisel: Not really, cuz I go with my aunt, and my aunt will be like she’s 18, here check her purse, and they’ll be like Ok, you can go in. LC: Oh, yes. Now, what do you do there? Now, do you meet men? Gisel: (laughing and laughing, then coyly) Ohhh, deependds... (GP8) In these examples, students like Gisel and Anfome were attempting to transgress the boundaries of adult authority, using their agency to subvert official rules and sanctions. Examples such as these have provoked mixed response in how they are ‘read’ by researchers. Jenkins (1998) has reinforced that “sociological critics focus on the ‘deviance’ and ‘destructiveness’ of youth culture, their responsibility, or the rituals of their subcultural resistance [however, as cultural critics] we often celebrate the ‘resistant’ behaviors of youth cultures as subversive, [while] the misbehavior of children is almost never understood in similar terms” (p.2). And finally, examples as these piques interest in questions regarding the Mefferin sample -- are they to be seen as engaging in youthful resistance or children’s misbehavior? What about examples to be considered as modes of youthful resistance to a larger marketed culture? What exactly has distinguished adolescent/youth oriented measures of resistance in this direction? Over the past twenty years, scholars such as Stuart Hall (1973/1980; 1997) have pointed to strategies such as “active readership” as a form of discursive resistance to conventional textual readings of media; and Dick Hebdige (1979) has pointed to resistance through subcultural style and image. However, “active readership” in these arenas continue to be more ambiguous than ever. In a society fed by techno-media, advertising, and commerce at lightning speeds, any attempt to understand audience spectatorship and entertainment viewing as a site of critical engagement and 254 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. oppositional perspectives requires some contemporary additions and explanations. For example, Giroux (2000), writing from a postmodernist perspective, defines American culture as a: political and social condition marked by the rise of the national entertainment state and the spread of corporate culture into every facet of life. The concentration of apparatuses of cultural production, organization, and distribution in fewer and fewer hands undermines the possibility for culture to be a dynamic zone of contention, an active public space prompting dislodge, dissent, and critical engagement... As the social is emptied of all political and ethical referents, the tension between entertainment and politics becomes blurred (p.66). In the case of Mefferin youth, the blurred tensions between entertainment and politics is manifested by the appeal of the culture industries to youth as a legitimate market segment. A mark of consumer culture is that it provides participants with a new vocabulary — and in the case of youth, a new vocabulary that almost constitutes a new construct of literacy. In Miss Hillmont’s limited English classes, for example, students were very reluctant to mention anything that hinted at ‘objective’ descriptions of social concerns, government and politics, yet they were very conversant and demonstrated skills of critical thought as they compared Nike and Reebok, Xbox and Playstation2, Backstreet Boys and Dr. Dre. What this suggested to me was that in their own worlds of social interaction, youth may debate issues which in their society are deemed very ‘political’ — issues which would hardly be understood in the same sense among adults. In the case of Mefferin students, the knowledge and literacy displayed among peers was indeed a controversial matter when measured against knowledge and literacy in the traditional sense: some of the most articulate, conversant, and knowledgeable students I interviewed were graded as C students and below — a fact that surprised me greatly.5 255 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Media scholars such as Postman (1994) have tended to reinforce a traditional outlook on adolescent literacy in commenting on the sense of lost childhood innocence produced by American cultural narratives. Yet Giroux (2000), who is certainly critical of the “national entertainment state,” points out, “what Postman ignores is the fact that popular culture is not only a site of enormous contradiction but also a site of negotiation for kids, one of the few places where they can speak for themselves, produce alternative public spheres, and represent their own interests” (p. 13). Without some sense of the unique knowledge and capabilities of young adolescents, even liberal academics may end up supporting positions which have already been well-defined and well-worn among cultural conservatives: Postman’s position is symptomatic of the call by many adults and educators after the Columbine murders to censor the Internet, banish violent video games, and restrict online services for young people. Rather than acknowledge that the new electronic technologies allow kids to immerse themselves in profoundly important forms of social communication, produce a range of creative expressions, and exhibit forms of agency that are both pleasurable and empowering, adults profoundly mistrust the new technologies -- in the name of protecting childhood innocence (p. 13). The innovative, yet limited consumer literacy of Mefferin students created relationships between adults, adolescents, and the youth culture industries that exhibited greater complexity than Postman or others might be willing to acknowledge. The quest to establish a sense of agency that was pleasurable and empowering led Mefferin students to engage in behavior which was sometimes recognized as defiant of adult authority, and at other times barely noted in the adult world. In addition, the quest to establish a sense of agency was both enhanced and undermined by the marketed leisure culture which they utilized as their medium of self-expression. 256 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. As I spent time observing Mefferin students at school, I noticed that the most common way they challenged adult authority was through the subtlety of personal style (see Chapter 3). Because Mefferin students wore uniforms, many missed a sense of individuality, and both boys and girls would take great liberties with intricate hairstyles: from elaborate dyed blonde tips that indicated skater style, to dreadlocks, and Afros and braids that indicated an allegiance to rap and hip-hop music genres. Other measures included the use of gang-related colors in hair ribbons and shoe laces among girls. In focus groups, Amenda (GP13) stated she was proud to be caught out of uniform and didn’t care if she accumulated numerous violations. Lowell and Crysty mentioned: LC: Then what do you guys do to beat the uniform or like cheat? Lowell: Sometimes when I’m not wearing uniform, I put my jacket all the way up. I zip it up. Crysty: Sometime, yeah. Right now I’m wearing another shirt already. Oh, and when they [teachers, school officials] tell me to change it, I tell them, Oh I’m new and not used to it, and they’re like all right that’s Ok. (GP15) Bee related how he liked to defy school (adult) authority by resisting the uniform codes while subtly promoting his ‘alternative’ subcultural interest in wrestling: Bee: Before I put on the uniform here, I wear like a wrestling shirt everyday. I have lots of ‘em. LC: Oh, so what is a wrestling shirt? Does it have different logos or. ..? Bee: Yeah .. .1 order them from the magazines - (takes out a magazine and shows me)... (showing magazines)- See, I have these, one of these, these - this shirt. LC: OK, that’s the Rock, and who’s this guy? Bee That’s Jericho, Chris Jericho LC: Ok, so when you go to the big events, are you gonna like see these guys? Bee: Yeah, and I’m gonna buy their stuff, too. You can buy it from the stands. See, this is cool. I’m gonna get this shirt. Yoshi: Oh, that one is tight, [meaning really cool, great] LC: So could you wear that here? Yoshi: They’d take it away. Bee: Yeah, because he cusses on it. And see, this one here (points to shirt with female sex symbol wrestler, Chynna) — “Brains, beauty and sometimes bitch.” (GP12) 257 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. One of the ironies here is that Bee, who relished the thought of shocking the sensibilities of adult authority, was attempting to do so through a marketed culture which he received in terms of subcultural rebellion. On the other hand, Donnan (GP2) was very aware of the hegemonic aspects of consumption and indeed challenged its norms. Donnan demonstrated this sensibility through his critiques of the more obscure hip-hop styles of clothing. He was adamantly critical of designer Tommy Hilfiger,6 a designer who stands as one of the emblems of hip-hop fashion on MTV, etc.: El Meno Jr.: Some people just wear it [Tommy Hilfiger] cuz they have pretty cool stuff. LC: Yeah, but you (to Donnan) don’t like it because of what was said? Donnan: I don’t like it cuz it’s all American, and I’m not American. LC: Oh, where are you from? Donnan: Jamaica (GP4) Donnan looked up to his father who was in the music business, however their relationship also had its conflicts. His father’s glamorous career afforded Donnan some extra advantages in that he was in the know with the newest trends; this knowledge allowed him the ability to give a critique of the dominant culture, albeit in a style which mixed elitism with social consciousness. Donnan’s insights echo some of the assertions about American culture made by Audre Lorde in Sister Outsider (1984): Much of western European history conditions us to see human differences in simplistic opposition to teach other: dominant/subordinate, good/bad, up/down, superior/inferior. In a society where the good is defined in terms of profit rather than in terms of human need, there must always be some group of people who, through systematized oppression, can be made to feel surplus, to occupy the place of the dehumanized inferior (p.l 14). Lorde also discussed a key component that has particularly driven the dominant American cultural paradigm: a “mythical norm,” which each one of us with our hearts knows 258 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. “that is not me.” In America, this norm is usually defined as white, thin, male, young, heterosexual, Christian, and financially secure. It is within this mythical norm that the trappings of power reside within this society” (p. 116). In many ways, I could sense that Mefferin students felt the pressures of this norm yet did not have many skills with which to bring a critical awareness to consciousness. Youth struggle with and are challenged by issues like the power of the media culture and maintaining status in the peer group. In this regard, I was particularly struck by a discussion which involved Alex, Tony and Max (GP2) that involved the association of the skater subculture. Boys moved through their cool posing but reinforced a solidarity of friendship and support: Alex: Like where I go to skate, nobody makes fun — like if you don’t know how — like many people be helping you, not making fun of you — they help you. Cuz we all friends. LC: Oh that’s good. But what about people who just dress like a skater — or you know, a rapper or gangster? Alex: Well it’s where you want to fit in the group and they — you’re like normal and they’re high up, and you want to get like this? .. .crazy like that -- like they’re like, I want to be like them and stuff like that. LC: Well isn’t it more important to be part of the group? Than stand out? Alex: No — just like say, be your own. (GP2) “Being one’s own” was a resistance tactic, a clear indication of agency. However, resistance to a larger framework of oppression was not what motivated Mefferin students to challenge the status quo, however. Rather, they were motivated by situations in which 1) restrictions were placed by parents and adults like school officials, and 2) in which mediated youth culture failed to capture their sense of the cool. Mefferin adolescents liked to identify with and covet the mystique of certain subalterns, so they were often critical of the ways which their interests had become commodified, often playing the role 259 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. of critical ‘insiders.’ In this example, Alex, Tony, and Max (GP2) shared their thoughts about creating a sense of individual skater style: Alex Menes: I don’t know, like cuz if you go like out wearing hair like this, people gonnna be staring at you, and stuff like that. You know, if you go with like a new style, they’re gonna stare at you, but they’re not gonna make fun of you. So, how do you decided what kind of hair you want, or clothes you want? Do you look through magazines, TV? I just think. You just think? Yeah, like so many people, like he says, they think, and then they make a new style — something out of nothing. (GP2) These situations were equally prevalent among both girls and boys. When I mentioned or LC: Max: L: Alex: asked outrightly if students culled their fashion concepts from mass media style resources such as magazines or television shows, this was often met with mixed response. Like Max, Damb said much the same thing about creating new styles, whereas Gabriela proudly admitted she used magazines for models of style: LC: Where do you find out about what kind of styles you would want? Gabriela: I would say I’d read magazines. LC: Which ones? Gabriela: People, Teen People LC: And so do you read the magazines to decide on particular style of clothing you’d want to wear? Damb: No, not for me, I don’t get my ideas from magazines. LC: Where do you get your ideas from? Damb: I just think them. (GP3) And in another example, it became clear that those who were the most popular were sometimes able to circumvent the standard promotional cycle for products like shoes: Buttercup: Blue Angel: LC: Blue Angel: Buttercup: Blue Angel: I see it advertised - mostly what I like - like Fubu commercials - Most of the time, some people they’ll just buy things before its even advertised. That’s what gets things started, popular at first. You mean the trends? Yeah, like shoes. If someone buys shoes before they’re even advertised or something, like someone gets the first pair, like ‘oh I got the first pair before everyone else did.’ And then everybody else’H go out and buy some because — And then right after that, when the commercial comes out, they’ll 260 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. go out and get like an even newer pair of shoes. LC: So, there are people who start the trend you think? Blue Angel: Yeah - they’ll start the trend and then they’ll like ‘oh you like my new shoes?’ I just got these, and you know like they haven’t even advertised them yet,’ and next thing you know, everyone else is getting them, and then they start to advertise them. And they advertise for about like a month or so and someone else is going to buy a new pair of shoes and then spread them around the school. (GP11) Particularly in a discussion with Quack-Quack, Vanessa, and Mary Garcia (GP2), I noted that some of the culture marketed toward teens came under heavy scrutiny. Like Donnan, Quack-Quack was from an upper middle class background and possessed a sharp wit. She was also well-known and visible among her peers. Quack-Quack relished in asserting her own individuality, her own unique style: LC: Now do you ever want to stand out (to QuackQuack) You said you like to have a different style? Quack-Quack: (definitively) I stand out. LC: Do you like to stand out? Quack-Quack: Yeah! It’s just like, people lookin’ at me like, and sayin’ “oh, that’s funny..and so on” (GP1) I was curious about what Quack-Quack meant by being “funny” after recalling Alex Menes’ discussion of hair styles — how his hair was stared at as something “funny” but not singled out for ridicule. I started to tap into the understandings among adolescents as they created their own value associations. In the following transcript, Quack-Quack, Mary Garcia and Vanessa (GP1) discussed “teen oriented” television shows. Here Quack-Quack offered her critique of the programming, utilizing a lingo which generated its own idiosyncratic, internal logic: LC: Do you guys ever watch some of the shows on TV -- like Popular or Dawson’ s CreekP Or those teen shows — do you know what I mean? Mary Garcia: I like Sister-Sister and Popular, yeah, and Bujfy LC: Do you think those shows are pretty good? Do you, uh, enjoy those shows — you know, those for teens? Quack-Quack: (sarcastic) I don’t watch TEEEEN shows. 261 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LC: Oh, ok, so then you don’t watch anything that’s specifically teen-oriented? Quack-Quack: I don’t watch anything that’s retarded. I’ll watch something that’s stupid, but not retarded. LC: What’s the difference here? Quack-Quack: Stupid is like funny — stupid is like, ok, some show, sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s like, oh,my god, they got paid to make that! And retarded, it’s just like, oh my god, two shows in a row — whooa. LC: So just really, really bad. Quack-Quack: (confirming) Yeah. LC: So the “stupid” ones would be like - what like Simpsons, Southparkl [I guess at what I think she means here.] Quack-Quack: Yeah, (connection and agreement) and the retarded one would be like Dawson’ s Creek. (GP1) Overwhelmingly, it was clear that across all ethnic affiliations and class associations, girls were the most apt to discuss what they saw as the successes and failures of the textual/narrative components of favorite entertainment genres. Boys, however, were more apt to discuss the system components of the media and technology they were interested in. Boys were quick to point out variations among video games and computer systems, whereas they never pointed to any media-driven textual analysis in any capacity. After making these observations, I started to reflect on the fact that adolescent boys and girls participate in very different cultural scripts and dramatic scenes, which also pointed to questions of gender individuation and/or gender differentiation. Locating the Main Themes of Compliance: The Importance of Gender at Adolescence For youth in America, it can be argued that the most important interactive institutions of today’s socialization revolve around the family, the peer group, the school, and entertainment / media — all of which support gender differentiation in varying ways. Children first learn the basic codes of gendered interactions within the family. Parents often socialize their children according to gender difference with names (from Robert to Roberta, Juan to Juanita) colors (blue and pink), toys and playthings (e.g. Hot Wheels 262 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and Barbie7 ) - accentuating the differences between masculinity and femininity. At age five or six years, when children enter school for the first time (often their first experience with public institutions for an extended period of time) they learn about socially- sanctioned divisions and difference in the forms of grade hierarchy, classroom structures, and separate facilities that are only for girls and only for boys (bathroom facilities, gym locker rooms). During childhood and adolescence, youth form peer alliances, and consumption interests that are heavily stratified according to gender. And as they move out of childhood into adolescence, the peer group and peer-oriented cultures often take precedence over the family and school. Kessler et al (1985) argued that “a great deal of what happens in schools is outside the immediate view of the school authorities. There is an unofficial school, constructed by the kids themselves, that exists in the gaps and crannies of the official institution. It is in this informal peer group life that much of the politics of gender is worked out” (p.42). In the Mefferin sample, the politics of gender was something often worked out through fashion and style, and sports-related consumption. In the following excerpts, students exemplify current notions that adhere to Connell’s (1987) explications of hegemonic masculinity and emphasized femininity, that are expressed through analogous patterns in face to face interaction that reflect the society at large — thus they articulate the formation of dominant patterns of gender relations which are very much in contrast, binary-identified (p. 183). Students were clearly aware of a definite gender division in which the dimension of patriarchal societal dominance was more than implicit: 263 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LC: So it is strange--but what about for other things? ... like school or anything, do you think girls and guys have it similar— or for jobs and careers and stuff-or do you think there’s a lot of difference? Amenda: There’s a difference — I think there’s a lot of difference between girls and guys. LC: Oh really — the biggest difference is what? Is it personality or what? Amenda: I don’t think about the personality — how they act-like guys, I don’t know — like girls have to act like a girl. You know what I mean right? LC: Yes, but how do you understand that to be? Amenda: Like, how a girl has to dress, and how she has to talk, and how she has to walk — like guys are not like that on campus. Yeah, and you know, so some girls just start walking, and they make fun of them - Tike you’re walking like a guy.’ (GP 13) This group was clearly aware of the concept of gender, but I was struck by how the traditional notions were so heavily emphasized: LC: What about in school? Do you think guys have it easier or do girls? Amenda: Guys have it easier (definitive) LC: Why? Amenda: Because, I don’t know. They can do whatever. I just think that guys can do whatever they want. But girls are not.... Yeah, they have to worry about themselves, but guys, they can play sports, they can do whatever they want, you know. (GP13) I was struck by the stark reality that Cristal, Maria and Angela (GP5) mentioned: LC: Do you think its harder to be a girl or is it easier to be a boy? Maria: I would like to be a... Angela: (interrupting) Maybe a boy Maria: A boy because the boys... Angela: They can cut their hair Cristal: And the girls — they cry — the girls suffer too much LC: Why, how do you think so? Cristal: Bee-cause... like when they have the baby — and Maria: [sighing] Oh yeah — like with my older sister. (GP5) These girls, although the most innocent in terms of the “worldly” style-oriented culture of Mefferin’s definitions of the cool, provided the most poignant example of the gender divide that exists between boys and girls. Issues pertaining to love and romance render themselves sometimes in a reality of teenage pregnancy and its consequences. Luckily, this topic was only brought up within this group’s interview/discussion. 264 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Spending time observing and interacting with students in Miss Hillmont’s classroom provided me with insight into how deeply embedded the majority of students are in the traditional gender regime that separates masculinity and femininity into separate spheres with separate expectations. The gender regime in schools, according to Kessler, Asenden, Connell and Dowsett (1985), “may be defined as a pattern of practices that constructs various kinds of masculinity and femininity among staff and students, orders them in terms of prestige and power, and constructs a sexual division of labor within the institution” (p.42). By the time they are young adolescents, in middle school, the gender regime is very strong, yet there is often an uneven dance between biology and society that is the reality in the classroom. As sociologists, we often caution ourselves against placing any credence on biologically deterministic views and assessments, yet in the middle school environment this condition is unquestionably tested. In a classroom of 35 boys and girls aged 12-14, students cannot fail to notice that their peers are in various stages of puberty and adolescent development: in all of Miss Hillmont’s 7th and 8th grade classes at Mefferin, there were boys who were six feet tall with fully developed pectorals and deepened voices alongside boys under five feet with high voices and skinny arms. Some girls had curved hips and wore C-Cup bras while others had restless, gawky and linear bodies that seemed two-dimensional compared with the voluminous hour-glass girls. What this implied was that in the classroom, gender development and division is noticeable, with a definite contrast apparent between those who developed earlier than others. This heightens the awareness ascribed to gender differentiation in the most basic sense. 265 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Research findings on secondary school students by Kessler et al have further suggested that in the processes of growing up (i.e. the experience of puberty), “the bodily processes become an object of social practice” (p.44). The authors express how “the social relations of gender become embodied, quite literally, in the construction of masculinity and femininity. Thus the gender regime of a high school [or middle school] is not an expression of sexual biology so much as a social means of dealing with it” (p. 44). According to Danesi (1994), it is only when presentational models of ‘maleness ’ and ‘femaleness’ are represented culturally that conceptualizations of masculinity and femininity respectively are forged, conventionalized, and institutionalized (p. 50). Thus, the sexual basis of body image in adolescence leads to gender-coded differences in the ways in which teenagers prepare and present their bodies for peer spectators (p. 51). In turn, this peer spectatorship often involves the spectacle provided via media and entertainment — a representational and promotional style that is often “bought” by teens. In this manner, I argue that representations of gender are not only individually constructed but also enhanced by media-driven prescriptions. L.A. Bovs and a Style of “Hip-Hop” Masculinity As one might suspect, widely marketed entertainment products disseminate images which reinforce traditional gender regimes, but these products may also be “packaged” in different ways. In multi-cultural centers of the cool trendsetters, such as Los Angeles, where the largest business ventures center on “spectacular” entertainment genres (television, movies, music and sports for example), hegemonic masculinity portrayals are less WASP and more hip-hop. As for Mefferin youth, they live the legacy 266 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. of The Fresh Prince o f Bel-Air and the Lakers’ Magic.8 In this sense, hip-hop masculinity is about youthful interaction infused with the evolution of cool style, the mixing of cultures, aesthetics, business and marketing. An example of what contributes to this sense of hip-hop masculinity was poignantly illustrated during the June 2001 MTV Movie awards, where a host of new commercials, often considered as advertisers’ more creative works were beamed in along with the awards broadcast. Nike corporation’s exemplar entree was a textless, seamlessly choreographed vignette which spotlighted a mulatto-skinned lone basketball player artfully dancing across the court with globetrotter like precision and sleight of hand moves. The bounce of the ball mixed seamlessly with the electronic “techno” beats of the hip-hop soundtrack. No words uttered, no company name displayed, only a glimpse of his shoes, and as his performance ended, fading to black, only the swoosh graphic remained. The ways in which I have constructed “hip-hop masculinity” is applicable to the earlier findings put forth by prominent gender scholars (e.g. Connell, 1987,1995; Segal, 1990) who have argued that while there are always dominant cultural patterns of masculinity (key public portrayals/representations), these are not static. Hegemonic gender patterns are interwoven into the structural and social interaction frameworks in ways that incorporate the changing forms in the division of labor in families and households, evolving technological advancements, modes of production in work environments, and the various spectacles of entertainment and culture. Over ten years ago, Segal (1990) examined contemporary models and representations of masculinity and noted that the culture of sport is the most prominent mode of selling the merchandise of 267 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. manliness ~ and furthermore, masculinity is an image that can be achieved through the right associations. While Jack Nicholson has donned dark shades in the bright light of center court at Los Angeles Lakers games for the past twenty years, the celebrity images of the players whom he comes to watch overshadow his presence — it’s the players like Kobe and Shaq - (predominantly black men) that attract his attention and his awe, as they did with much of the youth attending Mefferin Middle School. Hip-Hop masculinity incorporates the history of exoticized versions of black masculinity9 (from earlier days of jazz musicians to today’s worshipped sports stars and rap music celebrities). This vision incorporates themes, champion figures and images which have represented cool in American cultural history. Importantly, hip-hop masculinity also contains the vestiges of social resistance through the legacy of rap. Best and Kellner have pointed out that 1) rap has involved “an articulation of black aesthetics, experience, style and cultural forms in a hybridized synthesis of black culture and new technologies” (p. 13) and that 2) “it is a form of articulating identity and self-assertion” (p. 11). What rap has also brought to light is a sense of place — places where depleted social resources and community funds have left certain urban domains generally nameless and invisible, until early rap influences brought an association with the ghettos of the Bronx, South Central Los Angeles, and Compton (p.l 1). Part of the trajectory of rap’s resistant motifs and hip-hop masculinity’s influence point to the presence of inner-city poverty and a down-trodden social existence. It is these conditions that contribute to what Majors and Billison (1992) have defined as part of the “cool cat lifestyle,” a cool posing directive constituting “a survival strategy par 268 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. excellence because this role develops as a reaction to racism and social oppression” (p.87). Majors and Billison further explain that “the art of hustling, expressed in various forms of deceptive and manipulative activities, is the cool cat’s greatest weapon against poverty and social inequality. Hustling becomes the African American male’s original and indigenous means of waging a private war on poverty” (p.87). Historically, hustling was shown to be a prominent theme in the life of Malcolm X. As Kelley (1998) mentioned, “during the early 1940s it was hard for black working people not to juxtapose the wartime rhetoric of equal opportunity and the apparent availability of well-paying jobs for whites with the reality of racial discrimination in the labor market” (p. 145). Kelley has also pointed out that “a number of criminologists and urban anthropologists have suggested, ‘hustling’ or similar kinds of informal/illicit economic strategies should be regarded as efforts to escape dependency on low-wage, alienating labor (Valentine, 1978, p.145; see also Stack, 1974). At the same time, the hustling mentality is not one geared toward accumulating wealth. Kelley states that “possessing ‘capital’ was not the ultimate goal; rather money was primarily a means by which hustlers could avoid wage work and negotiate status through the purchases of prestigious commodities” (p. 146). I encountered Mefferin students who saw themselves as hustlers, and a key component of their negotiation of status was the performance aspect, the drama of the moment. When I interviewed Group 6, at one point during the discussion, T instantly interrupted the interaction by trying to sell me trinket — trying to make a buck in any way possible: 269 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. T: (shows me a keychain) — hey I let you have this for three dollars. LC: No thanks, not today. Anfome: Hey, that’s hustling! - Hu-slang Monkey: ‘Slanging LC: What was that? Anfome: Hustling LC: I know it’s hustling, but is ‘slanging the same thing? Anfome/ T: Yeah LC: So do you think you guys are good ‘slangers? T: I’ll give you this for two dollars (shows me the keychain again) Anfome: What kind of ‘slanging do you mean? T: Like, it depends on what you’re selling -- LC: Like, what do you guys sell? Do you sell eveiything? T: Not everything --1 don’t sell drugs or — LC: Right, but other stuff? T: Yeah LC: So you can make your own little business then? Anfome: Yeah (GP6) In another example, Playboy Bunny described the ultimate score in ‘huslang’ - when you are able to dupe someone, rob them -- hence, the five finger discount (taking them for free): Playboy B: LC: Playboy B: LC: Playboy B: Oh yeah, he — like sometimes there’s lots of slack boys that would have Like if you jack something -- you’d be like — “it was a five finger discount.” What’s a five finger discount? When you jack something for like (laughing breaks out and can’t hear) That’s what you guys call it? Yeah, everybody does (GP10) As part of an “alternative economy,” hustling has been a prominent motif in rap music that youth in L.A. voraciously consume. The world of the street, along with motifs of “gangs and rocks, pimps and hoes” engages believers of hip-hop masculinity at younger and younger ages as evidenced by the 12-14 year old Mefferin sample. In part, the appeal of rap lay in the fact that the violence of gang culture depicted in rap music was indeed very real for many of the Mefferin students I interviewed. Further, “gangsta” rap music has its connection to actual gang culture. For example, 270 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. rapper Snoop Dogg was a member of the notable Cripps gang in the Los Angeles area. Amidst censorship measures and moral critics, the early rap artists brought to public attention the conditions of depleted neighborhoods, racial profiling, and police brutality. Mefferin students were bom into a world where rap was pumping across the soundwaves and visually grasped via MTV, BET, but lived in a world where real gang violence and high crime existed in the neighborhoods where they, their families and close friends all lived. While Mefferin students went to school in glamorous Westwood, talk of gangs, gangsters, and neighborhood violence flowed through a number of the focus group discussions: Alex Menes: Cuz like at my house, they be shooting a lot of people. I see people kill other people. One day I was watching a movie like at midnight, and this guy was walking, and this other guy just shot him. The guy was just walking and then... LC: You just saw it right there? Alex: Yeah, and I was like whoa -- like in the front of my house. Max: One day I was about to go to sleep, and outside, like over there, I heard like a gun shot, a machine gun... .Yeah, and then I heard five bullets more, and there was a lot of noise and the police came like ten cars. I didn’t go to sleep until nine, and I’m supposed to go to sleep at eight. I didn’t want to move but there was no more, they got everybody. Tony: One time I went to 7-11.. .Yeah, at like at night, and I saw a man and a woman, and the man was hitting the woman, there was like blood from her, and then he got a gun and she got wounded. LC: You saw it? Tony: Yeah, he shot her in the arm. I was inside the store, but there was like a window. I was like looking at sports magazines, and then they were like out there. Max: When I heard the gun shots, I laid down like that (demonstrates) cuz I was scared. Alex: I always hear like gunshots by my house cuz like too many gangsters, they be like partying and stuff and every night, and almost eveiyday-- so I have to get used to it. Max: That day when that gunshot passed -- that was scaiy — and I was sweating. (GP2) 271 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Anfome: Did you hear about that girl who got shot, the police chiefs relative? LC: Yeah I heard about that. Anfome: Well, I was right across the street, at the gas station .. .Yeah, but it was, uh -- there was other stuff. LC: Oh? Anfome: Because the next night, my friends said the guy was in the front yard, and so they handcuffed everybody. LC: They handcuffed everybody? In your yard? Anfome: No, my friend’s yard. LC: Why? Why did they do it in your friend’s yard? Anfome: Because the person who killed the girl was black and they asked everybody to — LC: Oh, I see. Do you see that happen a lot [racial profiling]? Anfome: Yes (GP6) Of course, it isn’t in the interest of a universally marketed entertainment culture to allow rap’s evocation of such glaring social contradictions to continue for long. Thus, in one sense, Hip-Hop was bom out of the capitalist search for the intersection of “black, cool and male” in order to package those themes in a way that enabled the music and entertainment industries to continue the “buying” of youth culture.1 0 Pushing the commodification envelope farther and farther, today the initial impact of early rap music’s violent/critical edge (see Boyd, 1996, Rose, 1994) has given way toward the wide-spread representation of the glitter and opulence of hip-hip culture where a mix of gangsta/pimps celebrate the spoils of scoring big and livin’ large: wearing bundles of diamond-carats, drinking Cristal champagne by the gallon, surrounded by dozens of scantily clad females. Best and Kellner (1999) have affirmed that: While some rappers like Tupac, Public Enemy were political in a way, on the other hand there are more apolitical, narcissistic sexist rappers like 2 Live Crew and Snoop Dogg who are consistently derogatory toward women, portraying them as good only for sex, and who are looking primarily for good times. Snoops lyrics and cover art cartoons are a testament to a hedonistic lifestyle of gin and juice, chronic, cars, sex and money. The world of danger, paranoia suffering and oppression that Tupac has underscored is largely absent in the exploits of Snoop and the Dogg pound (p. 18). 272 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Eventually, resistance fades into compliance. Hip-hop masculinity complies with norms of hegemonic masculinity through caricature representations of women as commodities to accompany a more thoroughly and widely marketed form of music. And the de politicization of the music represents a measure of compliance with mainstream values. Just as Mefferin students were largely striking cool poses without seriously resisting adult authority, the “blurring” of the political subtext in hip-hop music often subtly transforms the reality of crime into a performance for sale. What these portrayals have in common is that they portray an ethnically one-sided dimension to the gangsta/gangster culture. Across the country and throughout American history the polarity of racial discourse has usually revolved around Black and White experiences, yet in diverse urban centers like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, etc., there is far more ethnic enclave representation as well as mixing and blending. At Mefferin school, it was not uncommon to see students who identified themselves as being black and white, Central American and Middle Eastern, Mexican and Asian, African and Indian. While Majors and Billison (1992) sought to discuss the construction of performance strategies pertaining to Black manhood, they neglected to note how these interaction dynamics might be taken up by Latinos, as well as urban working class whites. At Mefferin school, it was more than just Black males who were disadvantaged in terms of Wilson’s (1978,1987) examination. At schools like Mefferin, immigrant boys who were trying to understand how to fit in; Chicanos, Asians, and inner city Blacks were all developing their own sense of cool posing. In this example, Latino boys offer an example of their posing where there is an underlying dynamic of race and ethnic consciousness: 273 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Playboy B: He’s a poser. He’s a wanna be white boy-ha-ha! El Chalinio: I’m a Mexican. LC What’s a wanna be white boy? Playboy B: Cuz, they wanna act like that - LC: Like what? Alex: See like spikes (pointing to his hair) GP10) What I found interesting was that no blacks, whites, Asians or Middle Eastern students identified with any of the widely popular Mexican/Latino popular culture. Historical associations with southern California and motifs of masculinity were readily addressed by Latino students. For example, cultural symbols such as Pachucos1 1 were particularly referred to by some Latino students. The Pachuco is part of the zoot suit1 2 culture in LA during the 1930-1950s; zoot suiters were often made up of young immigrants from Mexico, and the Pachuco moniker often referred to those who were in transition — half in Mexico, half in the US. The early borderlands conflict remains today, whereas the Mexican zoot suiter has disappeared. The myth of El Pachuco remains. Today, cowboys merge with gangsters at low-rider car shows and ranchero-style music venues in and around Los Angeles. In one excerpt from boys in group ten, they alluded to the traces of these themes: Playboy Bny: I like Chevy and Ford El Chalinio: Yeah. I like Chevy and Ford the best. LC: Why? El Chalinio: They’re like the really Mexican types. LC: Oh, you can make them into Lowriders and things? Playboy Bny: Did you know Low-riders are Mexican cars? LC: Sure. El Chalinio: I don’t think that’s a Low rider (about another car model that Playboy Bunny was talking about) - LC: Well what’s the difference? El Chalinio: It’s only the older ones - like how Old Pachucos is a Mexican thing. (GP10) While Latinos were in the population majority at Mefferin school, it was clear that their 274 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. cultural elaborations were not adopted in the same way that African-American-associated versions were. Gangsters and rap make sense to the Latinos living in the inner city, but in no way does the mystique of El Pachuco hold sway with anyone other than Latinos. Unlike the following among rap musicians that sees fan interests magnified among white male youth in America’s suburban sectors, this has not been the case (yet) with Mexican cowboy and corridos singers. Furthermore, El Pachuco isn’t cool enough to make his way onto MTV. Black associations with cool have had a long historical legacy and more than likely, marketers would rather take the chance with this iconography as solid and standing. Yet hip-hop masculinity cannot fulfill every marketer’s dream; hip-hop culture often alienates the cultural architecture represented by the concerns and interests of adolescent girls. What is represented in youth-oriented popular culture and mass media must still carry the freight of adolescent self-identification in its various forms. Accordingly, the youth culture industries take care to market entertainment in gendered segments. In the same manner that “Hip-Hop masculinity” is viewed as the dominant version of masculinity, “Romantic femininity” is underscored as the dominant form of femininity operative in the society that is at the forefront of my research. L.A. Girls and a Style of “Romantic Femininity”1 3 As mentioned above, Kessler et al (1985) argued that students at the school site engage in a politics of gender in their informal peer groups, in the “gaps and crannies” of the official institution. Recall how Amenda discussed the style of gender conformity she witnessed. Another example in this vein is articulated by Baby Giggles: 275 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LC: Do you play sports yourselves? Baby Giggles: I used to play Pippy: I play baseball, and other things Baby Giggles: When I was in elementaiy I used to play, but now I can’t play -- we’re not supposed to. LC: Why — because of your dad? Baby Giggles: No, my hair, my nails. ... When I’m in high school, it’s like I might consider becoming a cheerleader. LC: Really, why? Baby Gggls: Because there’s like no sport that I can play. My personality, I always have to do my hair and my makeup, my nails. That’s how I am, and that’s more me. ... Some girls its like I’m not gonna put on nail polish. I don’t care. See there’s like tomboys and there’s like really girly-girls. ... I’m definitely more girly-girl. Maggie:: See she sees me as a tomboy — cuz look at this (pointing to her clothing) LC: Why’s that a tomboy? Maggie: Yeah — they expect me to wear it like here or something (points to how she wears her sweatshirt baggy and long over her uniform blouse) — but no. (GP9) But in addition to presenting their bodies for peer spectators, it was evident that Mefferin students participated in adult discourses surrounding dating, romance and sexuality. In this discussion with Group 13, knowledge was severely curtailed by traditional codes and heterosexual gender displays: LC: So if you’re going to ask somebody out, again, where are you guys gonna go? Rage: I don’t know. Crysty: Well there is no guys at Mefferin. The guy that I’m going out with doesn’t go here. LC: Oh, so you have your own separate thing. Now, do you ask any girls out? (to Head) Head: No LC: Oh, do they ask you out? (all erupt into laughter) Head: No Rage: That’s not the way it works. Lowell: I know. LC: What do you mean? Rage: Girls don’t ask guys out Amenda: (comes over to join the group) Boys have to ask girls out! LC: Still? Rage: That’s what they (the girls) say LC: But this is 2000. Lowell: I know, high tech. Rage: They say that if a girl asks a guy out, then she’s like desperate. 276 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LC: But if a guy asks a girl out, maybe he’s desperate? Lowell: No Rage: No Amenda: No! LC: Why? Rage: It’s normal Amenda: I know- never a girl goes to a guy like ‘would you marry me?’ you know. They make fun. I know this girl that asks guys out, and so many people make fun of her (GP15) Connell (1987) theorized that the notion of emphasized femininity has historically been constructed in relation to masculinity as a subordinate element. For girls at Mefferin, many of their discussions about their emerging feminine identities would touch on romantic topics, with a great deal of attention devoted to expected relations / interactions with boys. Futhermore, for Mefferin girls, clothing, for instance, not only was perceived as a sign of gendered differentiation, but as part of a larger narrative of heterosexual desire and romance: Amenda: I can’t wear like tube tops, and everything, but I do something like wear a jacket over, and then when I go, I take it off. LC: Oh yeah, of course. Amenda: I don’t think there’s anything wrong with tube tops as long as you don’t do anything. LC: What do you mean? Do anything? Amenda: Like you know (giggling) like not trying to get guys interested. (GP13) LC: Oh, I see — so how did you decide on that to wear? Why do you like that as opposed to a short skirt maybe? Blue Angel: No, I mean because-you know like if I were to wear something short, they might have like— I might be attracting people-just attracting them. Like in the morning before I go to school it’s kind of like a hard decision because I don’t know — should I attract their attention or not? LC: Oh you mean like guys? Blue Angel: Yeah L: Oh, Ok, so you’re aware of what works and Blue Angel: (interrupting) and what doesn’t! LC: Do you ever think about that too (to others) when you put on something, like who is it going to attract? All: Yeah LC: Now, how’d you learn that? Did you learn it from your family or sisters? 277 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Blue Angel: My older step sister, cuz she’s always looking for a man and stuff, so I’ll go out with her and go boy watching. LC: So, she teaches you how to boy watch, so to speak? Blue Angel: Yeah She teaches me like how to act calm in front of them, how not to act like all goofy and childish, like some other people. (GPU) One of the points I noted was that girls like Amenda and Blue Angel had older sisters who were influential in their lives — an example of family network mentoring. As opposed to the cool performances of boys, competitive interaction among Mefferin girls was a matter of gossip (again, a form of narrative) that sometimes progressed into fights — largely about boys (see also Bettie, 2000): Patricia May: LC: Patricia May/: Gina LC: Patricia May: Vanessa: Gina: But you have, you’ll have your own little group of friends, you know. So we don’t care what other girls say about us; we don’t care. Sometimes like, fights at Mefferin are like big deals, especially when girls fight, they’ll go, Oh my God, catfight! Oh, they call them cat fights? Yeah, girls mostly fight more than boys. What do you think the girls fight about? Gossip Gossip Gossip (GP7) Vanessa: .. .or, like stealing boyfriends. People don’t like each other. LC: It’s mostly what? Do they call each other names like slut or...? Vanessa: Worse than that. Gina: Home wrecker Vanessa: Worse than that. LC: Oh, what’s a home wrecker? Patricia May: Like you take their boyfriend or~ Gina: Like you meddle in somebody’s business - LC: What you mean like boyfriend business? Gina: Yes, uh-huh. Vanessa: It’s more sad with- Gina: Boys don’t really fight like that. LC: The boys don’t fight? Gina: No, they’re not really into it. Patricia May: All they do is play basketball and get all sweaty and stuff. (GP7) In talking with this particular group, I was surprised to discover that Gina, Vanessa and Patricia May, who also specified that their parents would not allow them 278 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. to date for another two or three years, were quite conversant in adult terms (e.g. boys mentioned as “players” and girls mentioned as “home wreckers”). From my point of view, the use of such adult terms of discourse tends to confirm my belief that Connell’s work, which devotes greatest attention to adults, may also be applied to young adolescents. At the very least, these various scripts for interaction which Mefferin students recounted to me clearly revealed the influence of a wider society on peer relationships at school. Of course, the media is one of the larger cultural institutions which reinforces the norms of hegemonic masculinity and emphasized femininity. Mefferin boys got sweaty, played basketball, never bothered to fight about girls; and the media which they consumed rarely encouraged them to do otherwise. In fact, the majority of boys readily favored rap music and rap artists like Snoop Dogg and Eminem, whose music reinforced powerful images of heterosexual male privilege and dominance: Two in the momin’ and the party’s still jumpin’ Cuz My Momma ain’t home I got bitches in the living room gettin it on And, they ain’t leavin’ til six in the momin’ So what you wanna do, sheeeit I got a pocket full of rubbers and my homeboys do too So turn of the lights and close the doors But we don’t love them hoes, yeah! So we gonna smoke an ounce to this G’s up, hoes down, while you motherfuckers bounce to this. Rollin’ down the street, smokin’ indo, sippin’ on gin and juice Laid back [with my mind on my money and my money on my mind] -from “Gin and Juice,” Snoop Dogg The Mefferin sample presented some very clear gender differentiation with regard to the media which they consumed. In January 2000,1 asked students (N=132) to indicate whether they would choose to watch Dawson’ s Creek (teen drama) or The 279 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Simpsons (satirical cartoon comedy) if they had to pick one show. Overall, three quarters of the student population preferred the long-running, half-hour comedy The Simpsons1 4 - , however, about 20% of the population preferred Dawson’ s Creek - (18% girls, 2% boys). Focus group discussions provided further insight into the operative gender dynamic. The following example illustrates how and why boys expressed dislike for such teen-oriented television dramas: LC: Now what about TV? Other than sports, what shows do you watch? Bee Simpsons Yoshi: Simpsons, Family Guy, LC: So you wouldn’t watch any of those shows that are supposed to be for teens like Dawson’ s Creek! Bee: HELL NO! LC: Why? Yoshi: I like Charmed, but not really that much. I watch wrestling and Celebrity Death Match. LC: None of the teen shows? Why not? Bee: They’re for girls, they’re so gay1 5 All: Yeah! LC: Oh, they’re for girls. How do you know they’re for girls? Bee: It’s for girls man, they’re talkin’ about all this sad stuff - Yoshi: My mom watches it. LC: But how do you know that it’s for girls when there are guys on the shows? Bee: You can tell! LC: Like how? Bee: Oh all that lovey-dovey crap. (GP12) Mefferin students would occasionally use the term “gay” to identify things they found in violation of their constructed gender norms. Gay never referred to homosexuality per se or sexual preference; among the youth at Mefferin it was solely used in conjunction with gender display and gender performance, hence gender division. It was generally used to stigmatize someone who did not conform to the traditional gender patterns and displays. The way this was used was supported in focus groups with El Meno Jr. noting that Michael Jackson looked gay because he was looking like his sister LaToya. Yuri 280 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. expressed her disdain for the “Backstreet Boys” music group because ‘they look gay.” And finally, Gina also reinforced that for girls, “if you act like too tom-boyish, they’ll suspect that you’re gay.” As discussed above, all the “lovey dovey crap” that Mefferin boys don’t like is exactly the content which appeals to girls, given their subordinate position in the discourse of hegemonic masculinity. Girls must think about the ways in which they elicit male desire, and the media present them with narratives which comment on these situations. However, shows such as Dawson’ s Creek also tap into a specific genre of romance narrative which (in the English language) has been marketed in one form or another to women since the Victorian era. And contemporary romantic femininity is still propelled by the beliefs and dreamy visions of the romance narrative, a key heterosexualized performance that many girls focus on and adapt to. The compliant measures of romantic femininity involve a belief system among girls that one is chosen, selected out to be wooed, worshipped, and adored by the right boy. Among the adolescent girls I interviewed and interacted with at Mefferin, the possibility of successful attainment of male desire from the protector image presented a sense of true validation (as person/girl). In the Mefferin sample, Blue Angel and Buttercup, who were going to an N’Sync concert in the next few days, couldn’t stop talking about what they were going to wear, planning their outfits for the past two weeks. I noticed their binder folders, which also had pictures of the all-male band members surrounded by drawings of hearts and kisses. After they went to the concert, they were even more euphoric, but also mentioned that they were just one of thousands of 281 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. adolescent girls at Dodger stadium dreaming that they were being sung to by Joey, Jason, Lance, et al. Consider this lyric from N’Sync, a pop music group that has huge numbers of adoring girl fans: And I will take you in my arms and hold you right where you belong Til the day my life is through This I promise you This I promise you I’ve loved you forever in lifetimes before And I promise you never will you hurt any more I give you my word I give you my heart This is a battle we’ve won And with this vow forever has now begun - from “This I Promise You,” N’Sync Along with encouraging the reader/viewer to wait for fulfillment, the romance narrative encourages repeated, passive consumption, which is one factor in its continued durability as a mass-mediated genre. And the genre can be quite flexible. Recently, the 1990s has stimulated a growing youth market for teen-oriented night time televised soap operas such as Dawson’ s Creek. Teen dramas1 6 as such are derived from the American ‘soap opera’ style of serialized fiction, but I noted that only one girl indicated in the survey that one of her favorite shows was a long running American (daytime) soap opera — All My Children. Rather, girls in the Mefferin sample favored a variety of entertainment which presented the romance narrative in one form or another. In the Mefferin sample, girls generally favored R & B and pop, genres that often have lyrical ballads that speak of exalted, unconditional romantic love, caring and protection. For Latina girls, Spanish language soap operas, or ‘telenovelas’ were also very popular (yet mostly forbidden by 282 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. parents). Telenovelas run on Spanish television stations at all hours of the day; thus, the market is not as differentiated as American television in terms of the kinds of drama presented in daytime and evening slots. Adriana, Candy and Baby Devil (GP14) mentioned Soria Doras and Mi Pequena Traviesa as favorites. Market segmentation was still evident in this instance, as this genre was preferred only by Latina girls; no Latino boys showed interest. What makes the contemporary American commercial romance narrative unique is its combination of a “culture of sex” and “cultural sexuality.” On the one hand, these teen-oriented narratives portray a version of American culture is sexually open; references to sex are everywhere. And it is this culture of sex that is often the target of reform, surveillance and censorship. Cultural sexuality involves the reproduction of society as a whole through sex and sexuality, and the romance narrative is one of the primary vehicles of this social reproduction. Thus, when teen dramas such as Dawson’ s Creek make frequent and explicit references to sexuality in the context of the romance narrative, they portray sexual activity as a key component of interaction among adolescents while also cementing traditional gender regimes, socializing the realm of physical intercourse and biological reproduction. Mefferin students rarely made distinctions between sexual activity and traditional norms of sexuality. Some students (e.g. Amenda) spoke quite candidly and openly about what they learned in their sexual education classes at school, and what they spoke about was structured according to a heterosexual/ reproductive biological imperative; additionally, they, like the romance narratives they consumed, clearly transferred the 283 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. biological imperative into the rigidity of traditional gender roles where femininity remains in the subordinate position to masculinity. From the point of view of Mefferin students, sex education and television presented functionally equivalent scripts for gendered behavior: LC: So where then do you get, like your information? Like how do you figure it out? Gina: The TV shows. LC: Like the teen TV shows? Gina: Yes Vanessa: In school too, health education. LC: Oh, really? Vanessa: Yeah, we’re learning about the sex education. Patricia May: In science, yes. LC: So you have to take sex education? Patricia May: No, only if you want to, if your parents say it’s ok. (GP7) The business of commercial mass-media enhances a fixed view of gender generated in sex education, and it also offers a collection of scripts, powerful narratives that selectively fill in the gaps where biology leaves off, thereby providing a rich and enticing offering. Titanic, for example, the greatest-grossing movie of all time, and heavily laden with romance narrative, was one key favorite among Mefferin girls. For girls especially (with the exception of Quack-Quack), teen dramas like Dawson’ s Creek, Popular, to the long running (and now syndicated) Beverly Hills 90210 provided examples of how romantic liaisons could and should be played out. One key point is that these dramas have teens in the forefront, while parents and adult figures are secondary to the story lines. While the media serve as some of the primary sources of romantic scripts for Mefferin girls, the process of socialization for most young adolescent girls may lead them to uncritically accept the norms of emphasized femininity embedded in such scripts. 284 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Studies on women and girls (e.g. Gilligan, 1982/1993; Brown & Gilligan 1992) have intimated that the puberty years force girls into a relational-crisis, almost a period of mind, spirit and body disconnection. Early adolescent girls tend to mute earlier “tomboy” independence as their bodies change, suppressing their skills of critical thought as they receive cultural messages suggesting that they are valued primarily as objects of desire. Not only does puberty tend to precipitate intellectual and emotional uncertainty, but according to insights from Boodman (1999) and Brumberg (1997), girls are beginning to reach puberty at an earlier age, which contributes to even greater challenges. While girls now mature sexually earlier than ever before, contemporary American society (according to Brumberg) provides fewer social protections for them, a situation which leaves them unsupported in their development and extremely vulnerable to the excesses of popular culture and the pressure from peer groups (p. xvii). Brumberg’s view sometimes resembles Postman’s lament over a nearly total loss of (textual) innocence for children, but her work is compelling in its portrayal of a society- wide concatenation of sex culture and cultural sexuality which adolescent girls must contend with in formulating their own feminine identities. For example, “at the end of the 20th century, American girls have to negotiate between their desire for sexual expression and the prospect of sexual danger” (p. 143). According to recent research (2001) cited in the Journal o f the American Medical Association, Silverman, Raj, Mucci, and Hathaway affirm that “intimate partner violence (IPVj against women is a major public health concern” (p. 572). Approximately 1 in 5 female students (9th - 12th grades) “reported being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner” (p.572). With this 285 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. as a harsh reality, Brumberg’s earlier contentions are even more significant: Although it is hard to grow up these days without hearing about the hazards of sexual intimacy, the medical and popular culture also push the idea that sexuality is the ultimate form of self-expression. In a world where the HIV virus coexists with the imperative to do your own thing sexually, adolescent girls need to think about sexuality and its related projects, in ways that are healthy and realistic. More than any other generation, and at an earlier age than ever before, they must learn to handle the emotional and physical risks that are involved in being sexually expressive in a postmodern, postvirginal world (p. 143). Although Brumberg’s assertions are far-ranging, my research does show that Mefferin girls were very likely to reinforce norms of emphasized femininity within their peer groups, consistently indicated their interest in “real world” issues of adult sexuality at an early age, and consistently, if somewhat selectively, looked to the romance narratives they received as models for working out such issues in their own lives. As Giroux suggested, the media represent substantial cultural pportunities for adolescents, including potential tools (among them guidelines for romance and relationship) that could contribute significantly toward strategies of social interaction for contemporary adolescents. But for girls, the mass-mediated romance narrative still naturalizes traditional norms of masculinity and femininity, while the market itself tends to exploit the susceptibility of its audience for the sake of repeat consumption. What avenues remain for girls in which to re examine, if not re-write the cultural scripts they receive? In the next section, I address some contemporary versions that focus on girls and elements of opposition and resistance, agency and negotiation — an innocent entree into 3rd wave feminism(s). 286 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Girl Power: Corporation, Co-optation. and the Evolution of Third Wave Feminism How girls’ agency and resistance efforts become intermingled with feminist concerns and issues has cultural as well as historical significance. During the past century, feminist or “women’s movements” have stood to raise consciousness about patriarchal oppression, social inequalities, and the support of the solidarity of women. The idea of “women’s liberation” was something perhaps we first learned of in our own junior high school U.S. history classes under the label of women’s suffrage. In the same manner that we learned of racial conflicts, struggles, resistance and reform (e.g. the abolition of slavery), we also learned that the 19th Amendment of the Constitution signified women’s and men’s voting equality. This very public reform also appeared to spur more culturally-driven revolutions. In the decade of the 1920s, in the wake of a post-WWI economic boom, American culture strove to innovate and modernize. Interestingly, when the “feminist” moniker is placed alongside women’s activities today (e.g. political participation), their public (media-driven) image and appeal is often not so favorable. The dowdy images of early suffragettes in the lexicon of 1st wave feminism and the images of man-hating bra-bumers of the 2n d wave cast women’s appeal for structural equity in an unappealing light. A problematic aspect of the second wave of U.S. feminist movements that took hold in the late 1960s and culminated in the campaign for another constitutional amendment was the involvement of feminists in rhetorical debates which ultimately alienated youth and girls. As feminists attacked notions which equated women with infantilized descriptions of girls, the woman’s movement took on a strident adultism that didn’t offer much opportunity or voice for the nation’s female 287 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. youth. Perhaps prominent feminist activists, writers and scholars (e.g. Gloria Steinem, Kate Millette, Andrea Dworkin) were also seen to alienate female youth during their campaigns in the 1970s and 1980s. And the failure to legally ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (which really didn’t address any issues pertaining to youth) in 1982 contributed to further fractures and splinters in 2n d wave feminism. It wasn’t until the early 1990s that youthful voices found their way back into the women’s movement through the genre of women’s rock music, where a new understanding of the solidarity of girls and the revolutionary exclamation of “grrl power!” was underway through the Riot Grrl movement (see Carpenter, 2000; Kearney, 1998; Kenway & Bullen, 2001) in the United States as well as Europe, Great Britain, and Australia. However, even as third-wave feminism began to incorporate the radicalized voices of girls as well as women, it was not long before this youthful revolutionary sprit was discovered by the “cool hunters,” who were able to translate the seeds of young women’s angry/passionate creativity through more sexually provocative commercial products such as the Spice Girls or through the “triumph of identity marketing” (Klein, 1999,109) in the domain of female sports culture with Reebok to Nike’s “Just Do It” 17 advertising campaign (see Goldman and Papson, 1998.) This early co-optation of the stylistic liberation of youthful femininity, with its transformation of Girl/Grrl power images into consumable goods and objects of desire, is not really all that different from the marketed co-optation of youthful feminine social liberation during the post-19th Amendment 1920s. On a mass level, the public images of femininity also underwent a kind of ‘stylistic liberation’ (see Rubinstein, 1995) in which women threw away years of 288 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. fashion restrictions — for the new generation, gone were whale-bone lace-up corsets, sturdy bustles, pantaloons and fitted shirt waists, and yards and yards of fabric suddenly evaporated into billowy chemises with hemlines worn well over the caps of knees. Disrupting Victorian-era conventions, women joined men in the public sphere of nightclubs, juke joints, speakeasies and gambling parlors (Rubinstein, 1995, p.238). Not to be neglected, Hollywood’s burgeoning film industry duly played its part in capitalizing on this aspect of women’s liberation. The historical iconography of the developments of early women’s (style) liberation can be traced to the “flapper” image, which I argue is a precursor to today’s image of “girl power.” The flapper was ideally between 14 and 21 years old, and often stood in defiance of rigid social conventions; and through her own opportunistic ingenuity she wielded her feminine wiles over hapless men, and was often portrayed as part of a rags-to-riches culture. Conceived in the literary works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, this image became immortalized and projected through films stars like Joan Crawford, Louise Brooks and Clara Bow (who in 1927 was touted as the “ft” Girl.) She was youthful, headstrong, and active in the public sphere. The flapper image clearly challenged Victorian notions of womanhood both in style and substance. In this manner I note the similarity between the 1920s ft Girls with 1990s Spice Girls. What this similarity in historical iconography also suggests is that both symbols represent an intersection of market culture and feminism -- not a fully articulated feminism, but a notion of femininity both related and in opposition to traditional feminine roles and images. Was this a challenge to the romance narrative, or just a different 289 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. tangent? In January 2000,1 asked the Mefferin students (N=132) to “describe what you know, or what you have heard about “Girl Power?”1 8 Some provocative responses articulated by girls on the questionnaire included: “What I have heard about girl power is that it is a brand and a club” 12-year old, Latina 7th grader “I’ve seen a commercial about it, but I don’t know what it is” 14-year old, Asian 8th grader While a large portion mentioned that they hadn’t heard of girl power at all, there was a significant group who associated girl power with the musical group the Spice Girls. On one survey, a 14 year old 8th grade white male noted: “A bunch of stupid English sluts trying to make a statement.” Further, a number of males voiced an adamant dislike at the mention of the phrase. One 13-year-old, 8th grade black male wrote: “It’s gay and stupid for boys.” Among girls who participated in focus groups, middle-class Persian girls like Patricia May and Amenda made connections to equality and commercialism: “Well, I use it like the Spice Girls and Girl Power is the right for girls freedom I think!” Gina (GP7), middle-class Eritrean, presented a most insightful exclamation: “Girl Power means strength for girls and that girls can do anything that a boy can do. For example Mrs. Clinton became the senator for New York and that is Girl Power” Chrysty (GP15), a working class Latina, had a different take: “I heard that if a girl beats up a boy or a girl then people start saying that to her.” Mefferin girls did not fully articulate a concept of feminism, and sometimes saw “girl power” more or less in terms of consumption. However this conditioning did not entirely dilute their resistance to norms of emphasized femininity. This became visible during some of the focus group discussions that would touch on gender and gender differences: LC: Do you think there are differences between what girls play and boys play? 29Q Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. All: Not really LC: What about here in the class, who’s the loudest? - the boys or girls? All: Both LC: What is the biggest difference between the boys and the girls? Just in general, and other than biology? Damb: Umm... LC: Well, do you think it’s easier being a girl or easier being a boy? Damb: Both are hard. Emily: Girls have it easier. Gabriela: I think they’re pretty equal. LC:. Do you think girls can do anything that boys can do? Damb: Yeah LC: It’s pretty much equal? Damb: Uh-huh (GP3) Maggie: See, when I go to high school, I’m going to try out for the football team LC: Is it all girls? Maggie: No, its both boys and girls. (GP9) For a lot of girls, structural equity among males and females, a key aspect of what 2n d wave feminists fought for (see Nicholson, 1997), was something that many took for granted. Similarly, girls in the Mefferin sample were planning for careers that were definitely outside the home and domestic sphere. The breakthroughs targeted by advocates of feminism’s second wave provide an important glimpse into future adulthood (cultural equity and comparable worth.) However, one aspect that the second wave did not address was the way in which youthful (heterosexualized) romance narratives exacerbate gender difference and gender oppression. Along with these elements, what stood out about Mefferin “girl power” was its connection/association with the ever-present romance narrative; Mefferin girls offered their own commentaries on the fact that romantic femininity was constructed around relations with boys with most girls conforming to the key norms of emphasized femininity. Among some Mefferin girls, relations with boys goes way beyond traditional gender codes and indeed touches a new vein of third wave feminist principles: 291 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Maggie: (who mentioned having a boyfriend in Mexico but nobody here) I’m thinking like if I have a boyfriend, he might pull me back from what I want to do - or else I might feel a little weird. (girls continue to talk about how they don’ t want a possessive boyfriend) Baby Giggles: No, that’s why I think about my ex, because he let me do what I wanted to do. I’d be like, oh, I want to do this, and he’d be, “ok, go for it.” LC: Do you know some girls who have possessive boyfriends? Maggie: My sister’s boyfriend (GP9) Where I also noted demonstrations of agency / resistance was in the way body image (and evaluation measures) were understood by some girls in the sample: LC: Now, your boyfriends don’t really care what you wear when you’re with them? Vanessa/: They better not (laughing) Mary LC: What if he said, “look, I want you to wear this...” QuackQuack: Like NO, it’s over! Goodbye! LC: Good... you would tell him like, forget it? QuackQuack: Yeah, I won’t change myself for somebody! LC: Well, a lot of girls often do. QuackQuack: That’s them! LC: What about those magazines, and the models— a lot of guys would say they would like to date a girl like that. QuackQuack: I’m not a model, so that’s what I would say. Mary: Oh, it has nothing to do with that, they have to like me the way I am. (GP1) LC: What about when you look through these magazines and you see like these super models. Do you ever think that gee, I want to be like them or make myself over to look that them? Buttercup: Sometimes— Blue Angel: (interrupts) Sometimes I think about that, but then again when I think about it, I was like, I shouldn’t be doin’ that because sometimes I thought, Oh I have to be skinnier, I just have to do this, I have to look just like her. They [certain girls will do anything just to be popular, just to get people tolike them. LC: Do you think there are people like that here at school? Blue Angel: I think so. I don’t know who they exactly are, but I think that stuff is around at school. People think I have to do this and this and this, just for them to like me. I don’t have to do this just to get somebody to like me, and I think that if people just like me for me, I just have to be myself. I don’t have to be like anybody else. (GP11) 292 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. It was interesting to see girls who at 12 to 14 years-old were grappling with key feminist issues — perhaps their girl power has positioned them as “girl-feminists.” What this will translate into their adult lives can only be imagined. Conclusion Girl power is translated and interpreted in various ways — especially when one considers the multicultural population that the Mefferin sample represents. However, youthful examples of agency and resistance still remain conditional upon a culture established by adults. Historically, discussions of social, adult authority have often pointed towards a “counter culture” that has been implicated in various modes of adolescent bad/deviant behavior. Cultural conservatives continue to criticize the media for its ‘non-traditional’ influence on teens. In the 21st century, the existence of a counter culture remains debatable. What remains is a culture of marketed cool (e.g. Frank, 1997) via corporation and commercialism. As long as the counter-cultural mystique (that incorporates aspects of youth rebellion) is understood as a mystique, the corporate media is tolerated, if not welcomed by parents; but at any given time, the mystique can be suddenly transformed into a real threat to morals and conservative mores. Yet even in censoring content as too explicitly violent or sexual, ffee-market consumption values are never really altered. Consumer choice, in the form of V-chips, Net Nannies, and family-oriented music reviews, remains the order of the day. Complete abstinence from these media is not at all viable because business principles are too important. This illustrates the contradictions that abound in the contemporary consumer-related culture. 293 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. In the world of American culture that the Mefferin sample lives in and understands, no genuine counter-culture really exists that seriously challenges traditional cultural authority. Marilyn Manson, Eminem, and Snoop Dogg appeal to Mefferin students with a “bad boy” pose more than with “bad boy” cultural politics. For Mefferin students, any real resistance to mainstream American cultural authority or to the corporate media was sometimes quiet, often individualized and rarely articulated consciously. However, this population was not without examples of agency. Recall that a number of Latino students were attracted to a number of alternative or subcultural expressions. Singers like Lupillo and Juan Rivera, trans-national cowboys and Pachuco-influenced lowriders, were indeed favorites, especially among Latina girls. The “ffontera” hybrid of Mexican-Southern California culture is a unique aspect in comparison with other youth populations studied and written into ethnographies (e.g. Adler & Adler, 1998; Gaines, 1991; Glassner & Loughlin, 1987, Thome, 1994). It is, however, typical of the Los Angeles population which is the focus of my study. Consumption of this form of entertainment was not a principled, articulated resistance, yet its cultural position and medium represents a mode of resistance, an alternative to traditional American values in the same way that day-to-day life in “gangster” environments creates a recognition of difference from Lorde’s mythical norm. Furthermore, new immigrants and those who generally speak little English may well have difficulties following lamentations about the loss of traditional American values. The idea of political resistance to larger, structural oppressions can be an arbitrary conceptual framework for analysis, given the age of these students (12-14). Their cultural 294 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. “politics” are really an amalgamation of opinions and interpretations. Their resistance strategies toward adult authority were also minimal but more conscious and significant. The availability of extended family members allowed Mefferin students to be extraneously complicit with parental demands over media consumption. For many students parental demands were minimal, so opposition was also minimal. For the most part, Mefferin students tended to be compliant with market demands for consumption of cool images and high-status products such as athletic shoes. Still, in general, students were not without a degree of agency; students were constantly in the process of negotiation, making choices that indeed challenged the status quo. The ‘bricolage’ elements (see Hebdige, 1979) presented in Chapter 3 shows that students, like Bee, Amenda, and Crysty, while aware of repercussions of breaking uniform codes, were willing to take risks by hiding regular clothing under their uniforms. Others (generally girls) wore shoe laces in ‘banned’ colors — blue, red, orange, green — indicative of gang associations. And most hid ‘legal’ contraband in backpacks ready to be shown off as soon as the 3:00 pm bell would ring. Given the demands of compliance to numerous norms and requirements at the school setting, it was not surprising that Mefferin students were also attracted to certain subcultures (e.g. skaters). Resistance to marketed cool, on the other hand, was effected by adolescents mainly through small-scale social interactions, and peer-based expressions of individual style and interpretation which were generally innovations on the culture marketed to them. However, even the peer pressure that supports most division among groups was challenged and contested as demonstrated by the boys in GP2. 295 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. In terms of gender relations between Mefferin girls and boys, it appeared that the cultural codes of the romance narrative generally encouraged Mefferin girls to comply with norms of submissive, emphasized femininity. What is also important to note is the extent to which Mefferin girls participated in the romance narrative while Mefferin boys had very little idea of the purposes or pleasures of that narrative for girls. In one sense, girls learned some very specific cultural scripts (via Dawson’ s Creek from television for example) and interaction strategies while boys were left almost completely uninformed. The romance narrative that teen girls receive today also implicates boys in its structure but alienates them at the same time. Perhaps this arrangement remains to the advantage of a culture which stratifies elements such as gender. And in America, there are substantial profits to be made in reinforcing the gender regime. In the Mefferin sample, the majority adapted to the gender regime through compliance. In general, middle-school students do not really understand how it works. For girls especially, the romantic versions of femininity constituted a powerful cultural force, yet there were incidences in which girls’ agency came to fruition. The few girls who did demonstrate some mode of resistance to emphasized femininity did so by challenging the body-objectified evaluations of boys. Not a fully articulated feminism, “girl power” provided a position from which a feminist discourse was invoked in terms of individual achievement and expression. However, while girl power (for the Mefferin students) connoted a rebellious spirit (as with the Spice Girls), it did not stimulate an ethic of solidarity among girls. Girl power is certainly about challenging boundaries but falls short in terms of supporting the sisterhood. This too raises questions that should be 296 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. pursued in future research and marks an important area which can continue to be addressed in pedagogy and activism. 1 Cultural debates among scholars today according to Kinder (1999) are centered around “children primarily as active agents.. .they are more interested in studying the connections between various factors” (p.5). For example, violence is linked to other discourses, such as sexuality, power and class; and it is read differently across groups (p.5). See also Hall, 1973/1980; Hebdige, 1979; McRobbie, 1991; Grossberg, 1992; Walkerdine, 1997. According to Kapur (1999), “in the growing field of writings on children and media, those cultural debates include the widely covered confrontations between children’s advocates and researchers, on one side, calling for more responsible programming and policies from media producers, broadcasters, advertisers and government agencies on the other” (p. 1). Regarding television in particular, Danesi (1994) has noted that “even though they mindlessly absorb the messages promulgated constantly by TV programming .. .today’s teens are affected by media images mainly if they reflect or reinforce already established clique-based behaviors” (p. 128). 2 Since these students did not participate in the focus group interviews, I did not get to pursue this question further. The only white male I interviewed came to Mefferin late in the year and did not answer a January 2000 survey. Bee (GP12) did indicate that he was a bit of loner and didn’t have too many friends in class, but was also critical of his peers. Perhaps in some manner, white male students were exhibiting a sort of Holden Caulfield syndrome (from Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye) where brooding, angst-riddled alienation is both for show and yet also genuine when students feel they have no community in school peer groups. 3 The families of immigrant youth (where parents were foreign bom) tended to be the most strict; however, there were gradations. First generation Latino families were the most strict (whereas 2n d generation were often not so strict.). Asian and Middle Eastern 2n d generation families were not as strict in terms of consumption, money, friendship groups, and leisure time. Among those whose parents were American bom, black and Latina girls were the most restricted, whereas the least regulated were black and white boys. 4 At first I was surprised when I learned ‘clubbing’ among many Mexicans is about going dancing and hearing live music in a congenial atmosphere that includes all ages and all family members. Some youth, like Gisel, El Chalinio and Playboy Bunny shared in this family activity, which was similar to UK pub culture in which working class families and friends meet to drink, sing, dance and socialize. 5 Students who were at the lowest levels academically (i.e. the worst students) were often those who had the highest levels of popular culture comprehension. This suggests a question to educators, school administrators and curriculum planners— if we live in such a culture as media driven as it is, how can there be a better connection between adolescent worlds and the academic tradition? 6 Tommy Hilfiger among youth contributed to a degree of urban mythology about race where boys in Group 4 believed that Tommy Hilfiger once said that his clothes were originally for whites as they invoked a red, white and blue East coast sporting image; and now it’s ok “for minorities to wear it.” Regarding this aspect, Gladwell (1997) mentioned his own original questions about Tommy Hilfiger and “how this forty-five year old white guy from Connecticut doing all-American preppy clothes came to be the designer of choice for urban black America” (p.8I) Gladwell mentions that on the Hilfiger design team there is a 26-year old Puerto Rican/Dutch Venezuelan, a 27-year old African American, a 22-year old Asian from the Lower East Side, a 25-year-old from Fiji and a 21-year old white graffiti artist from Queens. For Gladwell, the reason 297 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. that Tommy Hilfiger “can make white culture cool to black culture is that he has people working for him who are cool in both cultures simultaneously” (p.81). 7 For Christmas 1999, Mattel (which manufactures Hotwheels toy cars and Barbie dolls) capitalized on these themes by introducing a line of computers styled in the motifs of Hotwheels and Barbies; the PC consoles were respectively blue and pink in color and were decorated with their specific logos and images. sThe L.A. Lakers’ basketball team has a significant presence in Los Angeles culture; and one of its past stars, Magic Johnson has become quite a presence in L.A. as an influential entrepreneur who has acquired, among other things, a number of cinemas, restaurants, and coffee establishments. 9 For further discussions about the dynamic of sport and “black” masculinity, see Dunbar 1999. 1 0 In many ways this relates to whites who follow and exoticize black culture -- the “wigger” phenomenon. For a good discussion, see Roediger, 1998; Wilson and Sparks, 1996; Bettie, 2000. For some appropriation of subculture is translated into appreciation for the style, the music and the decoration -- everything but the reality of the obliteration of race. "According to Sanchez-Tranquilino and Tagg (1992), the Pachuco may have been a cowboy of sorts, but he was not a nostalgic reminder of Old Mexico. El Pachuco, literally, the migrant to and from El Paso, crossed a number of borders. El Pachuco represented a cultural affirmation not by “return to an imaginary original wholeness and past, but by appropriation, transgression, reassemblage, breaking and restructuring the laws of languages, .[including] the languages of the body, gesture, hair, tattoos, dress and dance: and in the languages of the space, the city, the barrio, the street (p. 559). 1 2 The milieu of the Mexican zoot-suiter differed from that of Harlem ‘zoots’ in two important respects. While Harlem was a well-defined, well-segregated district, old Mexican neighborhoods in Los Angeles had to be transformed into Anglo districts. Moreover, East Los Angeles in the 1940s could not provide the night life that Harlem did in the 1930s. Instead, Mexican zoot-suiters made their way downtown after work. In New York, whites “slummed” in Harlem. For many Anglos in Los Angeles, Mexican zoot-suiters represented an unwelcome invasion. The Mexican zoot-suiter did not strike a cool pose as it was understood among African-Americans (Sanchez-Tranquilino and Tagg, 1992, p. 560). As Sanchez-Tranquilino and Tagg argue, they did not attempt to recover an innate individual and collective identity beneath the structures of domination which could be safe-guarded and cultivated until an opportune moment of political emergence. Instead of pursuing a survival strategy “of purity, of saying less,” the Mexican zoot-suiters were “saying too much, with the wrong accent and intonation, mixing metaphors, making illegal crossings and continually transforming language so that its effect might never be wholly assimilable to an essential ethnicity or to .. ..a commodified diversity” (p. 561). Thus, in June of 1943 Los Angeles erupted with the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943, in which naval personnel stationed in Los Angeles attacked Mexican zoot suiters with the support of the local population. According to Turner and Surace (1997), zooters discovered on city streets were assaulted, then forced to disrobe amid the jibes and molestations of the crowd. At the height of the rioting, the zoot suit represented such an extreme threat to community solidarity and moral standards that the City council seriously debated an ordinance making the wearing of zoot suits a prison offense (p. 387). I3This concept was inspired in part by Radway’s (1984) study o f women reading romance novels such as Harlequins, etc. in which the theme of femininity is subordinate to masculinity, and in which female sexuality is always conditioned by male pursuit of a female object o f desire. 1 4 Recall that in Chapter 2, the majority of Mefferin youth chose The Simpsons as one o f their favorite television shows. The satirical nature of the show often critiques and parodies pop culture topics. Kids may only touch on the sense of sarcasm put forth; the majority probably merely enjoy the cartoon qualities of this animated program. 298 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1 5 In many ways, homosexuality becomes a separate division in the gender regime, and “tends to get written out of the discussion”(Kessler et al, 1985, p. 35) in middle schools. However, according to research by Thome and Luria (1986) “By the fourth grade, children especially boys have begun to use homophobic labels - fag, faggot, queer - as terms of insult, especially for marginal boys. They draw upon sexual allusions to reaffirm male hierarchies and patterns of exclusion. As fag talk increases, relaxed and cuddling patterns of touch decrease among boys. ... Fag talk, pornography, and the rules for segregation from girls create a separate, forbidden, and arousing area o f life among boys - the importance of the ambiguous opening toward institutionalized heterosexuality of adolescence.” (p. 182) Similar aspects have been addressed in McGuffy and Rich, 1999, pp. 618-619; Eder, 1997, p.49. 1 6 The 1990s has stimulated a growing youth market for teen-oriented night time televised soap operas as evidenced by the popularity of long-running shows such as Beverly Hills 90210, Party o f Five, Seventh Heaven to the more recent but widely watched Dawson’ s Creek. Unlike the traditional daytime serial format where characters vary in ages. On these shows adolescents and teens are the main focus and thus they occupy all the front burner stoiy lines. As adaptations of the “family drama” genre, these shows focus first on adolescent/teen issues like social/romantic interaction, while the family remains secondary (with the exception of the neo-family-values show Seventh Heaven). Of importance is the fact that they portray casts that are exclusively white and middle to upper class but make sexual discussion and reproductive issues central in many of their story lines. In these shows, teen sexuality, pleasure, and desire is portrayed as culturally normative and integral to the formation of relationship and romance. Thus most relational, interactional activities takes place through sex and sexual activity under the power of ‘romance narrative.’ In addition, sexual activity is coded as a culturally normative response in achieving not only romantic liaisons but also peer group legitimation. In essence, these shows give the impression that their storylines offer important information about teenage life in general. It is not surprising, then, when recent statistics offered by CNN and Kaiser Family Foundation studies suggest that over 80% of adolescents receive the majority of their sex education from television/media. It is also worth examining why and how the romance narrative in these shows is a gendered phenomenon, as Nielsen Media reveals that during the 1997-1998 season, Dawson’ s Creek was ranked in the number one position for female viewers aged 12-17. Boys in the same age demographic ranked The Simpsons number one while Dawson’s Creek wasn’t ranked at all in the boys’ top ten choices. Furthermore, what is neglected in such portrayals is adequate attention to the relationship of sexuality to the biological aspects of intercourse and of procreative sex. Without fully understanding such connections, the romance narrative may be the only cultural script available to teens, and intercourse may indeed take place for whatever reason; in this case pregnancy might imply the need for bonding, for love, and for generating self esteem. Of course, other consequences can include HIV, STD’s, and depression. 1 7 The Spice Girls were a pop music sensation, appealing primarily to 8 to 15 year girls. They were created in 1994 by a management team in Los Angeles. They subsequently left this team due to financial and creative differences. The Spice Girls represent the more palatable aspects of female punk rock bands and the Riot Grrl Movement. Coexisting with the music is the subcultural practice of girls’ sport culture; athletic wear and body motifs in skateboarding culture and so called ‘cool’ tomboy activities infuse much of their look. Their choreography is predominantly athletic in character. . In the mid-1990s, Nike’s ad campaigns showed a shift toward integrating women, athletics and “ just do it” terminology, and this campaign was not just for women’s sports culture. In the April/May 1995 issue of G irl’ s Life, a magazine marketed to pre-adolescent girls ages 8-14, the flip-side o f the cover page featured a two-page spread. The ad pictures the Santa Monica High’s cross-country team with white girls in the front, while black girls are hidden behind advertising copy for the Air Max 2 Light. Across both pages 299 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. large type proclaims, “ We are hedonists and we want what feels good. IF IT FEELS GOOD THEN JUST DO IT.” In 1995, Nike debuted their TV ads with clips of young girls saying “if you let me play -- if you let me play sports, I will like myself more. I will have more self-confidence. If you let me play sports. If you let me play” (Goldman and Papson, 1998, pp. 132-33). In this light, Nike represents a new breed of advertisers make ads serve their own narrow commodity agendas by attempting to give the ad a place in the field of public culture (ibid, p 133). Today Nike is about “ just play” — with no connection to sports at all. The “feminist athlete” is complemented by popular culture representations such as the martial arts moves in the new “Charlie’s Angels,” the female warriors in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” of 2000, super hero girls such as TV’s Zena the Warrior Princess, as well as Wonder Woman (recent remake), La Femme Nikita, Dark Angel, Bufly the Vampire Slayer, Laura Kroft (of “Tomb Raider”), and the animated Power- Puff Girls. l8In the sample of students who filled out surveys in January 2000 (N=132, Girls = 75, Boys = 57), 26 (20%) had a high degree of knowledge about GP. Of these, 21 (16%) were girls, and 5 (4%) were boys. Of all girls in the sample (N=75), 28% had a high degree of knowledge of GP. Of all boys in the sample (N=57), 9% had a high degree of knowledge about GP. In the sample of students surveyed, 27 (20%) had a medium degree of knowledge about GP. Of these 15 (11%) were girls, and 12 (9%) were boys. Of all girls in the sample, 20% had a medium degree of knowledge about girl power; and of all boys in the sample, 21% had a medium degree of knowledge about girl power. In the sample of students surveyed, 49 (37%) had a low degree of knowledge about GP. Of these 18 (14%) were girls and 31 (23%) had a low degree of knowledge about GP. Of all girls in the sample, 24% had a low degree of knowledge about GP; and of all boys in the sample, 54% had a low degree of knowledge about GP. In the sample of students surveyed, 30 (23%) did not provide any information regarding knowledge about GP (—). Of these, 21 (16%) were girls, and 9 (7%) were boys. Of all girls in this sample, 28% did not provide any information about GP knowledge; and of all boys in this sample, 16% did not provide information. In the sample of students participating in focus group interviews (N=50), 6 (12%) were seen to have a High degree of knowledge about Girl Power. Of these, 5 (10%) were girls, and 1 (2%) were boys. Of all girls in the sample (N=29), 17% had a high degree of knowledge about Girl Power, and of all boys in the sample (N=21) 5% had a High degree of knowledge about Girl Power. In the sample of students participating in focus groups, 12 (24%) noted a medium degree of knowledge about GP. Of these, 9 (18%) were girls, and 3 (6%) were boys. Of all girls in the sample, 31% had a medium degree of knowledge about GP, and of all boys in the sample, 14% had a medium degree of knowledge about GP.. In the sample of students participating in focus groups, 23 (46%) had a Low degree of knowledge about GP. Of these, 9(18%) were girls, and 14 (28%) were boys. Of all girls in the sample, 31% had a Low degree of knowledge about GP, and of all boys in the sample, 67% had a Low degree of knowledge about GP. In the sample of students participating in focus groups, 9 (18%) did not provide any information regarding knowledge about Girl Power. Of these, 6 (12%) were girls, and 3 (6%) were boys. Of all girls in the sample, 21% did not provide any information about GP (—), and of all boys in the sample, 14% did not provide any information about G P (-). 300 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER 7 Leaning and Learning into the Future: Suggestions and Conclusions My research findings on contemporary youth and the cultures of consumption have prompted me to conclude this dissertation with a synopsis of where we’ve come and where we hope to go as advocates of youth in the 21st century. In the previous chapter I discussed themes of adolescent compliance, opposition, and resistance to adult-created and adult-enforced areas of life such as family, school, entertainment and mass media consumption. Because of the dominant cultural paradigm that engages capitalism and competition — the ffee-market economy— the modes of agency and resistance exacted by the Mefferin students appeared quite limited to me. This raised a question to me: was their resistance simply rebellion against adults and adult authority, or was their resistance sprinkled with genuine seeds of political engagement? This chapter focuses on the opportunities for such engagement and includes a section on current ‘new’ literacy organizations -- media and consumer literacy networks and campaigns aimed at youth. I also offer some implications for pedagogical developments and suggestions for increasing literacy levels among contemporary youth like the Mefferin population. I conclude this chapter and this dissertation by suggesting how an “integrational” approach between schools, students, and parents can easily be attained to foster dialogue about new literacy measures and concerns. I also inquire into ways in which media literacy and consumer literacy can function to bridge gaps between youth, formal education, popular culture and adult overseers. 301 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. How Can Youth Educators Provide the Right Tools? In the new millennium, the subject of youth is significant in part because it is a growing population that brings in billions of dollars for powerful conglomerates, monopolies, and uber-corporations. At present, these corporate entities are taken for granted as part of the natural, American way -- the way of the American Dream. How can youth become aware of a cloaking market culture that both invites them in yet exploits them out? In the U.S. history classes that Miss Hillmont taught to 8th graders at Mefferin school during the 1999-2000 school year, students were tested on the historical aspects of slavery, segregation, and 19th century robber barons, yet were unable to really connect these elements and issues with the social landscape of today’s culture. This disconnect between subjects taught at school with contemporary culture reflects the anesthetic effect of the American Dream; and it also reveals two important pedagogical problems. First, it underscores the preoccupation of American secondary education with “content” instruction to the detriment of critical thinking skills. Second, it indicates the inadequacy of the Ivory Tower assumption that these skills are best (and should only be) taught at the institution of the university. Rather, today’s public education needs to adopt and adapt some connection between the traditional “subjects” (which were themselves inherited from earlier academic approaches to knowledge) and the contemporary vein of youth culture that is driven by entertainment and consumption. Resistance to market exploitation would be more effective if adolescents — not just college students — were given or allowed some knowledge of money, capitalism and marketing culture. 302 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Given the changes in advertising ethics and governmental de-regulation measures during the last twenty years, the need for consumer literacy programs in secondary schooling cannot be stressed enough. It seems rather detrimental that so many pedagogical institutions in American society blindly allow profit-driven corporations the upper hand in understanding the consumption patterns of youth — as youth culture industries continue to develop and refine highly sophisticated marketing strategies. In this regard, marketing research is also ahead of social science research -- market researchers have utilized a fully realized social psychological approach to targeting markets. And the extent of the resources which private interests have been able to mobilize for research is possibly a cause of concern in and of itself. Klein (1999) has stressed that “corporate obsession with brand identity is waging a war on public and individual space: on public institutions likes school, youth culture and nationality” (pp. 4-5). Even if one does not accept Klein’s view of these industries, the lack of any substantial form of consumer education in public schools is remarkable. Essentially, it is business that provides children, adolescents and adults with their consumer knowledge; in the U.S., formal teaching of economics has been virtually non-existent in secondary schooling. Scholars like Fumham and Argyle (1998) have noted that while it would be problematic to introduce economics as a separate course in a secondary curriculum, economics could easily be integrated and taught in connection with other subject areas (p. 89). According to educational scholars like Giroux (1994), who has advocated for a reformulation of educational theory to establish a focus on critical pedagogy, “not only did pedagogy connect questions of form and content, it also introduced a sense of how 303 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. teaching, learning, textual studies and knowledge could be addressed as a political issue which foreground considerations of power and social agency” (p. 131). While consumer/media literacy is brought to adolescents on a limited basis, one cannot automatically assume that they are not reading and scrutinizing media texts in particular ways. Throughout this dissertation, I have attempted to continuously bring in examples that reflect this. For one, I demonstrate the malleability of linguistic assessments of what constituted cool style. Young adolescents have large consumption vocabularies. Adolescents are particularly skilled at discussing various subjects and genres pertaining to mass media and popular culture. They are conversant in the social aspects of consumption (shopping, spectatorship, etc.), and in cultural aspects of consumption -> how consumers actually read and consume various products, what they do with scripts, messages and styles. And again, marketers are keenly aware that the critical thinking skills of children and adolescents is limited. Clearly, adolescents need to understand some of their strategies. Since adolescents display such a sophisticated user’s knowledge of leisure culture products, there is no reason to hesitate in developing a structural component and institutional underpinnings for their consumer education. Like the family, schools have been treated as institutions of socialization and influence, and consumption should be seen in such a fashion as well — both in scholarship and in pedagogy. Family and school relations have been integrated into the frameworks of key ethnographic studies on youth (e.g. Adler & Adler, 1998; Eder, 1997; Thome, 1994), yet these studies have not adequately dealt with consumption as a major factor of socialization and influence. Jane 304 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Kenway and Elizabeth Bullen (2001) have started to expand these issues, however their population of study was located in the provincial city of Geelong in suburban Australia. While they point to new literacy and pedagogy that is aimed at demystifying the corporate hold over youth culture, their empirical data is not reflective of the diversity that is offered in American urban populations like the Mefferin sample. Further, Geelong does not hold the universal commodification element that Los Angeles does — there is globalized knowledge (and globalized stereotyping) of L.A. but not so with Geelong. For a large percentage of Mefferin youth, making money as a key contingency of consumption, was associated with future success and happiness, and in this manner, it became a driving force in the lives of students I worked with in the course of my research. Money allows for the expansive participation in an adult-created world from a youthful sensibility — a gap that is already there at the same time it is bridged. When I was conducting focus group interviews during the Spring of 2000, the general consensus was that the “New” American economy was booming at a pace not seen since the years of the roaring 1920s. Yet only a year later the U.S. economy was taking a downturn into the zone of recession. In October 2000, the U.S. unemployment rate was reportedly at 3.8% (Vieth, 12/08/01, p. C3); today, in Spring 2002, it hovers around 5.5%. Yet throughout the 1990s economic growth and job market expansion The Economic Tide and the Future of Mefferin Youth Max: LC: Alex: Max: Alex: If you graduate from school, you can have a lot o f money. Ah, yes, do you guys want to have a lot o f money? I do! Yeah! That’s why I come to school. (GP2) 305 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. (both nationally and globally) were referred to constantly as overarching signs and images of the success and power to be attained in a place like America. Pointing to the United States as a whole is problematic however; in states like California for instance, the new economy was quite polarized and continues to be so. According to Arax, Curitus and Nelson (1/9/2000), “From 1993 to 1997, the incomes of California’s richest grew at a phenomenal pace while the incomes of the state’s working poor and middle class stagnated or increased just slightly, according to census and income tax data” (p.A16). The state’s large largely uneducated, immigrant work force has frequently been cited as a factor which inhibited the boom from making its way across all economic classes (p.Al). In California, immigrant workers make up a significant percentage of the hardest-working poor. Youth who live in families that make up the working poor must struggle with living in a position of structural inequality and with cultural disadvantages as well. Recall that I mentioned earlier that according to Census 2000, approximately 30% of children living in Los Angeles as categorized as living in poverty. Throughout this dissertation I have stressed that consumption is intimately linked with American ideals, and aspirations of reaping the benefits of the American Dream. This motivation has been a driving force of immigration to the U.S., and this was no doubt true among Mefferin parents as well. Yet the reality is that consumption in America is both one of the most democratic and oppressive of social institutions. In the Mefferin sample, economically disadvantaged kids were transported to a school site at the pinnacle of neighborhood economic affluence. At that site, a symbolic interaction 306 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. stimulated by consumption was actively engaged in by students, and it was clear that consumption of the correct brands yielded social mobility and a power position of popularity in the school environment. Further, the Payless Shoes scenario illustrated a poignant example of the divisive nature of American consumption and the pull and sway of the American Dream mystique. Careful, sensitive adults may think they are creating a more egalitarian society in public school education, but this may be a fallacy when the freedom which they allow to commercial interests ends up breeding a different and sobering form of discrimination and oppression, even as these same adults rarely notice it or find it problematic. It seems that in a society driven by the brand, critical discussion of consumer status and its implied social hierarchies in secondary schools may not be seen as worthwhile by the adults who bear primary responsibility for organizing and shaping the school setting. Some blame should also be laid at the feet of contemporary social researchers, whose research tends to overlook youth in the matrix of consumption. The post-WWII society had its critics like Marcuse, Mills, Galbraith, etc. They, however, were modem critics of an industrial age. There are parallels, but today we have a society driven by post-modem theories and ideologies as well as the modem capitalist/industrialist impetus — not only an American Dream, but an American Dream Machine. The idea of keeping up with the Joneses now is fully realized in the domain of youth — children, preadolescents, adolescents all participate in this framework, and this competition for status grows especially as more "markets" are created for them. They help to shape the markets, and the markets are created for them. Because they are economically viable and 307 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. populous, youth constitute a monumentally important category of consumption for marketers. I argue for a re-formulation of Marxist elements that corresponds more closely to the current “zeitgeist.” This approach places the analytical lens away from the producers/workers (as these can only be “adults,” given the compulsory nature of public education). Kids are not workers, productive or oppressed; moreover, I would argue that adolescents today do not dream of becoming ‘producers’ of goods. Certainly, no one in the Mefferin sample affirmed a desire to enter the shop floor or the factory as a primary goal. Thus, the analytical lens should be focused on consumption. A post-Marxist focus on consumption also argues for the equity of young adults, children and adolescents — where the ‘worker’ motif is replaced with that of ‘consumer.’ Both adults and children have parity and equity in this dynamic in the sense that they both relate to co-consuming roles. However, there will be structures of division, institutions of oppression that hold their place - thus a new focus on integration is recommended. The Importance of Encouraging New Literacy Measures Consumer literacy can never solely be a matter of legislative mandate -- or addressed by some educational fad, with all its attendant programs, workshops, curricula, and frameworks. In writing about media literacy programs, Males (1999) argues, “Media literacy campaigns for youth are reasonable, but it doesn't get at the real problem” (p.274). “What is really required is re-evaluation of the far larger effect on youths of growing up in a product-driven society whose adults, including parents and teachers spend $5 trillion per year on personal consumption” (p.274). Males further states some 308 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. key statistics that point to the extent and nature of adult consumption, including: $100 billion on alcohol and tobacco, $40 billion on jewelry, $45 billion on sports supplies, and $90 billion on video and audio products (including 600 million adult movie rentals) American adults spend three times more ($300 billion per year) on clothes and accessories than on their own education. American adults gamble half a trillion dollars per year, an amount equal to the total national, state and local spending on all primary, secondary, and higher education (p. 274). In such a society, a truly critical consumer literacy can be difficult to achieve. For example, Pope (1991) has pointed out the complications and fluctuations of the American consumer movement over the last century. From attempts at establishing ‘truth in advertising’ to product comparative evaluations (e.g. Consumer Reports), consumer advocacy in the US has generally been another avenue for developing brand name interest and spending solidarity. Thus, today’s consumerist movement remains centered around product quality, safety guidelines, and bargain hunting strategies. The same has been true of contemporary attempts to implement consumer reform of entertainment media. Ratings systems for television, movies, and music from well- meaning activists like Tipper Gore and Senator Joseph Lieberman provide parental guidelines for text and content but include virtually nothing about advertising. The Christian-based ‘Focus on the Family’ organization publishes a large compilation of music, TV and movie reviews that still stands for business principles while invoking consumer choice. They may critique content of products as immoral, and ethically compromising, but they will still point out that Britney Spears’ first album was innocuous, fun pop music, but that her latest album has crossed the lines to profane and pornographic. Thus, the under-workings of what goes on in the music business are never really at the forefront of these campaigns and pleas. 309 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. If school administrators and social researchers need to devote increased attention to the place of youth within a consumer society, with equal “time” given to adults and youth, the same may be said of consumer literacy programs in the public schools — and one of the first areas to explore is that of consumer choice. The consumer reform contemplated by Tipper Gore and Jerry Falwell only considers the consumer choices of adults. However, when parents give children money to spend the way they wish, they give up control and choice because kids will procure what they want at whatever cost or means — from watching telenovelas away from Dad’s jurisdiction to buying a Discman in order to more easily listen to “parental advisory” albums. Just as Mefferin administrators treated students as adult consumers when it came to selecting food products from the cafeteria, parents, through the institution of the allowance, treat their children essentially as adult consumers. But as Corsaro pointed out, adults tend to treat children both as future productive citizens and as potentially chaotic, dangerous elements of society which need to be controlled. Once that allowance is used to buy a trench coat and a Marilyn Manson album, adult hysteria is given full rein: Sam Donaldson of ABC News holds forth with “special” post-Columbine reports about “These Goths..,” and parental and legislative restrictions are arbitrarily slapped onto the leisure culture of adolescents. For any consumer literacy program to be really successful, the power of adolescents to make their own consumer choices should neither be denigrated nor ignored. In one sense, there is no way in which that capacity can be ignored. When it comes to trends in new media, adults often have to defer to youth. Kapur (1999) notes: 310 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Children’s consumer culture has become increasingly unfamiliar to adults. In spite of being a parent of two young children myself and having a professional interest in children’s culture, I find it impossible to keep up, and am constantly introduced to new programming and products by my daughter, who is seven, and my son, who is three... .The gap between the narratives, games, skills and technologies that we knew as children and what our children know now is vast, and the distance continues to grow rapidly. Children are no longer so dependent on parents for guidance in the world (p. 129). Educators need to respond to this new independence without imposing excessive controls on children. Rather, educators need to develop consumer literacy programs which draw upon adolescent understandings of youth culture, and capitalize on opportunities to draw upon the consumer expertise of adolescents. Furthermore, these literacy programs should recognize the fact that youth (as Corsaro reminds us) do not simply perform tasks or fulfill roles, but are also developing into adults. Giroux (in Steinberg and Kincheloe, 1998), asserts that children who have been educated by popular culture approach literacy from a different angle, and argues from this premise that media literacy cannot simply be a rarefied add-on to a traditional curriculum; according to Giroux, media literacy necessarily involves learning basic skills necessary to negotiating one’s identity, values, and well being in power-soaked hyperreality. In many schools such ideas have never been considered or seriously discussed. Writers in this book (Steinberg & Kincheloe) attempt to cultivate a critical media literacy among educators (e.g. Jipson and Reynolds). Mclaren et al. (1995) argues that a critical understanding of media culture requires student not simply to develop the ability to interpret media meanings but to understand the ways they themselves consume and effectively invest in media (p. 9). 311 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. On both fronts — family and schools - education lags behind marketers’ cleverness in discerning the subtleties of dominant cultural ideologies as well as discerning the interconnected nature of the media linking those ideologies with commerce: television show plus television commercials, movie plus licensing at Taco Bell and Burger King, magazine articles plus advertising spreads, etc. This multiple and networked dissemination of dominant ideologies through the media suggest wide implications for pedagogy. For Kessler, Asenden, Connell and Dowsett (1985), the implication is that the aims of all public education should be re-worked: . . . to empower subordinated groups rather than give selective access to existing hierarchies; to democratize the curriculum by reorganizing knowledge to advantage the disadvantaged; and to mobilize support for democratization of the schools in relation to gender as much as other structures of power (p. 46). In developing a pedagogical attempt at integrating economics, media and contemporary culture, one inevitably ends up introducing other significant variables of study such as gender, race/ethnicity and compulsory heterosexuality. In turn, these variables of sociological study impinge on the day-to-day lives of students. To borrow from the argot of education, media and consumer literacy is a matter of educating “the whole child.” Thus, in formulating their proposal for re-framing pedagogy in public schools, Kessler et al. also anticipate concrete goals and benefits for adolescent girls: “marketable skills, much more knowledge of what is happening to them, solidarity with others in their situation, and [potentially] the chance to get decent jobs” (p. 46). Looking to the future, we indeed must move toward integrating a consumer literacy which involves all aspects of consumption (media, technology, style, fashion); 312 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. which accepts the notion that adolescents are able to make choices; which encourages a critical appraisal of the underlying framework of structure (economics, corporations, free- market ideologies); and which achieves a balance of validating youthful opinions while pointing out fallacies of misinformation. We should never condemn their media and consumer choices; rather, we should attempt to understand why they made those choices. Successful activist and non-profit organizations exist today that address youth culture in relation to media and consumer/economic literacy. Groups and projects such as Project Look Sharp, the Center for Media Literacy, and Children Now are organizations aimed at promoting 21s t century literacy. Resources for promoting economic/consumer literacy include The Center for Commercial Free Education and “The Merchants of Cool” teacher’s guide. Further, special resources for girls include About-Face, and Girl’s Inc. [see Appendix L] Mefferin students were not part of any media/ economic/consumer literacy program at their school — perhaps because most of the district and campus funds contribute to English as a Second Language and Limited English Proficiency programs; in any case, there is no data on what the potential for such programs may have been among Mefferin students. In considering the possibility of media literacy instruction at Mefferin, questions arise about the media literacy organizations which currently exist. How will these organizations deal with teaching literacy/consumerist information to demographically divergent populations? How do they take race/ethnicity, class, gender, immigration status into account? How could these organizations deal with unique public school populations in L.A.? Especially with the Los Angeles Center for Media Literacy, I would inquire 313 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. about media literacy for Spanish language media — a huge audience in Los Angeles area. Or, is the focus of CML in L.A. only on mainstream, American media via broadcast TV, cable, advertising etc.? And how can teachers who understand these populations integrate new forms of literacy into their own classroom teaching? How can they craft specific approaches to immigrant students who rely on consumer culture status as part of acculturation techniques and strategies? Dialogue between teachers and media literacy organizations like those indicated above is clearly needed. Mv Suggestions for Possible Implementation Once again, I should call attention to the fallacy of assuming that critical thinking skills are best acquired at the university setting. More and more, academics have begun to acknowledge and offer critiques of the current consumer-driven (both symbolic and literal) society. We attempt to provide instructive deconstructive measures, demystifying materialist ideologies from the ivory tower, while college students continue to pile on excessive, even ruinous credit card debts. In the meanwhile, the community of academics is practically dumbfounded at business section headlines which report that adolescents — at younger and younger ages — engage in consumption practices with voracity and purpose across all genres of media, across all ethnic and gender groups. It only makes sense to start consumer literacy programs at the outset of secondary schooling, when students are already buying GameBoy players ($50), brand name clothes and shoes (Nike/Jordans, $75-125), and Dreamcast/Playstation video consoles ($200- $300). And in terms of pedagogy, middle school may be an ideal introduction for consumer literacy programs. If dominant ideologies are imbricated in the fabric of our 314 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. society, the multiple channels of cultural production can be addressed by interdisciplinary curricula which draw upon subjects as diverse as computer science, music appreciation, sex education and photography. The following are some general suggestions for implementation within the institutional structures of public schooling: 1. Open up the popular culture dialogue between teachers and students: As it is common for teachers to pop in an entertainment movie video as a time filler, one quick exercise could involve students answering questions about the video, followed by a brief discussion/interchange where students can volunteer their opinions to the class (a more broadbased approach to the focus group discussion.) Students who may not be as adept or comfortable with discussing traditional academic subjects may feel less hindered within this type of forum. This exercise takes little time and effort, and it provides an opening for dialogue between students and adults regarding marketed media culture. If teachers simply run the videos, they miss an excellent opportunity to foster critical thought. 2. Open up a dialogue about the reality of adolescent consumption between the school system and the students: Teachers can more sensitively direct their curricula by learning about student interests in popular culture. A basic questionnaire similar to the one I administered could be helpful to teachers as well as to administrative staff who form and adjust school course curricula. For students, this is a fun activity, and for educators, adjustments can be made to instruction which incorporates a wider understanding of student learning, especially when compared to what is obtained through standardized test scores like the Stanford 9 315 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. which is subsequently evaluated and studied by professionals in the quest to better “reach” students. Teachers should be required to attend workshops on forms of new literacy which include media and overall consumer culture. As the corporate cultures of Pizza Hut and Pepsi Co. have a strong presence in their workplace, they should be allowed basic knowledge of some consequences of the corporate presence. Further, teachers could easily be presented with research findings (such as those studies similar to mine) which address social interaction and cultural elements. In the structure of the classroom environment, teachers have very little time to sit back, observe, reflect and analyze their ‘audience.’ In this case, it is easy to miss the significance of peer group interactions and associations such as the Nike versus Payless scenario. Because the discourse of popular culture, media culture and status-driven consumer culture is not always easy for instructors to “read” within the classroom, these consumer discourses often end up competing with traditional school curricula, teaching methods, and administrative policy making — but this competition is not an inherent condition of schooling. 3. Open up the dialogue between schools, teachers, parents AND students: An examination of issues of youth and consumption through a PTA- type forum could benefit the school community. While schools pass out pamphlets about gangs and uniform regulations, they rarely pass out informative guidelines on media or consumer literacy concerns. Video presentations, literature, and informal discussion could be utilized to connect consumer and youth culture awareness to other subjects and parental concerns such as bullying; or, in the case of the Mefferin population, the consequences of 316 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. American acculturation dilemmas. This becomes particularly relevant in the arena of sex education. In 1999,1 attended a conference on sex education and public schooling which was attended mostly by public school teachers. I was shocked at how uninformed they were about their own student’s interests in media, including TV shows and movies that projected strong images of adolescent sexuality (e.g. Dawson’ s Creek). Most were unfamiliar with the show, but many were commenting on how many times their students referred to it. It might be indeed helpful if adults could provide more opportunities in which students could help educate parents, teachers, and school administrators about their ‘culture’; in which educators draw upon student knowledge of popular culture in planning curricula; which could make students feel empowered by their expert status (like the marketing and advertising companies do); in which adults have to defer to them — especially since this already true of new and advancing technologies such as the Internet. After school, some of these elements could be incorporated into “Back to School Night” or “Open House” type venues as well. Further, the input of students on these topics in the context of parent-teacher conferences may provide a more comprehensive view of student learning than might be gained through standard evaluations and achievement descriptions. As advancing technology has rapidly been integrated into the worlds and lives of contemporary children and adolescents in America, parents and adults sometimes feel that they are losing ground in trying to provide this generation with guidance. Censoring, regulating, classifying, and rating have become some of the ways in which adults deal 317 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. with their alienation from youth and their consumer cultures. However, rather than fighting the position which technology like cyberspace and the Internet has occupied within the lives of contemporary youth, adults should not hesitate to provide structured educational experiences and moral guidance within technologically integrated contexts. Consider that many public elementary/secondary schools across the country already have significant numbers of computer terminals at their sites as well as Internet network connections. Why are non-commercial accounts available only to those employed at or students at Universities — state, public and private? Why aren’t servers and individual e-mail accounts available for public school kids? Why are students forced to experience Internet computing under commercial networks like the AOL/Time Warner monopoly? University students have access to University servers, free email accounts and free share ware Internet browser software. It’s time that public school districts have funds made available to them in order to implement their own programs so that their students do not have to be forced into advertisers’ clutches immediately. Ironically, while students already worry about constructed Internet dangers, these are more likely to be encountered on the corporate servers like AOL, which most Mefferin students subscribed to. This could help revolutionize education. Some Mefferin students frequently sent e-mail to Miss Hillmont via AOL, yet this (having AOL at one’s disposal) was not something that all students had access to. Imagine the benefits of smoothing out the disjunction among youth and adults if things were simplified. An Internet server network such as those that exist at universities could be customized for students in elementary 318 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. school, middle school and high school. And since K-12 students are notorious for losing or failing to record assignments, these and similar problems could be avoided if homework assignments were distributed to email accounts where students could always access them. Further, parents who wish to be involved in students’ education could easily access information about their child’s school work rather than having to dig for scraps of paper in an (all too frequently) disorganized binder. This technique is already widely used at college levels. Why isn’t it already commonplace at the secondary school level, given the fact that youth during these ages are already technologically adept? While cost is something that may hinder this development, L. A. Unified needs to remain aware, for instance, of how much money goes into the trash in terms of the daily disposal of unclaimed, uneaten ‘county’ food. In so many ways, children and adolescents have been constructed as young adults, when really they are just bigger kids. Their knowledge of contemporary issues is comprehensive but skewed. Yet too much responsibility and choice is given over to the adult world of commerce which has created the ubiquitous youth culture. This youth culture looks cool, has little substance, and underpins the capitalist drive of success and prosperity. Other adults attempt to re-inscribe a youth culture in which themes, images, and text are censored according to concerns of morality, safety and protection. One ends up asking, how exactly do the real, living people of the youth population figure in? Answering that question has been the aim of this dissertation — to expand and broaden the scope of what adolescent youth in Los Angeles project and display. These particular middle-school students registered strong levels of compliance with the adult world of 319 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. parents, educators, and law enforcement, yet still managed to transgress, oppose and question some of the cultural imperatives of consumption and progress. 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R. (2001, January 22). College Freshmen Rate Money as Chief Goal. Los Angeles Times, pp. A3/A16. West, C. (1990/1993). The New Cultural Politics of Difference. In S. During (Ed.), The Cultural Studies Reader (pp. 203-217). London: Routledge. West, C. (1993). Race Matters. New York: Vintage Books. West, C., & Fenstermaker, S. (1995). Doing Difference. Gender & Society, 9, 8-37. 335 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. West, C., & Zimmerman, D. H. (1987). Doing Gender. Gender & Society, 1, 125-151. Whitehead, D. (1986). Students Attitudes to Economic Issues. Economics, Spring, 24-32. Whyte, W. F. (1943). Street Comer Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Williams, B. (1996). Babies and Banks: The 'Reproductive Underclass' and the Raced, Gendered Masking of Debt. In S. Gregory & R. Sanjek (Eds.), Race (pp. 348-365). New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. Williams, R. (1981). The Sociology of Culture. 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Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX A Please check: Male Female 6lh grade 7t h grade 8th grade____ Questions about what you like to do in your free time: When you are not in school, what are some of your favorite things to do? Do you spend more time hanging out with your family or your friends? Do you spend more time outside (playing sports, etc.) or inside (watching TV, etc.)? Please check the following things that you have at home: Television Radio VCR Cable TV Satellite Dish DVD Player Computer Modem CD ROM CD Player Nintendo/Playstation_ _ What are some of your favorite TV shows? (list top three) Do you like to watch TV commercials? Yes N o_ _ Have you ever watched any of the “millionaire” TV game shows? Yes No If you had to choose one show to watch, would it be The Simpsons or Dawson’ s Creek? WHY? 337 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. What kinds of music do you listen to? (favorite performers/groups?) What are your favorite radio stations? (list top three) Do you watch music videos? Yes No_ _ What music television do you watch? (check all that apply) MTV VH-1 BET other music television_ _ What are some of your favorite movies? (list top three) What are some of your favorite magazines? (list top three) Do you play video games? Yes No_ _ Where do you play video games? (home, arcade, etc.) If you play video games, what are some of your favorites? (list top three) Do you use a pager/beeper? Yes No__ Do you use a computer? Yes No_ _ Do you use Internet or World Wide Web? Yes No____ If you use Internet, what are your favorite web sites and/or chat rooms? three) (list top 338 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Do you like going to shopping malls? Yes No_ _ If you go to the mall, what do you like to do there? What are your favorite stores? (list top three) What are your favorite brands of shoes and clothes? Who usually picks out and buys your clothes ? You or someone else? Do you ever get weekly spending money/allowance? Yes No_ _ When you get any spending money, what do you usually do with it? If someone gave you $25 today, what would you do with it? ** Describe what you have heard of, or know about “Girl Power” [guys please this too] School Uniform questions: How long have you had to wear a uniform to school? Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. What do you LIKE about wearing a uniform? What do you NOT like about wearing a uniform? Describe what you would like to wear on a “free dress” day? Background Information Questions: What is your age? What is your racial/ethnic background? What city do you live in, and what is your home zip code? What kind of transportation do you use to get to and from school? (walk, ride bus, etc.) Who do you live with at home? (parents, relatives, brothers, sisters, etc.) Do your parents/guardians work outside the home? If so, what do they do? What kind of future job would you like to have? Thank you for filling out this questionnaire and contributing to the importance of social research! 340 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX B FOCUS GROUP BASELINE DEMOGRAPHIC FORM FOCUS GROUP #: 1. Female Male 2. 7th Grade 8 th Grade 3. Name (real): 4. Name (made-up - to be used for project): 5. Nationality / cultural heritage of your family: 6 . City and Zip Code of where you live: 7. Type of transportation used to/from school: Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX C Focus Group Interview Schedule (Spring 2000, Mefferin Middle School): N=50 students who participated in 15 separate focus group interviews* -review assent forms and importance of this research project on teens and their interests in media, entertainment, style. Remind teens they don't have to answer a question if they don't want to, and their real name will never be used in connection with this project. Reminder: Please remember that you represent an important part of the population and social research on your opinions and interests are also important so feel free to be as honest and open as you wish with your answers to the following questions. [general questions about after school activities and consumer culture:] When school ends for the day, do you go straight home? Describe what is typical, -parents/guardians both work or is one at home? When you are not in school, what are some of your favorite things to do? Do you spend more time outside (playing sports, etc.) or inside (watching TV, etc.)? Do you spend more time hanging out with your family or your friends? Would you say that you spend more time watching television, surfing the internet, or shopping ? Do you spend more time doing these things alone, or with friends? Do you like going to shopping malls? If you go to the mall, what do you like to do there? What are your favorite stores? Where do you usually get money to buy things? (parents, allowance - regularly? Or job? Do you ever get weekly spending money/allowance? When you get any spending money, what do you usually do with it? 342 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Have you ever used a credit card to buy things? Or do your parents ever use one to buy things? Do you know what a credit card is or how it is used? Who usually picks out and buys your clothes? You or someone else --school uniforms: What do you think about wearing a school uniform? Describe what you would like to wear on a “free dress” day? -is this when you feel you get to express your own sense of style? [school uniform supplement:] Is there anything you like about wearing a school uniform? Do you know some reasons why you have to wear a uniform? How do you 'beat' the uniform codes? -creating your own sense of style? -gang colors - what are clothes, colors that are associated with gangs? There seems to be a lot of freedom in choosing shoes - brands? Aren't there shoes that are related to gangs? How do you describe someone who has bad taste, bad style? [some girls referred to chunty - or are there other words?] Or good style? Is this someone who is cool? Does this mean someone who doesn't wear the right brand - or does this even matter? Do you have any favorite brands of shoes and clothes? How do you know what brands are better than others? -shoes from (discount stores) Payless, Target, Walmart? Why are these brands important to you? Would you be more likely to buy something because you saw an advertisement/commercial for it? What if a famous person is advertising a product? 343 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Do you ever think about being a celebrity? Supermodel, actor, or sports star? What kind of future career would you like to have? — Style and being cool: How do you find out what’s in style, what’s cool, and what’s not? -advertising, TV, magazines, music videos, brothers/sisters, etc? Tell me about, or how do you know if something/someone is cool? Do you belong to any sub-cultures - skaters? Or what? Do you identify with any groups/cliques? At school or at home? — specific media consumption: When you’re watching TV, do you ever watch any shows that are about teens like Popular, Beverly Hills 90210 or Dawson’s Creek? Do you think they seem like your life or are they totally different? What are some of your favorite TV shows? -The Simpsons or Dawson’ s Creek? WHY? Do you like to watch TV commercials? Do you use a computer? Do you use Internet or World Wide Web? If you use Internet, what are your favorite web sites and/or chat rooms? Do you play video games? Tell me about what kinds. [Remind teens that their input has been very helpful, their opinions important.] *Note: While I asked these questions in all of the focus groups, at times according to the group dynamic I had to adjust the order of the questions 344 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX D FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS FOR PARENTS 1. What is your child’s favorite after-school activity? 2. Are you ever concerned about what your child watches on TV or about how much time they spend watching TV? 3. Do they use a computer (Internet) at home? 4. Is it important to buy brand name shoes (e.g. Nike) and clothes for your child? 5. Did your child ask for certain brand names at a particular age? 6 . Do you give your kids ‘spending money’? Are you ever concerned about what they spend money on? [Due to time constraints, only five parents were contacted and briefly interviewed: these were the parents of Patricia May (GP7), Angela, (GP5), Maria (GP5), Cristal (GP 5) and Damb (GP3)] 345 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX E -1 IMMIGRATION INFORMATION [Includes all students involved in study (those surveyed 1/2000 and those in Focus Group Interviews 6/2000) N = 138*] Students bom in other countries: N = 18 (13%) Mexico = 10 El Salvador = 2 Korea = 3 Guatemala = 1 Iran = 1 China = 1 Students with parents bom in other countries: N = 49 (36%) Central America = 1 El Salvador/Mexico = 2 Mexico = 24 Korea = 1 Philippines = 2 Guatemala/China = 1 Iran = 4 China = 2 Iran/Italy = 1 Africa (Eritrea) = 1 Honduras/Lebanon = 1 El Salvador = 2 Guatemala = 2 Philippines/China = 1 England = 1 Honduras = 1 Belize/Jamaica = 1 China/Japan = 1 All countries represented in student profiles of ethnic/national origin: N=15 Mexico Philippines Japan Honduras Belize El Salvador Guatemala Iran Lebanon Jamaica Korea China Africa (Eritrea) England Italy *[NOTE: six additional students who participated in focus group but did not answer the survey were included] 346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX E - 2 FOCUS GROUP IMMIGRATION INFORMATION [Focus Group Interviews: N = 50, 15 groups] Students bom in other countries: N = 8 (16%) El Salvador = 1 Mexico = 5 China = 1 Iran = 1 Students with parents bom in other countries: N = 32 (64%) El Salvador = 2 England = 1 Belize/Jamaica = 1 Honduras/Lebanon = 1 Iran/Italy = 1 Mexico/El Salvador = 1 Mexico =17 Africa (Eritrea) = 1 Honduras = 1 China/Japan = 1 China/Philippines = 1 Guatemala = 2 Iran = 2 Countries Represented: N=14 El Salvador Mexico Lebanon Iran Honduras Guatemala Belize Africa (Eritrea) China Philippines England Jamaica Italy Japan 347 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX F-l RACE AND ETHNICITY CLARIFICATION [The following reflects the collection of students’ responses in terms of race/ethnicity and nationality. These responses follow the categorical abbreviations I have selected to encompass the variety of responses.] L = (Latin! Latino/Latina Hispanic Mexican Spanish Guatemalan Mexican “Brown Power” El Salvadoran Latin American Honduran B = (Black) Black African American African/Eritrean Malo A = (Asian! Asian Filipino/Filipina ME = (Middle Eastern) Persian W= (White) White MR = (Mixed Race/Ethnicitv! African American & Cherokee Black, White, Indian Many things African & White Chinese & Japanese Honduran & Lebanese NRS = (No Race Specified! Chinese Korean Persian Jewish Caucasian Guatemalan & Chinese Southern & Californian Indian & African American African & American Indian Persian & Italian Spanish & Jewish South Korean Iranian English (Anglo-European) Mexican, Black, Indian, White A lot of different things Hispanic & Italian Black & Indian Jamaican & Belizean Filipino & Chinese 348 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX F-2 KEY CHARACTERISTICS: STUDENTS WHO FILLED OUT SURVEY (1/2000) (GENDER & RACE/ETHNICITY) January 2000: Administered questionnaire at school site Total # students who filled out questionnaire: N = 132 Females: N = 75 (57%) Males: N = 57 (43%) 7th graders: females: males: N = 6 8 (52%) N = 41 (31%) N = 27 (20%) 8th graders: N = 64 (48%) females: N = 34 (26%) males: N = 30 (23%) L (Latino/Hispanic) N = 64 (48%) female: N = 43 (33%) male: N = 21 (16%) B (Black/African American) N = 20 (15%) female: N = 12 (9%) male: N = 8 (6 %) W (White/Anglo/Caucasian) N = 3 (2%) female: N = 1 (.7%) male: N = 2 (1.3%) A (Asian) N = 9 (7%) female: N = 4 (3%) male: N = 5 (4%) ME (Middle Eastern) N = 4 (3%) female: N = 2 (1.5%) male: N = 2 (1.5%) MR (Mixed race/ethnicity) N=17 (13%) female: N = 10 (8 %) male: N = 7 (5%) NRS (Norace/ethnicity specified) N=15 (11%) female: N = 3 (2%) male: N=12(9%) 349 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX F-3 KEY CHARACTERISTICS: STUDENTS WHO WERE PART OF FOCUS GROUPS MAY/JUNE 2000 (GENDER & RACE/ETHNICITY) Students participating in Focus Groups: N = 50 ( 6 students did not fill out survey from Jan. 2000) Females: N = 29 (58%) Males: N = 21 (42%) 7th graders: N = 40 (80%) 8* graders: N = 10 (20%) Females: N = 23 (46%) Females: N = 6 (12%) Males: N=17 (34%) Males: N = 4 (8 %) Latino Students: N = 32 (64%) female = 21 male = 1 1 Black students: N = 6 (12%) female = 4 male = 2 White students: N = 1 (2%) female = 0 male = 1 Asian students: N = 2 (4%) female = 1 male = 1 Middle Eastern Students: N = 3 (6 %) female = 2 male = 1 Mixed race/ethnicity students: N = 4 (8 %) No race/ethnicity specified students: N = 2 (4%) male = 3 male = 2 female = 1 female = 0 350 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX G -1 CLASS AND SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS Among all who participated in this project (survey and focus groups) N=138, there were 64 students (46%) in the Low category; 35 (25%) in the Low/Middle category; 29 (21%) in the Middle category; 5 (4%) in the Middle/High category; and 5 (4%) in the High category. Among students who answered survey in January 2000 (N=132), there were 62 (47%) in the Low category; 33 (25%) in the Low/Middle category; 28 (21%) in the Middle category; 4 (3%) in the Middle/High category; and 5 (4%) in the High category. Class and race/ethnicitv: Low L = 46 (35%) B = 4 (3%) A = 2 (2%) ME = — W = — MR = 5 (4%) NRS = 5 (4%) Low/Middle L = 12 fo°/. B = 8 A = 4i ME = — W = — MR = 4 (3%) NRS = 5 (4%) Middle L = 6 (5%) B = 6 (5%) A = 2 (2%) ME = 1 (.75%) W= 2(2%) MR = 6 (5%) NRS = 5 (4%) Middle/High L = — B = 2 (2%) A = — ME = — W= 1 (.75%) MR= 1 (.75%) NRS = — High L = — B = — A = 1 (.75%) ME = 3 (2%) W = — MR= 1 (.75%) NRS = — Class and gender: Low F = 40 (30%) M = 22 (17%) Low/Middle F= 17(13%) M= 16(12%) Middle F= 15(11%) M = 1 3 (10%) Middle/High F = 1 (.75%) M = 3 (2%) High F = 2 M = 3 (2%) 351 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX G -2 CLASS AND SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS [Focus Group Participants Only] Approximately 33 (6 6 %) students were in the Low categoiy, 4 (8%) were in the Low/Middle category; 7 (14%) were in the Middle category; 3(6% were in the Middle/High categoiy; and 3 (6 %) were in the High category. Representation of class and race/ethnicity: Low Low/Middle L = 28 (56%) L = 1 (2%) B = 3 A = — A = — W = — W = 1 ME = — ME = — MR = 1 (2%) MR =1(2%) NRS = 1 (2%) NRS = — Middle L = 3 (6%) 50/ A = 1 w = — ME = 1 (2%) MR = — NRS = 1 (2%) Middle/High High L = — L = — B = 1 (2%) B = — A = 1 (2%) A = — W = — W = — ME = — ME = 2 (4%) MR =1(2%) MR =1(2%) NRS = — NRS = — 352 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX G - 3 CLASS STATUS VIA PARENTS’ OCCUPATIONS ONLY [survey and focus groups] classification categories: status of professions (does not include education, other assets.) Upper Middle Status: engineer, stock broker, architects lawyer, business owner/CEO Middle Status: real estate agent, teacher, office professional, pastor, own stores/small business, nurse, sales manager Lower Middle Status: construction work, mechanic, retail sales - clothing, electronics, paramedic, beautician, secretarial/clerical, taxi driver, massage therapist,, restaurant waiter, hotel customer service Lower Status: gardener, factory worker, baby sitter, house cleaner/domestic worker, maintenance worker, seamstress, cook, driver (deliveiy/messenger), fast food worker According to those students who answered the survey in January 2000(N=132), information pertaining to their parents’ occupational status is as follows: Students with parents of Upper middle status occupations: 8 (6 %) Students with parents of Middle status occupations: 25 (19%) Students with parents of Lower Middle status occupations: 31 (23%) Students with parents of Lower status occupations: 46 (35%) Students who did not provide information on parents’ occupations: 22 (17%) According to those students who were part of focus group interviews (N=50) during Spring 2000 information pertaining to their parents’ occupational status is as follows: Students with parents of Upper middle status occupations: 4 (8%) Students with parents of Middle status occupations: 6 (12%) Students with parents of Lower Middle status occupations: 9(18%) Students with parents of Lower status occupations: 28 (56%) Students who did not provide information on parents’ occupations: 3 (6 %) 353 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX H SLANG VOCABULARY OF MEFFERIN STUDENTS Positive Expressions: cool tight da/the bomb solid dope the fly way chido (Spanish) Negative Expressions: dorky dumb chunty (Spanish) - for girls, this referred to tacky clothing style and for guys it referred to new immigrants from Mexico trying to fit in. FOB - literally ‘fresh of the boat’; indicates new immigrant status and lack of American acculturation Evaluative Comparisons: Retarded vs. Stupid: Retarded indicates (dorky or dumb elements); Stupid indicates (witty, or humorous elements) Drumsticks (or chicken legs) vs. Burrito Legs: referred often to the evaluative measures boys used of girls weight. Drumsticks indicated an overly thin girl, whereas burrito legs indicated one who was fat. Common Expressions: kick it: to hang out (with friends) husslang: husling, to make money by selling things (usually on the street) Group Identifications of Mefferin Youth: skaters gangs/gangsters (Crips, Bloods, Sawtelles, Playboys) rappers over achievers wierdos drama queens wrestlers normal people Grade Identifications of Mefferin Youth: scrubs - 6 th graders, and sometimes 7th graders Kings and Queens - 8th graders toilet cleaners - 7th graders (boys) Janitors - 8th graders (boys) 354 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX I MEFFERIN SCHOOL STANDARDS OF APPEARANCE UNIFORM REQUIREMENTS All students are expected to wear the Approved school uniform which meets the Dress Code standards to school each day. PANTS AND SHORTS 1. Must be Navy blue. 2. Must be uniform style twill or corduroy. 3. No jeans, sweatpants, or nylon pants. 4. Must fit properly; NO OVERSIZED PANTS. SKIRTS AND SKORTS 1. Must be Navy blue or school approved plaid. 2. Must meet length requirement. SHIRTS 1. Must be white polo with or without school logo. 2. May have long or short sleeves. 3. Cannot be oversized. 4. MUST BE TUCKED IN JACKETS/COATS/SWEATERS/SWEATSHIRTS 1. Must be blue or black only. 2. Can only have Emerson logo. 3. Cannot be oversized. SHOES 1. Must have closed toes. 2. No slippers, sandals, open toes, backless. DRESS CODE In order to provide a positive learning environment at Mefferin Middle School, all students are expected to dress for success. Our standard is that students are to dress as if they are coming to work. Learning is the students’ job and our business is education. In addition, we want to provide for students’ safety. Parents and faculty have adopted these clothing standards for all students. PANTS 1. Pants must be worn at the waist and must remain at the waist when the belt is removed. They must be within one inch of the student’s waist size. 2. Pants must be hemmed on inch above the ground and cannot be split at the seams or cut anywhere on the garment. They may not be taken in at the waist or stapled or taped at the bottom. 3. Both pant legs must be down and cannot be extra wide. 4. Pants cannot be oversized. 355 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. SHORTS 1. Shorts must be as long as straight arm length, hemmed at the bottom, and must end above the knee. When wearing shorts, socks cannot be pulled up to the knees. 2. Shorts must be worn at the waist and must remain at the waist when the belt is removed. They must be within one inch of the student’s waist size. 3. Shorts cannot be oversized.. BELTS 1. Belts are not acceptable if they hang more than three inches from the appropriate loop. 2. Belt buckles cannot contain any insignias or initials. SHIRTS 1. Shirts cannot contain any advertisements, caricatures, cartoons, images, team or school logos (other than the Emerson logo or other logo sanctioned by the school). 2. Shirts cannot be oversized. 3. Tank tops, sports jerseys, see-through tops, halter tops, or tops which expose the bare midriff or are low cut are not permitted. 4. All shirts must be tucked in. SKIRTS AND DRESSES 1. Skirts and dresses must be of reasonable length. 2. Dress tops must adhere to the shirt requirement. HATS, CAPS, AND HAIR 1. Hats and caps are not be worn by either boys or girls. 2. No gang associated hair styles of any kind. 3. No hair rollers, scarves, hairnets, or bandannas. EARRINGS 1. Young men cannot wear earrings. SHOES 1. Shoes must be worn at all times. 2. Shoes must be closed toed with no open toed or backless styles allowed. 3. No slippers or sandals are permitted. MISCELLANEOUS 1. Any clothing which depicts in any form profanity, violence, drugs, alcohol, weapons, vandalism, tobacco, a sexual act, or is offensive to any gender, race or ethnic group is unacceptable and prohibited. 2. Any clothing or accessories which are associated with gangs are prohibited. 3. Sunglasses are not permitted unless they are prescription lenses. 4. Any clothing which causes a distraction or interferes with participation in school is prohibited. 5. Any clothing or article which creates a hazard to the health or safety of others is prohibited. THE ADMINISTRATION RESERVES THE RIGHT, IF NECESSARY, TO ADD OTHER ITEMS TO THIS LIST OF PROHIBITED ITEMS, ESPECIALLY ANY AND ALL ITEMS WHICH BECOME ASSOCIATED WITH GANG MEMBERSHIP AND/OR AFFECT THE SAFETY AND/OR SECURITY OF OTHERS. 356 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX J J-l Favorite Television Shows: GIRLS fN=751 CATEGORY FREQ BOYS (N=571 CATEGORY FRE( Sister, Sister Comedy 24 WWF Smack Down! Sports 36 The Simpsons Comedy 24 The Simpsons Comedy 22 Spanish (telenovelas) Ethnic Enclave 17 Fresh Prince of Bel Air Comedy 7 The Wayans Brothers Comedy 13 South Park Comedy 5 Popular Drama 12 Pokemon Fantasy 4 Jenny Jones, Ricki Lake Talk/game 11 Dragon Ball Z Fantasy 4 Fresh Prince of Bel Air Comedy 9 Who wants...Millionaire? Talk/game 4 Buffy, Vampire Slayer Drama 9 Spanish (Que Buena TV) Ethnic 3 Dawson’s Creek Drama 8 Roswell Drama 2 Moesha Comedy 7 J-2 Favorite Music (performers): GIRLS IN=75I CATEGORY FREQ BOYS IN=571 CATEGORY FRE( Backstreet Boys PopR/B 18 DMX HipHop/Rap 13 Spanish music Ethnic Enclave 14 Dr. Dre HipHop/Rap 11 Dr. Dre HipHop/Rap 12 Snoop Dogg HipHop/Rap 9 Destiny’s Child PopR/B 10 Spanish Music Ethnic Enclave 9 ‘N Sync PopR/B 9 Juvenile HipHop/Rap 8 Christina Aguilera PopR/B 9 Tupac Shakur HipHop/Rap 7 Eminem HipHop/Rap 8 Jay-Z HipHop/Rap 5 Mariah Carey PopR/B 7 Eminem HipHop/Rap 5 DMX HipHop/Rap 5 Cash Money HipHop/Rap 4 Juvenile HipHop/Rap 5 Limp Bizkit Rock 3 Blink 182 Rock 5 Korn Rock 3 J-3 Favorite Radio Stations: GIRLS_______________________ FREQ POWR106FM 54 KiisFM 102.7 43 92.3 FM The Beat 31 Spanish [97.5; 105.1; 107.1 FM] 14 KROQ 106.7 FM 9 BOYS__________________________FREQ POWR106FM 41 92.3 FM The Beat 36 Spanish [La Que Buena 105.1 FM] 8 Kiis FM 102.7 7 KROQ 106.7 FM 3 357 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. J-4 Favorite Magazines: GIRLS (N=751 CATEGORY FREQ BOYS (IN =571 CATEGORY FRE( Teen Fashion/Beauty 26 The Source HipHop Culture 10 Seventeen Fashion/Beauty 20 WWF Magazine Sports 9 People/Teen People Entertainment 19 Game Pro Video Gaming 7 Young & Modem (Y/M) Fashion/Beauty 11 Sports Illustrated Sports 7 Vibe HipHop Culture 7 Vibe HipHop Culture 6 The Source HipHop Culture 4 Eastbay HipHop Culture 5 Tips & Tricks Video Gaming 5 Expert Gamer Video Gaming 4 XXL HipHop Culture 3 J-5 Favorite Movies: GIRLS (T V =751 CATEGORY FREQ BOYS <IV =571 CATEGORY FRE( Titanic Romantic Drama 17 Friday (& sequels) Horror/Thriller 15 Friday (& sequels) Horror/Thriller 15 Austin Powers (& sequel) Comedy 8 The Matrix Action/Adventure 10 Any Given Sunday Action/ Adv. 6 Scream (& sequels) Horror/Thriller 8 The Matrix Action/Adv. 5 Austin Powers Comedy 6 Deep Blue Sea Action/Adv. 5 Chucky (& sequels) Horror/Thriller 6 End of Days Action/Adv. 4 Big Daddy Comedy 6 South Park Comedy 3 I know...last summer Horror/Thriller 5 Chucky (& sequels) Horror/Thriller 3 The Mummy Action/Adventure 4 American Pie Comedy 3 Rug Rats Movie Fantasy 3 Scream (& sequels) Horror/Thriller 2 J- 6 Favorite Video Gaines: GIRLS (N=751 CATEGORY FREQ BOYS (N=571 CATEGORY FREQ Mario Brothers Contest/combat 30 Wrestlemania 2000 Sports 11 Grand Tourismo Car Racing 10 NBA Live 2000 Sports 10 Crash Car Racing 8 Tony Hawk Pro Skater Sports 8 Spyro the Dragon Fantasy 5 WWF Attitude Sports 6 Tomb Raider Fantasy 4 NFL2K Sports 5 Pokemon Contest/Combat 5 Mortal Kombat Contest/Combat 3 Residence Evil Fantasy 3 358 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. J-7 Favorite things to do at the mall: GIRLS________________________________FREQ BOYS___________________________ FREQ Shop/buy clothes/shoes 63 Shop/buy clothes/shoes 24 Shop/buy other things[CD’s, jewelry, toys] 20 Shop/buy other things[games, CD’s] 18 Hang out with friends 15 Check out and meet girls 8 Eat 10 Hang out with friends 7 Go to movies 4 Go to movies/arcades 5 Meet boys 3 Eat 3 J- 8 Favorite Stores at the mall: GIRLS_________________FREQ BOYS_________________________FREQ Major Department Stores 31 Major Department Stores 15 Gap 22 Foot Locker/Foot Action 14 Old Navy 16 KB Toys/Toys R Us 10 Forever21 13 Old Navy 5 Foot Locker/Foot Action 12 Gap 4 Hello Kitty/Disney Store 8 Miller’s Outpost 3 Contempo 4 Tommy Hilfiger Store 3 Victoria’s Secret 3 Sam Goody/Wherehouse Records 3 359 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX K TEENAGE RESEARCH UNLIMITED (TRU) CLIENT LIST APPAREL AND FOOTWEAR: Abercrombie and Fitch Bob’s Stores DuPont Gadzooks Jockey Meyer Grace Reebok Tommy Hilfiger FOOD AND BEVERAGES: Armour Swift-Eckrich Dr Pepper/7 Up Goodmark Foods M&M/Mars William Wrigley Jr. Co. Adidas Bootlegger Fila Gap JC Penney Nike Sears Unionbay Anchor Blue Calvin Klein Finish Line IMT Lee Apparel Pacific Sunwear Target Stores Contempo Casuals ABC/lnterbake Foods Amurol Kellogg National Dairy council Quaker Oats Coca-Cola Frito-Lay Kraft Foods Oscar Mayer Tropicana American Eagle Champs Sports Foot Locker JanSport Levi Strauss Ralph Lauren Timberland Wet Seal Dannon Heinz Nabisco Pepsi-Cola ENTERTAINMENT AND LEISURE: Arista Records Midway Games National Basketball Assoc. Sony Music Entertainment Warner Bros. Motion Pictures MEDIA: EF Educational Tours Forefront Records Musicland Natl. Football League Turner Entertainment Warner Music Group Namco Hometek Sega of America Universal Studios World Strides Explorica MGM Nintendo Walt Disney AOL Time Warner Emap Peterson MTV Networks Newspaper Assoc. America Sports Illustrated Wenner Media Cartoon Network IDG Games Media NBC Television Channel One H&S Media Scholastic Next Generation Radio Showtime Network Teen People YM WB Network Youth Stream CosmoGIRL! ESPN Seventeen MH-18 Teen TECHNOLOGY: AT&T Hewlett-Packard Polaroid Verizon Wireless BellSouth Motorola Samsung VoiceWeb Eastman Kodak Nortel Networks US Cellular Ericsson Nokia Sprint 360 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX K cont. HEALTH AND BEAUTY: Avon Estee Lauder Johnson & Johnson Proctor & Gamble Clairol Galderma labs Kimberly Clark SC Johnson Clinique Glaxo Smith Kline Lancaster Cosmetics Universal Products Coty Gilette Neutrogena Revlon ADVERTISING/MARKETING AGENCIES: Arnold Worldwide BSMG Worldwide Cntr for Marketing Intelligence Foote, Cone & Belding Goodby, Silverstein J. Walter Thompson Lowe Lintas & Partners The Gary Group Big Hit Marketing Carlson & Partners Daily and Associates Fitzgerald & Co. G-WhiZ Youth KGA Advertising McCann-Erickson Weiden & Kennedy BBDO Crispin Porter Draft Worldwide Geppetto Group Haworth Media Initiative media TBWA Chiat Day Young & Rubicam Bates DDB Deutsch, Inc. Golin Harris Hakuhodo Leo Burnett Upshot FINANCIAL: Capital One William Blair Credit Suisse First Wildcard Systems Boston Fidelity Mastercard Fidelity Visa SOCIAL MARKETING: American Legacy Foundation CA Anti-Tobacco Campaign Council FL Anti-Tobacco Campaign Kaiser Family Foundation Meyerhoff Teen Initiative Partnership for a Drug Free America Amer. Cancer Society Amer. Medical Assoc. Kidspeace AZ Antii-Tobacco Columbia University Century IL Anti-Tobacco 10 Anti-Tobacco OR Anti-Tobac MA Anti-Tobacco Natl. Safety Council CDC Uhlich Children’s home Nat. Drug control policy WI Sexual Assault Campaign for Tobacco- Education Campaign Free Kids OTHER MARKETING: Aid Assoc, for Lutherans Natl. Assoc, of College Stores Lifetouch National U.S. Dept of Defense Master Lock Jostens 361 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX L NEW LITERACY RESOURCES/ORGANIZATIONS Center for Media Literacy (CML) 4727 Wilshire Blvd. #403 Los Angeles, CA 90010 www.medialit.org/CML/ This non-profit organization was started in 1989 to expands forms of literacy beyond reading and writing to include the messages conveyed through visual images of television, movies, advertising, etc. They provide an educational forum that is an alternative to censoring, boycotting, or “blaming” the media. In addition to special workshops for adults and youth, participation in national conferences on media education, they offer a monthly seminar to educators that introduces the concepts and practices of media literacy. Project Look Sharp 1119 Williams Hall Ithaca College Ithaca, NY 14850-7390 www.ithaca.edu/looksharp/ The goals of Project Look Sharp are to provide teachers with ongoing pre-service and inservice training, working with teachers to'create new or revised teaching materials and pedagogical strategies that incorporate media literacy and enhance classroom practice; and to develop a model for including media literacy in the school curriculum at all grade levels and in all instructional areas. Workshops, minicourses as well as online services and referrals on how to integrate media literacy in the classroom. Specialized techniques are highlighted for every age/grade level from elementary, middle, high school and beyond. The Center for Commercial-Free Public Education 1714 Franklin Street, Suites 100-306 Oakland, CA 94612 www.commercialfree.org/ This national non-profit organization addresses the issue of commercialism in public schools. Since 1993, this organization was started out of an outpouring of resistance to Channel One Television. The center provides support to students, parents, teachers and other concerned citizens organizing across the US to keep their schools commercial-free and community controlled. The center helps the public fight back against commercialism through our many programs including unplug a youth focused program to help students opposing commercialism in their classrooms; Community Assistance Program which provides assistance on a variety of levels including materials, local coalition building and intensive on-site direct assistance. 362 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Children Now 1212 Broadway, 5t h Floor Oakland, CA 94612 www.childrennow.org Children Now is an advocacy organization that has programs that include: media advocacy, the Internet, Children and Media Program, Health Initiative, and Working Families Program. Children Now’s Children and the Media Program works to improve the quality of news and entertainment media both for children and about children’s issues, paying particular attention to media images of race, class and gender. They seek to accomplish their goals through media industiy outreach, independent research and public policy development. Targeting mainly children at risk (those who live in poverty that are in special danger of physical, emotional and educational neglect), yet they also address how children in very economic, social and racial group are growing up with little confidence in American institutions lfom family security, healthcare, education, and media sensationalism. Special Resources for Girls: About-Face P.O. Box 77665 San Francisco, CA 94107 www.about-face.org Since 1995 this 100% volunteer media literacy organization has focused on the impact mass media has on the physical, mental and emotional well being of women and girls. Through practical and activist methods, they challenge culture’s overemphasis on physical appearance - encouraging critical thinking about the media and personal empowerment. They provide education, prevention strategies, resources and referrals through community building. Their website provides resources for educators, parents, and for girls themselves. Interdisciplinary and interactive, one resources that they provide are tools to hold companies/advertisers to a higher standard of accountability - including sample letters, company addresses and online petitions. Girls Incorporated (Girls Inc.) 120 Wall Street New York, NY 10005-3902 www.girlsinc.com Girls Incorporated “is a national nonprofit youth organization dedicated to inspiring all girls to be strong, smart and bold.” For close to 60 years, they have provided educational programs to American girls ages 6-18, particularly those in high-risk, under served areas. Founded originally as Girls Clubs of America, today through an expanding network of sites in over 130 US cities. Majority of Girls Inc. centers are located in low-income areas providing after-school, weekend, and summer activities. Centers in California include, Alameda, Carpinteria, Costa Mesa, Culver City, Richmond, Sacramento, San Leandro, Santa Barbara, and Vista. Major educational programs encompass math and science education, pregnancy and health, drug abuse prevention, violence prevention, sports participation. Also they sustain engaging programs and resources on media literacy, and economic literacy. “She’s on the Money” for example, is one program that provides girls with the skills they need to make decisions about finances and the future. 363 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

Asset Metadata

Creator Cole, Leslie (author)

Core Title Big Kids RTM or Young Adults(TM): Exploring the consumer cultures of Los Angeles youth at the turn of the millennium

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

School Graduate School

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Sociology

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag American studies,OAI-PMH Harvest,Sociology, general

Language English

Advisor Kaplan, Elaine Bell (committee chair), Glassner, Barry (committee member), Sturken, Marita (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c16-276185

Unique identifier UC11339748

Identifier 3094317.pdf (filename),usctheses-c16-276185 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier 3094317.pdf

Dmrecord 276185

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Cole, Leslie

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA