ABSTRACT
In this timely and insightful book, award-winning sociologist Murray Milner tries to understand why teenagers behave the way they do. Drawing upon two years of intensive fieldwork in one high school and 300 written interviews about high schools across the country, he argues that consumer culture has greatly impacted the way our youth relate to one another and understand themselves and society. He also suggests that the status systems in high schools are in and of themselves an important contributing factor to the creation and maintenance of consumer capitalism explaining the importance of designer jeans and designer drugs in an effort to be the coolest kid in the class.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |1 pages
Part I: The Puzzle and the Tools
part |1 pages
Part II: Explaining Teens’ Behavior
part |1 pages
Part III: Why Schools Vary
part |1 pages
Part IV: Teen Status Systems and Consumerism