ABSTRACT
This chapter explains how class and gender are constructed around notions of respectability and caring, and how working class women use the National Lottery as a means of negotiating their working class femininity. It proposes a theoretical framework which expands on the traditional class models, by investigating how working class women claim, develop and shape culture for their own needs. The developed theoretical framework draws primarily from sub-cultural theory. The chapter considers how sub-cultural accounts of leisure can be complemented with Foucauldian notions of space, in order to begin to understand the pleasures afforded by National Lottery participation. As a form of gambling, National Lottery participation can be viewed not only as a form of consumer behaviour itself, but also as a possible opportunity for more consumption through spending any winnings. The Lottery can provide economic capital, which potentially offers prestige and status when it is successfully exchanged for cultural capital.
