Open this publication in new window or tab >>2017 (English)In: Journal of Mother Studies, no 2Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Today, fashion-interested mothers are active online sharing opinions and information on children’s clothing. As consumers they are involved in a variety of activities, participating in discussions, sharing knowledge with other mothers, and contributing to affect consumer behaviour. By examining conversations in five internet forums for mothers on children’s clothing the aim of this article is to discover various self-presentations of motherhood. As our theoretical framework we use Pierre Bourdieu and Erwin Goffman. Based on 284 posted messages in these internet forums we identified how mothers in their self-presentations position themselves by using different habitus and capital when it comes to children’s participation, gender norms, hierarchy and status. We also found some consumer uncertainty. The self-presentations can be seen both as ways to share experiences of motherhood and mothering, and as expressions of doing motherhood in public sphere. At times children become tools for impression management and mothers’ indirect self-presentations and extended selves. In doing so they use Bourdieu’s different kinds of capital. Children’s fashion is communicated both through writing and by showing photos, whereby the mothers contribute to how style and identity are created, both linguistically and visually. The present study provides a starting point for further research on how mother internet forums affect consumer behaviour and ethical debate about children’s being, becoming and belonging in relation to motherhood and the new media culture.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
USA: , 2017
Keywords
Motherhood, consumption, children's clothes, internet forums
National Category
Humanities and the Arts Social Sciences
Research subject
Teacher Education and Education Work; Textiles and Fashion (General)
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-13390 (URN)
2018-01-102018-01-102025-01-03Bibliographically approved