‘No longer, but not yet’: Tweens and the mediating of threshold selves through liminal consumption

Abstract

The pervasiveness of children’s consumer culture and the complex intimacy between young consumers’ identities and the marketplace is not a new thesis. However, this article recognizes the significant dearth of both empirical and theoretical accounts of young adolescents’ specific consumption practices as they attempt to mediate the intricacies of their lived experiences and social contexts. This dearth is first explored by detailing the over-emphasis on developmentalism, socialization theory and the sacred/empowered dichotomy. Subsequently, a metaphorical conceptualization of those who are no longer but concurrently not yet – the liminal – is used as a lens of analysis, and a multi-method research approach of diaries, interviews, collages and shopping trips is undertaken. A theory of liminal consumption is explored as a result, highlighting the tangible light and shade, indeterminacy and yet ambition in which these young adolescents’ consumption practices and social contexts are inextricably intertwined.