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University of California Press

The Material Child

Coming of Age in Japan and America
by Merry White (Author)
Paperback
Price: $31.95 / £27.00
Publication Date: Sep 1994
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: World
Pages: 288
ISBN: 9780520089402
Trim Size: 6 x 9
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About the Book

As she describes the youth culture of Japan, Merry White draws comparisons with the interests and activities pursued by teenagers in the United States and the contrasting attitudes of adults in Japan and the U.S. towards adolescence. The result is both engrossing and enlightening.

About the Author

Merry White is Associate Professor of Sociology at Boston University and research associate at the Reischauer Institute, Harvard. She is the author of The Japanese Educational Challenge: A Commitment to Children (1987).

Table of Contents

Preface to the Paperback Edition
Glossary
Introduction

1. Rethinking the Life Course
Mixed Messages and Complementary Contradictions in the Creation of Adolescence
2. Youth in Time
Culture, History, and the Idea of the Teen
3. Family Time and Space
4. School in the Life of the Teen
5. The Material Child
Buying and Bonding
6. Friendship
Best Friends and Group Training
7. Sexuality
Illusions and Reality
8. Big Thoughts

Appendix: School Regulations in Japan
Notes
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index
Photographs of teenagers in Kyoto and Osaka by Yara Sellin, 1994