Consuming cultural spaces and young people’s sense of belonging  

by Kostas Theodoridis 

Young people live in a world characterised by multiple crises and global emergencies in which a sense of belonging is increasingly difficult to achieve. Younger generations have experienced extreme levels of uncertainty in the context of the Global Financial Crisis and during the Covid-19 crisis. In addition, the digitalisation of young people’s everyday lives and new forms of communication have intensified the complexity that they have to deal with. In this context, the research project LOCUS “sociaL media, yOuth and Consumption of cUltural Spaces” (funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation, Greece) explores the role of cultural spaces in youth experiences and in the ways, young people come to belong to the society in which they live.  

Young woman sitting in a museum reading
credit: pexels | weija ma

Belonging in the consumer society

It is within the consumer society that young people construct their identities in relation to their needs for distinguishing themselves among peers as well as belonging in groups. According to Featherstone (1991), it is the consumer culture that has played a great role in the transition to a way of life in which consumer choices are increasingly fluid and predetermined status groups are less significant. It could be argued that this point is linked with Maffesoli’s (1996) notion of neo-tribes. In this sense, young people’s self-identification consumer-related choices affect their ephemeral but meaningful membership to various groups. However, Bauman’s (1992) position is more critical in relation to neo-tribes as a source of collective belonging. In this way, young people are responsible for themselves as individuals and they have to manage the “sources of the market” accordingly in order to navigate in contemporary societies. From a different perspective, Warde (1994), suggests that group membership affects the selection of lifestyles as well as that belonging comes before identity formation. What is important here is that in their quest for belonging, young people are not only engaged in consuming products but also through the spaces and places of consumption.   

Two young people sitting close to each other in front of an art space
credit: pexels | cottonbro

Space, place and the sense of belonging 

It could be argued that mobility, digitalisation and globalisation have altered significantly the ways young people experience both temporal and spatial changes. Perhaps consumption has gained such importance in the contemporary ways of living in the city, so that young people are somehow engaged in a process of maximising the benefits from their urban experiences as a sense of affirmation. Urban spaces and the opportunities to consume might offer young people a spatial experience that they aspire to engage with. However, the role of consumption could be contested. It might be that spaces of consumption can intensify social divisions and uncover aspects of social exclusion within the city. The satisfactions that consumption provides are a fundamental element of young people’s relationship to spaces and places. This is something that I consider also really important in the context of the LOCUS project. In this work, we try to understand the role of consumption in relation to youth experiences (especially cultural experiences) in the city. In this way, I think it’s crucial to focus on the socio-cultural processes of how young people choose what to engage with and consume. In LOCUS, we are interested in cultural spaces in Greece and the ways young people interact and engage with such sites.  

credit: pexels | cottonbro

Cultural spaces and youth experiences of belonging 

Steven Miles (2021) points out the importance of understanding cultural spaces as crucial socio-economic entities in our contemporary societies as well as the effects of wider alterations around culture; cultural spaces are the contemporary sites in which performances of the experience society unfold. In the context of the research project, we began by focusing on three cultural spaces in Greece: the Onassis Stegi, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center and the Acropolis Museum. Our intention was to understand how young people consume such places, in what ways the feel they belong and how they construct their identities. In this multi-method project, young people during the photo-elicitation interviews expressed their views and feelings about their cultural experiences. It was really interesting that they highlighted how they enjoy being in such places due to the common interests with other people. For our young participants, visiting the specific places made them feel more relaxed, provide them with a safe environment and functioned as a source of inspiration. However, we need to be critical and take into account what Bourdieu and Darbel (1991: 112) argue about cultural sites; cultural spaces “reinforce for some the feeling of belonging and for others the feeling of exclusion”. Young people who possess the necessary cultural and socio-economic capital, through cultural consumption, might be able to benefit socially and culturally. At the same time, we need to question what this means for young people who are socially and culturally excluded and the impact of this lack of sense of belonging in relation to such cultural spaces in their lives.  

Bio 

Kostas Theodoridis is a Postdoctoral Fellow and Principal Investigator of the research project LOCUS in the Department of Communication, Media and Culture at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences. He is also an Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He completed his PhD in the Department of Sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University.  

Funding note

The research project was supported by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (H.F.R.I.) under the “3rd Call for H.F.R.I. Research Projects to support Post-Doctoral Researchers” (Project Number: 7767).

References 

Bauman, Z. (1992). Intimations of Postmodernity. London: Routledge. 

Bourdieu, P. and Darbel, A. (1991). The Love of Art: European Art Museums and their Public. Cambridge: Polity Press. 

Featherstone, M. (1991). Postmodernism and Consumer Culture. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. 

Maffesoli, M. (1996). The Time of Tribes: The Decline of Individualism in Mass Society. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.  

Miles, S. (2021). The Experience Society: Consumer Capitalism Rebooted. London: Pluto Press.  

Warde, A. (1994). Consumption, Identity-Formation and Uncertainty. Sociology, 28(4), 77-898. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038594028004005.  

Religion og tilhørighet

Skrevet av Hildegunn Valen Kleive | Høgskulen i Volda

At religion kunne fungere som lim i samfunnet, altså som noe som skapte fellesskap og tilhørighet, var noe de aller tidligste samfunnsforskerne la merke til.  Likevel dabbet interessen for religion i samfunnsforskningen gradvis ut. Årsakene til det er sammensatt, men en grunn var forestillingen om at religion som fenomen ville forsvinne. Og noe rett fikk de i dette, for i den europeiske konteksten ble religion stadig mindre viktig, både på individnivå og på samfunnsnivå.

Men religion forsvant ikke. I etterdønningene av sekulariseringa fikk religion isteden nye uttrykksformer, religion ble viktig på andre måter og på andre arenaer enn tidligere. Uansett begynte nå religion sin ferd under radaren for mange samfunnsforskere. Noe som har revitalisert interessen for religion i vår tid er økt globalisering og migrasjon, ofte med den sideeffekten at religion er noe «de andre» har.  De som forsker på religion og samfunn i dag studerer fenomenet både i institusjonaliserte settinger, som for eksempel i moskeer og kirker, men også utenfor slike arenaer, som i populærkultur og i folks hverdagsliv. 

credit: pexels | bianca gasparoto

I motsetning til de første pionerne innen sosiologi og antropologi, har man fått øynene opp for at religion like gjerne fungerer polariserende og segregerende som integrerende og fellesskapsbyggende. Når det er sagt, øker interessen igjen for å utforske religionens sammenbindende kapasitet. Dette gjenspeiles i fengende ordspill i religionssosiologisk litteratur der ordene «believing» og «belonging» settes sammen på ulike måter.  Grace Davie begynte med uttrykket believing without belonging. Hun mente at dette var en god beskrivelse av situasjonen i Storbritannia, der man gjerne kunne tro på noe, men uten å koble seg på de store religiøse institusjonene.

Religionssosiologiske kollegaer i Skandinavia syntes derimot at dette ikke var betegnende for skandinaviske forhold. Majoriteten i disse landene var jo medlemmer i de daværende statskirkene, tross sine ganske sekulære oppfatninger om tilværelsen. De foreslo dermed at belonging without believing var en passende beskrivelse av religionens funksjon i Skandinavia. Religionen tilbyr da et fellesskap man kan høre til i, uten at tro eller religiøs praksis er nødvendige inngangsbilletter. Så gjorde religionssosiologen Abby Day en stor kvalitativ undersøkelse i Storbritannia. Det resulterte i en bok hun kalte Believing in Belonging (2011). Der argumenteres det for at tro for mange i dag er en tro på tilhørighet. Day henter fram igjen en del av de aller tidligste sosiologiske forestillingene når tro kobles så tett til hvordan folk hører til hverandre. Hun forteller at det er i de sosiale fellesskapene folk finner mening, glede, moral og tilhørighet, ting som ofte ellers blir tilskrevet «religion». Samlet sett viser disse ordspillene i litteraturen at koblingen mellom religion (believing) og tilhørighet (belonging) skjer på ulike måter ulike steder.

credit: pexels | gabby k

I min egen forskning er jeg opptatt av dynamikker mellom ungdom, religion og tilhørighet.  En av de tingene jeg fant ut i doktorgraden min (om unge hindutamiler på Nordvestlandet) var at mange går glipp av å se hvordan religion er viktig for disse ungdommene.  Religion praktiseres gjerne privat eller i rom ikke-hinduer sjelden befinner seg i. Det er ofte fordi ungdommene har oppfattet at nordmenn generelt ikke har så veldig sansen for synlig og offentlig uttrykt religion. Så for å opprettholde sin tilhørighet til det norske ungdomsmiljøet tones religiøsitet ned. Ungdommene forteller at de nok ikke er mer religiøse enn nordmenn flest, men at det å delta i de religiøse praksisene, som er sammenflettet med tamilsk kultur og språk, skaper en tilhørighet til det tamilske miljøet som er viktig for dem. Så både det å delta i og det å tone ned religiøs praksis bidrar til å skape tilhørighet til grupper som er viktige for disse ungdommene. 

Noe jeg har skrevet om i det siste er buddhistisk konfirmasjon. Dette er et tilbud som har oppstått i Norge fordi mange ungdommer i denne tradisjonen har ønsket seg en buddhistisk versjon av et ritual med stor oppslutning i Norge. Buddhistisk konfirmasjon skaper en etterlengtet tilhørighet for mange ungdommer som har savnet venner som deler en buddhistisk livsoppfatning. Å etablere buddhistisk konfirmasjon handler også om en tilhørighet til det norske samfunnet. For ved å konfirmere seg buddhistisk, er man med på noe tilsvarende som rundt 75% av andre ungdommer på samme alder gjør i Norge.

Akkurat nå forsker jeg også på festen ETTER konfirmasjonen. Denne festen ser ut til å være ganske lik, uavhengig av hva slags livssyn eller religion man konfirmerer seg innenfor. Festen bygger opp om og viser fram konfirmantenes identitet, men det er også mye ved disse festene som styrker og synliggjør tilhørighet til familien. Konfirmasjonsfesten er nærmest en konfirmering av tilhørighet (belonging) til familien, ala Abby Day (2011). Jeg analyserer hvordan denne tilhørigheten uttrykkes gjennom pynting, taler og kakeutveksling. Om du skulle være interessert, så er det bare å følge med, for det kommer snart artikler basert på denne empirien! 

Bilde av et kakebord
Kakebord bildet tatt av Hildegunn Valen Kleive

Jeg er også med i et forskningsprosjekt som heter  FAITHED. Der er vi blant annet er opptatt av trosopplæringa unge katolikker og unge muslimer deltar i. I likhet med konfirmasjonsopplæringa som skjer i regi av Den norske Kirke (Høeg 2017) er sosiale fellesskap og tilhørighet sentrale gevinster for de ungdommene som går på moskeskolen eller til katekesen, I tillegg opparbeider de seg en hel del andre kompetanser ved å delta disse stedene (Ta gjerne en kikk på nettsida til prosjektet  og de publikasjonene vi allerede har gitt ut, en publikasjonsliste som vil bli lengre i løpet av 2025)

For å oppsummere vil jeg si at religion er en interessant og viktig inngangsportal for å forstå mer om ungdom og tilhørighet. Selv har jeg forsket på ungdom, religion og tilhørighet i organisasjoner som templer, kirker og moskeer. Det har jeg gjort vel vitende om at dette absolutt ikke er de eneste stedene religion finnes og uttrykkes og skaper tilhørighet. Forskning viser at religiøsitet like gjerne kommer til uttrykk når folk steller med hagen sin, sitter i pendlerkø eller går tur på fjellet.

Om Hildegunn Valen Kleive

Hildegunn Valen Kleive er førsteamanuensis i religion og livssyn ved Høgskulen i Volda. Hun forsker i skjæringsfeltet mellom religion, ungdom og samfunn. Hun er særlig opptatt av hvordan religion finner uttrykk i folks hverdagsliv og blant ungdommer som har bakgrunn i det som i Norge er minoritetsreligioner. Mye av undervisningen hennes skjer i ulike lærerutdanninger, dermed er også forholdet religion, skole og samfunn noe Hildegunn engasjerer seg i.

Litteratur

Day, A.(2011) Believing i belonging: Belief and social identity in the modern world. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

FAITHEDpublikasjoner av ulikt slag

Høeg, Ida Marie. «Engasjert ungdom? Konfirmanter i Den norsk kirkes bidrag til sivilsamfunnet.» Religion og ungdom, redigert av Ida Marie Høeg, 157-178. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 2017

Kleive, H. V. (2019). Not that religious. A study of young Tamil Religiosity in North – Western         Norway . Phd thesis.

Kleive, H. V., Horsfjord, V. (2023). Islamskoler i Norge: Om virkelighet og idealer. Prismet; Volum 74.(4) s. 293-311

Kleive, H, V. (2022) Buddhistiske konfirmanter. Kirke og Kultur, Volum 127 (3), s. 245-261

Kleive, H, V. (2022). Buddhistisk konfirmasjon. I: Møter og mangfold: Religion og kultur i historie, samtid og skole. Cappelen Damm Akademisk 2022 ISBN 978-82-02-75389-4. s. 109-128

“I don’t say I am Norwegian”: Belonging and ethnic/racial categories

by Mari Rysst

In this blog I will address the phenomenon of social classification, here related to experience-near ethnic and racial categories among 12-year-old children in a suburb in eastern Oslo. This suburb has a majority population of families from non-western countries. In Norway as a whole, people from non-western countries are often categorized as foreigners both by themselves and others, as opposed to ethnic Norwegians, or just Norwegians. One boy expressed this well: “I don’t say I am Norwegian, mostly (name of parents’ country of origin). I don’t have any Norwegian blood in me, so I don’t understand why you (ethnic Norwegians) say I am “Norwegian”. I have a Norwegian passport, but”…….He looked upon himself as a foreigner like all the other children of non-western origin. The category foreigner includes only people from various non-western countries with different shades of coloured skin, and the people included in the category appear to experience belonging through this classification. This might be due to previous experiences with racism leading to their “othering” , which they appropriated and made a form of in their identity construction

Boys during soccer practice
credit: pexels | aleksandar069

In a study from 2023, in and around a football club in that suburb, I interviewed 14 boys and five girls, mostly about their football activity and other leisure activities. I also wanted to know about peer culture and friendship networks, and if racism and discrimination were existent issues.  I entered these themes by asking the question: “Which words do you use when you are quarreling or fighting?” The answer from a conversation with three boys, two of them having African origin and the third Asian, brought forth the dynamic character of the social construction of ethnic/racial categories, which I will illustrate below.

Kids playing with a football
credit: pexels | rdne

The boys told me that when quarreling and fighting, racist words were often used, such as the n-word or blackie (svarting), which indicates a possible hierarchy between the countries of origin. Earlier research shows that ranking in hierarchies put light skin on top, that is, the lighter the skin the better, which is also referred to as ‘colourism’ or ‘shadeism’. We were talking about which words and utterances they felt most humiliating when arguing and fighting, and it was motherfucker and the n-word which came out as the worst. However, it came forth that it was contextual whether the n-word was experienced as racist or not. They explained that if two havingorigin from African countries were close friends, they could call each other “negro” without it being racist, then it was only another way of saying “mate”, “friend”. But if a “white” person called them negro, the meaning being black slave, that was really racist. In this area people of Pakistani origin were in majority among the ‘foreigners’, and interestingly, the boys I interviewed defined Pakistanis as “white”:

Boy: Shall I tell you what we understand by ‘white’ person? It is not such ‘Norwegian person’, it is not them we understand here as ‘white’, but all those with white skin colour: Iraqis, Egyptians, Moroccans, Pakistani, all such persons who are white, they haven’t got the right to use the n-word.

Mari: But Pakistanis, are they “white” then?

Boy: They do not have the right (to use the n-word). They are not black.

Boys looking at something
credit: pexels | cottonbro

So, what he is saying, is first, that only people racialized as black, that is mostly those having origin from African countries (but not North African) are justified to use the n-word:

Because we were harassed about it and we can use it because it is something (slavery) that has happened to us, but if you say it, it is a word that denotes nothing that has happened to you, so if you for instance call me negro, it means “black slave”, but if I say this to Moa (the other black boy in the interview), it means “friend”, “mate” only.

In other words, the n-word is understood to belong to people racialized as black, and if all others use it on them, the word is understood as racist. And secondly, what he is implying is that their understanding of white is contextual, or has changed, as those they define as white in this context also are understood as brown in other contexts, and definitely five-ten years ago. The phenomenon may point to a change in categorizations, so that we are in the process of having two categories, white and black, white being more inclusive than before. So, if white becomes more inclusive, the category foreigner may become narrower, to include only people with very dark skin. In other words, the utterance above about who is white suggests that the categories of Norwegian and foreigner also may change with changing contexts. Most interestingly, the utterance is an utmost example of how racial categories are socially constructed and suggests that changes may be motivated by the wish to belong in changing or new social contexts.

«Det er Nike som er greia»: Om merkeklær og nesten merkeklær

by Mari Rysst

I 2022 skrev jeg et innlegg på denne bloggen med
tittel «Viktigheten av tingens skjulte betydning», der jeg, i lys av Allison
Pughs begrep ‘economy of dignity’, konkluderte med at  «de unge selv vet hva ting «betyr», hva det
er viktig å ha og ikke ha for å oppleve tilhørighet. Vi voksne må forstå
viktigheten av dette, selv om vi kan synes det både er trist og teit. Ting har
koder, «skjulte» betydninger, og det er dem vi som forskere kan prøve å
avdekke.»

Picture of a child playing soccer
credit: pexels | kampus

I dette innlegget skal jeg avdekke noe som kom fram i en ny studie blant 13-årige gutter og jenter rundt en fotball klubb på et sted i Oslo øst. Jeg snakket med barna om fotballutstyr og klær, både på og utenfor banen. Deres kompetanse på hva «ting betyr» viste seg i en fascinerende kompetanse på skillet mellom «ekte» og «fake» merkeklær. Utbredelsen av denne kompetansen har ikke vært synlig i tidligere feltarbeid, for eksempel i 2010 på samme sted, noe som får meg til å tro at eksistensen av fake merkeklær har økt de siste ti år, selv om merkeklær også da hadde høy status. Merkeklær får du bare i spesialbutikker, ikke i kjeder som H&M, Cubus eller Lindex.

Picture boys in football wear and with bags
credit: pexels | omar ramadan

Ifølge Akkan har stort salg og stor fortjeneste på visse produkter og merker ført til at piratkopiering av merkeklær har blitt vanlig, særlig i Asia. I flere land har ulovlig kopiering av andres design ført til en betydelig svart økonomi utenfor offentlig kontroll, og som knyttes til både trafficking og narkotikasalg. Det betyr at «fake» merker på klær i Norge er importert fra utlandet, fordi det er forbudt å produsere og selge dem i Norge (Akkan, 2024).  Dette gjør det interessant at fake merkeklær virker så utbredt blant unge i Oslo øst fordi det betyr at disse klærne er kjøpt utenlands via nett eller på reiser. En god illustrasjon på en gutts opptatthet av merkeklær ble synlig da han kom for å se på en fotballkamp. Han hadde merkeklær fra topp til tå: fra lua, via en genser, til en baggy shorts til sokker og sandaler. Og en liten Gucci veske på skrå over skulderen, slik guttene på bildet viser. Jeg kunne selvsagt ikke se om denne gutten hadde ekte eller fake merker, jeg er ikke kompetent. Men den følgende samtalen viser tre andre gutters kompetanse på feltet:

Mari: Er det merkeklær som er de kuleste klærne?
Mo: Hm, det er dem folk liker mest….så for eksempel Adidas, Nike, Jordans, Hugo Boss, Luis Vuitton, Puma, de topp tre er Nike, Adidas og Puma. Men akkurat for tiden er det som ungdommer liker mest Nike, Adidas og Jordans.
Hamza: Vuitton også, og Adidas, jeg elsker Adidas.
Bilal: Og mange har på seg Gucci bagger og chap stars (?) og sånn…..og Moncler.. men det er ikke så vanlig for det er så dyrt.
Mo: Ja, det er så dyrt…. Det er ikke så mange som kjøper 2000 – 3000 kroners skjorter og bukser liksom….det er litt drøyt….Det som er billigst og finest, det er H&M og Cubus det….
Mari: Ja, riktig. Og så er det sånne fake merker….
Mo: Sånn som for eksempel H & M og Cubus,…
Mari: Men de er ikke fake…..
Mo: Nei, de er ikke fake men de er ikke ekte….
Hamza: Man blir mobba hvis…
Mari: Blir mobba hvis man går med det?
Hamza: Folk ler av deg og sånn.
Mo: For eksempel denne her, det skulle være Adidas med to striper, men det skal være tre…
Hamza: Ha ha, du har den også, du har den i blå….
Mo: Det betyr ikke at den er fake, den er bare laget på en annen måte….
Hamza: Det er bare en kopi av Adidas..
Mari: Jeg har snakket med flere og det er ganske kult med fake merkeklær også, er det ikke det?
Mo: Hvis ingen ser det, liksom, for eksempel hvis det er Jordans, mesteparten er Jordans, det er ‘reps’ og sånne ting….det er kopiering der det er gjort noen justeringer, som har gjort at de har blitt billigere. Man kan se om det er fake, men hvis man ikke ser det, er de bare sånne normale kule som ingen bryr seg om. Det er sånn med Jordans sko for eksempel, hvis det er stor forskjell, hvis det ‘Jump man’ som står opp ned, da er det stor forskjell og folk vil mobbe deg og plage deg hele livet ditt og du vil angre på at du kjøpte dem. Men hvis det bare er små forskjell, da vil ingen tenke på det.
Hamza: Og fake klær har dårlig kvalitet…..
Mo: Så de kan bli ødelagt kjappere…
Mari: Men fake klær har dårligere kvalitet, sier du. Men er det bedre å ha fake merkeklær enn å kjøpe klær på H &M eller Cubus?
Hamza: Ja, jeg vil heller ha fake merkeklær…

Det som kommer fram her, er altså en kompetanse i merker på klær og hva som er ekte og ikke-ekte, noe som bidrar til fellesskap og tilhørighet i jevnaldergruppen. Betydningen av å ha de riktige klærne og sko vises også, i det at dersom det oppdages at noen har «feil» sko eller klær, «folk vil mobbe deg og plage deg hele livet ditt og du vil angre på at du kjøpte dem. Men hvis det bare er små forskjell, da vil ingen tenke på det», slik Mo uttalte over.

Girl in football wear playing football
creidt: pexels | pixabay

Jentene jeg snakket med sa de var opptatt av klær, at Nike var et kult merke, «det er Nike som er greia», og en hadde Nike genser på under intervjuet. De sa de var opptatt av merkeklær, «for det er mange som har på merkeklær og hvis man ikke har på det så er man ikke kul». En jente i samme intervju fortsetter:

Lisa: En annen venn av oss, hun hadde sånn derre nye sko, og alle guttene kom for å se om de var ekte eller ikke, og hun begynte å føle seg ukomfortabel…
Mari: Føler dere et press på å ha riktig sko, da eller?
To i munnen på hverandre: Jeg bryr meg ikke så mye…..
Lisa: Ikke jeg heller, men det er irriterende når de sier det er fake, fake, fake…..

Pair of sneakers
credit: pexels | melvin buezo

For en godt voksen forskers blikk, er det nærmest umulig å skille ekte fra fake merkeklær, og i hvert fall ikke nyansene med «reps» og perfekt kopiering.  Det kommer godt fram at det å ha «riktige» klær er viktig for opplevelse av inkludering, og at både merkeklær og kompetanse om disse og fake klær, kan sies å være inkludert i barnas economy of dignity på dette stedet.

Spørsmålet jeg stiller meg etter disse intervjuene, er om unge på Oslo vest deler denne kompetansen om ekte, reps og fake merkeklær? Kanskje neste innlegg i denne bloggen handler om det.

Referanse:

Akkan, I.B. (2024). Slik avslører Fretex falske merkeklær. https://www.nrk.no/norge/fretex_-metoder-for-a-identifisere-og-handtere-falske-merkevarer-1.16961740

Belong sluttseminar: Vanessa May og Allison Pugh kommer

Vanessa May og Allison Pugh kommer på Belongs sluttseminar

Datoen for Belongs sluttseminar er 6. juni 2025. Så langt har de internasjonalt anerkjente tilhørighetsforskerne Vanessa May og Allison Pugh takket ja til å foredra.

I tillegg vil vi presentere smakebiter fra en bok (antologi) med den foreløpige tittelen «Barns tilhørighet blant mennesker og ting». Boken er redigert av Anita Borch og Ola Røed Bilgrei og utgis på Cappelen Damm.

Hold av dagen! Mer informasjon om sted og innhold kommer senere.

Save the date 6th of June Belong seminar Oslo

Save the date: Belong seminar with Vanessa May and Allison Pugh 6th June 2025

On the 6th of June 2025, the Belong project will have its final seminar. The internationally well-known researchers on belonging Vanessa May and Allison Pugh will be speakers.

During the seminar, you will get a chance to hear pieces from the upcoming Norwegian-edited book on children’s belonging among people and things which is edited by Anita Borch og Ola Røed Bilgrei and will be published by Cappelen Damm.

Belonging and Group Cohesion: The Power of Emplacement and Multisensory Experiences in Organized Youth Sports in Norway

by Marianna Melenteva 

How can sports change lives of children and youth? One could easily assume that the question is somewhat elementary. However, in Norway, sports aren’t just about competition or entertainment. While politics play sports into a social platform addressing inequality and promoting social inclusion, this does not tell us all that much about how children and youth experience sports as an arena where they can join in the interpretation of belonging and exclusion (Broch, 2023). To get at this process, I lean on recent studies that focus how sports can be experienced as transformative. Thie transformative potential I am studying, is one that enhances bonds between athletes and that, in its turn, fosters a sense of belonging that can be carried into non-sporting contexts.

Belonging as a social and sensual experience

On this blog, Alison J. Pugh (2023) presents the view that belonging, while being an individual emotional condition, is shaped by powerful societal forces. Pugh refers to the reciprocal process of acknowledging each other as ‘connective labor’. She urges schools, neighborhoods, and other institutions to foster ‘connective cultures’. This idea resonates with Vanessa May’s (2023) view in this blog that belonging is a deeply social experience. For it to be effective, it must be acknowledged by others in the group. Further, May discusses how belonging is not just about being connected to different individuals, but also to places and things. Belonging has many layers to it. She talks among other things about ‘material belonging’, which is about feeling connected to the physical aspects of our surroundings, like the landscapes we live in, the objects we use, or even tastes and smells. According to May, belonging goes beyond just a mental state; it’s something we experience through our senses and is, among other aspects, an embodied experience. My own studies on children and youth sports echo this idea. I’ve found that creating a sense of belonging by sharing and sensuously experiencing a place can enhance group cohesion (Melenteva, forthcoming, 2024).

Sensing emplacement and cohesion

For a cultural sociologist, interested in how culture shapes society and in meaning-making interactions between people within cultures, belonging is a bonding power, a prerequisite of solidarity and incorporation, also in sports cultures. Besides, as a sensory ethnographer, I seek to comprehend personal embodied and emplaced experiences of belonging in young athletes. In addressing this issue, I treat emplacement in the Geertzian (1973) manner making it discernable through how the sense of belonging is represented in young athletes’ actions and other material forms. This includes observing their sensory experiences and juxtaposing them with my own perceptions of the same environment. In this way, I “imaginatively empathize” with the actions and sensory experiences of the emplaced participants (Pink, 2011b, 270).

My present research demonstrates that being emplaced and sharing sensory experiences, young athletes may sense group cohesion and experience belonging via senses and as an embodied experience (cf. May, 2023). For instance, consider young athletes on a basketball court or in a swimming pool. As they experience the rhythmic (or non-rhythmic) bouncing of the ball on the basketball court, or the distinctive, pervasive warmth of chlorine-filled swimming pool waters, they may start to develop a deeper sense of connection (cf. May’s ‘connective labour’). This isn’t just a physical connection to the place, but also an emotional bond with their peers. The repetitive thud of the basketball or the unique warmth of the pool becomes synonymous with a sense of belonging, group unity, and a shared vibrancy. It’s in these sensory experiences that they find comfort, expressing a profound ease in the places they inhabit.

Picture of young people at swimming practice
credit: Unsplash

Taking May’s understanding of belonging as a point of departure, I adjust it to my present research by defining it as a deeply personal experience and a sense of ease with oneself and with the environment of the place one resides. 

My research indicates that the sense of belonging among young athletes is not static but evolves and fluctuates as they participate in organized sports. In some cases, this fluctuation may even lead to withdrawal. These athletes often begin as inexperienced novices attending drop-in training sessions. Over time, they start to establish a sense of belonging that’s intricately linked to the sensory experience of the shared performance space and the resulting group cohesion. I propose that these young athletes experience personal transformation that is both embodied and emotional, fostered through multisensory experiences of inclusion (or exclusion) within their group.

Multisensory experiences of belonging

Sarah Pink (2009) observes that understanding our interactions with others requires an awareness of the sensory experiences that define these encounters. This concept implies that in any social interaction, such as those between research participants or between a researcher and participants, knowledge is shared through sensory, embodied, and emplaced experiences.

However, Pink makes it clear that we cannot assume that knowledge, when shared at the same event by participants and a researcher, is perceived or understood in the same way. Consider, for instance, watching a basketball practice where children are in constant motion, their activity creating a persistent sound of balls rebounding off the floor. This scenario conjured an image of a bee-hive in my mind. However, for those participating in the training, it felt more akin to being part of an ant colony. Indeed, another individual might have perceived themselves as a single particle within a cloud. Pink further explains that by becoming aware of the sensory and physical aspects of other people’s experiences, we cannot directly access or share their personal memories, collective experiences, or imaginations.

In this context, a reflective researcher may rely on their own sensory imagination, rather than just cognitive understanding. According to Pink, by aligning our bodily sensations, rhythms, tastes, and perspectives with those of the participants, we begin to create spaces that are similar to theirs, leading us to feel that we are similarly situated.

By combining Pink’s sensory ethnographic method (Pink, 2009, 2011) with cultural sociological research on sports, I underscore the power of emplacement and shared sensory experiences in fostering group cohesion and promoting collective performance in children and youth sports (Melenteva, 2024, forthcoming). As stated by one of the youthful participants in the project, «When I jut pass through the door of the swimming pool, the mere scent of chlorine instantly triggers a desire within me to join my group in the water and have a proper fun.» Through ethnographic studies on local children and youth sports in Norway, I experienced, just like May argues, that sensory experiences ease and facilitate group interactions and, consequently, solidify group cohesion in ways that can alter incorporation dynamics.

[1] , including those by Broch (2020, 2022, 2023), DeLand (2018, 2022), Corte (2022), and Fine G.A. & Corte. U (2017)

Bio

Marianna Melenteva is a PhD candidate at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences. Her research is a cultural analysis of (ex)inclusive practices of local organized children’s and youth sports in the light of cultural sociology of performance. Her research interests include the self and identity formation, belonging, group cohesion and incorporation, multiculturalism, sensory ethnography and sociology of feelings.

References

Broch TB (2020) A Performative Feel for the Game: How Meaningful Sports Shape Gender, Bodies and Social Action. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Broch TB (2022) Performative feelings for others: the civil repair of organized competitive sports. Cultural Sociology 17(1): 79–95.

Broch, T. B. (2023). Ritual pathways and dramaturgical efforts: Negotiating the meaning of organized play in Norwegian children’s sports. Acta Sociologica, 00016993231201483.

Corte, U.  (2022) Dangerous Fun: The Social Lives of Big Wave Surfers. University of Chicago Press

DeLand MF (2018) The ocean run: Stage, cast, and performance in a public park basketball scene. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 47(1): 28–59.

DeLand MF (2022) A sociology of the “and one!”: The culture of charisma in pickup basketball. American Journal of Cultural Sociology 10(4): 676–703.

Fine GA & Corte U (2017) Group pleasures: collaborative commitments, shared narrative, and the sociology of fun. Sociological Theory 35(1): 64–86.

Geertz C (1973) The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books.

Helsedirektoratet (2010) Sosial kapital – teorier og perspektiver. Oslo

Helsedirektoratet (2018) Folkehelsepolitisk rapport 2017.Oslo

May, V. (2023) What is belonging and why is it important? Blog,  (What is belonging and why is it important? – BELONG (oslomet.no)

Melenteva (2024) Sensing cohesion: shared sensory experiences in organized youth sports. Forthcoming. Presented at summer seminar of the research group BUOS (Barn og unges oppvekst og sosialisering), Inland University of the applied science Norway, May 2024 and at research summer school at Roskilde, Danmark, August 2024

Pink, S. (2009) Doing sensory ethnography. Los Angeles: Sage

Pink, S. (2011a). From embodiment to emplacement: Re-thinking competing bodies, senses and spatialities. Sport, education and society16(3), 343-355.

Pink (2011b) Multimodality, multisensoriality and ethnographic knowing: social semiotics and the phenomenology of perception. Qualitative Research, 11 (3) , 261-276

Pugh A. (2023) On Belonging, Sameness and Difference, blog, On Belonging, Sameness and Difference – BELONG (oslomet.no)

Behind the Screens – The Unseen Marketing

by Hanna Seglem Tangen

What do we know about what youth see on their mobile phone? Our mobile phones and social media are highly private and mostly for good reasons. It is our own alternative and digital world. Youth spend hours and hours daily on their mobile phones exploring this world. Unfortunately, there are some cons of this privacy. Our data is not private to commercial actors, and our time and following of different profiles on social media is a part of a huge digital economy. As we do not see what other people see on social media, it is not that easy to regulate unhealthy content, such as the marketing of unhealthy foods and drinks. Furthermore, children often use consumer goods to belong in a group (Pugh, 2011). This phenomenon was demonstrated last summer when popular YouTubers Logan Paul and KSI promoted the sports drink PRIME Hydration in Norway. Thousands of children turned up to the event and the sports drink was flying of the shelves for a long period of time (Eriksen et al., 2023). The sports drink was primarily promoted in social media.

Icons of a phone and people analyzing the content on the phone
credit: pexels | WebTechExperts

Food Environments

Lately, the term Food Environments has been coming up as a relevant subject. From the Public Health Institute of Norway comes the following definition: “Food environments are the physical, economic, political, and sociocultural contexts in which people interact with the food system when making choices about acquiring, preparing, and consuming food. This includes both physical and digital/virtual environments.” (Uldahl & Torheim, 2023). This also means that the foods and drinks we see on social media are a part of our Food Environment. Studies do indicate that advertising for unhealthy food and drink can influence children and adolescents’ choices, as well as change their attitudes and preferences towards different foods and drinks (Buchanan et al., 2018; Cairns et al., 2013; Coates et al., 2019; Harris et al., 2021; Kucharczuk et al., 2022; Lykke & Selberg, 2022; Mc Carthy et al., 2022; Sadeghirad et al., 2016; Smith et al., 2019).

Somebody taking a picture of plates of foods with a phone
credit: pexels | Roman Odintsov

Marketing for unhealthy foods and drinks in Norway

The Norwegian government is now planning to implement a new legislation to regulate marketing towards children and youth under the age of 18 (Innst. 398 S (2022-2023), 2023). However, our understanding of the amount of marketing of unhealthy foods and drinks on social media remains limited because the research methods are still insufficient. Social media platforms are rapidly changing alongside the forms of marketing. This makes it hard to follow the evolution of marketing on social media based on the existing methods. Formerly, my colleague Alexander Schjøll and I explored how much marketing a selection of influencers posted on social media over a period of three months (Tangen & Schjøll, 2023). Our findings revealed that nearly a quarter (24%) of all posts were marketing. The most frequently marketed categories were food and drinks, primarily sports and energy drinks, followed by clothing and accessories. Still, these results can just indicate the current situation, not generalize anything. Other Norwegian studies have shown different types of marketing to be more common (Retriever, 2022; Steinnes & Haugrønning, 2020).

Influencer promoting a drink
credit: pexels | ivan samk

In our study, even though we looked at popular influencers, we do not know what children and adolescents see on their own phones. We could not look into the ads, both traditional and personalized, that are displayed to each person based on their algorithms. Similar studies to ours have been done, but to this author’s knowledge, no other studies have been able to measure marketing in children’s and adolescent’s mobiles in a satisfying and precise way.

Influencer eating a slice of pizza
credit: pexels | ivan samk

Making the unseen marketing visible

Therefore, we are currently working on a project to monitor marketing on social media in cooperation with WHO and The Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Adolescents aged 13-18 are going to download an application developed by WHO. This application will monitor and capture screenshots from Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube when our respondents use it. In this way we can capture and count the real exposure of marketing adolescents witness on social media. SIFO researchers Steinnes & Haugrønning (2020) conducted a study with a former version of the application, where the initial version processed the content of photos and returned text-based data. Their study provided promising results for further development and use of this method. Now, the application is further developed to take screenshots, sort out sensitive images by using AI and includes an analyzing tool who tags brands and commercials. Our continuation of Steinnes & Haugrønning’s (2020) method and a newer version of the application will provide us with new insights into unseen marketing on social media and youths digital food environments.

children sitting looking at a phone
credit: pexels | katerina holmes

Bio

Hanna Seglem Tangen is a research assistant at Consumption Research Norway (SIFO), belonging in the research group Sustainable Textile and Food Consumption. Hanna’s research interests include sustainable food consumption, public health, advertising and marketing, politics, policy, and evaluation. She applies with both qualitative and quantitative methods in her work.

References

Buchanan, L., Yeatman, H., Kelly, B., & Kariippanon, K. (2018). A thematic content analysis of how marketers promote energy drinks on digital platforms to young Australians. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 42(6), 530–531. https://doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.12840

Cairns, G., Angus, K., Hastings, G., & Caraher, M. (2013). Systematic reviews of the evidence on the nature, extent and effects of food marketing to children. A retrospective summary. Appetite, 62, 209–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2012.04.017

Coates, A. E., Hardman, C. A., Halford, J. C. G., Christiansen, P., & Boyland, E. J. (2019). Social Media Influencer Marketing and Children’s Food Intake: A Randomized Trial. Pediatrics, 143(4), e20182554. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2018-2554

Eriksen, D., Sørnes, A. J., Haugen, K., & Klokkerud Odden, F. (2023, June 27). Tusenvis av fans møtte Youtube-stjerner i Oslo. NRK. https://www.nrk.no/kultur/tusenvis-av-fans-motte-youtube-stjerner-i-oslo-1.16462419

Harris, J. L., Yokum, S., & Fleming-Milici, F. (2021). Hooked on Junk: Emerging Evidence on How Food Marketing Affects Adolescents’ Diets and Long-Term Health. Current Addiction Reports, 8(1), 19–27. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40429-020-00346-4

Innst. 398 S (2022-2023). (2023). Innstilling fra helse- og omsorgskomiteen om Folkehelsemeldinga – Nasjonal strategi for utjamning av sosiale helseforskjellar. Helse- og omsorgskomiteen. https://www.stortinget.no/no/Saker-og-publikasjoner/Publikasjoner/Innstillinger/Stortinget/2022-2023/inns-202223-398s/?m=3&c=False

Kucharczuk, A. J., Oliver, T. L., & Dowdell, E. B. (2022). Social media’s influence on adolescents′ food choices: A mixed studies systematic literature review. Appetite, 168, 105765. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2021.105765

Lykke, M. B., & Selberg, N. (2022). Usund digital markedsføring. Effekten af digital markedsføring af fødevarer med et højt indhold af fedt, salt og sukker på børn og unges fødevarevalg – en kortlægning af den videnskabelige evidens. Hjerteforeningen.

Mc Carthy, C. M., de Vries, R., & Mackenback, J. D. (2022). The influence of unhealthy food and beverage marketing through social media and advergaming on diet‐related outcomes in children—A systematic review. Obesity Reviews, 23(6), https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.13441.

Pugh, A. J. (2011). Distinction, boundaries or bridges?: Children, inequality and the uses of consumer culture. Poetics, 39(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2010.10.002

Retriever. (2022). Hva kommuniserer norske og utenlandske influensere til norske ungdommer på sosiale medier? Medietilsynet. https://www.medietilsynet.no/globalassets/publikasjoner/barn-og-medier-undersokelser/2022/influenseranalyse.pdf

Sadeghirad, B., Duhaney, T., Motaghipisheh, S., Campbell, N. R. C., & Johnston, B. C. (2016). Influence of unhealthy food and beverage marketing on children’s dietary intake and preference: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials. Obesity Reviews, 17(10), 945–959. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12445

Smith, R., Kelly, B., Yeatman, H., & Boyland, E. (2019). Food Marketing Influences Children’s Attitudes, Preferences and Consumption: A Systematic Critical Review. Nutrients, 11(4), Article 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11040875

Steinnes, K. K., & Haugrønning, V. (2020). Mapping the landscape of digital food marketing: Investigating exposure of digital food and drink advertisements to Norwegian children and adolescents. Consumption Research Norway (SIFO), OsloMet. https://oda.oslomet.no/oda-xmlui/handle/20.500.12199/6510

Tangen, H. S., & Schjøll, A. (2023). Eksponering for markedsføring av usunn mat og drikke. Reklame rettet mot barn og unge i sosiale medier. In 55 (Report SIFO-rapport;14-2023). Forbruksforskningsinstituttet SIFO, OsloMet. https://oda.oslomet.no/oda-xmlui/handle/11250/3107927

Uldahl, M., & Torheim, L.-E. (2023). Metoder og indikatorer for kartlegging og overvåkning av matomgivelser i Norge. Folkehelseinstituttet. https://www.fhi.no/publ/2023/matomgivelser/

How do smartphones shape belonging in a digitalized childhood?

by Øyvind Næss

In Norway, when something is said to have an ‘affective value’ (affeksjonsverdi), it is meant to convey how a thing can have a value that is disconnected from its economic or practical value within a system of exchange. Therefore, ‘affective value’ is a subjective value that always exists in a relation to a specific individual. The term is typically used for objects with an emotional significance or meaning attached to them. For example, you might have an old broken watch that you cannot get yourself to throw away. That probably means it has ‘affective value’. Throwing it away will come with an emotional cost.

picture of a smartphone with a child taking a selfie with a filter on Snapchat
credit: pexels | cottonbro

Not sure how to translate affeksjonsverdi into English, I asked my university’s AI chatbot for a translation and it proposed translating it into sentimental value. But connecting the term to sentimentality creates a binary between a subjective sentimental value and an objective practical, logical, and economic value. Such a binary division is rarely a good way to gain knowledge in a messy world. Instead, I will propose to understand the term as an emotional manifestation produced at the convergence of what Vanessa May on this blog calls the relational and material dimensions of belonging. Then the term instead conveys how value-laden objects draw events, materialities, and bodies together on an individual emotional register – and in doing so, help create a sense of who a person is by what it deems important. In short – where a person belongs. And that is not a question of sentimentality, that is a question of affect.

picture of a child laying on a couch with headphones looking at their phone.
credit: pexels | shkrabaanthony

In my fieldwork with younger children in digitalized childhoods, this convergence of events, materialities, and bodies is in many ways the central pivot that my interlocutors’ lives gravitate around. Even though I don’t engage directly with the concept of belonging in my research, I do engage with how smartphones create shared social experiences – joint spaces where children experience belonging and have their individual feelings of belonging recognized by their peers. For the children in my project, these feelings of belonging induced by digital entities are also connected to a heightened sense of agency through the opening up of novel digitalized ways to explore, be creative, and experiment within the heterogeneous assemblage that contemporary digitalized childhoods draw together.  

Picture of three children hanging out on a couch looking at a phone
credit: pexels | shkrabaanthony

An important part of my PhD project is to explore how children’s social experiences are tied to what I call gravitational forces that emerge as a result of digitalized childhood embeddedness in a global system of economic growth. In a language that perhaps aligns better with other posts on this blog, I explore how the potentialities of belonging are facilitated and constrained by the digital materialities deployed into contemporary digitalized childhoods.

picture of two people on a video call on a phone
credit: pexels | gabby k

One of the things I have found is that in childhood as in life in general, no one can escape gravity. All one can do is to act on it. And that is exactly what the children do. Smartphones laden with ‘affective value’ in digitalized childhoods do not exist in extrinsic relations with their owners. By turning to a Foucauldian view of power, these objects should rather seen as intrinsic parts of children’s identities by being situated as the mediators and catalysts of social connections. Thus, for the children I encountered in my fieldwork, the gravitational power enveloped in digitalized childhoods is not felt as a ‘power over…’ but as a ‘power to…’. However, this should not be taken to mean that no external power is present in digitalized childhoods (Massumi, 2015). It just means that power moves from extrinsic to intrinsic and from constraints to identity. By seeing smartphones and gaming consoles as objects of ‘affective value’, it is now possible to see how individual feelings of belonging in a contemporary childhood are ordered emotions, made to resonate with larger economic logics outside of childhood. Thus, for better and for worse, the potential for belonging in digitalized childhoods is always in-formed by the connections that it is possible to make between the materialities deployed in digitalized childhoods and the children that reside there on account of their social classification (Næss, forthcoming).

picture of two children sitting back to back each on a phone
credit: pexels | ron lach

Bio: Øyvind Næss is a PhD candidate at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences. His research explores digitalized childhoods at the intersection of politics, individual experiences, and materialities through a theoretical framework informed by Deleuzeian affect theory.   

Massumi, B. (2015). Politics of affect. John Wiley & Sons.
Næss, Ø. (2025). A matter of logics, reasons, and practicalities: connecting spaces in a digitalized childhood. Forthcoming

Up and-coming belonging and youth research

Monika Marie Bergflødt

Read on and learn more about the exciting research of PhD candidate Monika Marie Bergflødt.

Place Attachment and Identity Exploration in Youth’s Everyday Lives

Picture of Oslo
credit pexels | naren-yogarajah

In recent years, there has been a surge in gendered narratives about boys and girls growing up in neighborhoods facing reputational challenges. The stories often revolve around minority communities and urban street cultures, attributing boys’ school struggles and involvement in crime and substance abuse to poverty, street culture and social stigma. Conversely, girls’ challenges are often seen in the context of patriarchal social control within minority communities (Rosten 2017; Smette et al, 2021; Sandberg & Pedersen, 2006). As scholars have shown, these narratives tend to oversimplify and obscure the intricate and constant evolving social realities of youth growing up today.

In my doctoral project, I seek to explore the ways in which boys and girls in stigmatized areas connect with people and places while navigating their identities in various social settings, both offline and online.

Picture of three teenage boys who are friends
credit | pexels cottonbro

A phenomenological and ethnographic approach

To grasp various layers of boys’ and girls’ everyday lives, I will combine interviews with participatory methods and fieldwork in a phenomenological and ethnographic study.

Phenomenological research aims to provide in-depth descriptions of experiences rather than definitive answers. Merleau-Ponty (1963) and Simone de Beauvoir (1949) both view the body as intricately connected to broader social, cultural and historical contexts. They emphasize that our experiences and interactions within these contexts also shape our understanding of ourselves.

Until now, perspectives on embodied experiences have largely been overlooked in the debates about youth in so-called “troubled neighborhoods”.  In my project, I seek to follow boys and girls in various aspects of their daily lives. By letting the participants lead the way and observing their interactions, I hope to capture the dynamic and embodied aspects of their social identities, gaining insights into how they understand themselves in different situations.

 “At-risk youth” and “troubled neighborhoods”

Picture of a housing block front
credit | pexels – pixabay

As researchers, it is important that we critically examine the concepts and categories we employ and consider whether they truly reflect the experiences of those we study (Staunæs, 2003). In recent years, numerous empirical studies have delved into the experiences of youth in stigmatized neighborhoods, drawing on Loïc Wacquant’s theory of territorial stigmatization (Rosten, 2017; Jensen & Christensen, 2012; Sernhede, 2011; Andersson, 2003). These studies reveal that narratives surrounding growing up in the «wrong place,» as well as the ways in which boys and girls relate to and negotiate these spaces, shape different experiences based on gender. Additionally, young people often encounter labels related to ethnicity, religion, and culture, even when they don’t see them as personally significant (Kindt & Strand, 2020).

Labelling children and young people as «vulnerable» or «at-risk» extends beyond mere descriptions of their circumstances. These labels may also serve as mechanisms of power, shaping perceptions of and responses to them in society (Gullestad, 2006). Essentially, labels don’t just mirror reality; they actively shape it, often unfairly.

In my project, I hope to grasp how boys and girls not only are influenced by the gendered narratives that surround them, but also how they interpret and redefine these narratives in various contexts.

A group of children reading a magazine
credit | pexels cottonbro

Digital platforms: new arenas for identity exploration

Being young today also involves growing up in an era where digital advancements have opened doors to new ways of self-expression and visibility, consequently making digital platforms significant arenas for identity exploration.

According to American sociologist Rogers Brubaker (2023), digital hyperconnection, as he refers to it, has changed how we relate to others and our sense of time and place. He suggests that living in a digital world, constantly connected to people and information, has not only changed how we see ourselves but also how others see us. However, Brubaker’s view is quite broad and impersonal. In my project, phenomenological and feminist perspectives may offer deeper and more nuanced insights into the complex dynamics unfolding in the lives of boys and girls living in situated yet “hyperconnected” digital lives.

credit | pexels wendywei

About Monika

Monika Marie Bergflødt is a PhD Candidate in Social Sciences at OsloMet, affiliated with the Department for Childhood, Family and Child Welfare (NOVA). Bergflødt’s research interests encompass social inequality, childhood, and the sense of belonging within multicultural and digital societies.

References

Andersson, M. (2003). Immigrant youth and the dynamics of marginalization. Young, 11(1), 74–89.

Beauvoir, S. d. ([1949] 2000). Det annet kjønn. (Christensen, Overs.). Pax Forlag.

Brubaker, R.. (2023). Hyperconnectivity and Its Discontents. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Christensen, A.-D., & Siim, B. (2006). Fra køn til diversitet–intersektionalitet i en dansk/nordisk kontekst. Kvinder, køn & forskning(2-3).

Gullestad. (2006). Plausible prejudice: everyday experiences and social images of nation, culture and race. Universitetsforlaget.

Jensen, S. Q., & Christensen, A.-D. (2012). Territorial stigmatization and local belonging: A study of the Danish neighbourhood Aalborg East. City, 16(1-2), 74-92.

Kindt, M. T., & Strand, A. H. (2020). Hele mennesker–delte tjenester.

Merleau-Ponty, M. (1965). Phenomenology of perception. Routledge.

Rosten, M. G. (2017). Territoriell stigmatisering og gutter som «leker getto» i Groruddalen. Norsk sosiologisk tidsskrift, 1(1), 53-70.

Sandberg, S., & Pedersen, W. (2006). Gatekapital. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

Sernhede, O. (2011). School, youth culture and territorial stigmatization in Swedish metropolitan districts. Young, 19(2), 159-180.

Smette, I., Hyggen, C., & Bredal, A. (2021). Foreldrerestriksjoner blant minoritetsungdom: omfang og mønstre i og utenfor skolen. Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning, 62(1), 5-26.

Staunæs, D. (2003). Where have all the subjects gone? Bringing together the concepts of intersectionality and subjectification. NORA: Nordic journal of women’s studies, 11(2), 101-110.

From digital playground to dark patterns

by Clara J. Reich & Kamilla Knutsen Steinnes

Video games are important social arenas for children and adolescents in Norway. Playing video games is one of the most popular leisure activities (Medietilsynet, 2022) where young people can meet and hang out with their friends, have fun, learn new skills, feel a sense of belonging, relax, and explore.

In contrast to the positive aspects of video games, recent concerns have emerged about the understudied economic elements that children are required to navigate (e.g. Grimes, 2021). The literature highlights ongoing trends within the video game industry toward developing new revenue models through an increased sale of virtual products (Wardyga, 2023). New revenue strategies and in particular “dark patterns” have been argued as problematic. But what are dark patterns? How can they be researched and what do they look like? And what can be done about them?

gaming controller
credit: pexels | cottonbro

Dark patterns

The Norwegian Council (2022) writes that dark patterns, also referred to as manipulative design, aim to guide, deceive, or pressure consumers to make choices that are mainly beneficial for the business and not the consumer. The OECD (2022) uses a similar term which they term «dark commercial patterns». They describe them as an economic practice that uses elements of digital choice architecture to hinder or disrupt consumer’s choice, autonomy, and ability to make informed choices. This often intends to encourage the consumer to leave more time, money, and personal data in digital platforms than planned. In video games, this is also called «dark game design patterns” which are used intentionally by game developers (King & Delfabbrio, 2018).

Researching manipulative design in video games

In the “Pay-to-Play” project, manipulative design in video games was studied through a nethnographic approach. Specifically, three commercial video games that are popular among children and adolescents in Norway were mapped. This involved a mapping of the items for purchase and an analysis of the game interfaces related to purchasing. To better understand young people’s perspectives, 19 play-along interviews were conducted. The participants were aged 10-15 and lived in different parts of Norway.  

Three kids gaming
credit: pexels | gustavo fring

What does manipulative design in video games look like?

In the games, thirteen manipulative design strategies were mapped. These were grouped into four major categories.

  1. Visual design
  2. Unclear labeling
  3. Time-based elements
  4. Gambling mechanisms

This illustrates that manipulative design can take many shapes and be combined with various techniques to make players spend more time and money than intended in video games. Yet, it should be noted that not all video games have (all) manipulative design strategies and sometimes it can be challenging to distinguish between manipulative and engaging design. Further, it should be noted that some video games have fair design or what can be called “anti-manipulative design”.

What to do about dark patterns?

As video games are an important social arena it is important to ensure that young people can safely navigate them. Here are three suggestions that might contribute towards this goal:

  1. Increasing both parents and their children’s level of digital competence especially their critical consumer competence to better navigate unpleasant social encounters and manipulative design in video games.
  2. There is a need for policymakers to regulate manipulative design to better protect consumer rights. As many popular commercial video game companies are international, we suggest that laws should be developed across national borders to ensure their effectiveness.
  3. Further research is needed to gain a more detailed understanding of how manipulative design works in different games, which effect it has, and how it can be distinguished from engaging design.

Interested in more?

Check out the Norwegian report or extended English summary of the report mapping manipulative game design and the report on the role of kids’ consumption in video games and how it influences social relations. You can also read Kamilla’s piece on Pay-to-play? Belonging through consumption in commercial games on the Belong blog.

Authors’ bio

Clara Julia Reich and Kamilla Knutsen Steinnes are Ph.D. candidates at Consumption Research Norway. They research young people’s digital everyday lives from a consumption research perspective.

References

Forbrukerrådet. (2022). Insert Coin How the gaming industry exploits consumers using loot boxes.


Grimes, S. M. (2021). Digital playgrounds: the hidden politics of children’s online play spaces, virtual worlds, and connected games. University of Toronto Press.


Medietilsynet. (2022). Spillfrelste tenåringsgutter og jenter som faller fra – Slik gamer barn og unge.


King, D. L., & Delfabbro, P. H. (2018). Predatory monetization schemes in video games (e.g. ‘loot boxes’) and internet gaming disorder. Addiction, 113(11), 1967-1969. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.14286


Wardyga, B. J. (2018). The Video Games Textbook: History • Business • Technology. Milton: A K Peters/CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781351172363