The Business of Children – Investigations Into the Connections Between Childhood, Work and Commerce in Late Capitalism

What role do children play in business life and what role does business play in the lives of children? We are used to think that business and economy are serious, adult pursuits, whereas childhood is presented as playful and disconnected from this. At the same time, public discourse often criticizes the way in which corporate interests affect the life of children.

What is lost in such engagements, however, is the potential agency of children and the inter-relationships between commerce and childhood. In this project we have argued that childhood affects adult business life and made inquiries into the hybrid relationships between childhood and commerce. This includes, for example, studies of design processes in childrens fashion, professional identities of childrens authors, children in the workplace and infantilizing management literature. While the official time-period for the project have ended, the involved researchers are still actively pursuing and finalizing the sub-studies of this project.

Participants: Professor Alf Rehn, Dr. Nina Kivinen, Dr. Carolyn Hunter, Dr. Astrid Huopalainen, Dr. Mika Mård