The family’s governance of children’s media consumption as a moral arena: theoretical framework, methodology and first results of a study

Abstract

This paper reports the theoretical framework, methodology and first results of an empirical, ethnographic-oriented research on parents’ governance of audiovisual consumption by children. Although it seems to be peripheral, this everyday practice appears to be a microcosm reflecting the family’s moral economy and educational values. When parents are involved in talking about family media practices and media regulation, their discourse on these topics is undistinguishable from the processes of constructing themselves as ‘good parents’ and of front-staging their moral selves. Parents construct their folk theories about their children’s healthy development, their local ethics and politics, cultural values and educational priorities. Indeed, the governance of media consumption at home works as a moral as well as an educational arena where parents socialize their children to the family’s specific values and world views, and scaffold their process of becoming competent members of the community they belong to.