x, 270 pages ; 24 cm

Through a series of entertaining and insightful essays, Kinderculture: The Corporate Construction of Childhood explores some of the icons that shape the values and consciousness of children, from Beavis and Butt-Head to Barney, from Disney movies to Nintendo. Contributors drawn from the fields of education, sociology, and popular culture analyze the profound effects and the pervasive influence of these corporate productions in a style parents, educators, and general readers will welcome. Arguing that the experience in childhood has been, with or without our consent, reshaped into something that is prefabricated, Shirley Steinberg and Joe Kincheloe bring home to readers the impact our "marketing blitz" culture has on our children - and on our beliefs about childhood

Includes bibliographical references

Introduction : no more secrets: kinderculture, information saturation, and the postmodern childhood / Shirley R. Steinberg and Joe L. Kincheloe -- Home alone and "bad to the bone": the advent of a postmodern childhood / Joe L. Kincheloe -- Are Disney movies good for your kids? / Henry A. Giroux -- From Sesame street to Barney and friends: television as teacher / Eleanor Blair Hilty -- Beavis and Butt-Head: no future for postmodern youth / Douglas Kellner -- Video games and the emergence of interactive media for children / Eugene F. Provenzo Jr. -- Mighty morphin Power Rangers: the aesthetics of phallo-militaristic justice / Peter McLaren and Janet Morris -- "Mom, it's not real!" children constructing childhood through reading horror fiction / Linda K. Christian-Smith and Jean I. Erdman -- Reading children's magazines: kinderculture and popular culture / Alan A. Block -- Professional wrestling and youth culture: teasing, taunting, and the containment of civility / Aaron David Gresson III -- Dealing from the bottom of the deck: the business of trading cards, past to present / Murry R. Nelson and Shirley R. Steinberg -- The bitch who has everything / Shirley R. Steinberg --Multiculturalism and the American dream / Jeanne Brady -- Anything you want: women and children in popular culture / Jan Jipson and Ursi Reynolds -- McDonald's, power, and children: Ronald McDonald (aka Ray Kroc) does it all for you / Joe L. Kincheloe