Thinking Allowed

Laurie Taylor talks to Gaby Harris, Sociologist and Lecturer in Fashion Cultures at Manchester Metropolitan University, about her research on teenage girls and pocket money. Drawing on interviews with 15-17-year-olds, she shows that pocket money is far from simple. From parental allowances to part-time work and reselling clothes, she reveals how money is negotiated within families, shaped by rules, expectations and inequalities, and how young people use it to carve out autonomy in their social lives. Triona Fitton, Senior Lecturer in Sociology from the University of Kent, challenges assumptions about charity shops and second-hand consumption.