TOO MUCH FUN - TOYS AS SOCIAL-PROBLEMS AND THE INTERPRETATION OF CULTURE

Toys are a frequent subject of contemporary claims concerning social p roblems. Rooted in our culture's longstanding ambivalence regarding le isure and its concerns about children Is vulnerability, claims about t roublesome toys also reflect anxiety about children's increased suscep tibility to non-familial influences, their growing access to toys, and an expanded toy industry, as well as an active social movement sector . Typically, these claims argue that toys represent undesirable values , and that children who play with the toys acquire those valuer. Paral lel arguments may be found in claims regarding other forms of popular and material culture. Interactionists should be wary of making or acce pting these claims, because rather than treating children's play as a topic for empirical study, such claims locate meaning in objects, rath er than actors.