Charity Shops and Pocket Money

What does it really mean to give something away - or to buy something second-hand? And what, in the process, are we choosing not to see? 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: how is money is negotiated within families, shaped by rules, expectations and inequalities, and how do young people use it to carve out autonomy in their social lives?

Triona Fitton, Senior Lecturer in Sociology from the University of Kent, asks questions about charity shops and second-hand consumption. Drawing on research inside charity shops, Triona explores the tension between charitable ideals and commercial pressures, describing a “quiet economy” of hidden labour and everyday decision-making. While donating or buying second-hand can feel virtuous, she argues that this can obscure a more complex global system where large quantities of our second hand goods are dumped or burned, with environmental and social consequences.

Producer: Natalia Fernandez Series Editor: Robyn Read