Online Shopping as a Labor of Love: Motherhood and the Social Construction of Baby Registries

• In Event: 240 - Section on Consumers and Consumption Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Paper Session: Table 04. Gendered Scripts and Rituals of Consumption

Abstract

This paper examines how women engage in online product research as a means to negotiate their transition into motherhood. Drawing upon data from in-depth interviews with thirty-two expectant mothers, the paper demonstrates how the process of constructing baby registries is mediated by intensive online product research. By exploring how these women employed information resources to meet the perceived challenge of consumption, we show how expectant mothers work to gain entry into the social world of motherhood by performing online product research as a sign of responsibility and competence, a means of overcoming anxiety and uncertainty, and a source of reassurance and empowerment.

Authors

• Felicia Wu Song, Westmont College

• Newly Paul, Louisiana State University