Young people’s social worlds involve distinctive forms of economic activity, which both influence and are influenced by peer and household relationships, and wider market structures. Yet, how young people access money receives little sociological attention.

In this talk, Dr Gaby Harris draws on qualitative interviews with girls aged 15-17 to consider how pocket money connects young people’s consumption practices. She conceptualises a framework for pocket money which encompasses accumulation and expenditure and examines different forms of payments and entitlements, as well as the (parental) regulations and conditions negotiated as part of money and consumption practices. Crucially, the discussion evidences the ways in which girls work to achieve and assert their agency in consumption, using forms of enterprise to supplement income or circumvent regulation. This exploration of pocket money illuminates how girls make valuations and negotiate forms of regulation in ways that also reveal class entitlements. Addressing pocket money in the context of girls elucidates new ways of positioning consumption which pays due attention to the social relationships that underpin practice, and how these are negotiated. It reveals insights into the economic worlds that young people create and raises pertinent questions about future negotiations of the labour market given increasing precarity.