Added+2.21.12+Inside+Toyland

This is a book review

Christine L. Williams 2006 Sociology Christine L. Williams looks at the **American** retail **shopping** **experience** from the bird's eye perspective of a store clerk in two toy stores in Inside Toyland: Working, **Shopping**, And Social Inequality. One is a bargain store in a dubious neighborhood, with knock-off prices and customers who are generally non-white and of low income. The other is an upscale shoppers' delight in a safe area; it carries the same merchandise as its bargain-basement competitor, but offers security and status to the mostly white, middle-class customers who shop there. Williams finds that workers are exploited and underpaid in both stores. Other phenomena are noted in this sociological study, including parenting. Williams finds that parents of all races and income levels relate to their children from a basis of guilt. The kids realize and exploit their parents' psychological dilemma, realizing that a lack of quality parental time can buy a good quantity of merchandise. Dealing with customers ranging from irate to manipulative, unfortunate or with a sense of entitlement, Williams finds being a retail employee enraging as well as edifying. Her ultimate conclusion is that these are bad jobs, and that the national government should focus on finding ways to make them into good jobs. She also believes that citizen consumers should take more of an interest in employee/employer practices in the stores they patronize, as well as examining there own **shopping** patterns; in doing so, consumer-worker alliances could be forged, and all would benefit. Inside Toyland is a sometimes tedious, but ultimately informative and useful guide to the challenges facing the retail industry and those who work within it. (University of California Press, 2006, 254 pages, paperback $16.95, ISBN 0-520-24717-5) 12983339241298333924 By Twyla R. Wells