"I had a stick with a wheel on it, now it's all made in China": A qualitative study of "Made in China" toys in Poland

Abstract

This study focuses on families’ ideas and experiences of “Made in China” toys in Poland. One month of fieldwork with three families allowed for in-depth qualitative data to be collected through informal as well as formal semi-structured interviews and participant observation. The data was largely interpreted in terms of globalisation, the acceleration of which leads to disembedding, as Anthony Giddens illustrates in The Consequences of Modernity. In particular, the issue of trust is discussed, and is related to how the families accessed information. Mary Douglas’ idea of matter out of place is used to discuss the sense of foreigness some participants felt towards the idea of “Made in China” toys, for instance associating them with strong smells.