Ritual Socialization and the Children's Birthday party: The Early Emergence of Gender Differences

Socialization has long been a topic of interest to researchers in many disciplines. However, the issue of how individuals are socialized to participate in modern rituals is a neglected topic. This paper examines the types of socialization forces that can influence children's participation in birthday parties. Specifically, it focuses upon the ways in which gender socialization influences participation by little boys and girls. We employ a framework for the study of "consumption rituals" explicated by Rook (1985) in the study of this topic.