Media and the Consumer Culture Development is affected by the
dynamic interaction between the individual and various other
forces that extend beyond the friendship circle, the family, and
the school. Peer networks, families, and schools operate, as
Bronfenbrenner (1979) pointed out, within an even larger context
called the exosystem, or the level of the culture. The culture’s
values, laws, politics, customs, and so on directly and
indirectly contribute elements and experiences that the
adolescent uses to construct a map of the world. Clearly, this
influence process is reciprocal and multidirectional. For
example, changes in the workplace because of economic forces may
put excess demands on parents already suffering from a time
deficit. Because they cannot be available to supervise, these
parents may then adopt practices that encourage relatively high
levels of independent behavior from their adolescents. The
economic market may move in to provide goods and services, such
as structured tutoring or television p