> It happened so quickly & forcefully. He almost never watches TV, and
> doesn't hear a lot of it from us.
>
> And if you're a "sociolinguistic sponge," you must be pretty
> receptive to new stuff. Yes, Ian's right about the old and familiar -
> repetition is the bane of a toddler parent's existence - but novelty
> is pretty powerful too. Which must have something to do with why
> we're easy marks for the "New!" and why Sut Jhally is fighting a
> majorly uphill battle.
>
> Doug
Sure, we're easy marks for "new!", because profits in most industries rely on people valorizing the new and stylish over the old and been-there-done-that. I know you might not want to hear this (I know I didn't), but family is not the only powerful agent of socialization for children in our society.
Re: repetition and novelty, young children develop their cognitive skills by weaving back and forth between what Piaget calls assimilation (incorporating new experiences into existing cognitive structures) and accommodation (changing cognitive structures based on new information).
Both of these processes are crucial for cognitive development.
Given the importance of both of these processes, we're "easy marks" for both the new and the familiar. What a culture reinforces and stigmatizes will determine what we valorize. --The mantra "new and improved" isn't a product of human nature; it's a quite predictable social manifestation of the capitalist mode of production.
Miles