Social discrimination against teenagers in the mall environment : a case study in Migros shopping mall

This study focuses on the issue of social discrimination against teenagers in shopping malls. Young people, as often being perceived to be threats to the dominant forces of adult world, experience constraints of the adult values in different public spaces. Considering the teenagers’ use of leisure time and spaces, the shopping mall has been observed as an extensively used space by this group for various reasons. In this research, Migros Shopping Center is the survey site, since its physical and social structures are appropriate to analyze the perceived social discrimination against teenagers. The main purpose of this research is to obtain clues for the sources of perceived discrimination patterns against teenagers in the mall environment, which is expected to indicate physical and social aspects of the problem, concerning the mall space of Migros. Information on these issues was obtained through observation and in-depth interviews. The results indicate that, although there are some dislikes, problems, injustices and perceived discrimination patterns of the respondents, most of the teenagers in the mall do not perceive social discrimination that has a mall origin on the contrary to their foreign counterparts. However, teenagers’ presence in the mall can be argued as resulting from discriminating factors such as parental restrictions, financial dependence and limited financial resources.