A Universal Child?

by Smith, Roger

• ISBN13: 9781403907844
• ISBN10: 1403907846
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-12-15
• Publisher: Red Globe Pr

Summary

What is a child? Is childhood a universal concept or is it disappearing in modern society?

Author Biography

Roger Smith is Professor of Social Work Research at School of Applied Social Sciences, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements and Dedication	p. viii
Introduction: The Disputed Child	p. 1
A æworking definitionÆ of childhood	p. 1
The structure of the book	p. 3
Theoretical Aspects of Childhood	p. 9
Alternative Perspectives on Childhood	p. 11
Seeking the truth about childhood	p. 11
Why do we worry about our children?	p. 15
It's not all bad though, or is it?	p. 17
The æpunitive turnÆ? Contemporary fears about children who offend	p. 19
The æchild in needÆ: a different form of conceptualization	p. 20
Social science and childhood	p. 21
Not everything is æsocialÆ or æconstructedÆ, surely?	p. 23
Biological development and childhood	p. 25
Opposing views or emerging consensus?	p. 26
Children and Time: Historical and Contemporary Ideas about Childhood	p. 28
The value of thinking historically	p. 28
Ariès and his influence	p. 29
Taking Ariès further: criticism Aries and development	p. 31
Ariès and after: the birth and ædeathÆ of childhood?	p. 35
The end of childhood?	p. 37
Childhood and history: change or continuity?	p. 40
Children and Place: An Inevitable Source of æDifferenceÆ?	p. 45
What is the effect of ælocationÆ on children's experiences?	p. 45
Anthropology and the significance of æcultureÆ	p. 48
Cultures and contexts: the importance of æplaceÆ	p. 52
The place of work in shaping children's lives	p. 55
Play and creativity: making the world	p. 58
Children's contexts: different places but common experiences?	p. 61
The Search for Common Ground in Accounts of Childhood	p. 63
The possibility of developmental explanations	p. 63
The biology of child development	p. 65
It's all in the mind - psychology and children	p. 69
Sociological accounts: the big picture?	p. 74
Childhood: towards an interdisciplinary future?	p. 78
Childhood in Context	p. 83
Children, the State and Social Policy	p. 85
Child welfare: making assumptions about children?	p. 85
Models of childhood in policy	p. 86
Competing models of childhood in social policy?	p. 92
Children, social policy and models of childhood: a case study of the UK	p. 97
Models of child welfare - models of childhood?	p. 102
Children and the Market	p. 105
Children's relationship to the global market: producers and consumers	p. 105
Children learning to be consumers	p. 106
Children as producers - a different world?	p. 111
Modes of childhood: towards a theoretical model?	p. 116
Constructing the economic child	p. 120
Children and the Media	p. 122
The role of the media in children's lives	p. 122
Constructing childhood? The role of the media	p. 123
Addressing children: do the media believe their own rhetoric?	p. 127
Children as media producers	p. 131
Violence, the media and children: a case study	p. 134
Conclusion: children's ambiguous relationship with the media	p. 138
Childhood: Universal or Contextual?	p. 141
Childhood: An Adult Conception?	p. 143
Is there an æadultÆ view of childhood?	p. 143
The invisible child: neither seen nor heard	p. 144
Glimpses of the child: seen but not heard?	p. 149
Dealing with ædifferenceÆ	p. 154
Conclusion: adult-oriented childhood: a one-sided view?	p. 160
What Do Children Think about Childhood?	p. 161
The child's perspective is vital	p. 161
A view from below: child-adult relationships	p. 162
Do children act independently and æmakeÆ their own childhoods?	p. 168
When two worlds collide	p. 173
Conclusion: children's childhoods	p. 178
Childhoods: The Same, Only Different?	p. 179
The need for analytical coherence	p. 179
Establishing common starting points	p. 180
Conceptual dilemmas and conflicting positions	p. 182
Substantive features of childhood: what can we agree on?	p. 183
Aspects of ædifferenceÆ in childhood	p. 189
Conclusion: the meaning of childhood?	p. 194
Conclusion: What Should We Do About Children (and Childhood)?	p. 196
Knowledge about childhood and its uses	p. 196
The problem of partial thinking	p. 197
The construction of childhood	p. 198
Thinking critically: childhood, power and social justice	p. 200
Balancing perspectives?	p. 202
References	p. 205
Index	p. 219
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.