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This anthology from scholarly literature about children explores the ways society makes meaning of the period called childhood, the social forces that shape children, and the strategies children use to influence each other, their familes, and the larger adult world. The anthology includes 34 readings in 7 topic areas: I. Meanings of Childhood II. Theorizing Childhood III. Studying Children IV. Relationships V. Constructing Race, Ethnicity and Gender VI. Popular Culture, Consumption and Play VII. Social Problems and Inequality

Karen Sternheimer is a member of the Sociology Department at the University of Southern California. She is also the author of Kids These Days: Facts and Fictions About Today's Youth (Rowman & Littlefield) and It's Not the Media: The Truth About Pop Culture's Influence on Children (Westview Press). Her research on children has explored such diverse topics as kidnapping, substance abuse, obesity, teen pregnancy, and teen driving.

Introduction: Everyone Has a Childhood, Right?	p. vi
Meanings of Childhood	p. 1
Editor's Introduction: Why Do Experiences of Childhood Change?
From Child Labor to Child Work: Redefining the Economic World of Children	p. 4
Minors, Censorship, Sex, and History	p. 21
Childhood in America Past and Present	p. 45
All Are Above Average	p. 51
In Search of the Child	p. 65
Kidnapped: Childhood Stolen?	p. 76
Theorizing Childhood	p. 87
Editor's Introduction: How Do Social Scientists Think About Children?
Re-Visioning Women and Social Change: Where Are the Children?	p. 90
Children's Interpretive Reproductions	p. 102
A Window on the "New" Sociology of Childhood	p. 117
A New Paradigm for the Sociology of Childhood?	p. 126
Studying Children	p. 139
Editor's Introduction: How Do Social Scientists Study Children and Childhood?
Yeah, You're Big Bill: Entering Kids' Culture	p. 141
Researchers and Kids	p. 151
Researching Children and Childhood	p. 168
Relationships	p. 181
Editor's Introduction: How Do Children Actively Negotiate Relationships with Friends and Family?
Popularity	p. 183
Exchanges, Labels, and Put-Downs	p. 198
Crude Comments and Sexual Scripts	p. 212
Gender Roles and Settlement Activities Among Children and Their Immigrant Families	p. 221
Concerted Cultivation and the Accomplishment of Natural Growth	p. 237
Constructing Race, Ethnicity, and Gender	p. 247
Editor's Introduction: Beyond Socialization and Imitation
Using Racial and Ethnic Concepts: The Critical Case of Very Young Children	p. 249
Constructing and Negotiating Racial Identity in School	p. 266
The Collaborative Emergence of Race in Children's Play: A Case of Two Summer Camps	p. 281
Constructing "Opposite Sides"	p. 296
Barbie Girls Versus Sea Monsters: Children Constructing Gender	p. 312
Girls, Race, and Identity: Border Work Between Classes	p. 329
Popular Culture, Consumption, and Play	p. 339
Editor's Introduction: The Importance of Play and Popular Culture
Outside Class: A Historical Analysis of American Children's Competitive Activities	p. 342
Flight Toward Maturity: The Tooth Fairy	p. 355
Kids and Commerce	p. 365
Kids in Toyland	p. 381
"We Pledge Allegiance to Kids": Nickelodeon and Citizenship	p. 391
Talking Dirty: Children, Sexual Knowledge, and Television	p. 404
Social Problems and Inequality	p. 419
Editor's Introduction: Are Young People Really Prized in American Society?
Who Are You Kidding? Children, Power, and the Struggle Against Sexual Abuse	p. 421
In Sickness and in Play: Children Coping with Chronic Illness	p. 437
Children of the Incarcerated	p. 452
Working Children	p. 460
Credits	p. 471
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Childhood in American Society A Reader

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