Examines children as creative and critical thinkers who shape society
even as it shapes them
Every major political and social dispute of the twentieth century has
been fought on the backs of our children, from the economic reforms of
the progressive era through the social readjustments of civil rights era
and on to the current explosion of anxieties about everything from the
national debt to the digital revolution. Far from noncombatants whom we
seek to protect from the contamination posed by adult knowledge,
children form the very basis on which we fight over the nature and
values of our society, and over our hopes and fears for the future.
Unfortunately, our understanding of childhood and children has not kept
pace with their crucial and rapidly changing roles in our culture.
Pulling together a range of different thinkers who have rethought the
myths of childhood innocence, The Children's Culture Reader develops a
profile of children as creative and critical thinkers who shape society
even as it shapes them. Representing a range of thinking from history,
psychology, anthropology, sociology, economics, women's studies,
literature, and media studies, The Children's Culture Reader focuses
on issues of parent-child relations, child labor, education, play, and
especially the relationship of children to mass media and consumer
culture. The contributors include Martha Wolfenstein, Philippe Aries,
Jacqueline Rose, James Kincaid, Lynn Spigel, Valerie Walkerdine, Ellen
Seiter, Annette Kuhn, Eve Sedgwick, Henry Giroux, and Nancy
Scheper-Hughes.
Including a groundbreaking introduction by the editor and a sourcebook
section which excerpts a range of material from popular magazines to
child rearing guides from the past 75 years, The Children's Culture
Reader will propel our understanding of children and childhood into the
next century.
