A historical sociology of childhood : developmental thinking, categorization, and graphic visualization

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Title:

Author:

Turmel, André, 1945-

ISBN:

9780521879774

9780521705639

Personal Author:

Turmel, André, 1945-

Publication Information:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Physical Description:

xii, 362 p. ; 24 cm.

Contents:

Children in the collective -- Graphs, charts and tabulations : the textual inscription of children -- Social technologies: regulation and resistance -- The normal child : translation and circulation -- Developmental thinking as a cognitive form.

Subject Term:

Children -- History.

Child development -- History.

Electronic Access:

Contributor biographical information http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0834/2008015651-b.html
Publisher description http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0834/2008015651-d.html
Table of contents only http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0834/2008015651-t.html

Copies:

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Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Copy	Status
Searching... 1:IIEMSA	1:GEN-BOOK	33168025780020	305.231 T941H 2008	1	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

What constitutes a 'normal' child? Throughout the nineteenth century public health and paediatrics played a leading role in the image and conception of children. By the twentieth century psychology had moved to the forefront, transforming our thinking and understanding. André Turmel investigates these transformations both from the perspective of the scientific observation of children (public hygiene, paediatrics, psychology and education) and from a public policy standpoint (child welfare, health policy, education and compulsory schooling). Using detailed historical accounts from Britain, the USA and France, Turmel studies how historical sequential development and statistical reasoning have led to a concept of what constitutes a 'normal' child and resulted in a form of standardization by which we monitor children. He shows how western society has become a child-centred culture and asks whether we continue to base parenting and teaching on a view of children that is no longer appropriate.