Children and Childhood in Western Society Since 1500, 2nd Edition

Studies in Modern History

by Hugh Cunningham

This book investigates the relationship between ideas about childhood and the actual experience of being a child, and assesses how it has changed over the span of five hundred years. Hugh Cunningham tells an engaging story of the development of ideas about childhood from the Renaissance to the present, taking in Locke, Rosseau, Wordsworth and Freud, revealing considerable differences in the way western societites have understood and valued childhood over time. His survey of parent/child relationships uncovers evidence of parental love, care and, in the frequent cases of child death, grief throughout the period, concluding that there was as much continuity as change in the actual relations of children and adults across these five centuries. For undergraduate courses in History of the Family, European Social History, History of Children and Gender History.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, 20th Century, Childrens, Sociology

252 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good general resourcebook on approaches to childhood, but doesn't really offer a unique thesis.

[Fionnuala · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tough one to review because it is an academic book, and I judge those under different criteria because I realise that I am a freak and most people don't sit down and read these things cover to cover for enjoyment. As something to dip into for research or to aid with a class, it would likely work well. Reading it straight-up is different, and I did run in to a few of the academia risks here, mainly that it could be a little dry. However, I've certainly seen worse.

My main criticism here was that parts of the book did not go into the kind of detail I was expecting. Some of it was just straight-up common knowledge, but it would have still been nice to see a little more elaboration. This is also an updated and revised edition, which promised to go into more detail about a topic that was felt to be underdeveloped in previous editions, but to be honest I didn't think it made much of a difference. The chapter on this expanded topic – on the subject of cruelty to children over the ages – was pretty short and choppy, and did stand out as an obvious later addition. It was one of the weaker areas of the book, which is a shame, because this is an area where I think there would be the most misconception, and a lot of solid sources thanks to the rise of children's welfare groups in the Victorian period.

There was still a lot of useful and interesting information in here, though! I found the parts about parental grief particularly touching – there's a long-standing belief that parents didn't love their children as much back in the day, because child mortality was so high that parents just didn't bother bonding with their child until there was a higher chance that the child would survive; there's even that ridiculous rumour that Victorian parents wouldn't even bother to name their child until it was two years old because of this. This book illustrates beautifully just how false and inhumane this assumption is, and provides some very touching accounts to prove it.

[Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for a university class. I really enjoyed Cunningham’s style and felt like the points were really easy to follow.

[Roberto Yoed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of course the capitalist class are going to be the only ones who defend child exploitation.

[Marina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chiaro ed esaustivo. Ottimo.

[Yupa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dunque dunque... libro da dividere in due parti.
La prima parla dell'infanzia sino al XVII-XVIII secolo, e ti fa capire che per quel periodo praticamente non se ne sa quasi nulla, e ogni storico ne approfitta per rigirarsi la frittata a suo favore, tenendo più in vista gli interessi odierni che non i fatti passati. In ogni caso è utile per conoscere teorie concorrenti a quella classica dell'Ariés, che ancora troppi prendono per ovvia e inoppugnabile.
La seconda parte è sui tempi più vicini a noi, e questa è parecchio interessante, perché mostra come certe idee sull'infanzia che, in positivo o in negativo, le immaginiamo di ieri, in realtà sono frutto di movimenti secolari.
In ogni caso il libro è quasi unicamente compilativo, e l'autore non mostra chissà quali capacità penetrative e interpretativa. Però, al pari di altri libri simili, è sempre utilizzabile come punto di partenza per scoprire altri volumi, scavando nella bibliografia.
In ogni caso l'autore, tra le righe (ma neanche tanto tra le righe...), sa mettere in discussione alcuni dogmi dei tempi più recenti, quali il divieto di ogni forma di lavoro sotto una certa età, la segregazione tra mondo adulto e mondo infantile, l'idealizzazione estrema di quest'ultimo, dogmi spacciati come naturali, di cui il libro mostra le matrici storici ed economiche. Anche per questo merita un minimo plauso, anche se, personalmente, avrei preferito un approccio molto più "militante" alla questione...

[Saroon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 if there is a half star to give here :)
a good historical dose on the topic. but that's about it. didn't see a great strong argument to be proven or discussed. i don't know. maybe because it wasn't what i was looking for or hoping the book would be about.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very Scholarly.

[Ivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intresting development of the Linda Pollock research and theory about the lack of sufficient proof on child rearing problems in the 1500-1800.

[Sue Lyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for anyone interested in the history of childhood. Also a series on BBC Radio4.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 if there is a half star to give here :)
a good historical dose on the topic. but that's about it. didn't see a great strong argument to be proven or discussed. i don't know. maybe because it wasn't what i was looking for or hoping the book would be about.