A Historical Sociology of Childhood
Developmental Thinking, Categorization and Graphic Visualization

Shows how developments in scientific observation and public policy have transformed our view of childhood.

André Turmel (Author)

9780521705639, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 31 July 2008

376 pages, 7 tables
22.8 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.6 kg

'André Turmel's A Historical Sociology of Childhood is a magisterial work, international in scope, and theoretically sophisticated. Recommend it to your students, read it to refresh yourself on the strengths of postmodernism.' www.h-net.org

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.

Introduction
1. Children in the collective
2. Graphs, charts and tabulations: the textual inscription of children
3. Social technologies: regulation and resistance
4. The normal child: translation and circulation
5. Developmental thinking as a cognitive form
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Child & developmental psychology [JMC], Sociology: family & relationships [JHBK], Social theory [JHBA], History of ideas [JFCX]