The American child and other cultural inventions.

Abstract

The theme of the child as a cultural invention can be recognized in several intellectual and social occasions. Aries' (1962) commentary on the discovery and transformation of childhood has become common knowledge; there is an agitated sense that American children' are being redefined by the present times (Lasch, 1978); there is a renewed appreciation of the complexity of all our children (Keniston, 1977); and ethnographic and journalistic reports tell us of the marvelous departures from our own ways of seeing children that exist in other lands (Kessen, 197S). In simple fact, we have recently seen a shower of books on childish variety across cultures and across the hierarchies of class and race. We could have just as readily discovered commanding evidence of the shifting nature of childhood by a close look at our own history. Consider just three messages drawn haphazardly from the American past. To the parents of the late 18th century: The first duties of Children are in great measure mechanical: an obedient Child makes a Bow, comes and goes, speaks, or is silent, just as he is bid, before he knows any other Reason for so doing than that he is bid. (Nelson, 1753) Or to our parents and grandparents: The rule that parents should not play with their children may seem hard but it is without doubt a safe one. (West, 1914) Or hear a parent of the 1970s speak of her 6year-old: LuAnn liked the school in California best-the only rules were no chemical additives in the food and no balling in the hallways. (Rothchild & Wolf, 1976) And we cannot escape the implications of an unstable portrait of the child by moving from folk psychology to the professional sort. On the con-Vol. 34, No. 10,815-820 The first form of this article was read as an invited address to Division 7 (Developmental Psychology) of the American Psychological Association during the annual meeting, Toronto, August 1978. Requests for reprints should be sent to

Early childhood development: A question of rights

“…It is now widely accepted that applying scientific method to child development issues is not a straightforward technical process. Researchers contribute to the construction of cultural images of childhood through the process of scientific research, through the questions asked, settings and samples studied, methods used, interpretations offered, and especially through the theories offered (Kessen, 1979;Bradley, 1989;Boyden, 1990;Burman, 1994Burman, , 1996Morss, 1996;Hwang et al, 1996;Woodhead, 1999a). While developmental psychology has been the dominant framework for understanding children's development, social constructionist critiques of conventional theorising have become increasingly influential, and have in turn contributed to alternative frameworks for understanding early childhood, notably the new social studies of childhood, or Childhood Studies, with its emphasis on childhood as a social and cultural construction, understanding children's worlds and recognising children's agency, which resonates with respect for children's rights.…”

Crianças vivendo com HIV e Casas de Apoio em São Paulo: cultura, experiências e contexto domiciliar

“…Lembra que Ariès já tinha apontado, em 1962, que a noção de criança e infância se transformam historicamente 10 . Essa transformação, aponta Kessen, não se deve ao conhecimento incompleto da ciência, mas sim a uma invenção cultural, na qual concebemos a criança como sozinha, como ser em desenvolvimento completamente individual, ou seja, sem reconhecer que o desenvolvimento é, afinal, uma construção social (Kessen, 1979).…”

Historical Reframing of Childhood

“…Developmental psychology itself can be characterised as "… a peculiar invention that moves with the tidal sweeps of the larger culture." (Kessen, 1993; see also Kessen, 1979).…”