In Search of the Child 1

本週起： Buckingham’s Book

The Disappearance of Childhood --- by Neil Postman (1994)

After the Death of Childhood - Growing up in the Age of Electronic Media --- David Buckingham (2000)

從實證研究觀點轉向批判研究觀點

In Search of the Child 2

Meaning of Childhood

Childhood has been lost? Children as threatened and endangered

Young prostitutes: TIMEaisa Young soldiers: BBC NEWS

Children as a perceived threat to the rest of us Anti-social, violent (Riots in France: Nov.2005) Sexually precocious

In Search of the Child 3

The Role of Media

Primarily delivering the debate about the change

Frequently blamed for the phenomena Fascinated with the “idea” of childhood

Hollywood: Child-like adult, adult-like child Entertainment business: Toy industries,

Games… Advertising: Nursing supplies…

In Search of the Child 4

The “Children” Issue

Children’s Rights (to be protected) Social Issues & Policies

Tight Censorship Blocking hardware & Software (V-chip, Cyber

Sitter) Polarized Interpretation of Childhood

Childhood as disappearing or dying Growing generation gap in media use

Technology Literacy vs. Parent Control

In Search of the Child 5

Constructing Childhood

Childhood as a Social Construction “The child” is not a natural or universal category Meaning is subjected to constant negotiation In public discourse and in the family, etc.

Law & Social Polices Forms of child-like behaviors Schooling as a formal social institution (regulation) Contradiction in family and school

Exhort children to grow up Deny certain privileges

In Search of the Child 6

Representing Childhood

Primary Discourse Produced by adults for adults Produced by adults for children Rarely by children

Systemic Segregation (since mid-19th century) Age of (parent) consent Compulsory education Eradication of child labor

In Search of the Child 7

Representing Childhood (2)

Childhood as Distinct Stage of Life Innate purity & natural goodness Reflecting adults’ fascination of childhood

(memory) Exposing adult guilt & hypocrisy Adult effort to control over children (argued by

some) Use the idea of “childhood” to secure the status

of “adulthood”

In Search of the Child 8

Childhood, Power, & Ideology

Social & cultural construction – what children should be.

Do children today live according to “our” (Western) conception?

Ideology & Social Movement “politics of substitution”: fears about child → means for

gaining public attention Against homosexuality → Against pedophiles Against pornography → Against child pornography Environmentalism: “Children” & “The Future”

In Search of the Child 9

Ideology of Childhood (p.12)

… the production of of texts for children …to sustain particular ideologies of childhood. Such activities has traditionally been characterized by a complex balance between ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ motivations. On one hand, producers have been strongly informed by the need to protect children from ‘undesirable’ aspects of the adult world. …obviously in the form of sex and violence. On the other hand, there are also strong pedagogical motivations: such texts are frequently… attempt to educate, to provide moral lessons or ‘positive’ image’, and thereby to model forms behavior that are seen to be socially desirable.

In Search of the Child 10

Childhood as Exclusion

Definition & Rights are made mostly by adults Essentially a Matter of Exclusion !?

What they are not What they cannot do Lacking or Incomplete

If Growth as Logical Sequence of Ages & Stages Childhood as a process of becoming Adulthood as a finished state?

In Search of the Child 11

Maturity vs. Immaturity

Adult Qualities Rationality, Morality, Self-Control, ‘Good Manners’?

Childhood Truth, Purity

Adults need to get in touch with their ‘inner child’?

Concerns about ‘Crossing the Line’ Adult Power Access & Control

Maturity, a relative term?

In Search of the Child 12

Closing words… (p. 16)

The attempt to protect children by restricting their access to media is doomed to fail. On the contrary, we now need to pay much closer attention to how we prepare children to deal with these experiences; and in doing so, we need to stop defining them simply in terms of what they lack.