I’d like to read a book about childrens’ role in society. Like how their roles have changed over generations (for example pre-child-labor laws versus today), how and when marketing became aimed at kids, how much influence kids had on television, radio and movies. Maybe some interesting facts about kids in society from the dawn of time til now.
I haven’t been successful in finding any books like this via Google searches. I get essays or history books for kids.
Can anyone recommend anything? I’d most like to read a US-centric book (because I have personal experience of being a kid in the US) but if there is something more general I’d be interested too.
I have two suggestions, but they’re both not exactly what you’re looking for. Free-Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy; some of it is kind of how-to and self-helpy, but she also has some sensible insights about how helicopter parenting has evolved.
And Our Kids by Robert Putnam. It’s about the changing role of class in society, the opportunity gap, and has case-studies following lots of different families. It focuses on the change from the 1950s to today.
A landmark sociology text is Pricing the Priceless Child by Viviana Zelizer. It “traces the evolution in Americans’ and Europeans’ treatment of young children . . . it was first published in 1985, and it has become a signature work for its record of how the meaning of childhood changed over time”