The sociology of childhood / William A. Corsaro.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Corsaro, William A.

Series:

Sociology for a new century

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Children.

Physical Description:

xvi, 304 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Thousand Oaks, Calif. : Pine Forge Press, [1997]

Summary:

This volume brings an extraordinary range of theoretical ideas and empirical research to a neglected area of sociology. William A Corsaro shows how children contribute to both social stability and social change through a process of interpretive reproduction. He breaks new ground by stressing the conceptual autonomy of children. Part One reviews traditional approaches to socialization and contrasts them with the author's perspective of interpretive reproduction. The second part places the new sociology of childhood in historical and cultural perspective. The importance of children's peer culture is defined and discussed in Part Three, and the last part considers children as social problems as well as the social problems of children.

Contents:

Social theories of childhood

The structure of childhood and children's interpretive reproductions

Historical views of childhood and children

Social change, families, and children

Children's peer cultures and interpretive reproduction

Sharing and control in initial peer cultures

Conflict and differentiation in the initial peer culture

Preadolescent peer cultures

Children as social problems

The social problems of children

The future of childhood.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [278]-290) and index.

ISBN:

0803990111

OCLC:

35777377