'Gifted children' in Britain and the world : elitism and equality since 1945 / Jennifer Crane.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Crane, Jennifer, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gifted children--Great Britain--History.

Gifted children.

Gifted children--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 220 pages)

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, [2025]

Summary:

The idea that a child is intellectually 'gifted' has a social and cultural history. ''Gifted Children' in Britain and the World' analyses that social history at multiple scales, and makes the 'voices' of the 'gifted' young themselves central through examination of their poetry, letters, and life writing.

"The idea that a child is intellectually ‘gifted’ has a social and cultural history. This book analyses that social history at multiple scales, and makes the ‘voices’ of the gifted young themselves central. In daily encounters, those labelled ‘gifted’ sometimes loved this label, and felt special in comparison to peers at school and siblings at home. For others, ‘gifted’ was a silly or embarrassing label, and many questioned the idea of separating off young people in terms of intelligence, as well as specific forms of testing. Ideas of the gifted child also reshaped family lives—parents dedicated time to providing special leisure spaces, running them in their own homes and taking their children significant distances to spend time with others. Voluntary organisations were critical here, as the network through which young people and adults encountered the term, ‘gifted’, and lived and created it relationally. Voluntary organisations, looking to gain attention and visibility, also critically shaped the idea that the gifted young were elites of ‘the future’, central to answering challenges of economic decline, global warfare, or humanitarian aid. The hopes placed on gifted children between the 1960s and the 1990s were often sky high—yet many gifted young still felt that the community ‘wasted’ their talents, and did not support them. This book, then, provides new perspectives on the tensions between elitism and equality in modern Britain. It also offers vivid stories of optimism, hope, disappointment, and criticism, in which young people themselves play a central role"-- Oxford Academic.

Contents:

Everyday encounters with stupidity and intellect, 1944-1962

Emergent voluntary action for gifted children, 1963-1969

Young people’s engagement with gifted spaces, 1970-1987

Making future leaders: Psychology, giftedness, and legacies of eugenics, 1970-1989

Industrial and industrious future elites, 1990-2010

Gifted children saving ‘Europe’ and ‘the world’, 1975-2000.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from home page (Oxford Academic, viewed November 30, 2025).

Other Format:

Print version: Crane, Jennifer. 'Gifted children' in Britain and the world

ISBN:

9780198928881

0198928882

9780198928867

0198928866

9780198928874

0198928874

OCLC:

1467720032

Publisher Number:

CIPO000162932

Access Restriction:

Some versions: Open access versions available from some providers open access