Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- one Introduction: scope and argument of the book
- two The conditions for child poverty: context and chronology
- three A fit occupation for children? Children and work
- four Workers of the future: the education of children
- five Discovering child poverty: child poverty and the family to 1945
- six Rediscovering child poverty: child poverty and policy from 1945
- seven Conclusion: child poverty on the agenda
- References
- Index
three - A fit occupation for children? Children and work
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2022
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- one Introduction: scope and argument of the book
- two The conditions for child poverty: context and chronology
- three A fit occupation for children? Children and work
- four Workers of the future: the education of children
- five Discovering child poverty: child poverty and the family to 1945
- six Rediscovering child poverty: child poverty and policy from 1945
- seven Conclusion: child poverty on the agenda
- References
- Index
Summary
It is now widely recognised that the concept of childhood is a social construction rather than a universal absolute, the development of which can be traced historically and which varies across time and space (Archard, 1993; Cunningham, 1995; Hendrick, 1997). This chapter argues that child labour legislation (along with education, discussed in Chapter Four) was critical in establishing a relatively bounded childhood and a privileged status for children – even poor children – which was to make state support and intervention in other areas of child welfare increasingly hard to resist. The legislation was probably based less on the ‘fact’ of child employment than on campaigners’ mobilisation of sentiment around children combined with arguments that operated within the prevailing discourse of liberal individualism and laissezfaire. Nevertheless, the introduction of legislation and the creation of a distinct child population both rendered the ultimate introduction of state educational provision almost inevitable and created a particular constituency for wider poverty research.
What is a child?
The development of a particular notion of childhood as a separate sphere was first explicitly explored in the work of Phillippe Ariès, first published in France in 1960 (Ariès, 1962); and Ariès’ unique contribution continues to be influential despite substantial criticism of some of his specific claims (for example Pollock, 1983; see also discussions in Lavalette and Cunningham, 2002; Heywood, 2001). Following Ariès’ critical intervention, Norbert Elias (1994) famously linked the separation of the child’s and adult’s spheres with the ‘civilising process’; and Lawrence Stone (1977), somewhat contentiously, charted changes in the nature of families and family roles. The historical and contextual specificity of childhood is now widely accepted. As Davin, writing of the beginning of the 20th century, explains,
Childhood, like the family, or marriage, or adolescence or old age, is lived in a cultural and economic context; its character and ideology cannot be assumed…. In any culture or society … childhood is ultimately defined in relation to adulthood. Adults approach or reach adult status by leaving childhood; and frequently their adult authority is confirmed through their control or support of children (or both)…. The duration of that period of dependence and subordination, however, is not fixed (not even by the biological benchmarks of puberty or mature growth), and nor is its content….
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- Information
- Discovering Child PovertyThe Creation of a Policy Agenda from 1800 to the Present, pp. 31 - 44Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2005