This book is a tribute to the relevance of the sociology of childhood, and an acknowledgement of the fruitfulness of a historical sociology of developmental thinking. It argues forcefully that the latter became the predominant way of thinking and acting with relation to the child in western societies and, certainly, beyond. The analysis arises from a critical stance with regard to the positions provided by both psychology's perspectives and socialization enquiries. Arriving at the end of our journey in the historical sociology of developmental thinking, the main line of argument of this volume must be reasserted. The final remarks, however, will assume that the outcomes derived from developmental thinking's leading position can arguably be an overture to a purposeful shift in the childhood collective.

The argument

In the course of the analysis, I maintained that childhood is a crucial condition for sociological theory to be as general – a totality – and constructive as possible. The point of departure relates to the scientific investigation of children which started to observe, measure, weigh and describe them: their social inscription was hence provided largely by recording devices such as graphs, charts and tabulations. Along the way it is suggested that a novel child figure is carried forward by the activity of measurement, classification and codification via diverse social technologies working to put into operation standardized variables and developmental benchmarks for monitoring children.