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RETHINKING THE SOCIOLOGY OF CHILDHOOD 187

beliefs, and oral traditions, there may be a for example, found an ally in the new
dimension exclusive to the child’ (Hardman, childhood experts for the optimization of
1973: 87). But the identification of a distinct their children’s chances as self-maximizing
field for the study of childhood began to take individuals in an ever-changing modern
off roughly two decades ago (Alanen, 1988; world.
Jenks, 1982; Lee, 1982; Synnott, 1983; Second, childhood had a particular function
Thorne, 1987) and is still unfolding in rela- in class relations. The construction of a
tion to the organization of sociological distinct sphere of childhood, isolated from
research. In the United Kingdom this stream the labour market and protected from the
of sociological thought has been called ‘the worst excesses of urban, industrial society,
new sociology of childhood’ (James and contributed to the social success of the chil-
Prout, (1997 [1990]), although one could dren of the bourgeoisie. From its beginnings
argue about whether there was ever an ‘old’ in early modernity until today, a construction
sociology of childhood, since until the 1980s and maintenance of a ‘correct childhood’
children were more or less the province of made an important contribution to the real-
developmental psychology and education, ization of the status aspirations of, first the
and in sociology would generally be sub- middle class, and gradually the ‘respectable’
sumed within studies of the family, socializa- working class (Budde, 1994; de Coninck-
tion, and youth. Smith, 1997; Schlumbohm, 1980; Tanner,
A central role has been played by French 1998). The competitive dynamics of the
historian Phillippe Ariès’ 1960 book L’enfant ongoing construction of childhood can be
et la vie familiale sous l’Ancien Régime, pub- seen in the constant tension between a
lished in English two years later as Centuries ‘proper’ childhood and a deficient one, with
4
of Childhood. Although there have been particular groups – the lower working class,
extensive critiques of his method and inter- migrant groups, in countries like Australia
pretation of the evidence (e.g., Cunningham, Indigenous families – being identified as
1995; Pollock, 1983), Ariès denaturalized generating inadequate childhoods requiring
childhood by outlining how children have some sort of intervention (van Krieken, 1992,
been understood and treated differently in 1999a, 1999b, 2003).
different historical periods. In many respects Third, the question of changing relations
the emergence of a distinct sociology of of power and authority between adults and
childhood can also usefully be understood as children has led many scholars towards the
an ongoing intellectual wrestling match with concept of a ‘generational order’ in which
the concept of ‘socialization’ (Alanen, 1988: childhood is seen as having a social-structural
57–61), which dominated social scientific character similar to class, race, or gender. As
approaches to the study of childhood until Leena Alanen put it:
the 1980s and framed the sociological Hence childhood, too, is a relational concept:
approach to children entirely in terms of their childhood only exists in relation to adulthood. …
‘becoming’ adult and as ‘productions’ of the This leads to the suggestions that parallel to a
family and the school (Alanen, 1988, 1989; ‘gender agenda’ we can also imagine a ‘genera-
tional agenda’ being at work – a particular social
James and Prout, 1997 [1990]; Lee, 1998;
order that organizes children’s relations to the
Qvortrup, 1993, 1995; Zeiher 1996). world in a systematic way, allocates them positions
The historical emergence of a conception from which to act and a view and knowledge
of childhood as ‘socially constructed’ had the about themselves and their social relations.
following three features related to the inter- (Alanen, 1994: 37)
play between competition, conflict, and In one sense every generational order is one
cooperation. First, childhood became a ter- of conflict, or at least potential conflict, to the
rain across which various aspects of the three extent that there is a power relation between
processes were played out. The bourgeoisie, adults and children. However,childhood