Inventing the Child (Children's Literature and Culture)

About this book

Now in paperback Inventing the Child is a highly entertaining humorous and at times acerbic account of what it means to be a child (and a parent) in America at the dawn of the new millennium. J. Zornado explores the history and development of the concept of childhood starting with the works of Calvin Freud and Rousseau and culminating with the modern consumer childhood of Dr. Spock and television. The volume discusses major media depictions of childhood and examines the ways in which parents use different forms of media to swaddle educate and entertain their children. Zornado argues that the stories we tell our children contain the ideologies of the dominant culture - which more often than not promote happiness at all costs materialism as the way to happiness and above all obedience to the dominant order.