Innocence, Knowledge and the Construction of Childhood : The Contradictory Nature of Sexuality and Censorship in Childrens Contemporary Lives

English

ISBN: 0415609674

EAN: 9780415609678

Category: Psychology / Developmental / Child/Psychology / Human Sexuality/Political Science / Censorship/

Publisher: Routledge

Release Date: 07/31/2012

Synopsis: This book provides a critical examination of the discourses that underpin the regulation of childrens access to certain knowledge understood as difficult knowledge and highlights the way this regulation contributes to the construction of childhood, to childrens vulnerability, to broader social relationships (including adult-child relations of power), and to the constitution of the good future citizen in developed countries. Through this analysis, the author critically engages with the relationships between childhood, innocence, moral panic, censorship and notions of citizenship. She argues that the regulation of childrens access to particular knowledge largely stems from the social construction of childhood innocenceand the socio-cultural-political values that constitute and define childhood. This book explores how and why the strict regulation of childrens knowledge, often in the name of protectionor in the childs best interest, can ironically, increase childrens prejudice around difference, increase their vulnerability to exploitation and abuse, impact on their health and well being, and undermine their competence as children, as well as their abilities to become competent adolescents and adults.

Innocence, Knowledge and the Construction of Childhood : The Contradictory Nature of Sexuality and Censorship in Childrens Contemporary Lives

Illustrated: Yes

Format: Hardcover

Width: 0.62 inches

Length: 0.93 inches

Weight: 0.0 oz

Pages: 184