Children without Childhood - Proletarianization of Children and Its Implications

Abstract

Ariès's famous book Centuries of childhood (1962), has influenced the widely acknowledge view that the concept of childhood is a social and cultural construction. Cross-cultural and historical researches have asserted that the idea of childhood has varied across different cultures and epochs thus belying the universal conceptualizations of childhood. Hermeneutical readings of historical and sociological texts have encouraged me to construct the notion that there are children who live out their lives without childhood -both in the past and in the present. In addition to this I deconstruct the notion of "universal childhood" and make the following assertions: that in the medieval period childhood as we understand it today may not have existed; that childhood could be said to be a modern invention; that in the postmodern childhood is fast disappearing. I argue that in the wake of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution, two contrasting trends emerged regarding children, viz. the notion of child centeredness (among the emerging middle classes), and increasing proletarianization of children (among the lower classes). The 20 th century has seen a reduction in child labour due to legislations regarding children, compulsory schooling and the Welfare state. Despite this, today there are millions of children living without childhood. In the 21 st century, there are one billion children still living in conditions of poverty resulting from neo-liberal policies and the unequal World order. I further argue that recovering childhood is insidiously connected as much with structural changes as economic ideologies and collective legislations.

Intersections Between Western and Indian Childhoods

“…It may be added here that only some of the rural and urban, middle and upper class child enjoy the privileged and protected world of schooling in India. My recent article Children without Childhood -Proletarianization of Children and its Implication [30] documents poverty and destitution as the major cause of child-labour which in turn results in lower school attendance and higher dropout rates and exists into the 21st century. The 1998 national census of India estimated the total number of child labourers between the ages 4 to 15, to be at 12.6 million, out of a total child population of 253 million [31].…”

Pupils With Intellectual Disabilities and Service to Education. The Specifics of Special Education System in Romania

“…6 / 2022 ISSN 2559-2033 ISSN-L 2559-2033 www.researchandeducation.ro 66 organizations campaigning for their rights. In this respect, the second half of the 20th century was one during which important steps were taken in terms of international policies to improve legislation, increase the welfare of children, and make school attendance compulsory (Meynert, 2017).…”