David F Lancy Libros

How are children raised in different cultures? What is the role of children in society? How are families and communities structured around them? Now available in a revised edition, this book sets out to answer these questions, and argues that our common understandings about children are narrowly culture-bound. Enriched with anecdotes from ethnography and the daily media, the book examines family structure, reproduction, profiles of children's caretakers within family or community, their treatment at different ages, their play, work, schooling, and transition to adulthood. The result is a nuanced and credible picture of childhood in different cultures, past and present. Organised developmentally, moving from infancy through to adolescence and early adulthood, this new edition reviews and catalogues the findings of over 100 years of anthropological scholarship dealing with childhood and adolescence, drawing on over 750 newly added sources, and engaging with newly emerging issues relevant to the world of childhood today.

Introduction: leave the kids alone; 2. Culture and infancy; 3. Questions about infant attachment; 4. Children playing and learning; 5. Protection vs. suppression; 6. Going to school; 7. The consequences of raising 'unique individuals'; 8. Summary and speculation; 9. The back story; Selected sources.

Focusing on the often-overlooked role of children in various cultures, this book challenges the dominant WEIRD perspective in childhood studies. It highlights the significance of children's contributions to family economies throughout history, emphasizing their labor as a critical aspect of their development and identity. By synthesizing diverse anthropological research, it explores two main themes: the learning processes involved in work and the relationship between children's growth and their roles as workers, aiming to broaden understanding in the field.