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Childhood and Society: An Introduction to the Sociology of Childhood. Michael Wyness. 2006. New York: Palgrave MacMillan. 268 pages. Hardcover $95.00; paperback $33.95.
While previous sociological approaches have often ignored children, seeing them as apprentice adults or considering their subordinate social status as natural due to children's biological immaturity, the "new" sociology of childhood has questioned these assumptions. Childhood and Society: An Introduction to the Sociology of Childhood by Michael Wyness provides a valuable introduction for graduation students and scholars to these developments within the sociology of childhood.
While the book purports to be an introduction to the sociology of childhood, it is an introduction for the advanced student of sociology. The book is highly theoretical and assumes that the reader is familiar with traditional approaches to sociology. The book is of special value because it is written by a British sociologist and may introduce American scholars to the rich work being produced in the United Kingdom. Because Wyness incorporates both American and British scholars, his work provides a valuable summary of the sociology of childhood.
There are several key themes that guide Wyness's book. The first theme is that childhood is socially constructed. Wyness argues that we must sever the link between biology and childhood. The diversity in historical and crosscultural experiences of children reveals that childhood is a social product, rooted in a culture's ideas and social practices, and not the biological immaturity of children. In other words, like gender, childhood is socially contingent. A second theme of Wyness's book is a critique of the way that most sociological approaches deny children social ontology. That is, children are often constructed as the passive recipients of social forces, with...