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'Where are the parents?' Parental responsibility in the 1960s and 2010s

'Where are the parents?' Parental responsibility in the 1960s and 2010s
'Where are the parents?' Parental responsibility in the 1960s and 2010s
In this paper I will outline the way that the immediate post-war past has become mobilized in dominant ideas about the state of parenting and children’s upbringing in contemporary Britain, with the claim that the last fifty years or so have seen deterioration in parenting skills. I will assess these claims through an exploratory analysis of parents bringing up children drawing on in-depth, archived data from class British community studies carried out in the 1960s, attempting to provide insights into the nature and extent of social change in parenting practices. In particular, I will focus on ideas about parental responsibility in terms of knowing where your children are to highlight the different understandings of children and their welfare needs in the past. By today’s standards the parenting norms and practices that are revealed in the data from some of the classic, well-regarded community studies of the 1960s would likely be condemned as irresponsible, personally damaging, and in some cases criminal. Particularly noticeable is the absence of moralized discussions of parental liability that are so central to contemporary social commentary
Edwards, Rosalind
e43912c0-f149-4457-81a9-9c4e00a4bb42
Edwards, Rosalind
e43912c0-f149-4457-81a9-9c4e00a4bb42

Edwards, Rosalind (2012) 'Where are the parents?' Parental responsibility in the 1960s and 2010s. Centre for Criminology and Sociology Seminar, London, United Kingdom. 31 Oct 2012.

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Other)

Abstract

In this paper I will outline the way that the immediate post-war past has become mobilized in dominant ideas about the state of parenting and children’s upbringing in contemporary Britain, with the claim that the last fifty years or so have seen deterioration in parenting skills. I will assess these claims through an exploratory analysis of parents bringing up children drawing on in-depth, archived data from class British community studies carried out in the 1960s, attempting to provide insights into the nature and extent of social change in parenting practices. In particular, I will focus on ideas about parental responsibility in terms of knowing where your children are to highlight the different understandings of children and their welfare needs in the past. By today’s standards the parenting norms and practices that are revealed in the data from some of the classic, well-regarded community studies of the 1960s would likely be condemned as irresponsible, personally damaging, and in some cases criminal. Particularly noticeable is the absence of moralized discussions of parental liability that are so central to contemporary social commentary

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More information

Published date: 31 October 2012
Additional Information: Funded by ESRC: Historical Comparative Analysis of Family and Parenting: A Feasibility Study Across Sources and Timeframes (RES-000-22-3337)
Venue - Dates: Centre for Criminology and Sociology Seminar, London, United Kingdom, 2012-10-31 - 2012-10-31
Organisations: Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 346528
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/346528
PURE UUID: 5e01845f-9113-43bf-95ad-8492f608776f
ORCID for Rosalind Edwards: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3512-9029

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 03 Jan 2013 13:43
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:37

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