An Analysis of Philippe Aries's Centuries of Childhood by Eva... - 9781912128815

An Analysis of Philippe Aries's Centuries of ChildhoodAuthor(s): Eva-Marie Prag, Joseph Tendler\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Macat International Limited, United Kingdom\nImprint: Macat International Limited\nISBN-13: 9781912128815, 978-1912128815\nSynopsis\nA critical analysis of Centuries of Childhood, in which the French historian Philippe Aries offers a fundamentally fresh interpretation of what childhood is and what the institution means for society at large. Aries's core idea is that childhood, as we understand it today a special time that requires special efforts and resources is an invention of the 19th century, and that before that date children were in effect thought of as small adults. This led him to a re-evaluation of sources that suggested a second, crucial, conclusion: the idea that these competing visions of childhood were the products of two very different conceptions of human society.\n\nAn earlier, essentially communal, social ideal, Aries wrote, had been suppla.