Harry Hendrick shows how broader social changes, including neoliberalism, feminism, the collapse of the social-democratic ideal, and the 'new behaviourism', have led to the rise of the anxious and narcissistic parent, In this provocative history of parenting.
This book is intended to be a guide to the burgeoning literature on the history of childhood. Harry Hendrick reviews the most important debates and main findings of a number of historians on a range of topics including the changing social constructions of childhood, child-parent relations, social policy, schooling, leisure and the thesis that modern childhood is "disappearing." The intention of this concise study is to provide readers with a reliable account of the evolution of some of the most important developments in adult-child relations during the past one hundred years. The author draws his material not only from historians but also from sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists and children's rights activists.