Synopses & Reviews
In this landmark book, sociologist Viviana Zelizer traces the emergence of the modern child, at once economically "useless" and emotionally "priceless," from the late 1800s to the 1930s. Having established laws removing many children from the marketplace, turn-of-the-century America was discovering new, sentimental criteria to determine a child's monetary worth. The heightened emotional status of children resulted, for example, in the legal justification of children's life insurance policies and in large damages awarded by courts to their parents in the event of death. A vivid account of changing attitudes toward children, this book dramatically illustrates the limits of economic views of life that ignore the pervasive role of social, cultural, emotional, and moral factors in our marketplace world.
Review
"[Zelizer's book] is an imaginative work on an important topic, which will surely find an appreciative audience among historians."--Nancy Tomes, Reviews in American History
Review
"[The] argument about the future of childhood will go on, and it must now include the facts, point of view, and even taxonomy brought forward in Pricing the Priceless Child."--Neil Postman, The Washington Post
Review
[The] argument about the future of childhood will go on, and it must now include the facts, point of view, and even taxonomy brought forward in Pricing the Priceless Child. Neil Postman
Review
[Zelizer's book] is an imaginative work on an important topic, which will surely find an appreciative audience among historians. The Washington Post
Synopsis
In this landmark book, sociologist Viviana Zelizer traces the emergence of the modern child, at once economically "useless" and emotionally "priceless," from the late 1800s to the 1930s. Having established laws removing many children from the marketplace, turn-of-the-century America was discovering new, sentimental criteria to determine a child's monetary worth. The heightened emotional status of children resulted, for example, in the legal justification of children's life insurance policies and in large damages awarded by courts to their parents in the event of death. A vivid account of changing attitudes toward children, this book dramatically illustrates the limits of economic views of life that ignore the pervasive role of social, cultural, emotional, and moral factors in our marketplace world.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [229]-266) and index.
Table of Contents
| Preface (1994) | |
| Acknowledgments | |
| Introduction | 3 |
1 | From Mobs to Memorials: The Sacralization of Child Life | 22 |
2 | From Useful to Useless: Moral Conflict Over Child Labor | 56 |
3 | From Child Labor to Child Work: Redefining the Economic World of Children | 73 |
4 | From a Proper Burial to a Proper Education: The Case of Children's Insurance | 113 |
5 | From Wrongful Death to Wrongful Birth: The Changing Legal Evaluation of Children | 138 |
6 | From Baby Farms to Black-Market Babies: The Changing Market for Children | 169 |
7 | From Useful to Useless and Back to Useful? Emerging Patterns in the Valuation of Children | 208 |
| Notes | 229 |
| Index | 267 |