Future Citizens: Cultural and Political Conceptions of Children in Britain, 1930s-1950s
Future Citizens: Cultural and Political Conceptions of Children in Britain, 1930s-1950s
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未来公民：1930 年代至 1950 年代英国儿童的文化和政治观念
DOI：
10.1093/tcbh/hww025
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发表时间：
2016
影响因子：
0.9
通讯作者：
King L
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
King L
这篇文章探讨了儿童在第二次世界大战之前、期间和之后在政治辩论中的地位。它通过对报纸和议会辩论的研究，透彻地分析了在20世纪中期，儿童被概念化为未来的公民、未来的工人、未来的领导人和未来的成年人的方式。它认为，这一思想在关于国家角色和福利国家建设的辩论中非常重要。通过将儿童作为未来的重点，并将他们概念化为未来回报的经济投资，在他们的福利上增加支出是合理的。来自不同政党和背景的政客使用了这种语言，这篇文章展示了这种对儿童的思维方式在有关儿童身体健康、教育、出生率和家庭津贴的政策辩论中所产生的影响。总体而言，它认为，在这一时期，将儿童视为未来的语言有助于为改善儿童福利的措施提供政治空间，并着眼于未来而不是现在，有助于在这一问题上达成跨越政治界限的共识。然而，在这一明显共识的背后是明显的意识形态断层线；理解儿童如何被定位为未来，有助于我们更好地理解福利国家形成过程中存在的分歧和不平等。
This article explores how children were positioned within political debates before, during and after the Second World War. It does thorough analysis of the ways in which children were conceptualized as future citizens, future workers, future leaders and future adults in mid-twentieth-century Britain, through research into newspapers and parliamentary debates. It argues that this thinking was important in debates about the state’s role and the construction of the welfare state. By focusing on children as the future, and conceptualizing them as an economic investment for a future return, greater spending on their welfare could be justified. This language was used by politicians from a variety of political parties and backgrounds, and this article charts the effects such a way of thinking about children had in policy debates about children’s physical health, education, the birth rate and family allowances. Overall, it argues that during this period, this language of children as the future helped provide political space for spending on measures to improve children’s welfare, and focusing on the future rather than the present facilitated consensus on this issue across political boundaries. Yet, behind this apparent consensus were clear ideological faultlines; understanding how children were positioned as the future helps us better understand the divisions and inequalities present from the welfare state's formation.