The Disappearance of ChildhoodFrom the vogue for nubile models to the explosion in the juvenile crime rate, this modern classic of social history and media traces the precipitous decline of childhood in America today−and the corresponding threat to the notion of adulthood. Deftly marshaling a vast array of historical and demographic research, Neil Postman, author of Technopoly, suggests that childhood is a relatively recent invention, which came into being as the new medium of print imposed divisions between children and adults. But now these divisions are eroding under the barrage of television, which turns the adult secrets of sex and violence into popular entertainment and pitches both news and advertising at the intellectual level of ten-year-olds. Informative, alarming, and aphorisitc, The Disappearance of Childhood is a triumph of history and prophecy. |
Contents
When There Were No Children | 3 |
The Printing Press and the New Adult | 20 |
The Incunabula of Childhood | 37 |
Copyright | |
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adult world alphabet American Ariès became become behavior believe Bugsy Malone called capacity Carl Sagan Chapter child crime civilization classes communication concept of childhood course created culture decline deMause different from adults disappearance of childhood effect Eisenstein electric Elizabeth Eisenstein Erasmus example fact film Greek Harold Innis human idea of childhood important incunabula information environment intellectual invention J. H. Plumb Judy Blume language Literacy and Education literate logic Lola Falana Marshall McLuhan means medieval medium Middle Ages mind miniature adults modern Moral Majority mystery nature NEIL POSTMAN nurturing one's Parable parents person Pinchbeck and Hewitt political printing press programs psychological question readers revealed Rousseau secrets sense Sesame Street sexual shame sixteenth century social artifact social literacy story structure Suzanne Somers tele telegraph television things tion tradition viewers word writing young youth