Gilles Brougere - Professor of Education Sciences; University of Paris-Nord, Paris, France
From the article: "It may seem strange, on two counts, to speak of childhood and sociology
in the same breath. Firstly, the toy is more commonly studied in relation to
the child’s psychology and secondly the sociology of the child is noticeable
for its absence, especially in France. The result is that the toy tends to be
studied as a child’s tool, an instrument in its development, incorporated in
the individual dynamics which enable the child to emerge from childhood!
Our purpose here is, in a sense, quite the opposite: we wish to
apprehend how the toy leads the child to be a child, to affirm itself socially
and culturally as such, to see how it contributes to producing the childhood of
our societies. To this end - and despite the paucity of the literature in this
field - we need to approach the subject from a sociological and not a
psychological point of view.
The sociology of childhood (to which I hope to contribute through this
address) has as yet been little explored, interest being most marked in
England. We shall use three different ways of considering the social dimension
of the toy as a vehicle for advancing a synthesis of different works, including
our own, but more particularly for proposing a programme which, we hope, will
form the basis of future work."
Artigo completo aqui
