Historians
on Childhood

Romanticism
Beginning of the 19th century

Government developed welfare state 19th century

Literacy sources -
early-modern childhood

Visual sources
Renaissance/Victorian

Aries (1960)
Most influential historians from the post-war era

16th and 17th century the emergence of the modern family

Aries strongest claim - “Children did not count”

Linda Pollock (1983) totally refuses Aries

Lloyd de Mause (1974) -Nightmare picture of childhood

Christians - childhood constructed as a time of evil and wildness

Puritans (Same view as Christians)

John Locke (1962) was completely opposed to the views of the Christians and Puritans

Rousseau - Romantic philosopher from the 18th century - childhood is a time of innocence