ABSTRACT
Childhood is a unique social world, one that is cut off from, yet a part of, the adult, taken-for-granted world of everyday life. Children are a fact of the human condition, and all societies must ultimately address the question of childhood socialization. That is, “how will these raw products called infants and children be transformed into workable human beings who will have a human nature suitable to the society at hand?” Phrasing the question thusly, we can argue that there is nothing intrinsic to the object called child that would make it more or less human-like. Children, like adults, are social productions. Some societies don’t have a concept of childhood (American Amish), some have children who remain children for a protracted period of time (the American middle class); others dislike them (Parisian French), and many seclude them in nurseries and private training and boarding schools (Great Britain).
