University of Winchester

Education Studies, Education Studies (Early Childhood)

ES3217: The Loss of Childhood

Thursday, 12.00 - 2.00, HJB 104.

Module Tutors: Derek Bunyard and Emile Bojesen

  Return to module list.

Last updated 15.12.11.

Introduction

This is a mandatory module for the Early Childhood degree pathway within Education Studies; it is mainly delivered as a series of formal lectures, although there will also be some seminar activities.  Usually there will be set readings for each week that ideally should be read after the session unless we ask you to read some passages in advance.  Web pages associated with each week's lecture will normally be attached to the module outline in advance.  They are intended as aids to further work; they are not intended as substitutes for your own lecture notes.

The module follows on from the level 5 compulsory module, Theorising Early Childhood.  There, we used the Nature/Nurture debate to structure your introduction to early childhood theorising.  In this module we use that same body of theory as an initial starting point.  However, in this module your task is to become critical, and so the entire structure is devoted to supporting you in such a way as to make critical thinking about early childhood something that you can all achieve.

As with the previous mandatory module, we have identified a text that will provide you with considerable initial support - but of a partisan kind.  This is Sarah Blaffer Hrdy's book entitled Mother Nature: Natural Selection and the Female of the Species.  Aspects of this text are further developed in a more recent one, Mothers and Others - you are encouraged to read both. Two other texts are also particularly relevant. Donna Haraway's Primate Visions offers more detailed perspectives on the use of primate societies as a guide to human nature, and Maturana & Varela's The Tree of Knowledge offers you a theoretical critique of how the first and second halves of this module might be integrated - but one that is rooted in the thinking being discussed during the first half. (As far as the first half of the module is concerned, we will be building our own account by making references to their chapters 4, 5, 8, and 9.) 

N.B. in general, hand-outs will be provided during the lecture and will be directly referred to. If there is a need for specific reading tasks to be carried out in advance you will be provided with the appropriate material or directed to a resource.

Module Outcomes

This module will ask you to demonstrate in both assignment, and in your coursework,

Assessment:

There are two, both carrying 50% of the marks which are aggregated to give your final overall score for the module.

Assignment 1 - 2000 to 2,500 words. Critique selected aspects of Piaget's or Vygotsky's writings in the light of the evolutionary theories reviewed during the first three weeks.

N.B. it is an expectation of this assignment that in order to gain a pass mark students should demonstrate a clear engagement with the relevant source texts introduced at Level 5.

Assignment 2: an essay of 2000 words:-

You have three choices:-

1) Select one of the following topic areas and critically review the existing literature around it in the light of the Nature/Nurture debate, trying as far as possible to keep your discussion focussed on the early years.

In all cases, view the topic as an area of understanding, rather than a specific curriculum programme.

Topic list: language acquisition (including modern foreign languages) reading and/or writing, mathematical understanding, scientific understanding, technological understanding, historical and geographical understanding, the creative arts, kinaesthetic understanding, moral understanding, inter-personal understanding.

2) It is possible to use the contents of this module for an essay addressing the issue of population control - if this interests you, please discuss the project with either of us.

3) Utilise the developments in sociobiology and philosophy featured in the module’s expansion of the nature/nurture debate in a critique of the assumptions made in the leaked ‘restricted-policy’ document’.

The document can be found here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/interactive/2011/sep/13/leaked-memo-women-coalition-government

Guidance notes for the first option are on the break between week 6 and 7 of the outline, as are those for the third. Please e-mail me and arrange a meeting if you are still unsure how to advance your approach to critical writing.

Submission date: Thursday, week 12 (15th. December) - to be returned by the start of semester 2.

 

Bibliography

Ainsworth, M. and Bowlby, J. (1991) An Ethological Approach to Personality Development American Psychologist (46) pp. 333-341.

Bailey, R. (2005) Liberation Biology: the Scientific and Moral Case for the Biotech Revolution New York: Prometheus Books; a contemporary revisiting of the nature nurture debate.  Chapters 3, 4, and 5 are recommended.

Bainbridge, D. (2003) The X In Sex: How the X Chromosome Controls Our Lives Cam. Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Baron-Cohen, S. (2003)  The Essential Difference: Men, Women, and the Extreme Male Brain London: Allan Lane; Baron-Cohen writes on the basis of his studies on Autism - there are several other books by this author in the library.

Battersby, C. (1998) The Phenomenal Woman: Feminist Metaphysics and the Patterns of Identity Oxford: Polity Press; a philosophical take to put alongside the scientific/biological emphasis in the module.

Bear, G. (2003) Darwin's Children London: Harper Collins; a relevant SF story.

Benatar, D. (1999) The Unbearable Lightness of Bringing into Being The Journal of Applied Philosophy 16 (2) pp. 173-180.

Benn, M. (1998)  Madonna and Child: towards a new politics of motherhood London: Jonathan Cape.

Booth, T. (1997) Exceptional Childhoods: unexpected children London: Family Policy Studies Centre.

Boswell, J. (1988) The Kindness of Strangers: the abandonment of children in Western Europe from late antiquity to the Renaissance New York: Pantheon.

Bowlby, J. (1990) Child Care and the Growth of Love London: Penguin.

Bowlby, J. (1980) Attachment & Loss, Vol. 3; Sadness and Depression London: Hogarth.

Bowlby, J. (1973) Attachment & Loss, Vol. 2; Separation London: Hogarth.

Bowlby, J. (1969) Attachment & Loss, Vol. 1; Attachment London: Hogarth.

Boyd, R. & Silk, J. (2003) How Humans Evolved New York: Norton.

Bretherton, I. (1992) The Origins of Attachment Theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth Developmental Psychology 28 pp. 759-775.

Briener, S. (1990) Slaughter of the Innocents: child abuse through the ages and today New York: Plenum.

Brock, D. (2005) Shaping Future Children: parental rights and societal issues The Journal of Applied Philosophy 13 (4) pp. 377-398.

Browne, K. (1998) Divided Labours: an evolutionary view of women at work London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson; useful check on Hrdy's concluding remarks.

Burroughs, E. R. (2003 [1914] ) Tarzan of the Apes New York: The Modern Library; particularly chapter 7.

Butler, J. ed. (1992) Feminists Theorize the Political London: Routledge; see 'The abortion question and the death of Man.'

Caporale, L. H. (2003) Darwin in the Genome: Molecular Strategies in Biological Evolution New York: McGraw-Hill; a very readable account of evolution working at the smallest scale - and very helpful to review in relation to Dawkins.

Carter, P. ed. (1995) Feminism, Breasts and Breast-Feeding Basingstoke: Macmillan.

Cartright, J. (2000) Evolution and Human Behaviour Basingstoke: Palgrave; textbook reviews of Darwin, Spencer, sociobiology and evolutionary psychology.  Contains useful comparisons with Blaffer Hrdy's conclusions about human female sexual strategies and nurturing practices.

Caspar, M. (1998) The Making of the Unborn Patient New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

Chodorov, N. (1978) The Reproduction of Mothering London: University of California Press. (reading for week 11, see ch. 2.)

Christense, P. ed. (2003) Children in the City: home, neighbourhood, and community London: Routledge/Falmer; useful to read alongside Judith Rich-Harris - see below.

Clarke, J. (2004) 'Dissolving the Public Realm? The logics and limits of neo-liberalism' Journal of Social Policy 33 (1) pp. 27-48.

Clutton-Brock, T. (1991) The Evolution of Parental Care Princeton N.J.: Princeton University Press.

Corby, R. (2005) The Metaphysics of Apes Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; very useful overview of some of the issues which relate to Blaffer-Hrdy's (and others) use of primate models as a way of explaining aspects of human behaviour.  This is also a particularly good source of exemplification, as the author provides many examples in which supposedly scientific matters fact are deeply influenced by prevailing prejudices about the nature of humanity and the 'animals'.  Used alongside Haraway's Primate Visions, this comes highly recommended - see also Erica Fudge's book, below.

Crichton, M. (2006) Next London: HarperCollins; a fictional account of what a post-modern family might be like if the genetic revolution really takes off!  The images presented at the end of the text are partially consistent with Haraway.

Cunningham, H. (2006) The Invention of Childhood London: BBC Books; see chapters 2 and 3 for your first assignment, and the last two chapters for your final one.

Dally, A. (1982) Inventing Motherhood: the consequences of an ideal London:.

Daly, M. (1998) The Truth About Cinderella: a Darwinian view of parental love London: Wiedenfeld & Nicolson; recommended for the second assignment.

Dawkins, R. (1978) The Selfish Gene London: Paladin; although we are not tackling genetics in detail, you do need to understand some of the influential ideas currently being employed.  Dawkins is highly significant in this respect and this is the one that really started it all off.

Dawkins, R. (1988) The Blind Watchmaker London: Penguin - another version of the same, only this focuses more on the overall process of evolution from the perspective of functional perfection.

Donzelot, J. (1997) The Policing of Families Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.  Relate this to your reading of Foucault.

Downey, G. & Dumit, J. eds. (1997) Cyborgs and Citadels Santa Fe: School of American Research Press.

Dubar, R. & Knight, C. (1999) The Evolution of Culture: an interdisciplinary view Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press; a number of interesting perspectives to put alongside Hrdy's reliance on comparative ethology and speculations about the Pleistocene environment.

Eberhard, W. (1996) Female Control: sexual selection by cryptic female choice Princeton: New Jersey, Princeton University Press.  A biological study of the phenomenon which Hrdy places at the centre of her theorising.

Elliott, C. (2003) Better Than Well: American medicine meets the American way of life New York: Norton; particularly useful - see the section entitled 'bringing up baby'.

Everingham, C. (1994) Motherhood and Modernity: an Investigation into the Rational Dimension of Motherhood Buckingham: Open University Press.

Farquhar, D. (1996) The Other Machine: discourse and reproductive technologies New York: Routledge; balanced account of the potentials and the pit-falls.

Finlayson, C. (2004) Neanderthals and Modern Humans Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  This is a contemporary assessment of the scientific evidence.  Although aspects of this text will be difficult to follow because of technical terms, it is worth persisting with it if you want to get a strong hold on the underpinning environmental contexts for the evolution of our species.  Finlayson offers a more secure basis for stating what is within our nature - including social structures - than the comparative examples which Hrdy relies upon.  This is one of a number of texts which might feature in an FYP or Independent Study on the subject.

Franklin, S. & Ragoné, H. eds. (1998) Reproducing Reproduction: Kinship, Power, and Technological Innovation Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Fudge, E. (2006) Brutal Reasoning: animals, rationality, and humanity in early modern England Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Fudge, E., Gilbert, R. & Wiseman, S. (eds.) (1999) At the Borders of the Human: beasts, bodies, and natural philosophy in the early modern period Basingstoke: Macmillan; interesting for context studies of Blaffer Hrdy on her use of apes for comparison, and also for Donna Haraway's survey of primate studies over the last century.

Gathorne-Hardy, J. (1993) The Rise and Fall of the British Nanny London: Weidenfelf & Nicolson; an historical account of the Victorian age's response to the idea of allo-parents - but note the changed context of need.

Geary, D. (1999) Male, Female: the evolution of human sex differences Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association; chapters 4, 5, 6, and 9 are particularly relevant.

Gerhardt, S. (2004) Why Love Matters Hove: Brunner-Routledge.

Ginsburg, F. & Lowenhaupt-tsing, A. eds. (1990) Uncertain Terms: negotiating gender in American culture Beacon Press: Boston; see 'Constructing amniocentesis: maternal and medical discourses,' 'The "Word-made" Flesh: the disembodiment of gender in the abortion debate,' 'Monster stories: women charged with perinatal endangerment,' and 'The ideology of reproduction: the reproduction of ideology.'

Ginsburg, F. & Rapp, R. eds. (1995) Conceiving the New World Order: the global politics of reproduction Berkeley: University of California Press.

Goldberg, S. (2000) Attachment and Development London: Arnold. (reading for week 8)

Golombok, S. (2000) Parenting: what really counts? London: Routledge; useful for the second assignment.

Griffiths, E. (2006) Medea London: Routledge; if the imagery of witchcraft, child-murder, and a wronged 'everywoman' is what you need ... .

Hayles, N. K. (1999) How We Became PostHuman Chicago: University of Chicago Press; a very useful collection of essays which have all been written after Haraway's 'A Manifesto for Cyborgs'.  Hayles also references the Macy Conferences which feature in Haraway's Primate Visions.

Hager, L. (ed.) (1997) Women in Human Evolution Routledge, London - useful to put alongside the analysis offered by Haraway in her Primate Visions.

Haraway, D. (1991) Simians, Cyborgs, and Women; the Reinvention of Nature London: Free Association Books.

Haraway, D. (1992) Primate Visions: gender, race, and nature in the world of modern science London: Verso.

Haraway, D. (1997) Modest_Witness@Second_Millennium.  FemaleMan_Meets_Oncomouse: feminism and technoscience London: Routledge.

Haraway, D. ([1976] 2004) Crystals, Fabrics, and Fields: metaphors that shape embryos Berkeley: North Atlantic Books; the first and last chapters give a critical overview of the metaphorisation of biology, and hence its processes of story telling.  Specific examples are given through a study of three embryologists.  At various points the text is critical of explanations that only feature genetics.  This may be useful for deep context referencing for the last assignment.

Harding, S. (1991) Whose Science?  Whose Knowledge? Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Hart, D. & Sussman, R. (2005) Man the Hunted: primates, predators, and human evolution New York: Westview Press; although this does not sink Blaffer-Hrdy's boat, it certainly rocks it!

Hart, W. A. (1993) 'Children are not meant to be studied' Journal of Philosophy of Education 27 (1) pp. 17-26.

Hayles, K. (1999) How We became Post-Human Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Hays, S. (1996) The Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood London: Yale University Press.

Herbert, M. (1996) Bonding: infantile and parental attachments Leicester: BPS Books.

Highmore, B. ed. (2002) The Everyday Life Reader London: Routledge; good survey of ways in which the everyday has been theorised - may be found helpful at the start of the second assignment when you are thinking about which approach to adopt.

Holmes, J. (1993) John Bowlby and Attachment Theory London: Routledge.

Houdebine, L-M, (2003) Animal Transgenesis and Cloning Chichester: John Wiley & Son; concise but clear introduction to the subject area - see chapter 4 for a particularly fine review of the ethical boundaries for these techniques.

Hrdy, S. (1999) The Woman That Never Evolved  Cam. Mass.: Harvard University Press; this uses Hrdy's principal grounding in primatology to draw a contrast between what is suggested by the evidence of comparative study and reflections on the special case of our own species in the light of feminist aspirations for greater equality, etc. 

Hrdy, S. (1999) Mother Nature: natural selection and the female of the species London: Chatto & Windus.  The selected principal text for this module - read it!

Jackson, L. (2000) Child Sexual Abuse in Victorian England London: Routledge.

Jensen, A-M. ed. (2003) Children and the Changing Family: between transformation and negotiation London: Routledge/Falmer.

Kaplan, E. (1992) Motherhood and Representation: the mother in popular culture and melodrama London: Routledge.

Keating, M. & Curtis, P. 'Does the cost of children make it more sensible for parents to stay at home?' The Guardian, 11 February, 2006.

Kincaid, J. (1998) Erotic Innocence: the Culture of Child Molesting Durham N.C.: Duke University Press.

Kirkup, G. et al. eds. (2000) The Gendered Cyborg: a reader London: Routledge/OUP; well worth considering any of Part Three in relation to your second assignment.

Knight, C. (1991) Blood Relations: menstruation and the origins of culture New Haven: Yale University Press; an extended analysis of the social implications of concealed human oestrus for the family and the social group.

Kohn, M. (1999) As We Know It: coming to terms with an evolved mind London: Granta; less detailed than Steven Mithen's After the Ice, but stronger in presenting a case for a particular organisation of  mentality - see the last section on 'benefits'.

Lee, C. ed. (1978) Child Abuse: a reader and source book Milton Keynes: Open University Press - still worth referencing in order to monitor changes in the debate.

Le Guin, U. (2002) The Birthday of the World London: Gollancz; a very useful set of short stories, all involving speculative social formations based on altered versions of humanity.

Levins, R. & Lewontin, R. (1985) The Dialectical Biologist Cam. Mass.: Harvard University Press; a detailed theorisation of the relationships which tend to form around politics, culture, and science conducted through a number of case studies.

Lewontin, R. (2000) The Triple Helix: gene, organism, and environment Cam. Mass. Harvard University Press; the one you should also read alongside Richard Dawkins' Selfish Gene.

Lewontin, R. (1993) Biology as Ideology New York: HarperCollins; if you decide to respond to Blaffer-Hrdy by way of genetics and sociobiology, this is a very useful text.

Mack, D. (1997) The Assault on Parenthood: how our culture undermines the family New York: Simon & Schuster; particularly thought-provoking in relation to the second assignment.

McKibben, B. (2003) Enough: genetic engineering and the end of human nature London: Bloomsbury.

Midgley, M. (2001) Science and Poetry London: Routledge - very useful in relation to the second assignment, particularly the second and third chapters.

Midgley, M. (2004) The Myths We Live By London: Routledge - very useful cultural and historical overview.

Mitchell, J. (1984) Women: The Longest Revolution, London: Virago; especially Part One.

Morgan, E. (2005) Pinker's List New York: Eildon Press.  Extends Blaffer Hrdy's views into a more explicitly political stance.

Morgan, E. (1994) The Descent of the Child London: Souvenir Press - very useful parallel text for Blaffer-Hrdy and her last chapter, 'The New Child', is much stronger than Baffer Hrdy's.

Moss, P. (2004) Sure Start Journal of Education Policy 19 (5) pp. 631-634.

Moss, P. (2002) 'Time to say Goodbye to Early Childhood' Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood 3 (3) pp. 435-438.

Nathanielsz, P. (1996) Life before Birth: the challenge of foetal development New York: Freeman.

Odling-Smee, F., Laland, K. & Feldman, M. (2003) Niche Construction: the neglected process in evolution Princeton: Princeton University Press; whatever you make of Bowlby, this is a much updated and broadened account of a general feature of evolution.  In particular, there are two chapters in the book that consider specifically human forms of niche construction and give a very surprising twist to the Nature-Nurture debate.

Oyama, S., Griffiths, P., & Gray, R. eds. (2001) Cycles of Contingency: developmental systems and evolution.  Cam. Mass.: MIT Press.  Apart from the excellent introduction, you will find here many detailed and critical reviews of evolutionary explanations which favour genetics as sufficient unto itself.  This is part of a consistent approach that is being developed by Oyama and her colleagues - the questioning of genetic determinism - this ties in well with some aspects of Midgley's critique.

Oyama, S. (2000) Evolution's Eye: a systems view of the biology-culture Divide Durham: Duke University Press; as above.

Parry, B. (2004) Trading the Genome New York: Columbia University Press.  A very useful book to browse through in relation to ideas about cloning, genetic diversity, and the cultural transpositions Haraway talks about, i.e., the shift from the biological to the informational, technological, and commercial.

Peel, A. ed. (1996) Marie Stopes: eugenics and the English birth control movement London: Galton Institute

Penn, H. & Randall, V. (2005) 'Childcare Policy and Local Partnerships under Labour' Journal of Social Policy 34 (1) pp. 79-97.

Plumwood, V. (1993) Feminism and the Mastery of Nature London: Routledge.

Popay, J. et al. eds. (1998) Men, Gender Divisions and Welfare London: Routledge

Prout, A. (2005) The Future of Childhood London: RoutledgeFalmer; another sociological perspective to put alongside Jenks et al.

Prout, A. (ed.) (2000) The Body, Childhood, and Society Basingstoke: Palgrave; an interesting collection which uses the theme of embodiment to offer new sociological perspectives on early childhood, the family, and educational practices.

Richardson, A. (2003) Love and Eugenics in the Late Nineteenth Century Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Rich-Harris, J. (1999) The Nurture Assumption: why children turn out the way they do. London: Bloomsbury.

Roach, C. (2003) Mother/Nature: Popular Culture & Environmental Ethics Indiana: Indiana University Press.  Recommended for the second assignment.

Rose, H. & Rose, S. (eds.) (2000) Alas, Poor Darwin: arguments against evolutionary psychology London: Jonathan Cape; does what it says on the 'tin'.

Rothman, B. (1994) The Tentative Pregnancy: amniocentesis and the sexual politics of motherhood, revised edition London: Pandora.

Roughgarden, J. (2004) Evolution's Rainbow: diversity, gender, and sexuality in nature and people Berkeley: University of California Press; her chapter nine offers a critique of Darwin's theory of sexual selection.

Small, M. F. (1998) Our Babies, Ourselves New York: Anchor; an account of how biology and culture shape parenting.

Smith, H. (2005) Parenting for Primates Cam., Mass.: Harvard University Press; recommended alternative and over-lapping set of conclusions about human parenting derived from comparisons with other primates - should be read either before or after Blaffer-Hrdy.

Smith, J. M. (1998) Shaping Life: genes, embryos, and evolution London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson; a clear and short discussion of the two principal theoretical perspectives: genetic determinism and holistic self-organisation.

Soloway, R. (1990) Demography and Degeneration: eugenics and the declining birthrate in Twentieth-Century Britain Chapel Hill NC: North Carolina University Press

Steinberg, D. (1997) Bodies in Glass: genetics, eugenics, embryo ethics Manchester: Manchester University Press; another one for your second assignment.

Studdert-Kennedy, J. & Knight, C. (1999) Approaches to the Evolution of Language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; useful complement to Stephen Pinker's The Language Instinct and helpful in providing more instances of the role of symbolisation in the development of culture.

Taylor-Parker, S., Langer, J. & McKinney, M. (eds.) (2000) Biology, Brains, and Behaviour Santa Fe: School of American Research; technical, but interesting parallels with Blaffer-Hrdy - see chapters 9 and 10.

Trivers, R. (2002) Natural Selection and Social Theory Oxford: Oxford University Press; highly recommended.

Trivers, R. (1974) Parent-Offspring Conflict American Zoologist 14 pp 249-264.

de Waal, F. (2002) The Ape and the Sushi Master London: Penguin; some parallel commentary on Blaffer-Hrdy's use of primate examples.

de Waal, F. (1996) Good Natured: the origins of right and wrong in humans and other animals Cam. Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Warnock, M. (2004) Nature & Mortality London: Continuum; a personal account of her involvement in formulating policy on genetics, human fertilisation and embryology, and inclusive education.

Wheeler, W. (2006) The Whole Creature London: Lawrence and Wishart; this book is here as a compromise - it needed a fiercer editor than it had - but chapters 1, 4, and 5 will be found useful in trying to formulate a materialist response to your second assignment.  Wheeler points to a number of very useful references which will allow more developed responses than she herself is capable of supporting.

Whiten, A. & Byrne, R. (eds.) (1997) Machiavellian Intelligence II: extensions and evaluations Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; a revisiting of arguments put forward earlier in the decade that proved to be highly influential in explaining just what makes human thinking special.  Useful as a source of critique for anything you might want to claim in your second assignment.

Wilkinson, S. (2003) The Exploitation Argument Against Commercial Surrogacy Bioethics 17 (2) pp. 169-187.

Wright, R. (1994)  The Moral Animal: evolutionary psychology and everyday life London: Little, Brown & Co.; a sociobiological explanation of morality which may be useful in the second assignment.  The apparently cynical basis for morality presented here is consistent with Trivers. 

Wyndham, D. (2003) Eugenics in Australia: striving for national fitness London: Galton Institute