From Superman to Social Realism
Children's media and Scandinavian childhood
Can children’s media be a source of education and empowerment? Or is the commercial media market a threat to their sense of social and democratic values? Such questions about the appropriateness of children’s media consumption have recurred in public debates throughout the twentieth century. From Superman to Social Realism provides an exciting new approach to the study of children’s media and childhood history, drawing on theories of cross-media consumption and transnational history. Based on extensive Scandinavian source material, it explores public debates about children’s media between 1945 and 1985. Readers are taken on a fascinating journey through debates about superheroes in the 1950s, politicization of children’s media in the 1960s, and about television and social realism in the 1980s. Arguments are firmly contextualized in Scandinavian childhood and welfare state history, an approach that demonstrates why professional and political groups have perceived children’s media as the key to the enculturation of future generations.
Received honourable mention at Nordic History Book Prize (Den nordiske historiebogpris 2017)
Table of Contents
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PrefaceDavid Buckingham | pp. vii–x
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Acknowledgements | pp. xi–xii
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Introduction. Debating children’s media, defining Scandinavian childhood
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Chapter 1. The welfare state’s children and their media consumption | pp. 21–42
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Chapter 2. Finding the right solution: The establishment’s countermoves | pp. 43–56
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Chapter 3. The 1960s: A time of change and challenge | pp. 57–75
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Chapter 4. Revision of the appropriate | pp. 77–96
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Chapter 5. Defining children’s needs and wants | pp. 97–108
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Chapter 6. Turning inwards: ‘Children’s culture’ and the support of a true childhood | pp. 109–124
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Chapter 7. Navigating children through a new media landscape | pp. 125–143
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Conclusion. Understanding past debates about children and media
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Bibliography
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Appendix 1
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Appendix 1
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Appendix 2
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Appendix 3
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Appendix 4
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Index | pp. 187–188
Cited by (8)
Cited by eight other publications
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