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The Institutionalisation of ‘TongNian’ and ‘childhood’ in China and Britain: Exploring Cautious Comparisons
Author(s) -
Ribbens McCarthy Jane,
Guo Yu,
Phoenix Ann,
Xu Xiaoli,
Knight Abigail
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
children and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-0860
pISSN - 0951-0605
DOI - 10.1111/chso.12166
Subject(s) - institutionalisation , china , mandarin chinese , sociology , work (physics) , gender studies , social science , political science , linguistics , law , mechanical engineering , philosophy , engineering
This article engages with the question of how theorisation of the social construction of childhood can be applied across cultural contexts, taking China and Britain as examples. The paper draws on collaborative dialogue between scholars from the People's Republic of China and Britain, and literatures from both Anglophone and Mandarin sources. It takes forward emergent work on theorising childhood from diverse global perspectives by focusing on the institutionalisation of childhood in these countries, with particular reference to language, conceptualisation and legal frameworks relating to chronological age.