Citation

Rutherford MB. Qual. Sociol. 2009; 32(4): 337-353.

Affiliation

Department of Sociology, Wellesley College, 106 Central St., Wellesley, MA 02481, USA

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s11133-009-9136-2

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Employing qualitative content analysis of 300 child-rearing advice articles from Parents magazine, this paper maps historical changes in the depiction of parental authority and children’s autonomy. This popular text reveals increased autonomy for children in their private self-expression, especially in regard to activities of daily living, personal appearance, and defiance of parents. However, the magazine also portrays children’s diminished public autonomy as revealed through increasingly restricted freedom of movement and substantially delayed acceptance of meaningful responsibilities. An appreciation of popular childrearing advice as a measure of individualistic cultural values thus requires an understanding of larger social changes that shift attention from public participation toward private self-expression.