Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Children, parents and power -- Overview of book -- 1 Conceptualising Governmentality -- Governmentality -- The 'governmentalization of the state' -- Liberal governmentality: Governing the social -- Reconfiguring social government -- Conclusion -- 2 Subjects of Government -- Power, knowledge and subjectivity -- Subjects of freedom -- Authoritarian governmentality -- Governing childhood -- Conclusion -- 3 Disciplining Childhood -- The conceptual building blocks of early modern childhood -- Humanism and the rise of the malleable child -- Childhood and religious reform -- Hobbes and the new science -- The government of children and families in early modern states -- Schools and schooling -- Conclusion -- 4 The Gentle Way in Child Government -- Rousseau and Locke -- Romanticism -- Utilitarianism -- Better childhoods, better children, better citizens -- Putting children in their place -- Governing child welfare -- Conclusion -- 5 Governing the Responsible Child -- Re-conceptualising childhood -- From protection to participation -- Agentive childhood -- The Athenian child -- Conclusion -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Index.

Grounded in the Foucauldian literature on governmentality and drawing on a broad range of disciplines, this book examines the government of childhood in the West from the early modern period to the present. The book deals with three key time-periods and examines shifts in the conceptualization and regulation of childhood and child-rearing.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2025. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.

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