Parent-Pressure: A History of Parents as Co-consumers of Children’s Media

TY - JOUR

T1 - Parent-Pressure

T2 - A History of Parents as Co-consumers of Children’s Media

AU - Jensen, Helle Strandgaard

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - In this article, I examine change and continuity in conceptions of parental agency in public debates about children’s media consumption in Scandinavia, 1945-1975. During this period, public debates about the various kinds of media products children consumed were dominated by different groups of professionals: first, by teachers and librarians in the mid-fifties and, then, by intellectuals and performing artists in the late sixties. With a radically changed professional hegemony and a shifting media landscape, the role of media in children’s lives was described very differently during the period. However, a strong continuity in the debates was the negative influence parents were seen as having on children’s media consumption due to their lack of insight and interest in the topic. Drawing upon recent works on children’s media, consumption and enculturation, I analyse why the negative description of parents as co-consumers prevailed despite radical changes in views on children’s media consumption. In particular, I examine the shared inter-Scandinavian socio-cultural contexts that structured the changing professional and political groups’ pressure on parents to perform according to their norms and values.

AB - In this article, I examine change and continuity in conceptions of parental agency in public debates about children’s media consumption in Scandinavia, 1945-1975. During this period, public debates about the various kinds of media products children consumed were dominated by different groups of professionals: first, by teachers and librarians in the mid-fifties and, then, by intellectuals and performing artists in the late sixties. With a radically changed professional hegemony and a shifting media landscape, the role of media in children’s lives was described very differently during the period. However, a strong continuity in the debates was the negative influence parents were seen as having on children’s media consumption due to their lack of insight and interest in the topic. Drawing upon recent works on children’s media, consumption and enculturation, I analyse why the negative description of parents as co-consumers prevailed despite radical changes in views on children’s media consumption. In particular, I examine the shared inter-Scandinavian socio-cultural contexts that structured the changing professional and political groups’ pressure on parents to perform according to their norms and values.

U2 - 10.1515/nor-2016-0001

DO - 10.1515/nor-2016-0001

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1403-1108

VL - 37

SP - 29

EP - 42

JO - N O R D I C O M Review

JF - N O R D I C O M Review

IS - 1

ER -