A Sociology of Childhood Among Many

The Sociology of Childhood (6th ed.) By William A. Corsaro and Judson G. Everitt (SAGE, 2024) Like many, I first encountered The Sociology of Childhood, then single-authored by Professor William “Big Bill” Corsaro, during my undergraduate years. Its ideas have reverberated with me since—as a practicing pre-school teacher, and, today, as a researcher. I remember vividly the stories of Big Bill and have modeled my ethnographic and pedagogical practice after him: a curious, engaged participant in children's lives. Reviewing this new edition, now also authored by Professor Judson Everitt, was like reuniting with an old friend. It also coincided with my parental leave for our daughter, who is currently in her first 6 months of life. Watching our daughter make her first encounters with the world, the social aspects are not the most striking. Instead, through frequent visits to our local health station, we monitor her development as she makes eye contact (3–6 weeks), gains control of her neck (3–6 months), turns around on her own accord (4–8 months), and so on. Reading The Sociology of Childhood during my parental leave thus provided a valuable reconfirmation that childhood, indeed, is (also) socially conditioned and that children are finely attuned to the social nuances of everyday life, both as active agents affecting social life and as affected by social structures. This double movement has been termed interpretive reproduction and is the central construct and contribution of the volume. To make its central argument—that children “actively contribute to societal preservation (or reproduction) as well as societal change” (p. 3)—the two authors walk us through a breadth of empirical research. It all amounts to a substantial and comprehensive book that will surely remain a fixture in higher education classrooms in the coming years as a primer on childhood as a social phenomenon, and will also be of interest to the symbolic interactionists out there. The book is organized as follows: In Part 1, the authors introduce the general theoretical framework of the book and relevant methodological frameworks of research in the sociological tradition of childhood studies. In Part 2, readers are explained how childhood as a cultural–historical phenomenon has been subject to change and given a deep dive into the social conditions of childhood today. Here, the American context is primary, but the authors also make comparisons across other contexts. Part 3 is the real meat of the book, featuring plentiful detailed ethnographic descriptions of childhoods as they are enacted in the USA, Western Europe, Australia, and, to a lesser degree, non-Western countries—both today and in the past. Finally, the authors adopt a macro perspective to address the many challenges children face in society today. They conclude by making a personal plea to improve children's political and interactional conditions to thrive. All in all, the volume showcases a real depth of reading, features impressive reviews of historically interesting childhood research, and includes numerous new studies that have been added since the previous edition. The sixth edition continues to admirably and courageously dwell in the details of ethnographic research—evidently closest to the authors' hearts—and shows the nuts and bolts of children's social interaction. In the age of qualitative and quantitative meta-reviews that aim to find the lowest common denominators in the name of “evidence,” the authors' deliberate decision to linger in the seemingly trivial and pedestrian is refreshing. Pages and pages of tooth fairies, toddlers' “little chairs routine,” and older children's entrance rituals in play piece by piece build a larger theoretical argument and demonstrate the strength of ethnographic case studies to increase our understanding of childhood. I know many symbolic interactionists will appreciate these close-up snapshots from children's everyday lives. The authors also show how biases are evident in current research: we still know comparatively little about how many issues play out among children other than the Western, able-bodied, neurotypical, and so on. The studies cited—especially the ethnographic case studies—offer forceful support for the authors' thesis of interpretive reproduction. In one telling parenthesis after recounting yet another case, the authors, by now appearing tired of reminding the readers, still reiterate: “Again, the adult model was appropriated, not simply internalized” (p. 125). No reader should be in doubt about the robustness of the thesis. However, after encountering numerous empirical examples, I find myself wishing for empirical research that not only supports the theory but also adds depth to the issues at hand—perhaps even suggesting new conceptual and analytical avenues for research. For a book with a stated aim of explicating new approaches to childhood that “reconsider, challenge, refine, and even transform traditional lay and theoretical approaches to children and childhood” (p. 5–6), it is perplexing that the authors have not included more studies from new theoretical directions in the sociology of childhood. In the introduction, the authors position their approach against deterministic (functionalism and socialization) and constructivist (Piaget and Vygotsky) models. However, aside from revisiting and learning from debates of the last century, I question the relevance of positioning a contribution solely against these models in the contemporary sociological landscape. Their approach of focusing on “how children negotiate, share, and create culture with adults and each other” (p. 15) today represents the standard, mainstream state of affairs in sociological childhood research, not the novel, fresh approach frequently posited by the authors. For example, participation is a key term in the book: children participate with adults and peers to shape and be shaped by culture. While participation is a relevant conceptual tool, especially compared to the concepts of less dynamic models, it can also be a narrow focus, as it often seems limited to communicative interactions, primarily verbal. In one section, infants are discussed as on the verge of participation: “Over time, because of this as-if attitude [of adults ascribing intention to random movement], infants quickly move from limited to full participation in cultural routines” (p. 16). Limited? While intentionality rarely seems to be present in the first weeks, I have never encountered another individual with as strong an effect on me and our family as our baby Klara: our “cultural routines” will never be the same. By focusing exclusively on communicative interactions where participants “make meaning” together, such understandings are lost. To keep new editions of The Sociology of Childhood relevant, I suggest including more supplements, critical assessments, or challenges to Corsaro's approach. Sadly, new editions read increasingly dated and would benefit from more theoretical conversational partners. The empirical support for the thesis is strong, and it is fair to pick sides. Still, the authors do not sufficiently recognize that their approach represents a sociology of childhood among many. The Sociology of Childhood has, for the past five single-authored editions, been written in the first-person singular—in the voice of Big Bill. Now in its sixth edition and co-authored with Professor Judson Everitt, the book has been changed into a more passive third-person singular voice (and, at times, the first-person plural). While the content remains, I cannot help but wonder if something vital is lost in this seemingly minor—and very understandable, considering the co-authorship—stylistic change. In previous editions, Big Bill's stories from the field acted as breaks in the text and made the book dynamic and enjoyable to read. The generous and frequent mentions of “William Corsaro” and his research in the new edition, however, make less sense as he is no longer a central figure in childhood studies—the bulk of the fieldwork cited is 30–50 years old. Furthermore, sub-par proofreading has led to many instances where the first-person singular narrator from previous editions remains, and a few instances where the third-person plural is used too liberally and unintentionally assigns Everitt author status of Corsaro's studies. Confusing! Finally, in its sixth edition, there is no denying the robustness and longevity of The Sociology of Childhood. So why is the physical book, which costs 129 USD through the SAGE website, given such a halfhearted design treatment by one of the top publishers in an industry boasting record profit margins? A cheap stock photo adorns the cover, and the content is printed on low-quality paper with a generic textbook typeset and format. This essential, thorough, and historically important volume deserves better. Reviewing The Sociology of Childhood is indeed like reuniting with a childhood friend. While it has been fun to relive old times with him, and his charm and wit remain, I find that my friend has not changed much at all; his stories grow stale, the jokes predictable. I wonder if he might need to meet some new people? Kenneth Pettersen is a researcher at the Department of Teacher Education and School Research at the University of Oslo in Norway. His research examines the new conditions for young children's play with new media technologies.