戦後日本における「子ども」の揺らぎと変容

中学校生徒会誌から分析する子どもから見た「子ども」

抄録

This paper examines the changes of “childhood” by analyzing the “childhood” image of children themselves, as they appear in junior high school “Student Council Magazines” from 1956 to 1985. The existing image of “childhood” can beexplained as follows: Children are distinguished from adults and, at the sametime, are connected to them as adults of the future. Since the 80s, however, therehas been a growing recognition that modern-day children have departed fromthe above image; some people have even pronounced the “disappearance ofchildhood.” However, this statement seems to go beyond the reality of children, since children still regard themselves as different from adults.
This paper begins by following the changes in the meanings that childrengave to their age in relation to adults. Until the 60s, the meanings were withinthe existing image; distinction from and connection to adults. However, fromaround 1970, the image of the connection became weak, while the image thatchildren are distinguished from adults became strong.
Second, the paper follows the changes in the way children perceive theirown peer group. From the beginning, the group was seen as monolithic, withvalues that were different from those of adults. From around 1970, however, thedistinction became so natural for children that they have been unconscious of it, and have come to consider their group as being in an autonomous world.
Through these examinations, it is concluded that the new “childhood” hasbecome a kind of closed category, because it lacks the connection to adults.Living such a “childhood” is not only more attractive but also more repressivethan earlier. Although the existing image has missed this new “childhood, ” thereis a need to grasp and depict it properly.