Global Changes in Children's Lives

Compares the nature of childhood in four representative societies differing in their subsistence activities.

This Element compares the nature of childhood in four representative societies differing in their subsistence activities: bands of Australian hunter-gatherers, Tibetan nomadic pastoralists, peasants and farmers residing in Maya villages and towns, and South Korean students growing up in a digital information society.This Element compares the nature of childhood in four representative societies differing in their subsistence activities: bands of Australian hunter-gatherers, Tibetan nomadic pastoralists, peasants and farmers residing in Maya villages and towns, and South Korean students growing up in a digital information society. In addition, the Element traces a variety of intertwined global changes that have led to sharply reduced child mortality rates, shrinking family sizes, contested gender roles, increased marriage ages, long-term enrollment of children (especially girls in educational institutions), and the formation of 'glocal' identities.