The book Childhood in a Global Perspective is a compelling new book that talks about a unique worldview perception about the lives of children across the world. The book focusses on explaining how the perspective of childhood is being fundamentally reshaped. The author notes that the reshaping of the notions about children are influenced by globalization. The book is based on real events to explain the changes in the beliefs about children. The historical approach is justified through discussing wide ranging happenings for example the effects of war on children, abuse of children through child labor, as well as the activism of young people across the world. The flow of the book has been achieved through focusing on specific themes that shape what the book discuses. One of the themes is about how children are affected by issues like racism, gender based bias, and social classification. The second theme is concerned with how the policies of families affect the behavior of children. Because of the family policies, some families are stereotyped as normal while others are labeled as deviant and they affect children in different ways. The third subject of the book is related to the involvement of children in war and how it is associated with globalization of capitalism and organized crime. The fourth theme is about the role of schools as the right places for governing of childhood.
On the topic of war and children, the book covers some of the renowned warring situations that have ever happened in the history of the world. The book recognizes the fact children has varied effects on kids ranging from their health to their psychological wellbeing. The attributes the effects of war on children to the change in environment after they are displaced together with their family members. The book covers different ways as well as factors that determine the impacts of war on kids.
On the topic of child labor, the book specifies different ways through which the adults use children for provision of labor. A key motivating factor for adults to use kids for labor purposes is the fact that children do not understand the value of money as well as their rights at work. People employ children assign them big tasks and pay them little money. The book applies data from historical events to explain the connections between the issues to children. The book covers all themes through explanations of the experiences of kids. The themes are not listed but rather covered through talking about a number of events that affect the behavior of children as they develop. The book acknowledges the fact that the experiences of children are greatly dependent on the environments in which they stay. Some environments are hostile while others are friendly to kids. Children are also victims of discrimination based on gender, race, and social classes. However, a common notion among people is that children do not understand the social differentiation basing on gender, social classification, and gender. Despite their lack of knowledge concerning the social challenges, children have also been affected by their races, genders, and the backgrounds of the families they come from. The family plays a major role in influencing the behavior pattern of kids. The labeling of the family is also important on how children develop. The book explains that the policies of a family in relation to its strictness on the control of a child’s conduct. In most cases, children from families pigeonholed as deviant always have problems in their behavior. There is a connection between children’s involvement in war and globalization of organized crime and capitalism. The book explains the impacts of war on the life of a child. The most common outcome of war is displacement of populations and exposing kids to experiences that they have never encountered in their lives. In most cases, the experiences of war changes the thinking of kids through instilling certain ideas that kids use for survival. In most cases, the experiences result in organized crimes and globalization of capitalism. The largest part of childhood is spent in school. Schools and places of work act as sites where child behavior is shaped. According to the book, childhood is associated with what happens in schools.
Author’s Interpretation
The author is optimistic about her book and she believes the topics covered are of great importance to its readers. The author believes that using real life examples and presenting the arguments basing on global social issues makes it relevant and helpful to readers across the world. The book is designed to suit the knowledge needs of people with diverse backgrounds and levels of understanding. The material will remain to be of great importance to scholars and students in the field of geography, sociology, development studies, and social policy (Haines-Stiles et al., 2006). The importance of the book is not only limited to learners and scholars in different fields, it is also a valuable companion to practitioners of social work, international development, in addition to any person interested in children matters in the present day world. The author believes that she has invested sufficient time and knowledge to come up with such a great book that is designed to be useful from one generation to another. The content of the book has been simplified through use of common examples in the real world to explain the concepts.
An interpretation that relies on the application of course materials
The book offers a lucid, topical, and relevant exposition of vital issues about present day children as well as childhoods. The book has proved the ability to competently bring together diverse discussions with detailed analyses that make the material relevant, necessary, accessible, and insightful to the different categories of readers. The book Childhood in a Global Perspective is necessary for reading in the present days because it covers things that happen in the modern society. The aspects that are associated with the current childhood are properly incorporated in the book through discussing issues like gender, race, and social class. The material is in line with publications that have been made in the past. In a society like in the United States of America, the issues that the book addresses are common and they affect the growth and development for the American ids. In the US, the discrimination based on gender, race, and social classification are common. The material meets the criteria of being useful since it focusses on occurrences that are common in the society. The assertions of the author particularly on the effects of racism and other social vices are evident in published materials including some that have already been discussed in class. Discrimination is a common issue that affect people in the United States of America. The children that grow up in the American society understands the issue of discrimination based on aspects like race, gender, and the position on the social ladder. The serious elements of the contemporary childhoods have been accommodated in the publication (Birney, 2013). The author also used meaningful ways to deliver the message to the target audiences for instance the discussions of practice and policy. The book does not deviate from its main topic through mixing issues. The book sticks to its core message about the lives and welfares of children across the globe. In addition, the author was also very clear on the explanations of the factors that shape the lives of children and their childhoods. The covered issues cut across the social, cultural, economic, and political ways of life.
Personal Reflection
The book sounds like the best book that has ever covered such a fundamental topic about the lives of children. The library database contains numerous books but I narrowed down my choises to select the book because of different reasons. The main point was that the concepts in the book are derived from our day to day lives and they are well explained by the author. The book has great impact on my previous understanding about kids and their development experience. The book offers satisfying information on the topic. The book is useful for people dealing directly or indirectly with children because it covers plenty information. I recommend the book to scholars and learners that deal with subjects related to children and childhood experiences.
References
Birney, A. M. (2013). Childhood. Place of publication not identified: Theclassics Us.
Haines-Stiles, G., Akuginow, E., Montagnon, P., Chadwick, A., Neary, L., Bronfenbrenner, U. Ambrose Video Publishing. (2006). Childhood. New York, NY: Ambrose Video Pub.
