The Boundaries of Touch: A Social History of Twentieth-Century Mainstream United States Ideologies of Adult-Child Touch (2003)
Halley, Jean (Author)
New York, City University of
Ewen, Stuart
Edition Details: Advisor: Ewen, Stuart
Physical Details: 271 pp.
Language: English
In my dissertation, I explore changing ideologies of touch through the twentieth century in the United States, focusing on ideologies surrounding the touching of children by adults. By ideologies of adult-child touch, I mean how people interpret and understand the meaning of adults touching children at different moments in time. I am interested in how ideological interpretations of touch reveal the structures of power in the modern United States. Touch is understood as central to the experience of being human. An interpretative social history of ideologies of adult-child touch will illustrate how the meanings made of this experience, and the social power embedded in the meanings, have changed. Through the twentieth century, controversies have raged over questions of how, when and where it is appropriate to touch children. These controversies include debates over sleeping with babies and children, breastfeeding, and the phenomenon of child sexual abuse. As the authoritative voices and thought on adult-child physical contact changed three times through the twentieth century, I will examine these three ideological periods. The three periods are: one, in the first half of the century, psychological and other social scientific theories of touch, in particular as represented in child rearing literature; two, in the 1960s and 1970s, feminist thought with its radical feminist emphasis on issues of violent touch such as child sexual abuse; and three, in the 1980s and 1990s, changes in the social scientific theories of touch as represented in the child rearing literature.
...MoreDescription “An interpretative social history of ideologies of adult-child touch will illustrate how the meanings made of this experience, and the social power embedded in the meanings, have changed.” (from the abstract) Cited in Diss. Abstr. Int. A 63 (2003): 4495. UMI order no. 3074655.
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