Shchelkin A. G. The phenomenon of “childhood” in the Russian artistic consciousness in the XIX and XX centuries against the background of “postmodernity”. Through the eyes of a sociologist. St. Petersburg Sociology Today. 2020. N. 13-14. P. 23-60. DOI: 10.25990 ...

Abstract

It is known that the attitude towards a child in society as a child, as well as understanding of the nature of childhood, is a relatively recent phenomenon by historical standards. At the same time, to realize these two tasks, today’s society seems to have a correspondingly good economic and epistemological resource. However, the problems remain and even get worse. Modern postmodern civilization noticeably and arbitrarily deviates from the classical paradigm of “childhood”, giving way to “new” practices and concepts: “childfree”, “disappearing childhood”, “parental infantilism”, “childhood under the protectorate of adults”, etc. In this regard, the experience of understanding and depicting childhood in serious fi ction — specifically, in Russian prose of the 19th and early 20th centuries, which presents childhood images that are not distorted by the “doubtful uncertainty” (J. Habermas) of the current modernity, should be of interest for “childhood sociology”