'Das Paradies der Kindheit': disciplinary styles of education and the conditionality of happiness

In: Diskurs Kindheits- und Jugendforschung: Discourse : Journal of Childhood and Adolescence Research, Band 6, Heft 3, S. 299-308

Abstract

"The article takes the recent (re-)emergence of punitive concepts as a starting point to reflect on the relation between the notion of childhood as a happy phase of life and disciplinary styles of education. While the two ideas seem incommensurable at first glance, several interconnections can be found in a historical perspective. The example of the 'Zeitschrift für Kinderforschung' reveals how romantic notions of childhood were activated between 1896 and 1914 to reproduce the hierarchical structures of Wilhelminian Germany. Moreover, analysis shows that happiness was seen as having a conditional and limited character in relation to children and therefore may also refer to disciplinary concepts of education." (author's abstract)