Author Description
Between The 1880s And The 1930s, Children Became The Focus Of Unprecedented Scientific And Professional Interest In Modernizing Societies Worldwide, Including In The Russian Empire And Then The Soviet Union. Those Who Claimed Children As Special Objects Of Investigation Were Initially Spread Across A Network Of Imperfectly Professionalized Scholarly And Occupational Groups Based Mostly In The Fields Of Medicine, Education, And Psychology. From Their Various Perspectives, They Made Ambitious Claims About The Contributions That Their Emergent Expertise Made To The Understanding Of, And Intervention In, Human Bio-psycho-social Development. The International Movement That Arose Out Of This Catalyzed The Institutionalization Of New Domains Of Knowledge, Including Developmental And Educational Psychology, Special Needs Education, And Child Psychiatry. Science Of The Child Charts The Evolution Of The Child Science Movement In Russia From The Crimean War To The Second World War. It Is The First Comprehensive History In English Of The Rise And Fall Of This Multidisciplinary Field Across The Late Imperial And Soviet Periods. Drawing On Ideas And Concepts Emanating From A Variety Of Theoretical Domains, The Study Provides New Insights Into The Concerns Of Russia's Professional Intelligentsia With Matters Of Biosocial Reproduction And Investigates The Incorporation Of Scientific Knowledge And Professional Expertise Focused On Child Development Into The Making Of The Welfare/warfare State In The Rapidly Changing Political Landscape Of The Early Soviet Era.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This book investigates the emergence, institutionalization, and eventual decline of the child science movement in Russia during the transition from the late Imperial period to the early Soviet era. Andy Byford, a scholar specializing in Russian cultural and intellectual history, utilizes extensive archival research and professional literature from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He argues that the professionalization of child study was deeply intertwined with the state's evolving needs for social management, linking scientific expertise to the development of the welfare and warfare state. The study examines how diverse practitioners in medicine, psychology, and education sought to define the child as a subject of scientific inquiry to influence national development.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Historical analysis of the child science movement from the Crimean War through the Second World War.
- Examination of the intersection between professional expertise and state-building in Russia.
- Exploration of the development of specialized fields including educational psychology, special needs education, and child psychiatry.
Scope Limits
- The study focuses primarily on the professional and institutional history rather than the lived experiences of children themselves.
- It does not extend its analysis beyond the Second World War.
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Experts recognize this work as a foundational historical account of the multidisciplinary child science movement in the Russian context. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose and the rigorous archival methodology employed by the author to map this complex intellectual history.
Page Count:
312
Publication Date:
2020-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0192558625
ISBN-13:
9780192558626
History
Psychology
Science History
Education
Sociology
Russian History