Lost Freedom

The Landscape of the Child and the British Post-War Settlement

Mathew Thomson

First study of the idea of lost childhood freedom; brings together histories of our developing anxiety about the safety of children in the face of traffic, television, and paedophiles.
Provides historical perspective for recent high profile debate over children's well-being, rioting ('feral') children, and the revelations of sexual abuse in 1970s culture (particularly the Savile enquiry).
Casts new light on the nature of the post-war social settlement - one of the central issues in post-war British history
Focus on the neglected history of the 1970s
Uses the subject of children to develop a broader argument about a shift in understanding of landscape and subjectivity in the period

Lost Freedom

The Landscape of the Child and the British Post-War Settlement

Mathew Thomson

Description

Lost Freedom addresses the widespread feeling that there has been a fundamental change in the social life of children in recent decades: the loss of childhood freedom, and in particular, the loss of freedom to roam beyond the safety of home. Mathew Thomson explores this phenomenon, concentrating on the period from the Second World War until the 1970s, and considering the roles of psychological theory, traffic, safety consciousness, anxiety about sexual danger, and television in the erosion of freedom.

Thomson argues that the Second World War has an important place in this story, with war-borne anxieties encouraging an emphasis on the central importance of a landscape of home. War also encouraged the development of specially designed spaces for the cultivation of the child, including the adventure playground, and the virtual landscape of children's television. However, before the 1970s, British children still had much more physical freedom than they do today. Lost Freedom explores why this situation has changed. The volume pays particular attention to the 1970s as a period of transition, and one which saw radical visions of child liberation, but with anxieties about child protection also escalating in response. This is strikingly demonstrated in the story of how the paedophile emerged as a figure of major public concern. Thomson argues that this crisis of concern over child freedom is indicative of some of the broader problems of the social settlements that had been forged out of the Second World War.

Lost Freedom

The Landscape of the Child and the British Post-War Settlement

Mathew Thomson

Introduction
1:The Image of Lost Freedom
2:The Shadow of War
3:Bowlbyism and the Post-War Settlement
4:Television and a Virtual Landscape of the Child
5:Out and About: Traffic, Play, and Safety
6:Sexual Danger and the Age of the Paedophile
7:Radicalisation and Crisis of the Post-War Landscape Settlement
Conclusion

Lost Freedom

The Landscape of the Child and the British Post-War Settlement

Mathew Thomson

Author Information

Mathew Thomson, Reader in History, University of Warwick

Mathew Thomson is a Reader in History at the University of Warwick. He is the author of The Problem of Mental Deficiency (OUP, 1998) and Psychological Subjects (OUP, 2006).

Lost Freedom

The Landscape of the Child and the British Post-War Settlement

Mathew Thomson

Reviews and Awards

"In sum, this is a fascinating, well-researched and insightful contribution to the literature." - Dr Laura King, Reviews in History

"Recommended." - CHOICE

"[A]t its heart the book is a close and convincing examination of the processes that turned the optimism of the post-war settlement into the pessimism that has reigned from the late twentieth century." - Hugh Cunningham, Childhood in the Past: an international journal

"Thomson's book acts as a call to future research in these areas, as well as being a stimulating study in its own right. Its publication has obvious value for historians of childhood, but it also convincingly demonstrates how a study of attitudes and policies towards children can be critical to historians' understanding of modern Britain." - Hester Barron, English Historical Review

"Mathew Thomson has provided a valuable service in offering an analysis that focuses on 'the landscape of the child' ... The book draws attention to some of the key ideas of social scientists about the landscape of the child; Thomson offers an interesting way of understanding more about the way in which the child was seen by sociologists and psychologists." - Jane Lewis, Twentieth Century British History

"Lost Freedom sheds new light on decades that have lacked solid footing in modern British historiography ... Thomson's Lost Freedom will thus appeal not only to scholars working in the histories of children and childhood, but also to those more broadly interested in the history of the welfare state, the politics of psychology, changing meanings of emotion and family life, and the history of modern efforts to secure healthy human development." - Teri Chettiar, Journal of British Studies