戦後日本における「子ども」の揺らぎと変容 : 中学校生徒会誌から分析する子どもから見た「子ども」  [in Japanese] Changing Childhood in Postwar Japan : From an Examination of Children's Writings in "Student Council Magazines"  [in Japanese]

This paper examines the changes of "childhood" by analyzing the "childhood" image of children themselves, as they appear in junior high school "Student Council Magazines" from 1956 to 1985. The existing image of "childhood" can be explained as follows : Children are distinguished from adults and, at the same time, are connected to them as adults of the future. Since the 80s, however, there has been a growing recognition that modern-day children have departed from the above image ; some people have even pronounced the "disappearance of childhood." However, this statement seems to go beyond the reality of children, since children still regard themselves as different from adults. This paper begins by following the changes in the meanings that children gave to their age in relation to adults. Until the 60s, the meanings were within the existing image ; distinction from and connection to adults. However, from around 1970, the image of the connection became weak, while the image that children are distinguished from adults became strong. Second, the paper follows the changes in the way children perceive their own peer group. From the beginning, the group was seen as monolithic, with values that were different from those of adults. From around 1970, however, the distinction became so natural for children that they have been unconscious of it, and have come to consider their group as being in an autonomous world. Through these examinations, it is concluded that the new "childhood" has become a kind of closed category, because it lacks the connection to adults. Living such a "childhood" is not only more attractive but also more repressive than earlier. Although the existing image has missed this new "childhood, " there is a need to grasp and depict it properly.