For those of us who enjoy history, the publication of Bremner's two volumes on the history of children and youth in America' provides enormous satisfaction and pleasure. And yet the skeptic of Santayana says, "But how does that help solve our current problems in social policy?" Featherstone in a review of these volumes gives at least one answer. In the coming post-industrial society the major tension, he says, will be between the present dominant economic view and what others believe will be the greater emphasis on social goals. The history of children and the family "is more deeply rooted in American life than entrepreneurial, economic values. In the coming battles over national priorities and a new social policy, children and their families may be more important as symbols of social values than ever." Reading the history of children may guide us more surely toward these social goals.
Demographic Change and the Family in Japan's Aging Society, and: Family and Social Policy in Japan: Anthropological Approaches (review)