The Ideology of Childhood and the State: Rules Distinguishing Children in National Constitutions, 1870-1970

In the modern world the social role of childhood is increasingly differentiated from adulthood and brought under the jurisdiction of the state. This is not primarily a social organizational process but an institutional or ideological one: the ideological rules of differentiated and state-managed childhood diffuse throughout the global nation-state system regardless of variations among nations in dimensions of organizational development. We show this by coding the constitutions of all nation-states since 1870 for references and rules concerning childhood. Our index summarizing these references rises sharply betaiveen 1870 and 1970. At any point, the index does not vary significantly among rich and poor, neix and old, or central and peripheral states. Ideological rules concerning childhood are weakly (and decreasingly) related to technical development, and strongly (and increasingly) related to the general authority of the state.