Past Events
- IoI in association with ESRC Festival of Social Science at the Bath Literature Festival
- Consuming children – the battle for children’s minds
- Venue: Bath Literature Festival
- Date: March 6, 2009
- Time: 16:30
- Tickets: £7 / £5 (conc.)
- Booking: Bath Festivals Box Office - 01225 463362
Book online at www.bathlitfest.org.uk
General booking open from Monday 5 January.
We have never been so obsessed with children’s safety. When not fearful of predatory abusers, we worry about corporate advertising “grooming our children for profit”. Is our children’s innocence really being corrupted by what the Archbishop of Canterbury has dubbed ‘the growing commercialisation of childhood’, or is this just panic mongering? Are we over-estimating the power of advertising, and underestimating the resilience of today’s techno-savvy kids, and their parents’ capacity to resist ‘pester power’? Are we creating a generation of over-protected, cotton-wool kids?
Speakers include:
- Dr Helene Guldberg, author Reclaiming Childhood – freedom and play in an age of fear; co-founder and Director, online current affairs publication spiked; lecturer in developmental psychology with the Open University and the US study abroad centres, CAPA and IES
- Dr Agnes Nairn, co-author (with Ed Mayo) Consumer Kids – How big business is grooming our children for profit; academic researcher and writer based in Bath.
- Sue Palmer, author of best-selling book Toxic Childhood: how modern life is damaging our children… and what we can do about it and Detoxing Childhood, a practical handbook for parents.
- Chair: Shirley Dent, Communications Director, Institute of Ideas
The ESRC has made available a large number of FREE tickets for school, FE and HE students. Most of these have been already been reserved, so check with the Bath Festivals Box Office for any remaining free tickets.
This event takes place at the Bath Literature Festival and is in association with the ESRC Festival of Social Science.
Readings:
Helene Guldberg's new book, Reclaiming Childhood has received widepread coverage. Read a selection here below:
The mother of all interventions, Helene Guldberg, spiked, 2 Feb 2009
Childhood in Britain, Observer, 1 Feb 2009
'Bullying' can be good for you - leave pupils to sort out spats, says expert, Sarah Harris, Daily Mail, 30 Jan 2009
Britain's children: What ails them?, The Economist, 5 Feb 2009
Just say no to anti-bullying campaigns?, Times Online - School Gate, 2 Feb 2009
Bullying at school can be good for children, according to an academic, Graeme Paton, Daily Telegraph, 30 Jan 2009
Pupils crave chance to branch out alone, Times Education Supplement, 30 Jan 2009
This is a job for the boys, Zoe Williams, Guardian - Comment is free, 21 Jan 2009
Bully for childhood, Mick Hume, spiked, 30 Jan 2009