An Age to Work: Working-Class Childhood in Third Republic Paris

The French Third Republic attempted to carve out childhood as a distinct legal and social category in the final decades of the nineteenth century, by expanding access to education, regulating child labor, and developing child welfare programs. However, these policies also reproduced inequalities in the experience of childhood, as they reinforced class and gender-based divisions within childhood. An Age to Work by Miranda Sachs considers the role of the welfare state in reinforcing these divisions, as agents of the welfare state played a crucial role in standardizing the path from childhood to the workforce and enforcing age-based rules. The book also examines how the laboring classes envisioned and experienced childhood, and how they mobilized the welfare state to ensure their offspring grew up to be productive.

Format: Hardback
Length: 208 pages
Publication date: 14 September 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc

In the final decades of the nineteenth century, the French Third Republic embarked on a remarkable endeavor to establish childhood as a distinct legal and social category. Prior to this, working-class girls and boys had been integrated into the workforce alongside adults, blurring the lines between childhood and adulthood. Concerned about the well-being of future citizens, lawmakers took decisive action to expand access to education, regulate child labor, and develop comprehensive child welfare programs. Their goal was to distinguish the youthful worker from the adult worker and the juvenile delinquent from the adult criminal. To achieve this, they implemented policies that emphasized age segregation, directing working-class youths to specialized institutions such as vocational schools or juvenile prisons. These policies sought to define childhood as a universal stage of life, recognizing its unique needs and vulnerabilities.

However, it is important to note that these policies also reproduced inequalities in the experience of childhood. In her book "An Age to Work," Miranda Sachs delves into the role of the welfare state in perpetuating class and gender-based divisions within childhood. She argues that agents of the welfare state, including child labor inspectors and social workers, played a pivotal role in shaping the trajectory from childhood to the workforce. By enforcing age-based rules, such as child labor laws, they aimed to protect working-class children from exploitation. However, they also imposed strict productivity standards and enforced gender-specific labor practices, further marginalizing certain groups of children.

An Age to Work also takes us into the streets and apartments of working-class Paris, providing a firsthand account of how the laboring classes envisioned and experienced childhood. While working-class parents continued to view childhood as a more fluid category, they agreed with state actors that their offspring should grow up to be productive members of society. They mobilized the welfare state to ensure this outcome, leveraging its resources to provide support and opportunities for their children's development.

Through an in-depth interrogation of these diverse perspectives, An Age to Work sheds light on the complex interplay between the welfare state, class, and gender in shaping childhood experiences. It reveals that the same welfare system that aimed to provide social protection and support also perpetuated existing inequalities and marginalized certain groups of children. This book serves as a valuable reminder of the need for ongoing efforts to address these issues and create a more equitable and inclusive society for all children.

Weight: 502g
Dimension: 244 x 162 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780197638453