Home Literary Studies 1 Discord at Home
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

1 Discord at Home

Become an author with De Gruyter Brill
Explore this Subject How to publish with us
Political Anxiety in Golden Age Children's Classics and Their Contemporary Adaptations
This chapter is in the book Political Anxiety in Golden Age Children's Classics and Their Contemporary Adaptations
1Discord at HomeDecadesofscholarshiphave demonstratedthat‘the’familyand therolesas-signedto its individualmembers arenotof biologicalessence.JudithButler’sGenderTrouble(1990) showshowcultural constructscan,andshouldbe, decon-structed.Butlerunderstands‘gender’as therhetoricalandvisualmeansbywhich‘sex’is establishedas“prediscursive”,“priorto culture”and“apoliticallyneutral surfaceon whichcultureacts”(Butler2007:10, 50).Thatlabelslike‘mas-culinity’or‘femininity’appear to be natural, is aresultofinstitutionalpractices,performativelanguageand ritualisedbehaviour (Butler2007:25f., 34,45. It isthisfantasyof a“pre-existingsubject”which criticsareto exposeas an“effectof discursivepractices”(Butler2007: 24,195).InanalogytoButler’sdeconstruc-tionof‘genderedidentity’,several culturalhistoriansandsociologistshaveshownthatthediscursive mechanismsusedto describe(or prescribe)‘mothers’,‘fathers’and‘children’arehistoricallyand culturallyvariable(Ariès1975;Mintz1983; Zelizer1985; Rowbotham1989;Coontz199;Wallace1995;Stearns2003;Gil-lis 2008;Glitz2009;Grenby2010;Fass2011;Jenks2015) andfrequently instru-mentalisedto advocatepoliticalchange(Samuels 1986;Rowbotham1989;Davin1997). Sincepredominantideasabout‘maternity’,‘paternity’or‘child-hood’evolve through dynamicprocessesofnegotiation, theyare oftenincoher-entandmayevencontradicteachother.Tostudy‘the’familyand therolesit as-signsto its individualmembersthusmeansto lookatthe ways in whichdifferentideologiesoverlapandcontest eachotherat oneparticularmomentin time(Be-derman1995:7).In thecourseof theeighteenthcentury, bureaucrats,doctors,lawyers andfactoryownersacquirednewpublicroles,yet thesocialadvancementoftheeducated andfinanciallysounddidnotautomaticallygiverise to acollectiveidentity.Atthe beginningof thenineteenthcentury,the term‘middleclasses’¹⁵subsumedall thosewhowereneitherholdersof large amountsofproperty,in-heritorsof substantialwealth or partof theworkingclasses(Rowbotham1989:203). Onlybythe endof thecenturyit designated aculturalmovement,led byindividualswhosharedmoralideals,behavioural standardsandapoliticalagenda(Hobsbawm1989:11). Thischangeinmeaningcanbe attributedto acli-mateof socialturmoil,whichincreasedthe demand forclassconsciousness(Hobsbawm1989:174;McClintock1995:46; Davin1997: 131).Forthosewholivedinmetropolitaneras,the IndustrialRevolutionhadgeneratedseriousprob-Thepresentstudyusesthepluralformto acknowledgethe socioeconomicandculturaldif-ferencesamongthosewhoconsidered themselvestobepart of thisgroup.https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110742763-003
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston

1Discord at HomeDecadesofscholarshiphave demonstratedthat‘the’familyand therolesas-signedto its individualmembers arenotof biologicalessence.JudithButler’sGenderTrouble(1990) showshowcultural constructscan,andshouldbe, decon-structed.Butlerunderstands‘gender’as therhetoricalandvisualmeansbywhich‘sex’is establishedas“prediscursive”,“priorto culture”and“apoliticallyneutral surfaceon whichcultureacts”(Butler2007:10, 50).Thatlabelslike‘mas-culinity’or‘femininity’appear to be natural, is aresultofinstitutionalpractices,performativelanguageand ritualisedbehaviour (Butler2007:25f., 34,45. It isthisfantasyof a“pre-existingsubject”which criticsareto exposeas an“effectof discursivepractices”(Butler2007: 24,195).InanalogytoButler’sdeconstruc-tionof‘genderedidentity’,several culturalhistoriansandsociologistshaveshownthatthediscursive mechanismsusedto describe(or prescribe)‘mothers’,‘fathers’and‘children’arehistoricallyand culturallyvariable(Ariès1975;Mintz1983; Zelizer1985; Rowbotham1989;Coontz199;Wallace1995;Stearns2003;Gil-lis 2008;Glitz2009;Grenby2010;Fass2011;Jenks2015) andfrequently instru-mentalisedto advocatepoliticalchange(Samuels 1986;Rowbotham1989;Davin1997). Sincepredominantideasabout‘maternity’,‘paternity’or‘child-hood’evolve through dynamicprocessesofnegotiation, theyare oftenincoher-entandmayevencontradicteachother.Tostudy‘the’familyand therolesit as-signsto its individualmembersthusmeansto lookatthe ways in whichdifferentideologiesoverlapandcontest eachotherat oneparticularmomentin time(Be-derman1995:7).In thecourseof theeighteenthcentury, bureaucrats,doctors,lawyers andfactoryownersacquirednewpublicroles,yet thesocialadvancementoftheeducated andfinanciallysounddidnotautomaticallygiverise to acollectiveidentity.Atthe beginningof thenineteenthcentury,the term‘middleclasses’¹⁵subsumedall thosewhowereneitherholdersof large amountsofproperty,in-heritorsof substantialwealth or partof theworkingclasses(Rowbotham1989:203). Onlybythe endof thecenturyit designated aculturalmovement,led byindividualswhosharedmoralideals,behavioural standardsandapoliticalagenda(Hobsbawm1989:11). Thischangeinmeaningcanbe attributedto acli-mateof socialturmoil,whichincreasedthe demand forclassconsciousness(Hobsbawm1989:174;McClintock1995:46; Davin1997: 131).Forthosewholivedinmetropolitaneras,the IndustrialRevolutionhadgeneratedseriousprob-Thepresentstudyusesthepluralformto acknowledgethe socioeconomicandculturaldif-ferencesamongthosewhoconsidered themselvestobepart of thisgroup.https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110742763-003
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Acknowledgements V
  3. Contents VII
  4. Introduction 1
  5. 1 Discord at Home 22
  6. 2 Troublesome Otherness 107
  7. 3 Guilty Pleasures 193
  8. Conclusion 269
  9. Works Cited 277
  10. Index 290
Readers are also interested in:
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110742763-003

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Acknowledgements V
  3. Contents VII
  4. Introduction 1
  5. 1 Discord at Home 22
  6. 2 Troublesome Otherness 107
  7. 3 Guilty Pleasures 193
  8. Conclusion 269
  9. Works Cited 277
  10. Index 290
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 23.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110742763-003/html?licenseType=restricted&srsltid=AfmBOopboelbxURxE-wxI7MkKa_jnz9j6RskNi9mKRWJgv-kaVlw1ecV
Scroll to top button