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Re: Truth, Knowledge, Power
karl h schwerin (schwerin@UNM.EDU)
Mon, 22 Apr 1996 09:43:15 -0600
On Sun, 21 Apr 1996, m_c_004b@frank.mtsu.edu wrote:
> On Sun, 21 Apr 1996, Read, Dwight ANTHRO wrote:
> >
> > Eleanor Macoby of Stanford commented "There's been this kind of suspicion
> > until now that day care is somehow contrary to family values. I think we
> > need to recognize that day care is a family value. It's a part of family
> > life now." (I won't comment on the illogicality of that statement.) So this
>
> --Maybe Im just dense (don't address that please, :)) but I don't see why
> this statement is illogical.
>
> Carolyn
> MTSU
Carolyn -
I think the operative word is "now." When in the past was 'impersonal'
daycare an institutional feature of any society? In most traditional
societies daycare, when it occurred, was commonly performed by members of
the extended family. Only among some elites did such roles exist as
wetnurses, nannies and governesses. So daycare is something new, not
something that is inherent in 'family values.'
What is happening in contemporary society is that daycare is being
provided by unrelated individuals who are doing it as a business rather
than because of reciprocal kin obligations. Think about the implications
of that change in rationale for the provision of daycare.
Karl Schwerin SnailMail: Dept. of Anthropology
Univ. of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM 87131
e-mail: schwerin@unm.edu
There are people who will help you get your basket
on your head because they want to see what is in it.
-- African proverb
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