Studio Photographers and Two Generations of Baby Raising

A society's attitudes and images reflect and influence each
other. This article analyses photographs made by the Gittings
studio (20s and 30s) and by the Brown studio (40s-60s) to show
how child rearing practices of two generations are reflected in
the photographs of their times.The Gittings images represent the
babies alone, with their mother at a distance, while the Brown
images represent the parents with their child in their arms, or
playing with the baby. Two books, very popular in their time,
make the differences in attitudes explicit: John B. Watson's
""Psychological Care of Infant and Child'' (20s), versus
Benjamin Spock's ""Baby and Child Care'' (40s). Watson's book
imposed a regimented, rigid, non-cuddling management of the
baby, while Spock argued that mothering was a full-time job, no
substitutes for the real mother would do, mothers had to be
flexible, and should adapt to the needs of the child (in
accordance to Freud's critique of repressive child rearing
practices). The author believes that study of the archives of
studio photographers has given and will give important insights
into our culture. Unfortunately studio photographers no longer
do family-shots. (English, French summary)


Citaten:
Spock, B.: Baby and Child Care (40s)
Watson, J.B.: Psychological Care of Infant and Child (20s)