The conception of childhood in the 1980s Visual analysis

Abstract

The history of education in the post-1945 period is the subject of many researchers, but they tend to focus on the 1950s and 1960s. The aim of this research is to unpack a possible narrative of the 1980s concept of childhood by exploring visual sources. The aim of the study is to provide a contribution to an analytical understanding of the recent period. The visual sources mentioned are mainly posters and card calendars, which are analysed through a complex methodological investigation. The methodology combines previous researches in visual sociology and iconography-iconology. In the case of children’s periodicals, I am assisted by research on the concept of childhood from the 1950s (Kéri, 2002, 2008) and the 60s-80s (Darvai, 2011; Géczi, 2010; Géczi, & Darvai, 2010), as well as iconography-iconology (Endrődy-Nagy, 2010, 2015, 2017; Géczi, 2008; Somogyvári, 2012, 2015; Támba, 2020) and visual sociology (Sztompka, 2009). In order to select the sample, a deeper knowledge of the political, social and historical context of the period was necessary. The results showed that, in the case of the visual sources studied, propagandistic tendencies and elements of conformity to expectations were more evident at the beginning of the decade, while secondary meanings were also clearly discernible in all cases. As the decade drew to a close, the concept of childhood as meeting and conforming to socialist expectations, as represented in the triad of movement life - sport and - school life, were transformed into a more free, open and more lively child, symbolically embraced by the idealised, protective mother. What makes the research relevant is that the children of the period are now young parents, many of them raising primary school or pre-school children. The research can contribute to a deeper understanding of the narrative of the 1980s concept of childhood, thereby enriching the research on the history of children in Hungary and broadening the range of visual sources that can be included in the research.