Mellom vitenskap og tradisjon. Kunnskap om barneoppdragelse og familie i Norge 1890-1950

Abstract

Oppgaven er en undersøkelse av kunnskapsproduksjon i forhold til barneoppdragelse og familie i Norge i perioden 1890 - 1950. Den rekonstruerer tre forskjellige perspektiver på denne kunnskapen: Den kristne oppdragelseslitteraturen, Mentalhygienen og Barnepsykologien, ved å fokusere på begrepsinnhold og problematikk i materialet som i perioden publiseres i et forsøk på å konstituere barnas mentale helse som et fokuspunkt i folkehelseopplysningslitteraturen. Oppgaven er metodisk inspirert av elementer fra såkalt fransk epistemologi, særlig fra Georges Canguilhem (1904 - 1995) og Michel Foucault (1926 - 1984). Oppgaven fokuserer både på stabilitet og på utvikling. På denne måten forsøker oppgaven å rekonstruere kunnskapsproduksjonen som en prosess, først og fremst på sine egne premisser, men i kontinuerlig kontakt med sin sosiale situasjon.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the production of knowledge regarding the upbringing of children and the organisation of family life in Norway between 1890 and 1950. There is a general agreement that knowledge within these fields were profoundly transformed in the period. The changes are normally understood in relation to processes of democratisation, secularisation and humanisation or in terms of bio-power, bio-politics or medicalisation. The thesis explores this transformation of knowledge by reconstructing three points of view or perspectives: 1) Christian Literature on the Upbringing of Children, 2) Mental Hygiene and 3) Child Psychology. This reconstruction implicates a theoretical and methodological framework consisting of central elements from the French epistemological school of history of science, in particular elements from Georges Canguilhem and Michel Foucault. The thesis analyses historical text, by focusing on the concepts used and how each perspective problematise “the upbringing of children” and “the family”. The thesis explores both elements of stability and elements of change in this particular set of knowledge. Central events in this particular history of knowledge are the establishment of the Oslo Mental Hygiene Association in 1930, and the elaboration of new perspectives regarding social problems: A new psychosocial health problem is constituted as a focal point of social worries and scientific attention. At the beginning, the Mental Hygiene Association consists of members from several different traditions: pediatrics, psychiatry, psychology, pedagogy, social statistics and social work. As they all work together to provide new solutions to the old problems regarding the upbringing of children and the organising of the family, the Christian literature looses its central place as provider of this kind of knowledge. The thesis demonstrates how the interaction between different traditions and disciplines step by step was transformed into a more concrete and specific kind of knowledge such as it is to be found under the perspective of Child psychology. A reflection on the results of this investigation indicates that the concepts disseminating knowledge about the upbringing of children and the organising of families are profoundly transformed during the period. However, even if the concepts are constantly transformed, they display evidence of stability in their relationship to the basic problematisations.