Children's street culture

Children's street culture refers the cumulative culture of rhymes, songs, jokes, taboos, games, and places (e.g.: places "known" to be "haunted" or "a den" or "forbidden"), etc. among young children. Collectively, this body of knowledge is passed down from one generation of urban children to the next, and can also be passed between different groups of children (e.g. in the form of crazes, such as making guys for Bonfire Night — see Beck 1984). It is often strongest in urban working class industrial districts, where children are traditionally free to "play out" in the streets for long periods without supervision.

Related Topics:
Rhymes - Songs - Jokes - Taboos - Games - Den - Crazes - Guys - Working class - Industrial districts

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It is not to be confused with the commercial narrative media-culture produced for children (e.g., comics or television), although it may overlap mass-produced toys and clothing. Children's street culture is invented and largely sustained by children themselves, although it may come to incorporate fragments of media culture and toys in its activities.

Related Topics:
Comics - Television

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Although it varies from place to place, research shows it appears to share many commonalties across many cultures. It is a traditional phenomenon that has been closely investigated and documented during the 20th century by anthropologists and folklorists such as Iona Opie; street photographers such as Roger Mayne, Helen Levitt, David Trainer and Robert Doisneau; urbanists such as Colin Ward and Robin Moore, and also described in countless novels of childhood. It has occasionaly been central to feature films, such as Ealing's Hue & Cry (1947).

Related Topics:
20th century - Anthropologists - Folklorists - Iona Opie - Street photographers - Roger Mayne - Helen Levitt - David Trainer - Robert Doisneau - Colin Ward - Robin Moore - Ealing - Hue & Cry

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Since the widespread use of the motor car, children's street culture has often been forced to retreat to pavements and backstreets, and into parks and playgrounds. Since the advent of television, computer games, and aggressive marketing, concerns have been expressed about the vitality or even the survival of children's own street culture.

Related Topics:
Motor car - Television - Computer games - Marketing

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