Table of Contents

1. Introduction 2. The Normal Child and the Exceptional Child 3. A Social History of Child Stars 4. The Powerlessness of Child Stars 5. The Power of Child Stars 6. The Demonisation of Church 7. Conclusion

About the Author

Dr. Jane O’Connor is Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Studies at Wolverhampton University. She has a BSc in Applied Psychology and Sociology, a Masters degree in Sociology of Contemporary Culture and a PhD in Childhood Studies from Brunel University. She writes extensively in the area of Sociology of Childhood and is presently involved in a major research project investigating cultural differences in children’s conceptions of cleverness.

Reviews

"The Cultural Significance of the Child Star is an important new work in the sociology of childhood. O'Connor takes a unique approach to analyzing child stars that is both theoretically well grounded and thoroughly entertaining." - Karen Sternheimer, University of Southern California, author of Kids These Days: Facts and Fictions About Today's Youth and It's Not the Media: The Truth About Pop Culture's Influence on Children "Jane O'Connor's book adds useful empirical material to research on celebrity culture and provides a convincing argument about the importance of child celebrities." - Momin Rahman, Trent University, Canadian Journal of Sociology, Vol. 33, No. 3, 2008