"Das Glück das nie wiederkehrt"
Well-being in historisch-systematischer Perspektive
Florian Eßer
Diese Publikation zitieren
Florian Eßer, "Das Glück das nie wiederkehrt" (2014), Beltz Juventa, 69469 Weinheim, ISSN: 0044-3247, 2014 #04, S.505
260
Accesses
Accesses
Beschreibung / Abstract
Zusammenfassung: Die gegenwärtige Well-being-Forschung beansprucht für sich einen doppelten Perspektivwechsel auf Kindheit: "Well-being" ersetze einerseits frühere Vorstellungen des "Well-becoming" und entwickele andererseits "Welfare"-Ansätze kritisch weiter. Dieser Beitrag betrachtet jenen behaupteten Wandel aus einer historisch-systematischen Perspektive genauer. Dabei kann aufgezeigt werden, wie sich bereits Diskussionen um Kinderschutz und -fürsorge zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts am Wohlergehen von Kindern orientierten. Dies war eng verknüpft mit der Vorstellung einer glücklichen Kindheit, wie sie auch für die aktuelle Well-being-Forschung leitend ist. Damals wie heute erscheint das Kind als Hybrid, das sowohl in seiner Gegenwärtigkeit und Selbstbezüglichkeit als auch als Entwicklungswesen, das Kompetenzen erst noch erwerben muss, adressiert werden konnte. Dies stellt auch den Wandel von "Well-becoming" und "Welfare" zu "Well-being" in der behaupteten Eindeutigkeit infrage. Wenn sich die Originalität der Well-being-Forschung jedoch nicht aus einer einfachen Abgrenzung gegenüber adultzentristischen Entwürfen von Kindheit ergibt, so ist sie herausgefordert, die eigene Programmatik in anderer Weise zu begründen. In diesem Sinne schließt der Beitrag mit einem Plädoyer für eine Well-being-Perspektive, die reflexiv bezüglich der eigenen Vorstellungen von Kindheit ist und diese relational auf die sozialen und kulturellen Kontexte beziehen kann, in denen sich Kinder konkret bewegen.
Schlagworte: Child Well-being, Kindheit, Kinderfürsorge, Glück, Geschichte
Abstract: Current research on child well-being claims to have an understanding of childhood that differs from earlier perspectives in two ways: first of all, "well-being" is said to have replaced earlier notions of "well-becoming" and, second, approaches to child "welfare" have been critically reviewed and developed further. This paper deals with the assumed change from a historical-systematic perspective. It can be shown that, even at the beginning of the 20th century, discussions on child protection and welfare were already oriented towards the well-being of children. This concept of well-being was closely linked to the idea of a happy childhood, which is also a guiding principal for recent research on well-being. Then as now, the child was and is conceived of as a hybrid that could be referred to both in his or her presence and self-reference and as a developing being that still needs to acquire competences before becoming a social agent. On the basis of these findings, the linear change from "well-becoming" and "welfare" to "well-being" is questioned. If the originality of recent approaches to well-being is not derived from a simple dissociation from adult-centered notions of childhood, current research is challenged to substantiate its own programmatic in a slightly different way. Therefore the paper ends with a plea for an approach to child well-being which is reflexive regarding individual, subjective concepts of childhood and which allows to relate these concepts to the concrete social and cultural contexts in which children move.
Keywords: Child Well-Being, Childhood, Child Welfare, Happiness, History
Schlagworte: Child Well-being, Kindheit, Kinderfürsorge, Glück, Geschichte
Abstract: Current research on child well-being claims to have an understanding of childhood that differs from earlier perspectives in two ways: first of all, "well-being" is said to have replaced earlier notions of "well-becoming" and, second, approaches to child "welfare" have been critically reviewed and developed further. This paper deals with the assumed change from a historical-systematic perspective. It can be shown that, even at the beginning of the 20th century, discussions on child protection and welfare were already oriented towards the well-being of children. This concept of well-being was closely linked to the idea of a happy childhood, which is also a guiding principal for recent research on well-being. Then as now, the child was and is conceived of as a hybrid that could be referred to both in his or her presence and self-reference and as a developing being that still needs to acquire competences before becoming a social agent. On the basis of these findings, the linear change from "well-becoming" and "welfare" to "well-being" is questioned. If the originality of recent approaches to well-being is not derived from a simple dissociation from adult-centered notions of childhood, current research is challenged to substantiate its own programmatic in a slightly different way. Therefore the paper ends with a plea for an approach to child well-being which is reflexive regarding individual, subjective concepts of childhood and which allows to relate these concepts to the concrete social and cultural contexts in which children move.
Keywords: Child Well-Being, Childhood, Child Welfare, Happiness, History