Cultural redefinition of childhood, not work itself, made child labor a social injustice

Evidence

At one time, child labor was normal; was expected; was arguably benign. Even in the early twentieth century, many families depended on the extra bit of income children could bring in. But in the factory age, a “large shift in the cultural imagination of youthful labor” transformed “youthful wage work into a social injustice”; the social definition of childhood had radically changed. This was a cultural change, but also, as we mentioned, a change in the nature of the work that children did. Young dead bodies fueled the demand for a solution. But only a national law was likely to bring the southern states into line. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3768

Categorization

• XREF: The claim that harmful practices become injustices through cultural shifts in perception repeats the book’s recurring interest-group/ideology theme (ch70, ch82) and is a strong handhold for legal-realism discussion in LGST 1110. — connects to: Early child labor statutes were unenforced symbolic gestures — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3201