Michael Jackson,Childhood and Success

The news of Michael Jackson’s death has dominated the press for the past few days and no doubt it will do so for some time to come. I found an interesting article on Jackson on the BBC Magazine which focused on the psychology of the child star. This is all well and good, but sociology can help bring some much needed context to such insights. Jackson’s case can tell us a lot about the social construction of childhood and the particular way in which in modern societies, children become a resource for parental social ambition. Of course, you can also deduce much about the sort of identity created by such an upbringing - very much a modern identity, where one’s worth is defined by material success and by a heightened emphasis on individuality and creativity. For some sociologists, these features are integral to capitalism; that is not to argue that they aren’t found in other types of society, but to point out that the emphasis, intensity, and particular elements, are all heightened in capitalist societies.

And of course, you can reflect that perhaps the sociological theories in the textbooks are slightly dated; it’s not just that capitalism has invented modern childhood by removing all children from the world of work and the division of labour; in Jackson’s case - as in many others - putting children to work - in particular high risk, but also potentially high reward businesses like sport and entertainment - can be a way for success hungry parents to achieve some sort of victory in a society which places ever more importance on worldly, material (economic) success.

Discuss