week 1:
“Toy as Culture”
- playground and social conformity
- play is traditionally seen the reverse of “work” and childhood has come to be Idealized as the reverse of adult work life.
- “human or animal play is not necessarily an ideal phenomenon and, by contrast, to illustrate
the extent to which we have come to believe that It Is. We have come to assume that because leisure means freedom from work, then children's play, as a kind of leisure, must also be an
area of freedom and of pleasure.”
- “childhood Is a very special kind of play distinct In kind from adulthood and that toys are the very special property of children.
- play is too strongly associated with child in today’s world “this generational view of play based on the adult/child disjunction does not In Itself restore play to full adult acceptance. In a sense, It never can.”
“Play Makes Us Human I: A Ludic Theory of Human Nature”
- play shouldn’t be too serious
- form of play in adulthood: social play
- unconscious plays happens at younger ages
- play is creative, not for survival means
“Gender and Toys”
- neutralize toys- no longer dividing toys for different genders