Date of Award
5-2006
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Degree Program
Sociology
Department
Sociology
Major Professor
Laska, Shirley
Second Advisor
Baxter, Vern
Abstract
This study is a descriptive research project which examines a purposeful census of the best selling children's books for 0-8 year olds in the United States in 2003. This cross-sectional study of these social artifacts evaluates the extent to which the ideologies of the environmental movement have been inculcated into culture. It evaluates how the environment is represented in children’s literature and the extent to which children's literature meets the goals of environmental education. Through narrative semeiotic analysis of the themes, as well as the manifest (text) and latent (pictures) content, varying degrees of pro and antienvironmental ideologies reflected by these representations emerged. Analytic induction revealed that these representations reflected ideologies of human domination over nature. In addition, in most cases, the representation of the environment did not reflect or meet the goals of environmental education. This finding sheds light on the role children's books play in the environmental socialization of America's youth.
Recommended Citation
Boudreaux, Becky, "The Representation of the Environment in Children's Literature" (2006). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 335.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/335
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.