In this landmark book, sociologist Viviana Zelizer traces the emergence of the modern child, at once economically 'useless' and emotionally 'priceless,' from the late 1800s to the 1930s. Having established laws removing many children from the marketplace, turn-of-the-century America was discovering new, sentimental criteria to determine a child's monetary worth. The heightened emotional status of children resulted, for example, in the legal justification of children's life insurance policies and in large damages awarded by courts to their parents in the event of death. A vivid account of changing attitudes toward children, this book dramatically illustrates the limits of economic views of life that ignore the pervasive role of social, cultural, emotional, and moral factors in our marketplace world.

作者簡介：

維維安娜·澤利澤（Viviana A. Zelizer），美國當代傑齣的經濟社會學傢， 古根漢奬學金社會科學類得主，曾任美國經濟社會學學會主席，普林斯頓大學社會學教授。主要研究領域為經濟社會學，關注經濟的文化與道德維度。她開創的“澤利澤視角”對該研究領域有著重要影響。代錶作：《道德與市場：美國人壽保險的發展》、《給無價的孩子定價：變遷中的兒童社會價值》、《金錢的社會意義》、《親密關係的購買》。

譯者簡介：

王水雄，副教授，中國人民大學社會學理論與方法研究中心、社會與人口學院社會學係係主任，《社會學評論》雜誌編輯部主任。主要研究方嚮為博弈論、組織理論、經濟社會學。