This thesis draws primarily upon the work of Furedi (2001; 2002) and his notion of a culture of fear to explore contemporary parenting and childhood from a social psychological perspective. Furedi argues that contemporary society is dominated by a sense of anxiety which is ubiquitous and free-floating (2007) and it is arguable that this fear is particularly easily attached to issues around childhood as children are considered increasingly vulnerable - giving rise to the phenomenon of paranoid parents (Furedi, 2002). While these and related issues have been explored elsewhere in the social sciences (e.g. Jackson & Scott, 2000; Katz, 2008; Valentine, 1996) there has yet to be a study from a social psychological perspective which would seek to understand how these fears are articulated, constructed and managed in relational interaction. The first stage of analysis is a content analysis of newspaper articles, providing partial information about the socio-cultural backdrop of the study. This is complemented by focus group data from both parents and children (aged 12-13) which is analysed using strategies and tools drawn from discursive psychology (Edwards & Potter, 1992). This approach allows for an examination of how participants construct fears, anxieties and concerns that exist in and around modern parenting and childhood. Themes that emerged from this analysis include a focus on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, a fear of hypothetical dangers, and a catalogue of potential risks. These concerns are also worked up in the participants talk as related to wider social changes (such as an increase in crime and changes in family structure) and connected with a nostalgia for a past which is constructed as safer, simpler and more liberated; even the children display a fondness for this utopian childhood. Hence the study begins to develop an empirical understanding of how aspects of a culture of fear may be worked up in relation to contemporary parenting and childhood, and so points toward some of its possible psychological implications.

The diploma thesis in the theoretical part deals with the concept of parental education regarding the media - media parenting. It provides a comprehensive view into this issue; describes its individual types, deals with various variables (on the part of parent and child) that affect the degree and the preferred strategy of media education. In the theoretical part I also mention the negative and positive influence of modern media on the education of children. The thesis also includes recommendations of world organizations for the prevention of problem and risky media use and the presentation of selected tools that measure the degree of media parenting. The main goal of the practical part of the work was to create a new questionnaire that would comprehensively determine the degree and style of media parenting, applied to parents of children 1-3. elementary school class. In this work I describe the process of its creation and subsequent verification in a pilot study. The diploma thesis also presents the psychometric properties of the questionnaire (e. g. the degree of internal consistency of the scales, or the results of confirmatory factor analysis). Based on the collected data, I further analyzed relationships between the scales of media parenting and other variables of socio-economic and...

Denna studie undersöker småbarnsföräldrars syn på mediefostran i ett alltmer digitaliserat medielandskap. Ur perspektiv om domesticering, mediepraktiker och uppfostran utforskar studien hur föräldrar hanterar sina barns interaktion med medier i vardagen. Genom medieetnografisk metod och kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med småbarnsföräldrar framträder en bild av hur familjer balanserar mellan acceptans och motstånd till olika medier, med betoning på hur medieanvändningen integreras i familjens vardagliga rutiner och sociala praktiker. Resultaten synliggör en komplex väv av familjedynamik, samhällsnormer och teknologisk utveckling, som tillsammans påverkar hur medier domesticeras i hushållen. Studien bidrar på så vis nya insikter om hur små barns medieanvändning blir en del av småbarnfamiljers vardag. / This study examines the views of parents of young children on media parenting in an increasingly digital media landscape. From the perspectives of domestication theory, media practices, and upbringing, the study explores how parents manage their children's interaction with media in everyday life. The study investigates how parents' attitudes towards media shape children's media habits. Through media ethnographic methods and qualitative semi-structured interviews with parents of young children, a picture emerges of how families balance between acceptance and resistance to different types of media, emphasizing how media use is integrated into the family's daily routines and social practices. The studys results show a complex web of family dynamics, moral economy, and technological development, which together influence how media are domesticated in households. Thus, the study contributes with new insights regarding how young childrens media use is a part of the everyday life of families.