Once upon a child laborer: Transformations in child labor from the industrial revolution to the present day.
Dr. Talia Pfefferman 

Child labor has been inseparable from the household economy in England at the turn of the 19th century. Technological innovations that occurred in the process of the industrial revolution changed the structure of the labor force, as well as work patterns. These innovations also expedited changes in the social perception concerning the meaning of 'work', 'childhood', and 'rights' and led to labor legislation aimed at adults and children alike. As a result, child labor went through significant changes in the UK, and in the entire Western world.
The course deals with the changes that have occurred since the early 19th century in the concepts of 'work' and 'Childhood', in the relevant social and legal reforms that occurred during this period and in the changes in the nature of child labor by focusing on the British case study.
Course requirements:
1. Class attendance and active participation.
2. Reading of bibliography.
3. Class presentation of a relevant historical document.
4. Grading: class presentation - 15%.
Participation in class - 10%.
Final writing assignment - 75%.
Course learning themes:
• Daily experience: child labor in England at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
• Child labor and technological change: The impact of technological changes on child labor.
• Child labor reforms: images versus "reality" and the rhetoric of social discourse on child labor during the 19th century and at the turn of the 20th century.
• Change child reforms: legislation, parliamentary work and public activities.
• Local connections - The effect of British legislation on child labor in Mandatory Palestine.
Bibliography:
• Horrell, S., & Humphries, J. (1995). The Exploitation of Little Children: Child Labor and the Family Economy in the Industrial Revolution. Explorations in Economic History, 32(4), 485-516.
• Humphries, J. (2010). Childhood and child labor in the British industrial revolution. Cambridge University Press.‏ pp. 12-48.
• Kirby, P. (2003). Child labor in Britain, 1750-1870. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.‏
• Lingwall, J. (2014). Education Clauses in Corporate Charters: How Child Welfare Law Confronted the Industrial Revolution. Journal of Law and Education 43.2 : 189-224.
• Minge-Kalman, W. (1978). The Industrial Revolution and the European Family: The Institutionalization of ‘Childhood’ as a Market for Family Labor. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 20(03), 454-468.
• Moehling, C. M. (1999). State child labor laws and the decline of child labor. Explorations in Economic History, 36(1), 72-106.
• Nardinelli, C. (1980). Child labor and the factory acts. The Journal of Economic History, 40(04), 739-755.
• Nardinelli, C. (1988). Were Children Exploited During the Industrial Revolution? Research in Economic History 2: 243-276.
• Stadum, B. (1994). The dilemma in saving children from child labor: reform and casework at odds with families' needs (1900-1938). Child welfare, 74(1), 33-55.
• Webb, S. & Webb, B. (1898). Problems of Modern Industry. London: Longmanns, Green.