ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a critical interpretation of opposing constructions of child abuse and neglect and locates of child protection in historical context. The construction of child abuse as a medical problem was a powerful factor in mobilising widespread concern, which further reinforced it as a medical problem. While medical-psychological theories of child abuse still pervade and structure child welfare practice, sociological constructions of child abuse and neglect place the problem in the context of social attitudes and social structures. Child abuse and neglect are labels that society places on parents and children who are considered to be socially deviant. The sociology of deviance has tended to emphasise the experience of the offenders and the social construction of their deviance. Child protection movements have often been categorised as examples of ruling class hegemony to control and dominate the poor by intervening in the lives of their children. Professional intervention by child welfare workers is an ambivalent occupation in modern society.
