ABSTRACT

 When the first edition of this seminal work appeared in 1990, the sociology of childhood was only just beginning to emerge as a distinct sub-discipline. Drawing together strands of existing sociological writing about childhood and shaping them into a new paradigm, the original edition of this Routledge Classic offered a potent blend of ideas that informed, even inspired, many empirical studies of children’s lives because it provided a unique lens through which to think about childhood. Featuring a collection of articles which summarised the developments in the study of  childhood across the social sciences, including history, psychology, sociology, anthropology, feminist and developmental studies, scholars and professionals from developed and developing countries world-wide shared their knowledge of having worked and of working with children.

Now with a new introduction from the editors to contextualise it into the 21st century, this truly ground-breaking text which helped establish childhood studies as a distinctive field of enquiry is being republished.

 

chapter |5 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|23 pages

A new paradigm for the sociology of childhood?

Provenance, promise and problems

chapter 2|25 pages

Constructions and reconstructions of British childhood

An interpretative survey, 1800 to the present

chapter 4|20 pages

A voice for children in statistical and social accounting

A plea for children's right to be heard

chapter 5|17 pages

It's a small world

Disneyland, the family and the multiple re-representations of American childhood

chapter 6|17 pages

Negotiating childhood

Changing constructions of age for Norwegian children

chapter 7|17 pages

Street children

Deconstructing a construct

chapter 8|22 pages

Who are you kidding?

Children, power, and the struggle against sexual abuse

chapter 9|35 pages

Childhood and the policy makers

A comparative perspective on the globalization of childhood

chapter 10|18 pages

Re-presenting childhood

Time and transition in the study of childhood