ABSTRACT
Child labour as a concept is seemingly unavoidably associated with images of exploited children in Third World countries. This association between the Third World and extremely exploitative forms of child labour is often used by people in general, and politicians in particular, as a way of either denying or trivialising the continuing existence of child labour in the German Federal Republic. The general tone of comment is either to claim that in a highly developed and industrialised country such as the Federal Republic of Germany there is absolutely no exploitation of children through work, or that children’s employment is limited to a few part-time jobs here and there; the sorts of jobs that most Germans take on during their years at school and ones that in any case hardly merit the description of proper employment. But a closer analysis reveals that child labour is part of the normal social life of the Federal Republic of Germany today, although it is hardly ever discussed seriously.
