ABSTRACT
When we were asked to contribute perspectives on the sociology of childhood to a meeting of family sociologists it seemed at first rather paradoxical.1 Paradoxical because, during the last fifteen to twenty years, those researchers working towards establishing the independent intellectual integrity of a sociology of childhood have engaged in a counterendeavour: that of, wresting the study of children out of the familial context of socialization within which, for so many years, it was traditionally located (Alanen, 1992). Traditional texts on the family, invariably made but passing mention to children, subsuming their experiences of family life under index entries such as ‘child-rearing’, ‘socialization’ and ‘education’ or, alternatively, linking children with other adult-centred activities, viz, children ‘and conjugal roles’, ‘and experts’, ‘and importance to parents’ and children ‘and punishment’ (Anderson, 1971). Clearly, whilst children might have been seen within family sociology they were certainly not meant to be heard.
