ABSTRACT
Children are often brought into movement’s actions as symbols, presenting a living image of exploited innocence and meant to evoke righteous indignation or public sympathy to further social movement goals. Some adult-led social movements have been specifically created on children’s behalf based on this image, such as the movement against child labor. Yet it is important to understand that when organizers use children’s physical presence strategically in protests, they are actual participants. When children are involved strategically they may become politicized from the experience, potentially shifting their participation into more active roles. This chapter provides historical and contemporary case studies that illustrate the wide range of strategic involvement of children in social movements. Understanding the strategic role of children also reveals the agency of social movement organizations and how they use participants as resources. Some accounts of political actions with children participants have not fully examined the complexity of social movement leaders making a conscious decision to involve children. The mobilization of these participants for specific strategies requires some acknowledgment of children’s agency while often relying on their image as passive victims for the strategy.
