ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some recent changes to the view, on a number of fronts. These include: the new sociology of childhood, social constructivism, increasing views of children as active rather than passive and increasing concern with children's rights and empowerment and the effects of the digital age. Psychological theories were influential in promoting social constructivism, while developmental research findings further contributed to changing sociological views of children in the direction of understanding them as competent beings. Ironically, it is from those quarters that developmental psychology is now critiqued for silencing children's voices. Psychology as a field remains reluctant to shift from its positivist stance, though much could be gained from taking complementary approaches. Although strongly advocating for children's empowerment, has sensibly warned against replacing one kind of essentialism with another, the new sociology of childhood should not lead us to abandon the notion that children are incompetent in favour of a view that they are competent.
