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Childhood Studies Sociology of Childhood
by
Michael Wyness
  • LAST REVIEWED: 24 July 2018
  • LAST MODIFIED: 29 October 2013
  • DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199791231-0011

Introduction

The sociology of childhood developed quite rapidly in the 1990s and 2000s as a critical discipline within the field of childhood studies. It has become a growth area in undergraduate teaching and learning, researchers are finding more innovative ways of working with children in the research process, and arguably, the new insights from within the field have informed policy and practice with children at national and global levels. One key area is sociological theory. Child scholars have provided a number of critical approaches that challenge the conventions in researching and theorizing on children and childhood but have also contributed more broadly to sociological analyses of social structure and agency by reworking the concepts of generational difference and power. The sociology of childhood is mature enough now to provide a range of general works and undergraduate textbooks. It has also diversified. There is a core of theoretical debate and material as well as important statements on the politics, the ethics, and the methodological aspects of researching children, one of which is the focus now on viewing children as both research subjects and collaborators. The diversity of research on children and childhood is illustrated in this bibliography through the discussion of the global dimension, the importance of children’s cultures, the role of the media, and the changing nature of family relations.

General Overviews

Two key edited collections on childhood were published in the early 1990s. Both attempted to establish a new conceptual and empirical field for the sociology of childhood. The first, James and Prout 1997, emphasizes the socially constructed nature of childhood, whereas Qvortrup, et al. 1994 focuses more on macro-structural approaches. A slightly later text, Hutchby and Moran-Ellis 1998, discusses empirical research emphasizing more micro-constructionist approaches. A second group of edited collections discusses the political and cultural dimensions of children and childhood. From a mainly UK perspective, Pilcher and Wagg 1996 explores the impact of neoliberal policies associated with Thatcherism on children and childhood. Stephens 1995 explores the political dimensions of childhood from a more global context. Christensen and James 2008 is a collection of articles regarding research approaches to children and childhood. Finally, Qvortrup, et al. 2009 provides a more up-to-date coverage of conceptual and empirical themes and issues.

  • Christensen, Pia, and Allison James, eds. Research with Children: Perspectives and Practices. 2d ed. London: Falmer, 2008.

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    Covers a range of topics related to the research process by researchers working in the field with children. It explores epistemological, methodological, and ethical issues as well as examines the role that children themselves can play within the research process. First edition published in 2000.

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  • Hutchby, Ian, and Jo Moran-Ellis, eds. Children and Social Competence: Arenas of Action. London: Falmer, 1998.

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    Written by experienced researchers, this text explores how children in their everyday lives in small-scale settings demonstrate their social competence. The theoretical focus is children’s social action and agency and how this unfolds in a range of different settings, including the home, the street, the classroom, and institutional care.

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  • James, Allison, and Alan Prout, eds. Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood: Contemporary Issues in the Sociological Study of Childhood. London: Falmer, 1997.

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    A classic book, widely cited within the field and setting out a new paradigm for the study of childhood. Its theoretical focus is social constructionism, offering a range of readings on children’s agency, policy-related themes, and challenges for professionals working with children in a range of distinctive settings. First published in 1990.

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  • Pilcher, Jane, and Stephen Wagg, eds. Thatcher’s Children? Politics, Childhood and Society in the 1980s and 1990s. London: Falmer, 1996.

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    Explores the political context of children’s lives as they grew up through the period of Margaret Thatcher’s government in the 1980s. It draws on a range of policy-related themes including child protection, the education marketplace, child labor, child poverty, and children and the media.

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  • Qvortrup, Jens, Marjatta Bardy, Giovanni Sgritta, and Helmut Wintersberger, eds. Childhood Matters: Social Theory, Practice and Politics. Public Policy and Social Welfare 14. Aldershot, UK: Avebury, 1994.

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    Based on the Childhood as a Social Phenomenon project involving researchers from sixteen countries in Europe and North America. It takes a macro approach to children’s lives, drawing on themes including age and gender relations, children’s position within political and economic structures, and children’s use of space and time.

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  • Qvortrup, Jens, William A. Corsaro, and Michael-Sebastian Honig, eds. The Palgrave Handbook of Childhood Studies. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave, 2009.

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    Up-to-date collection of articles from key thinkers within the field. It sets out key concepts such as agency, structure, and generation. There are chapters on historical, economic, and global aspects of childhood. Also includes topics such as the body, leisure, the media, and the everyday world of children.

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  • Stephens, Sharon, ed. Children and the Politics of Culture. Princeton Studies in Culture/Power/History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995.

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    In this seminal text, authors from different countries discuss the political and cultural significance of childhood through the themes of globalization, rights, and risk. Among others, there are key articles on children’s cultural identity; childhood and national reconstruction; children and the free market; and children, school, and the state.

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Textbooks

There are a few single-authored textbooks in this field that vary in their scope and focus. Three key theoretical texts have been produced. Jenks 2005 is a short account of how childhood is constructed through contemporary political and social, UK-based themes. Gittins 1998 draws on a social constructionist approach but also discusses cultural and psychoanalytic influences. James, et al. 1998 presents a more broad-ranging text that explores differing sociological accounts of childhood. Wyness 2012 and Corsaro 2011 offer more scope in their texts, discussing empirical and social themes as well as providing a grounding in theory.

  • Corsaro, William A.The Sociology of Childhood. 3d ed. Sociology for a New Century Series. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge, 2011.

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    This highly accessible text in its third edition focuses on the author’s own research with children’s peer cultures. In addition, the book includes accessible summaries of historical reviews and up-to-date theoretical approaches and locates children and childhood within the social-problems field of study.

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  • Gittins, Diana. The Child in Question. Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan, 1998.

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    Draws on a range of psychoanalytic, historical, and literary sources as well as sociological literature in exploring the meaning of childhood. There are key chapters on social constructionism, sexuality, and childhood innocence, and, importantly, the author’s analysis of adult–child relations focuses on power ownership and inequality.

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  • James, Allison, Chris Jenks, and Alan Prout. Theorizing Childhood. Cambridge, UK: Polity, 1998.

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    A seminal text that links sociological theory to the sociology of childhood. It offers a number of novels ways of conceptualizing childhood within the field and also teases out the theoretical significance of work within areas such as child labor, childhood and the body, and childhood and culture.

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  • Jenks, Chris. Childhood. 2d ed. Key Ideas. London: Routledge, 2005.

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    An interesting, densely packed short text. It takes a predominantly constructionist approach drawing on three themes—the historical development of childhood, concerns about abuse, and the Bulger case on demonization—to illustrate the way that representations of contemporary childhood structure our thinking about children and childhood. First published in 1996.

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  • Wyness, Michael. Childhood and Society. 2d ed. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

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    This is an updated and expanded version of the first edition (2006). It discusses a range of theoretical, empirical, and policy-oriented topics within the field. Although the structure-agency theme runs throughout the book, the chapters are divided into four areas: theories of childhood, childhood as a problem, regulating children and childhood, and the child as a social agent.

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Journals

The interdisciplinary nature of childhood studies has meant that journal articles within the sociology of childhood in recent years can be found in many of the mainstream sociology journals. However, there are a few journals with a childhood or young person focus. Two established European-based journals are Children & Society and Childhood: A Journal of Global Child Research. Children’s Geographies, although focusing on childhood geographers, has a strong sociological emphasis. Childhoods Today was established in 2007 as an online journal for postgraduates and early-career researchers within the field. There are also a number of youth-related journals, including Youth & Society and Journal of Youth Studies,that focus on the later childhood years,.

Classic Early Statements

The sociology of childhood barely figured as a strand of sociological thinking until the late 1980s. Research on children and childhood until then was dominated by developmental psychology, with structural functionalism offering some sociological insights through the concept of socialization. Jenks 1982 includes work influenced by functionalist sociology and offers a critical overview. Durkheim 1961 is seminal here, as are Davis 1940 and Elkin 1960, the latter of which provides a classic text on socialization theory. A number of texts have provided a grounding for the later revising of the concept of childhood, among them Ariès 1962, which introduces the notion of childhood as a social and historical construction, and Richards 1974, a critique of the biological basis of childhood from a developmental perspective. McKay 1973 provides an early focus on children’s social competence and thus challenges the “becoming” status of childhood. Denzin 1977, in a similar vein, emphasizes the constructed nature of relations between adults and children from a symbolic interactionist perspective.

  • Ariès, Philippe. Centuries of Childhood: A Social History of Family Life. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1962.

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    Often cited early text that has been drawn on by subsequent researchers in establishing social constructionism as the dominant theoretical frame for the sociology of childhood. Its key claim is the social and historical development of modern childhood based on the shifting understandings or development of sentiments that adults have toward children.

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  • Davis, Kingsley. “The Child and the Social Structure.” Journal of Educational Sociology 14.4 (1940): 217–229.

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    Early sociological statement on childhood as a transitional period through which children are socialized. Taking a structural functionalist approach, the article emphasizes the needs of society before the needs of children. Davis argues that children are “human raw material” that need to be molded into adults by adults and institutions. Available online for purchase or by subscription.

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  • Denzin, Norman K.Childhood Socialization. Jossey-Bass Social and Behavioral Science Series. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1977.

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    Offers an early version of the sociology of childhood. Focusing on adult–child relations, Denzin draws on symbolic interactionism in exploring the way children and adults constitute themselves as social subjects through ongoing dialogue and communication.

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  • Durkheim, Émile. Moral Education: A Study in the Theory and Application of the Sociology of Education. London: Collier Macmillan, 1961.

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    Durkheim’s approach is both conventional in its emphasis on the role of society in shaping the child as well as distinctive in emphasizing the formative influence of the school rather than the family. While parents are too partial, the teacher becomes the primary authority figure in the socialization process.

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  • Elkin, Frederick. The Child and Society: The Process of Socialization. Studies in Sociology. New York: Random House, 1960.

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    Elkin’s archetypal structural functionalist statement on socialization draws on Freudian theory in discussing preconditions for the socialization of children. He goes on to set out the different agencies of socialization in life-cycle order, from family to school to peer group and mass media.

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  • Jenks, Chris, ed. The Sociology of Childhood: Essential Readings. London: Batsford, 1982.

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    An early collection of articles from key theorists in the fields of childhood development and socialization, including Jean Piaget. Also includes an important early critique of this work by Jenks.

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  • McKay, Robert. “Conceptions of Children and Models of Socialization.” In Childhood and Socialization. Edited by Hans Peter Dreitzel, 27–43. Recent Sociology 5. London: Macmillan, 1973.

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    Challenges the conventional assumptions from structural functionalism that childhood is a deficient version of adulthood. Drawing on the phenomenological and interactionist approaches, McKay argues that the adult–child relationship is dynamic and fluid, with children demonstrating a series of “interpretive competencies” that belie the functionalist notion of the social child.

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  • Richards, Martin. The Integration of a Child into a Social World. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1974.

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    Written from a social-psychological context, this collection of articles focuses on infants interacting with their social environments. While there is little sense of childhood competence, the book focuses on the social as an interactive system within which children are central participants.

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Theorizing Childhood

Theorizing the child involves exploring the influence of more conventional theoretical frameworks within sociology. Thus, Oakley 1994 provides a classic interpretation of childhood in feminist terms, and Oldman 1994 offers a Marxist reading of childhood. In some respects, the latter forms the basis of structural approaches that emphasize the significance of age and generation as dimensions of social stratification and need to be considered when drawing on more conventional dimensions of difference such as social class and gender. Qvortrup 2009 and Alanen 2001 are important here in providing sophisticated analyses of the significance of generational relations between adults and children. Social constructionism is now seen as the theoretical orthodoxy within the sociology of childhood. Stainton-Rogers and Stainton-Rogers 1992 offers a classic nonessentialist version of this approach. Hacking 1991 teases out key features of a constructionist approach in an analysis of the social problem of child abuse. Finally, Moss and Petrie 2002 theorizes the policy and practice of child professionals in the United Kingdom in social constructionist terms.

  • Alanen, Leena. “Explorations in Generational Analysis.” In Conceptualizing Adult–Child Relations. Edited by Leena Alanen and Berry Mayall, 11–22. Future of Childhood Series. London: RoutledgeFalmer, 2001.

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    Childhood here is a generational phenomenon, with the adult–child relationship a crucial dimension of social stratification. There is an emphasis on the interdependent relationship between adults and children through the interplay of structure and agency. The adult–child relationship is shaped by external forces interacting with the experiences of children and adults.

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  • Hacking, Ian. “The Making and Molding of Child Abuse.” Critical Inquiry 17.2 (1991): 253–288.

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    The author sets out a social and political history of child abuse by illustrating its constructed nature. The role of the media, moral entrepreneurs, medical profession, and political groups is discussed, as are the moral, political, and institutional interests uncovered as the discourse centers on the category of abuse. Available online for purchase or by subscription.

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  • Moss, Peter, and Pat Petrie. From Children’s Services to Children’s Spaces: Public Policy, Children and Childhood. London: RoutledgeFalmer, 2002.

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    Drawing on a constructionist approach, the authors argue for a shift from the “top down” policy and practice orthodoxy to a more child-focused approach centering on children’s spaces. The authors align UK policy with a “services” approach compared with the Swedish emphasis on space.

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  • Oakley, Ann. “‘Women and Children First and Last: Parallels and Differences between Children’s and Women’s Studies.” In Children’s Childhoods Observed and Experienced. Edited by Berry Mayall, 13–32. London: Falmer, 1994.

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    A seminal article that draws parallels between the feminist movement and the discourse on the human rights of children. Drawing on historical, institutional, and cultural developments in both fields, the author discusses the similarities as well as argues that children experience more difficulties in asserting themselves as a social movement.

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  • Oldman, David. “Adult–Child Relations as Class Relations.” In Childhood Matters: Social Theory, Practice and Politics. Edited by Jens Qvortrup, Marjatta Bardy, Giovani Sgritta, and Helmut Wintersberger, 43–58. Public Policy and Social Welfare 14. Aldershot, UK: Avebury, 1994.

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    An original reworking of Marxist theory applying children as an exploited minority group. Through the concept of childwork, a range of commodified activities is carried out by adults ostensibly to secure the welfare of children. Oldman argues that these developments further the professional and material interests of adults rather than children.

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  • Qvortrup, Jens. “Childhood as a Structural Form.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Childhood Studies. Edited by Jens Qvortrup, William A. Corsaro, and Michael-Sebastian Honig, 21–33. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave, 2009.

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    Qvortrup clearly sets out the structuralist position with regard to childhood. Childhood here is a permanent visible feature of social structure comparable to the ontological status of social class and gender within general sociology thinking. The chapter also spells out some of the possible applications of this approach.

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  • Stainton-Rogers, Rex, and Wendy Stainton-Rogers. Stories of Childhood: Shifting Agendas of Child Concern. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1992.

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    This is a radical constructionist account of how childhood is generated through accounts, representations, and myths—the emphasis on culture rather material factors is illustrated through the authors’ analysis of developmental psychology as a powerful story of contemporary childhood. The book emphasizes the need to deconstruct these dominant accounts.

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Globalization

Globalization has been used as a powerful framework through which sociologists have been able to tease out the constructed nature of childhood and also identify the impact of broader global trends on children. Boyden 1997 and Prout 2005 cover both of these themes. Glauser 1997, Hart 2006, and Woodhead 1999 take a global perspective in exploring how governments and international organizations problematize the lives of children who do not conform to Western developed-world conceptions of childhood. Finally, Becker 2007 and Orellana 2001 argue that a global perspective on children in challenging circumstances can generate more positive images of children as competent social agents.

  • Becker, Saul. “Global Perspectives on Children’s Unpaid Caregiving in the Family: Research and Policy on ‘Young Carers’ in the UK, Australia, the USA and Sub-Saharan Africa.” Global Social Policy 7.1 (2007): 23–50.

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    Becker offers the first global comparative review of child carers in Northern and Southern contexts. The review focuses on research and policy within this field, generates a “caregiving continuum,” and identifies some fascinating continuities as well as differences among child carers in sub-Saharan Africa, the United Kingdom, and North America. Available online for purchase or by subscription.

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  • Boyden, Jo. “Childhood and the Policy Makers: A Comparative Perspective on the Globalization of Childhood.” In Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood: Contemporary Issues in the Sociological Study of Childhood. 2d ed. Edited by Allison James and Alan Prout, 190–229. London: Falmer, 1997.

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    This article focuses on globalization in terms of how dominant Western conceptions of childhood through international policy have been exported to poorer Southern contexts, creating powerful forms of cultural imperialism. The author discusses the implications that these global standards have for children, families, and communities in less affluent countries.

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  • Glauser, Benno. “Street Children: Deconstructing a Construct.” In Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood: Contemporary Issues in the Sociological Study of Childhood. 2d ed. Edited by Allison James and Alan Prout, 145–164. London: Falmer, 1997.

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    The author discusses the notion of the street child as a social construct. He explores the methodological, policy, and practical implications for his own work with Paraguayan street children. This article has implications for conceptualizing and working with children “out of place” by international organizations and national governments.

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  • Hart, Jason. “The Politics of ‘Child Soldiers.’” Brown Journal of World Affairs 13.1 (2006): 217–226.

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    In this article, recent humanitarian commitments among the international community to tackle the problem of child soldiers are critically analyzed. Rather than focus on the conditions within which child soldiers find themselves, powerful economic and military interests use the child soldier as a way of generating political and moral capital.

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  • Orellana, Marjorie F. “The Work That Kids Do: Mexican and Central American Immigrant Children’s Contributions to Households and Schools in California.” Harvard Educational Review 71.3 (2001): 366–389.

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    This article explores one key feature of globalization: the rise of transnational migration. Drawing on empirical work with Hispanic migrant children, the author argues that migrant children should be seen as an asset to their families and their communities, rather than a cost and a problem to US society. Available online for purchase or by subscription.

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  • Prout, Alan. The Future of Childhood: Towards the Interdisciplinary Study of Children. London: FalmerRoutledge, 2005.

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    The opening chapter explores two dimensions of globalization: the role of globalization in constructing childhood and the impact of globalization on children and childhood. Various themes are discussed, including global demographic variations, child poverty, children’s rights, and transnational migration.

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  • Woodhead, Martin. “Combating Child Labour: Listen to What the Children Say.” Childhood 6.1 (1999): 27–49.

    DOI: 10.1177/0907568299006001003Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    An article on research with working children in four geographical settings. The argument focuses on the importance of listening to children in gaining a more nuanced understanding of the lives of working children. Policy and practice designed to tackle child labor should take account of localized and child-sensitive factors. Available online for purchase or by subscription.

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Children’s Agency

Agency is a critical concept that emerged from both social constructionist and structuralist approaches to the study of children and childhood. Thomas 2007 offers a review of theories of children’s participation and through this a vantage point for assessing the potential and limitations of children’s agency. Oswell 2013 offers a useful historical context to this concept. Mayall 2002, Cockburn 1998, and Lee 2001 discuss, in different ways, how children’s agency emerges out of complex interdependent relationships between children and adults. For some, agency is an age-restricted concept. Alderson 2008 challenges this view by proposing that very young children are perfectly capable of possessing degrees of agency. Agency can also be seen in terms of the political actions of children and young people. Wyness, et al. 2004 reviews theory and child-related policy in the United Kingdom in suggesting that children have the potential to exercise some political agency. From a South African context, Ndebele 1995 takes a more critical line in arguing that children’s political agency can develop but sometimes at the expense of their own childhoods.

  • Alderson, Priscilla. Young Children’s Rights: Exploring Beliefs, Attitudes, Principles and Practice. 2d ed. London: Jessica Kingsley, 2008.

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    Alderson argues that young children are rarely conceptualized as rights-bearing individuals. Drawing on theoretical approaches from the sociology of childhood and a wide range of illustrative material, she argues that very young children are perfectly capable of demonstrating their capacity as participants.

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  • Cockburn, Tom. “Children and Citizenship in Britain: A Case for a Socially Interdependent Model of Citizenship.” Childhood 5.1 (1998): 99–117.

    DOI: 10.1177/0907568298005001007Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Emphasizes the interdependent nature of adult–child relations as a basis for conceptualizing children as citizens. The author challenges the view of agency as an individualized property of children. Cockburn argues for an associational view of agency creating more durable grounds for establishing children’s social and political ontology as citizens. Available online for purchase or by subscription.

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  • Lee, Nick. Childhood and Society: Growing Up in an Age of Uncertainty. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press, 2001.

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    The author challenges the distinctions between child and adult made by both traditional and social constructionist approaches. Drawing on postmodern and actor network theory, Lee argues that contemporary moral, social, and political uncertainty generates incomplete models of adulthood as well as childhood.

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  • Mayall, Berry. Towards a Sociology of Childhood: Thinking from Children’s Lives. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press, 2002.

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    Offers an analysis of how children interact and help shape generation structures. Drawing on structural theories and the author’s research with children and families, Mayall argues that children are constrained by adult–child relations but also exercise agency in a way that helps them take some control of their lives.

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  • Ndebele, Njabulo. “Recovering Childhood: Children in South African National Reconstruction.” In Childhood and the Politics of Culture. Edited by Sharon Stephens, 321–334. Princeton Studies in Culture/Power/History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995.

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    This youth-driven anti-apartheid movement is the focus for an analysis of children and young people as political participants within a war-torn South Africa in the 1980s. The author argues for adults reclaiming their authority over children while providing care and guidance and the reconstruction of a post-apartheid childhood.

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  • Oswell, David. The Agency of Children: From Family to Global Human Rights. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2013.

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    Oswell outlines children’s agency from a historical perspective. He goes on to analyze agency in terms of contemporary theorizing of childhood and draws on a range of themes from family to technology in exploring the complexity and utility of this concept. The book will appeal to both academics and students.

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  • Thomas, Nigel. “Towards a Theory of Children’s Participation.” International Journal of Children’s Rights 15.2 (2007): 199–218.

    DOI: 10.1163/092755607X206489Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Reviews theoretical approaches to children’s participation. Thomas sets out some typologies of participation developed to identify more or less authentic forms of participation. He draws on the work of Iris Marion Young and Pierre Bourdieu in constructing a framework for linking participation to a more democratic politics.

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  • Wyness, Michael, Lisa Harrison, and Ian Buchanan. “Childhood, Politics and Ambiguity: Towards an Agenda for Children’s Political Inclusion.” Sociology 38.1 (2004): 81–99.

    DOI: 10.1177/0038038504039362Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Argues that current national and international policy on children restricts children’s political agency due to constructions of childhood and offers the potential for children to have some access to decision-making powers. This ambiguity is apparent in some policy domains, with education offering fewer opportunities for agency than the welfare. Available online for purchase or by subscription.

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Children’s Cultures

The subfield of children’s cultures has allowed researchers to develop a powerful frame for making sense of how children interact with their peers on their own terms. Thorne 1993 is an often cited work that explores the way that children’s cultures contribute to their gender identities. Davies 1982 and Pollard and Filer 1999 examine children’s cultures within a primary-and elementary-school context. At the same time, attempts by ethnographic researchers to understand children’s cultures have generated methodological challenges. Mandell 1991 uses a least adult approach to researching children and has been subject to thorough appraisal. Corsaro and Molinari 2008 takes a very different stance; the authors use their “foreign” status as adults to gain access to children’s social worlds. The authors of Clarke and Moss 2001, through their “Mosaic” analysis of nurseries and kindergartens, explore the implications of researching young children’s worlds for professional practice.

  • Clarke, Alison, and Peter Moss. Listening to Young Children: The Mosaic Approach. London: National Children’s Bureau, 2001.

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    This short book bridges the gap between research and professional practice, focusing on ways that preschool English children can be included in data-gathering processes from which they previously had been excluded. Verbal and nonverbal data-collection techniques are discussed, such as observations, interviews, photography tours, and mapping.

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  • Corsaro, William A., and Luisa Molinari. “Entering and Observing in Children’s Worlds: A Reflection on a Longitudinal Ethnography of Early Education in Italy.” In Research with Children: Perspectives and Practices. 2d ed. Edited by Pia Christensen and Allison James, 239–259. London: Falmer, 2008.

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    A discussion of methodological issues on working within children’s cultures. Through working with young Italian children, the authors advocate playing up rather than concealing their adult status in gaining membership in children’s peer groups. Corsaro’s “foreign” status as adult and American becomes an important pretext for entry into children’s worlds.

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  • Davies, Bronwyn. Life in the Classroom and Playground: The Accounts of Primary School Children. Social Worlds of Childhood. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982.

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    Davies argues that children in school inhabit two cultures: the world of adults and the subterranean world of the playground and children’s peer relations. This Australian ethnography explores the ways that children negotiate the former and, over time in and through engagement with children and adults, forge their own culture.

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  • Mandell, Nancy. “The Least-Adult Role in Studying Children.” In Studying the Social World of Children: Sociological Readings. Edited by Frances Chaput Waksler, 38–59. London: Falmer, 1991.

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    This article outlines the “least-adult” role, with researchers eschewing all outward adult-like signs, apart from physical size, thus allowing them to immerse themselves within children’s cultures. This approach has important methodological and ethical implications for researchers working within this field.

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  • Pollard, Andrew, and Ann Filer. The Social World of Pupil Career: Strategic Biographies through Primary School. London: Cassell, 1999.

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    Drawing on a symbolic interactionist approach, the authors chart over time the pupil careers of a small group of children in an English primary school. The concept of “strategic biography” is important here as children construct their childhoods in and through ongoing interactions with teachers, parents, and peers.

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  • Thorne, Barrie. Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press, 1993.

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    Thorne generates a number of crucial insights when discussing methodological issues relating to researching children’s cultures. She discusses the difficulties researchers have shedding their adult status when entering children’s cultures. However, careful observation of children’s interactions uncovers sophisticated social structures generated by young children.

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Ethical Issues in Researching Children

As an empirical field has opened up within which researchers work with children, so a number of ethical issues have arisen. Morrow and Richards 1996 and Christensen and Prout 2002 provide a clear statement on the need to respect children as research participants and to work with them in finding solutions to these ethical challenges. Issues of confidentiality are critical here: Can adult researchers offer the same levels of confidentiality to children as they do to adults? Cocks 2006, to some extent, gets around this by comparing informed consent with ongoing assent. Mudaly and Goddard 2009 and Punch 2002 address this question, among others. One issue that is often forgotten is the point at which children get involved in the research process. In many cases, they enter the process far too late to be able to influence the shape of the research. Hill 2006 focuses on the possibility of involving children earlier by exploring the kinds of methods preferred by children who participate in the research process.

  • Christensen, Pia, and Alan Prout. “Working with Ethical Symmetry in Social Research with Children.” Childhood 9.4 (2002): 477–497.

    DOI: 10.1177/0907568202009004007Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The positioning of children as social actors creates ethical issues for researchers working with children. Ethical symmetry is argued here, whereby children’s interests and feelings are taken into account by researchers just as they are when working with adults. Ethical symmetry includes an ongoing dialogue between the researcher and child. Available online for purchase or by subscription.

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  • Cocks, Alison J. “The Ethical Maze: Finding an Inclusive Path towards Gaining Children’s Agreement to Research Participation.” Childhood 13.2 (2006): 247–266.

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    The author undertook observations research with children with learning difficulties. This monitoring of her research subjects over time allowed her to make ongoing judgments as to whether the children still wanted to take part in the research. She refers to this as ongoing “assent” rather than one-off decisions made by research subjects with regard to “consent.” Available online by subscription.

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  • Hill, Malcolm. “Children’s Voices on Ways of Having a Voice: Children and Young People’s Perspectives on Methods Used in Research and Consultation.” Childhood 13.1 (2006): 69–89.

    DOI: 10.1177/0907568206059972Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Argues that researchers often neglect the role that children themselves might play in selecting methods for researching children and childhood. This article explores children’s views on their research participation. Research with children should match methods with their dispositions; they should involve tasks that engage them and also respect children’s right to privacy. Available online for purchase or by subscription.

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  • Morrow, Virginia, and Martin Richards. “The Ethics of Social Research with Children: An Overview.” Children & Society 10.2 (1996): 90–105.

    DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-0860(199606)10:2%3C90::AID-CHI14%3E3.0.CO;2-ZSave Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    An early discussion of the ethics researching children and childhood. The authors argue that the same ethical standards should apply to children as to adult respondents. Three issues are crucial: children’s differential capacities, children’s inherent vulnerable social status, and the relations between the researchers’ interpretation of the data and dominant conceptions of childhood. Available online by subscription.

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  • Mudaly, Neerosh, and Chris Goddard. “The Ethics of Involving Children Who Have Been Abused in Child Abuse Research.” International Journal of Children’s Rights 17.2 (2009): 261–281.

    DOI: 10.1163/157181808X389920Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Offers ways forward for researchers when weighing the commitment to assuring child respondents confidentiality against disclosures within the child–researcher interview context. The authors advocate researchers discussing the conditional nature of confidentiality by negotiating with their respondents how sensitive data might be disclosed to others and to whom the data may be disclosed.

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  • Punch, Samantha. “Interviewing Strategies with Young People: The ‘Secret Box,’ Stimulus Material and Task-Based Activities.” Children & Society 16.1 (2002): 45–56.

    DOI: 10.1002/chi.685Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This article discusses ethical issues generated through interview-based research with children. Two are discussed here: the problems of the power differential between child respondent and adult researcher and the problem of maintaining confidentiality. Punch uses a “secret box” as a means of maximizing children’s responses on how they cope with personal problems. Available online by subscription.

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Children and the Media

Children have become more adept at utilizing new technological media and in the process generated a number of concerns with regard to the relationship between childhood and technology. Postman 1982 provides an early critique of how children’s exposure to electronic media compromises their development and their relations with adults. Buckingham 2000 updates and critically examines this thesis. Byron 2010 provides a recent political response to these concerns in a UK government report on children’s Internet use. West, et al. 2009 explores the implications of social media for children and young people. Two articles on the role of the media within the school context identify the way that children are crucial to the embedding of digital media in classrooms: Prensky 2005 argues that children have become more competent at using the Internet than their teachers, whereas Kenway and Bullen 2001 takes a different line in exploring the way that global capitalism addresses children as “savvy” users of technology and as consumers.

  • Buckingham, David. After the Death of Childhood: Growing Up in the Age of Electronic Media. Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2000.

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    Critically examines the disappearance-of-childhood thesis. Drawing on the relationship between childhood and the electronic media, Buckingham argues that children are competent consumers and users of the media. Educationalists, policymakers, and parents need to acknowledge these capacities and work with children in nurturing these capacities as young citizens within a digital age.

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  • Byron, Tanya. Do We Have Safer Children in the Digital World? A Review of Progress since the 2008 Byron Review. London: Department of Children, Schools and Families, 2010.

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    A report commissioned by the British government to provide guidance for parents when children are using the Internet. Byron reviews the research on children’s usage of digital media from parents’, children’s, and providers’ perspectives and proposes a digital code that educates parents, digital providers, and children about children’s safe usage of the Internet.

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  • Kenway, Jane, and Elizabeth Bullen. Consuming Children: Education, Entertainment, Advertising. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press, 2001.

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    A critical analysis of the relationship between the media and education and how it affects children and their relations with others. Drawing on cultural theory and research with school children, it explores the ways in which global media conglomerates through advertising have shaped children’s schooling and their roles as consumers.

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  • Postman, Neil. The Disappearance of Childhood. London: W. H. Allen, 1982.

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    A classic early statement on the relationship between children and childhood. It offers a broader statement on the socially constructed nature of childhood as well as setting out in fairly polemical terms the decline of adult–child relations and the crisis of childhood.

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  • Prensky, Mark. “Listen to the Natives.” Educational Leadership 63.4 (2005): 8–13.

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    Deals with the way that schools have been unable to match the developments of digital technology in terms of teaching and learning. More generally, Prensky offers an analysis of the implications these developments have for generational relations with adult “migrants” struggling to keep up with the digital capacities of children as “natives.”

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  • West, Anne, Jane Lewis, and Peter Currie. “Students’ Facebook ‘Friends’: Public and Private Spheres.” Journal of Youth Studies 12.6 (2009): 615–627.

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    Analyzes the role of social networking sites (SNS) in the lives of young people. The authors focus on how SNS have become a central means of identity formation. They also discuss the extent to which these SNS, as part of a broader increase in the use of information and communication technology, generate new conceptions of privacy.

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Children and Families

One area covered by child researchers in recent years is the changing nature of family life and its impact on children and constructions of childhood. Mayall 2008 locates children in families within a generational approach that emphasizes the interdependent relationship between children and adults. Cheal 2008 also focuses on adult–child relations and the way that negotiation between children and their parents is part of the individualization of childhood. Children’s perspectives on the family and their experiences of family are central to Madge and Willmott 2007 from a UK context and Rigg and Pryor 2007, whose authors are from New Zealand. Brannen and O’Brien 1996 broadens the analysis to include articles on child poverty and family policy-related issues. Flowerdew and Neale 2003 focuses on one critical aspect of family life: the rise in divorce and the implications it has for children from a child-focused perspective. From a sub-Saharan African context, Kendrick and Kakuru 2012 explores the way children have to take on family responsibilities due to the loss of at least one parent.

  • Brannen, Julia, and Margaret O’Brien, eds. Children in Families: Research and Policy. London: Falmer, 1996.

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    This edited collection has two approaches. First, there are broader analyses on the changing nature of family and its impact on children and also family-related policy issues. Second, articles focus on children’s perspectives on family-related themes, including conceptualizing “the family,” the role of parents, and children’s involvement in parents’ work.

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  • Cheal, David. Families in Today’s World: A Comparative Approach. London: Routledge, 2008.

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    This text offers an accessible introduction to the sociology of the family. Chapter 2, “Interaction and Meaning in Families” (pp. 15–23), contains a discussion of parents and the individualization of childhood. Children here have more equal and negotiated relations with their parents.

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  • Flowerdew, Jennifer, and Bren Neale. “Trying to Stay Apace: Children with Multiple Challenges in Their Post-Divorce Family Lives.” Childhood 10.2 (2003): 147–161.

    DOI: 10.1177/0907568203010002003Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    The authors challenge the view that the effects of divorce on children are always negative. By focusing on children’s competence, they demonstrate the ways that children negotiate the multiple transitions that follow divorce. Moreover, their sample of English 11- to 17-year-olds identified other problems that they had to confront that coincided with their parents’ divorce, including negotiating adolescence. Available online for purchase or by subscription.

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  • Kendrick, Maureen, and Doris Kakuru. “Funds of Knowledge in Child-Headed Households: A Ugandan Case Study.” Childhood 19.3 (2012): 397–413.

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    There is a global focus here, with the authors researching the roles that children play within their families in many sub-Saharan African countries due to poverty, civil war, and the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Ethnographic research is used to explore the competence and resourcefulness of Ugandan children given that many have to cope without the support of at least one parent. Available online by subscription.

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  • Madge, Nicola, and Natasha Willmott. Children’s Views and Experiences of Parenting. York, UK: Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2007.

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    Child respondents from the United Kingdom discuss issues relating to their own family lives, their relations with their parents, and more general conceptions of family. Children discuss the importance of balancing parents’ authority with a right to be consulted, a more fluid parental division of labor, and more information and involvement when relations break down.

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  • Mayall, Berry. “Conversations with Children: Working with Generational Issues.” In Research with Children: Perspectives and Practices. 2d ed. Edited by Pia Christensen and Allison James, 109–124. London: Falmer, 2008.

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    Mayall applies a generational theory in discussing the different ways that children understand their lives in relation to adults with whom they have regular contact. Drawing on “conversations” with younger children, she explores generational relations as they appear to children in the home and the school.

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  • Rigg, Andrea, and Jan Pryor. “Children’s Perceptions of Families: What Do They Really Think?” Children & Society 21.1 (2007): 17–30.

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    This article concentrates on New Zealand children’s perceptions of family. Drawing on data from 111 children ages 9 to 13, the authors found unanimity among the respondents that the nuclear model constituted a family. However, there was also considerable support for other forms of family, including same-sex relations, cohabiting families, and stepfamilies. Available online by subscription.

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