This book analyzes the nature and experience of childhoods around the world at the beginning of the 21st century. Wide-ranging developments concerning children in the fields of social policy, sociology and politics have spurred significant growth in the social study of childhood. The book, which is primarily designed for students, academics and practitioners who need to keep up with fast-moving contemporary developments, considers childhood from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.

This book analyzes the nature and experience of childhoods around the world at the beginning of the 21st century. Wide-ranging developments concerning children in the fields of social policy, sociology and politics have spurred significant growth in the social study of childhood. The book, which is primarily designed for students, academics and practitioners who need to keep up with fast-moving contemporary developments, considers childhood from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.

PART ONE: CHILDREN IN THEORY AND HISTORY Introduction: The Politics of Childhood - An Overview; A.James & A.James Interpreting Children's Needs: Contested Assumptions in the Provision of Welfare; N.Thomas The Politics of Modern Childhood: American Socialization and the Crisis of Individualism; J.Block The 'Shame of America': African-American Civil Rights and the Politics of Childhood; R.de Schweinitz PART TWO: CHILDREN, MONEY AND WORK Child Labour and Children's Rights: Policy Issues in Three Affluent Societies; W.Heesterman Entertaining Guests or Entertaining the Guests: Children's Emotional Labour in Hotels, Pubs and Boarding Houses; J.Seymour Growing Up in Poverty While Living in an Affluent Society: Personal Experiences and Coping Strategies of Dutch Poor Children; T.van der Hoek PART THREE: CHILDREN AT SCHOOL Mobilising Family Solidarity? Rights, Responsibilities and Secondary Schooling in Urban Mexico; M.Blasco 'Gypsy Children Can't Learn': Roma in the Hungarian Education System; A.Tremlett The Invisible Child in Education Law; A.Blair PART FOUR: CHILDREN, POWER AND DECISION-MAKING Placing Children on the Political Agenda: New Zealand's Agenda for Children; M.Brown & J.McCormack The Representation of Children in the Media: Aspects of Agency and Literacy; M.Messenger Davies & N.Mosdell Family Law and the Construction of Childhood in England and Wales; S.McNamee, A.James & A.James Meeting the Challenge? Voicing Children and Young People in Mental Health Research V.Coppock Future Directions for the Study of Childhood; J.Goddard