In this volume, guest editor Qvortrup brings together contributions representing structural, historical, and comparative perspectives on the study of children and youth. Here, childhood is conceived as a structural feature of society, subject to the stable and changing forces of the larger social context, and comparable across time and cultures. Such perspectives have been relatively under-represented in the "New Sociology of Childhood," which has tended both to stress children's agency, and to favour ethnographic methods of inquiry. The series editors are pleased to expand and enliven the...

The theme of this volume is an outgrowth of one of the Section sponsored sessions at the 2006 ASA meetings in Montreal; 'Children and Youth Speak for Themselves'. The volume is a collection of articles from scholars who pay particular attention to children and/or adolescents' voices, interpretations, perspectives, and experiences within specific social and cultural contexts. Contributions include research stemming from a broad spectrum of methodological and theoretical orientations. This is a cutting-edge compilation of the most current child-centred scholarship on the sociology of children...

This volume is comprised of empirical research and theoretical papers within three key areas, namely children's well being, children and youth peer cultures, and the rights of children and youth. These empirical studies include children's voices and experiences from four continents (Asia, Europe, North America and South America) and a range of methodological and theoretical orientations. A clear connection to social policy at a national and international level is made in many of these studies. Topics are wide-ranging and include: Praetorian militarization; school mobility; math and reading...

Volume 15 of "Sociological Studies of Children and Youth" investigates the interactional procedures used by children and young people as disputes arise in varying contexts of their everyday life. Disputes are a topic of angst and anxiety for children, young people and adults alike, and yet are important times for interactional matters to be addressed. A particular intention of the book is its ethnomethodological focus, bringing a fine-grained analysis and understanding to disputes and related interactional matters. Such analysis highlights the in situ competency of children and young people...

In recent years, civic and political institutions have stepped up their efforts to encourage youth participation: schools promote volunteerism, non-profits provide opportunities for service, local governments create youth councils, and social movement organizations discuss the need to encourage a new generation of activists. This volume adopts a critical approach to the civic and political socialization projects which aim to transform children and youth into upstanding citizens. By synthesizing the study of young people's civic and political socialization under the rubric of "Youth...

Authors of this book discover the intricacies of friendship and peer cultures of children in multilingual settings. Volume 21 brings together empirical research from across the globe, and from various methodological and theoretical orientations to investigate children's relationships within multilingual settings such as school, home, community and online. Diverse views of children and young people on cross-cultural relationships offer rich and valuable findings and contribute new knowledge for policy makers, social workers, educators and parents about strategies children use to make friends....

Child Labour in Global Society is a critical response to the modern educational regime, compulsory schooling and the 'slavery industry' in a globalizing world; to evolving and exploitative notions of 'slavery'; to definitions of 'slavery' in international law; to approaches to 'educational labour', including in international human rights law; and to cultural, common-sense and professional perspectives on 'slavery' and 'educational labour', in the light of which it is arguable that children's 'slave labour' in modern and modernizing societies is grossly under-estimated and otherwise greatly,...

Researching Children and Youth: Methodological Issues, Strategies, and Innovations, part of the Sociological Studies of Children and Youth series, seeks to fill a void in current publications directly addressing the problems and pitfalls that often accompany researching children and youth in today's society. Sociologists face increasingly limited access to children and youth given their "vulnerable" status, growing requirements from Institutional Review Boards, and more restricted access from organizations and educational institutions. As a result, researchers must be creative in the pursuit...

Researchers, practitioners, and parents have increasingly become concerned about issues related to sex, gender, and sexuality among children and adolescents. With access to the Internet, young people around the globe can readily obtain virtually any and all information they seek concerning sex and sexuality. In many cultures, the clothing and fashions of children, adolescents, and young adults are increasingly merging, leaving little clear distinction between them, and creating what some consider to be the 'sexualization' of children's and adolescents' clothing. Coinciding with such changes,...

The condition of childhood and youth in different socio-cultural contexts is an area that is yet to be fully uncovered. Currently, there is a lack of understanding regarding young people's inherent rights, how these translate into day-to-day policy and why the experience of childhood differs across different socio-cultural realities. This book, written by experts in the field from India, The Philippines, Sweden, Romania, Scotland, Brazil, Argentina and Jamaica, seeks to redress this disconnect and take an in-depth exploration into the condition of childhood across 3 different...