Demographic and societal changes are strongly affecting the contexts of childhood and the experience of being children. At the same time, across social groups and across societies, diversities and inequalities in childhood are taking new forms. In the developed world, in particular, children their number, their welfare, their education, the division of power and responsibilities over them among the different social actors have entered the public agenda, at the national and supranational level. Public concern over issues such as fertility rates, mothers working, early childhood education and...

Demographic and societal changes are strongly affecting the contexts of childhood and the experience of being children. At the same time, across social groups and across societies, diversities and inequalities in childhood are taking new forms. In the developed world, in particular, children their number, their welfare, their education, the division of power and responsibilities over them among the different social actors have entered the public agenda, at the national and supranational level. Public concern over issues such as fertility rates, mothers working, early childhood education and...