Childhood: Critical Concepts in Sociology

Childhood is an extremely complex and highly contested concept. It refers to a life phase as well as to the age group defined as children, but is also a cultural construction, part of the social and economic structure of communities. The key scholarship collected, introduced, and reprinted in these volumes reflects this complexity and introduces the reader to the wide variety of interpretations that have been and continue to be placed on it. It might be suggested that the push or initiative in theorizing childhood has derived from advances within sociology and anthropology. However, the future provides potential for interdisciplinary study, which this collection also reflects. The contemporary study of childhood must comprise a conjoining of disciplines: sociology; anthropology; psychology; social geography; history; philosophy; and socio-legal theory, all have something to add to the field and are represented within the collection.