The disablement and enablement of childhood

摘要

In this paper, I first examine how the dominant view of children as incompetent is constructed in the field of sociology, highlighting the constructions of them as playful, vulnerable and passive. Then, I deconstruct these dominant constructions and argue that they do not do children justice. To restore justice to children through reconstructing the concept of childhood, I suggest that children should neither be constructed as workfree and carefree, nor as innately innocent and vulnerable. Moreover, I suggest that the common practice of legally fixing a chronological identity for adults within the life course should be challenged, and that the relationship between social structures and agency should be understood in terms of relational rather than co-deterministic theories. Finally, to promote agency in children at the policy level, I suggest that they should be empowered to participate actively in various settings, particularly schools.View full textDownload full textKeywordsconstruction, deconstruction, childhood, children, sociology, justiceRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09620214.2012.700190