Children and the Good Life

Today, the challenge for Research on Children is the issue of the "good life". Discourses and the production of knowledge on the "good life" require a theoretical frame. This frame can be provided by various perspectives: the feminist ethic of care, the Human and Children's Rights Convention, the idea of welfare, or the Capability Approach. The aim of this book is to answer the question of how we can define and measure a "good life" for children growing up in the modern world. The book discusses the cogency of universalistic theories and explores the potential contribution of research on children and the possible integration of children into the research process and debates on the "good life".

The articles collected in this book reflect the state of the art in research and discussions on this topic. Written by researchers from different countries and with expertise in various disciplines, the articles present theoretical and methodological analyses as well as empirical reports.

Autorentext

Andresen: Theory and History of Education, Childhood and Children Studies, Poverty, Family Research, Capability Research, Children's Rights and Needs Diehm: Education and Migration, Children and Childhood, Early Childhood Education, Education and Gender Sander: Research on Youth Culture and Growing up, Media Research, Qualitative Social Research Ziegler: Capability Approach, Education and Welfare, Social Work, Children and Adolescence

Zusammenfassung
In April 2009, an inspiring international conference was held at Bielefeld on the topic "Children and the Good Life: New Challenges for Research on Children." The focus was on how we can define and measure a "good life" for children growing up in the modern world. This tied in with discussions on how convincing universalistic theories are, what research on children can contribute, and how children themselves can be integrated into the research process and debates on the "good life." Discourses and the production of knowledge on the "good life" or "well-being" require a guiding idea or a theoretical frame. This frame can come from the feminist ethic of care or from the Human and Children's Rights Convention, from the idea of welfare, or from the Capability Approach.

Inhalt
Introduction - Sabine Andresen, Isabell Diehm, Uwe Sander, and Holger Ziegler.- Part I Children and the Good Life: Theoretical Challenges - Susann Fegter, Claudia Machtold and Martins Richter.- Modern Children and Their Well-Being: Dismantling an Ideal - Tanja Betz.- Children, the Feminist Ethic of Care and Childhood Studies: Is This theWay to the Good Life? - Tom Cockburn.- Childhood Welfare and the Rights of Children - Lourdes Gaitán Muñoz.- Children and Their Needs - Sabine Andresen and Stefanie Albus.- Part II The Capability Approach and Research on Children - Zoe Clark and Franziska Eisenhuth.- The Capability Approach and Research on Children: Capability Approach and Children's Issues - Mario Biggeri, Jérôme Ballet, and Flavio Comim.- Subjective Well-Being and Capabilities: Views on theWell-Being of Young Persons - Holger Ziegler.- Language EducationFor the Good Life? - Isabell Diehm and Veronika Magyar-Haas.- Part III Children's Perspectives: Methodological Critiques and Empirical Studies - Christine Hunner-Kreisel and Melanie Kuhn.- Biographical Research in Childhood Studies: Exploring Children's Voices from a Pedagogical Perspective - Gonzalo Jover and Bianca Thoilliez.- Researching Identities, Difference, Subjectivities and Social Relations in Childhood Within Multi-ethnic Infant and Primary School Settings - Cecile Wright.- Childhood Studies in Turkey - Akile Gürsoy.- Part IV Structural Conditions and Children in Different National Contexts - Tim Kohler and Uwe Sander.- Child PovertySocial and Economic Policy for Children - Antje Richter-Kornweitz.- Well-Being of Children in Turkey - Didem Gürses.- Roma Children and Social Exclusion in Lithuania: Sociological Approach to Human Development - Tadas Leoncikas and Vida Beresneviciute