A landmark publication in the field, this state of the art reference work, with contributions from leading thinkers across a range of disciplines, is an essential guide to the study of children and childhood, and sets out future research agendas for the subject.

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title, 2010

'a very impressive collection that covers a breathtaking amount of ground" - Social Sciences Review

'The Palgrave Handbook of Childhood Studies is...an excellent book...an indispensable working tool for (the next generation of) childhood researchers.' - Childhood

'a rich compendium of current research a journey through the highways and alleyways of a burgeoning area It is the kind of book I want handy as a reference for both teaching and research. An attractive anthology for use in a course on childhood at the advanced undergraduate or graduate levels, it provides multiple tools for navigating theoretical, methodological, and epistemological terrains of research in 'new' childhood studies.' - Sara Dorow, Canadian Journal of Sociology

'for everyone involved in child research this is a must' - Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association

'a very impressive collection that covers a breathtaking amount ofground' - Tom Cockburn, Sozialwissenschaftliche Literatur Rundschau

'The Handbook of Childhood Studies is an excellent resource: comprehensive in scope, interdisciplinary in content, well-chosen topics, with thoughtful essays by major figures in the field. It's a treasure!'

-Barrie Thorne, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley, USA; co-editor of Childhood: A Global Journal of Child Research

'This collection of essays covers an enormous range of topics on children and childhood and both reviews and extends the thinking within these sub-fiields.The Handbook of Childhood Studies is brimming full of insights and will help to shape theoretical and empirical agendas for researchers within the ever-broadening field of childhood studies.'

• Michael Wyness, Associate Professor in Childhood Studies, University of Warwick, UK

'The Handbook of Childhood Studies orchestrates the arrival, staying power, and significance of Childhood Studiesas a field. With a proliferation of creative ideas, a provocative and thoughtful organization ... the Handbook is deliciously kaleidoscopic - turn one way for rigorous yet consistently fresh views on a broad array of topics that shape the social studies of childhood, turn again and it sparks all kinds of questions and themes for future research'.

• Cindi Katz, Professor of Geography, Graduate Center, The City University of New York, USA

'This is a very significant book which assembles the work of many of the leading interdisciplinary figures in the field of childhood studies. The contents are well organised and the arguments both coherent and compelling. It will be difficult for any future scholar in this area of research to sidestep this major contribution to our understanding'

-Professor Chris Jenks, Vice Chancellor Brunel University, UK

Autorentext
LEENA ALANEN is Professor in Early Childhood Education, University of Jyväskylä, Finland ADRIAN BAILEY is Professor of Migration Studies in the School of Geography, University of Leeds, UK DAVID BUCKINGHAM directs the Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media at the Institute of Education, London, UK DORIS BÜHLER-NIEDERBERGER is Professor of Sociology of Family, Youth and Education at the University of Wuppertal, Germany DAN COOK is Associate Professor of Childhood Studies and Sociology, University of Illinois at Urbana, USA GUNILLA DAHLBERG is Professor at Stockholm University, Sweden KIRSTEN DROTNER is Professor in the Department of Literature, Culture and Media Studies University of Southern Denmark, Denmark AN-CARITA EVALDSSON is Professor at the Department of Education, Uppsala University, Sweden LAURA FINGERSON is an independent researcher in Minneapolis, USA IVAR FRØNES is Professor of Sociology, University of Oslo, Norway MICHAEL FREEMAN is Professor of English Law, University College London, UK JOHN GILLIS is Professor of History Emeritus, Rutgers University, USA HARRY HENDRICK teaches in the Department of History, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark HEINZ HENGST was Professor of Social and Cultural Sciences, Hochschule Bremen, Germany AN-MAGRITT JENSEN is Professor of Sociology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway ALLISON JAMES is Professor of Sociology, University of Sheffield, UK ANDREAS LANGE is Researcher at the German Youth Institute in Munich and teaches sociology at the University of Konstanz, Germany BERRY MAYALL is Professor of Childhood Studies at the Institute of Education, London, UK NATALIE HEVENER KAUFMAN is Professor Emerita, University of South Carolina, USA JOHN McKENDRICK is Senior Lecturer in Human Geography and Director of the Scottish Poverty Information Unit, Glasgow Caledonian University, UK JOHANNA MIERENDORFF is Visiting Professor of Social Pedagogy at the University of Trier,Germany OLGA NIEUWENHUYS teaches at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands THOMAS OLK is Professor of Social Work and Social Policy Research, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle/Wittenberg, Germany IRENE RIZZINI is Professor and Researcher at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Director of The International Center for Research on Childhood (CIESPI) KATHERINE ROSIER is Professor of Sociology, Central Michigan University, USA HEINZ SÜNKER is Professor of Social Pedagogy and Social Policy in the Department of Bildungs- and Social Sciences, Wuppertal University, Germany MARTIN WOODHEAD is Professor of Childhood Studies, The Open University, UK HELGA ZEIHER is a retired researcher from Max-Planck-Institute for Human Development in Berlin, Germany

Inhalt
List of Figures and Tables Notes on Contributors Introduction: Why Social Studies of Childhood?; J.Qvortrup, W.A.Corsaro & M-S.Honig PART I: CONCEPTS OF CHILDHOOD STUDIES Childhood as Structural Form; J.Qvortrup Agency; A.James Child Development and Development of Childhood; M.Woodhead How is the Child Constituted in Childhood Studies?; M-S.Honig Method and Methodology in Childhood Research; A.Lange & J.Mierendorff PART II: HISTORICAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONTEXTS OF CHILDHOOD The Evolution of Childhood in Western Europe c. 1400-1750; H.Hendrick Transitions to Modernity; J.Gillis Institutionalization as a Secular Trend; H.Zeiher Pluralization of Family Forms; A-M.Jensen PART III: GENERATIONAL RELATIONS Generational Order; L.Alanen Generational Relations at Family Level; B.Mayall Children, Generational Relations and Intergenerational Justice; T.Olk Collective Identities; H.Hengst PART IV: CHILDREN'S EVERYDAY LIVES/THE LOCAL FRAMEWORK Children's Bodies; L.Fingerson Policies in Early Childhood Education and Care: Potentialities for Agency, Play and Learning; G.Dahlberg Localities: A Holistic Frame of Reference for Appraising Social Justice in Children's Lives; J.McKendrick Children as Problems, Problems of Children; K.Rosier Childhood: Leisure, Culture, and Peers; I.Frønes PART V: CHILDREN'S PRACTICE - CHILDREN AS PARTICIPANTS From Child Labour to Working Children's Movement; O.Nieuwenhuys Peer Cultures; W.A.Corsaro Play and Games; A-C.Evaldsson Leisure Time and Cultural Activities; I.Frønes Children as Consumers; D.Cook Children and Television; D.Buckingham Children and Digital Media: Online, On Site, On the Go; K.Drotner PART VI: CHILDREN'S RIGHTS AND PLACE IN THE WORLD Children's Rights as Human Rights: Reading the UNCRC; M.Freeman Interests in and Responsibility for Children and their Life Worlds; D.Bühler-Niederberger & H.Sünker Transnational Mobilities and Childhoods; A.Bailey Closing the Gap between Rights and the Realities of Children's Lives; N.H.Kaufman & I.Rizzini Author Index Subject Index