This book investigates how constructed representations of the child have and continue to restrict children's opportunities to engage in moral discourses, and the implications this has on children's everyday experiences. By considering a moral dimension to both structure and agency, the author focuses on the nature of the images that are used to represent the child and how these sit in contrast to the active and meaning-driven way in which children negotiate their everyday lives.

The book therefore argues that 'morality' provides a filter to understand the backdrop for interaction, as well as offering a focus for engaging with the individual as a social agent, acting and reacting in the world around them.

Negotiating Childhoods will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology, childhood studies, criminology, social work, culture and media studies and philosophy.

Explores various aspects of children's social lives such as home, school, parenting, public space, children's bodies and sexualisation, technology and the internet and law Argues that the underlying assumptions that define our position towards children and morality are flawed as they are based on adult voices rather than children themselves Focuses on the nature of the images that are used to represent the child

Autorentext

Sam Frankel is a Visiting Professor at Kings, Western University, Canada, an Honorary Research Fellow, University of Sheffield, UK and the Director of 'Equippingkids' and educational organisations the Centre of Excellence for Social Learning and Act 4.

Inhalt

Introduction.- Step 1 - A Theoretical Foundation.- 1. Structure & Agency.- Step 2 - Establishing a Framework.- 2. Engaging with Structure.- 3. Engaging with Agency.- Step 3 - Framing a Contextual Backdrop.- 4. Reason.- 5. Virtue.- 6. Social Harmony.- Step 4 - Recognising Agency in Action.- 7. Negotiation the Everyday.- Step 5 - Re-positioning Children within Structure.- 8. Restructuring Moral Discourses