A Universal Child [Paperback]

Addressing questions about the cultural specificity of childhood, the complementary value of psychological, biological and social understandings of children, and the impact of policy and law on how children are dealt with and perceived, this will be a core text for many courses related to childhood studies.Introduction: The Disputed Child.- Alternative Perspectives on Childhood.- Children and Time: Historical and Contemporary Ideas About Childhood.- Children and Place  an Inevitable Source of 'Difference'?.- The Attempt to Identify Common Features of Childhood.- Children, the State and Social Policy.- Children and the Market.- Children and the Media.- Childhood: An Adult Conception?.- What do Children Think About Childhood?.- Childhoods: The Same Only Different?.- What Should We Do About Children (and Childhood)?.
ROGER SMITH is Professor of Social Work Research at School of Applied Social Sciences, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK.




What is a child?  Is childhood a universal concept or is it disappearing in modern society?

We all have our own idea of what childhood is, but it is surprisingly difficult to pin down  and widely debated among politicians, professionals, academics, and even parents and children themselves.

This important book questions and analyses what it is to be a child, focusing on the theory and evidence. Part I identifies aspects of childhood that provide an analytical framework for the book's subsequent discussion. Part II considers 'childhood in context'  examining both historical and contemporary evidence from around the world. Part III draws together these discussions to assess the question of whether, and to what extent, childhood is a fixed or fluid phenomenon. Throughout, the author:

? Draws on evidence from an array of cultures, contexts and forms of social organization.
? Exploresl³Ü