Jens Qvortrup

Childhood matters : social theory, practice and politics

This volume discusses the living conditions of children in industrial society, and presents new theories and interpretations regarding the position of childhood in modern society, in relation to family, economy, politics, time and space, intergenerational relations and demographic developments.

Varieties of Childhood

Representations of children cover a wide range — from their non-existence to demands for their complete separation from adults. A few years ago an article in the New York Times Magazine (see Belkin, 2000) reported a new movement in the US, campaigning for ‘child-free zones’. The main argument among its adherents was that childless adults had a right not to be bothered or pestered by other people’s children. They felt emphatically that children were impermissibly and unacceptably visible — indeed, they had no larger wish than to make children disappear from their compass. In their view, children are a private matter; they should not disturb other people, and it should remain a parental obligation to keep children away from the public space, which apparently is regarded as an adult domain and prerogative. Advocates of child-free zones thus perceive children as a private good that is definitely none of their business; the idea of children as a public good hardly comes to mind. For them children should neither be seen nor heard, and should enter the societal arena only when they have matured. For them, children’s intrusion into public arenas is thought of in terms of a ‘status offence’. Among adults, they belong to ‘free-riders’ as far as responsibility for children or childhood is concerned.

A infância enquanto categoria estrutural

The twin concepts ‘structure’ and ‘agency’ have served philosophy and social science since time immemorial — occasionally under other names, perhaps. It is a commonplace to suggest, for instance, that social change is the result of the interplay between structural conditions, on one hand, and conscious and deliberate human interventions, on the other. The strength relation between the two largely determines the direction and rapidity of social change and it is thus of continuous interest to look for the relationship between structural forces and human agency, with the purpose of striking a balance. At the same time, it is a contested issue that almost unavoidably produces rigid fronts behind which either ‘determinists’ or ‘voluntarists’ barricade themselves — that is, at least, often the perception and mutual accusations of the adversaries.Nos paises do hemisferio norte, um dos simbolos da consolidacao de uma area de conhecimento e a publicacao de um handbook - em portugues, manual ou compendio - cujos capitulos apresentam um breve estado da arte de seus respectivos temas. Em 2009, The Palgrave Handbook of Childhood Studies foi publicado, indicando o reconhecimento da area dos estudos da infância. Sabe-se que as criancas foram principalmente investigadas pela psicologia ou pela pedagogia e que as ciencias sociais pouco produziram sobre elas, priorizando estudos sobre a familia ou sobre a escola. Ha pouco mais de vinte anos, entretanto, comecaram a tornar-se o foco dos estudos sociais da infância, que a tomaram como um fenomeno social. Nesse sentido, foi definido um campo que investiga as criancas como agentes sociais, produtoras de culturas, e a infância como categoria na estrutura social, o que ampliou de modo significativo a producao de conhecimento sobre as relacoes sociais estabelecidas entre as proprias criancas (seus pares) e com os adultos (relacoes intra e intergeracionais), sobre suas competencias como protagonistas de suas vidas, como agentes sociais cuja acao modifica/transforma os mundos sociais nos quais estao inseridas. O texto do Prof. Jens Qvortrup, responsavel pela constituicao do primeiro grupo de pesquisa no campo da sociologia da infância (RC53) na Associacao Internacional de Sociologia (ISA), e um dos organizadores do Handbook, trata da infância como estrutura social. Publicado como primeiro capitulo do The Palgrave Handbook of Childhood Studies, o trabalho apresenta a infância como segmento na estrutura social e as aplicacoes de uma perspectiva estrutural, ou seja, inserido nos fundamentos teoricos dos estudos da infância, o capitulo define uma abordagem que difere tanto de pesquisas sobre socializacao quanto de estudos sobre desenvolvimento infantil, oferecendo elementos para a realizacao de pesquisas que tenham como objeto a infância como categoria social, portanto diversa e complementar as outras categorias. A leitura do texto remete a outros temas, tratados por diferentes autores nos demais capitulos, o que faz os pesquisadores brasileiros almejarem a traducao integral do livro.

Placing Children in the Division of Labour

About 40 per cent of the world’s population are children under the age of 15, and within a few years there will be more than two billion children. By far the greatest proportion of them (maybe 80 per cent) live in less-well-developed areas of the world. Nearly sixty million of these children are registered as economically active in one way or another, but this figure is probably the tip of the iceberg. In most countries the gainful employment of children is against the law, the introduction of compulsory schooling being the main factor which triggered its illegalisation. Yet despite prohibitive laws childwork is still practised wherever it is felt to be advantageous.

Nove teses sobre a "infância como um fenômeno social"

O artigo apresenta teses que sustentam que as criancas sao parte da sociedade e do mundo e que e possivel e necessario conectar a infância as forcas estruturais maiores, ampliando as condicoes para a pesquisa sociologica dessa categoria social. Argumenta, a partir de eventos e estudos que tendem a excluir as criancas de suas analises, que o foco no desenvolvimento infantil e na socializacao tradicional dificultou o reconhecimento da infância como fenomeno social. Como conclusao, indica a necessidade de uma abordagem interdisciplinar para estabelecer relacoes entre a infância, como categoria, e as criancas, em suas vivencias cotidianas; e para prover um quadro positivo ou negativo das condicoes de vida das criancas em geral, com vistas a compreende-las como cidadas.

Societal position of childhood: the international project Childhood as a Social Phenomenon

In this brief overview only a few points could be sketched. Other important issues have been the consequences for children of the break up of the family, such as di vorce and consensual unions; the legal position of children has been of interest, as it has also gained importance internationally in recent years through the new UN child convention. Generally, however, the importance of the project lies, we believe, in its efforts to bring structural, sociological and economic theories and methods to bear on childhood, while perceiving childhood as a social construction. It has been a central idea from the outset, that there was nothing mysterious about children that preven ted us from approaching childhood scientifically as any other social category is ap proached. This is, we believe, one way of taking children seriously.*

Why Social Studies of Childhood? An Introduction to the Handbook

The Palgrave Handbook of Childhood Studies signals recognition of a significant area of study which began to assert itself a quarter of a century ago. Its publication is a sign that childhood studies have both matured and experienced remarkable diversification; it is an indication that these studies, like childhood, have being and legitimacy in their own right. But even if these perspectives and approaches have gained ground, a handbook will be helpful in making them better known both in academia and among the broader public.

Are Children Human Beings or Human Becomings? A Critical Assessment of Outcome Thinking

The section presents a critical assessment of so-called outcome or displacement perspectives. Common to them is a preference – under the pretext of showing interest for children – for looking forward to adulthood. This was characteristic for psychology and has recently obtained focus by prominent economists and politicians: being basically preoccupied with future productivity among adults they appear to have found its secret in childhood-investments. As such it is a worthy cause. Its potential drawback is that investments do not produce the desired «outcome» and thus the critical question is raised, if politicians are ready to continue investments that «merely» favour children? Since 1980s a new sociology of childhood has been critical to these forward-looking perspectives and insisted that children’s welfare is significant enough in itself as an investment object and needs no instrumentalising arguments to be justified, for instance in terms of future profitability.

Childhood and politics

As atitudes da nossa cultura em relacao as criancas sao ambiguas, o que se observa tambem na relacao entre criancas e politica. O modo protetor a que vem sendo submetidas as criancas nos ultimos dois seculos acaba por afasta-las dos adultos - e dos assuntos serios da economia e da politica. Como resolver esse dilema, que tem como consequencia dificultar um discurso sobre criancas e politica? Este artigo faz algumas reflexoes sobre o tema e sugere que, em principio, quando se trata de politica, pode-se falar de: criancas como sujeitos; criancas/infância como objeto nao visado (em termos do impacto de forcas estruturais); criancas/infância como objetos visados (iniciativas politicas voltadas as criancas) e, finalmente, como objetos instrumentalizados. A grande questao que se coloca em cada caso e saber em que medida as criancas sao beneficiadas e se isso nao ocorre como um efeito colateral dos ganhos para os adultos/sociedade adulta. Sera que haveria investimentos publicos em criancas nas dimensoes que alcancam hoje se nao houvesse expectativas de um retorno lucrativo?

A tentação da diversidade: e seus riscos

The aim of the paper is to discuss two approaches proposed by the social studies of childhood: one related to diversity, and the use of classical categories of sociology - class, gender and ethnicity - to the delimitation of childhood as research subject; another, recommended by the author, which prioritizes the generational category in studies of childhood. The argument presents the similarity between neo-liberal strands and post-modern and post-structural perspectives to advice about their effects on politics and studies of childhood. In this case, the author refers some analysis to indicate the risks into diversitys approach in research on childhood.