Key Issues in Childhood and Youth Studies by Taylor, Elizabeth; Kassem, Derek;

Short description:

This text explores a range of key issues related to children and childhood, from birth to eighteen years. Challenging current orthodoxies on the nature of childhood, it is an essential text for students as well as those studying relevant professional qualifications in social work, teaching and health.

Long description:

Key Issues in Childhood and Youth Studies presents an informed and critical commentary on a range of key issues related to children and childhood, from birth to eighteen years. Challenging current orthodoxies within the adult world on the nature of childhood, it is an essential text for students of childhood and youth studies as well as those studying relevant professional qualifications in social work, teaching and health.

Exploring ideas from the historical development of childhood to the demonising of youth, it is divided into five clearly defined sections, each with their own editorial introduction which highlights the key themes. The sections focus on:

• the concept and creation of childhood


• child development


• ideas of risk, protection and childhood


• the politics of childhood


• international perspectives on childhood.

This invaluable textbook provides an overview of childhood and youth studies and encourages students to think about the issues discussed and to develop their own ideas. Each chapter contains student activities, key concept boxes, recommended further reading and a reflection exercise.

‘Immediately accessible and engaging for the newcomer to childhood studies, this book provides a strong and cohesive framework for understanding childhood in the contemporary world. The breadth of coverage resists any comfortable or parochial notion of childhood. Instead, it offers critical, global perspectives on issues defining modern childhood. It is a long time since I read a book on childhood that is so comprehensive and comprehensible. This book should be recommended as core reading.’ – Russell Jones, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK

Table of Contents:

Part 1: Creating Childhood  1. The Origins of Childhood: In the Beginning…  John Clarke  2. Construction of Childhood: The Building Blocks  Shirley J Pressler  3. Race, Racism and Mixed Heritage: A Mixed Life  Derek Kassem  Part 2: The Developing Child  4. The Psychology of the Child: Mind Games  Diahann Gallard  5. The Development of Speech and Language: Inborn or Bred  Lisa Murphy  6. Childhood Sexuality: Coming of Age  John Clarke  Part 3: Children and Risk  7. Children and the Notion of Risk: The Nanny State?  Andrew Kennedy  8. The Child and Protection: Not Seen, Not Heard  Lynne Kendal  9. Life as a Looked-after Child: The Parent of Last Resort  Derek Kassem  10. Healthy in Body, Healthy in Mind  John Harrison  Part 4: The Politics of Childhood  11. The Social Construction of Deviant Identities: The Devil Wears a Hoodie  John Robinson  12. The Testing Regime of Childhood: Up Against the Wall  Terry Wrigley  13. The Rights of the Child: Rightfully Mine!  Heather Montgomery  14. Childhood and Youth Poverty in the UK: The Have-Nots  Diane Grant  Part 5: The Global Child  15. The Palestinian Experience: Brutalized Childhoods  Samir Qouta  16. Childhood in the Context of HIV/AIDS: The Death of Childhood  Gabriella Torstensson  17. Moving for a Better Life: To Go or to Starve  Sam Punch