Becoming Children. Well-being, Participation, Citizenship

The book is a reflection on childhood, dealing especially with children’s well-being and the implementation of their rights. Starting from the recognition – first expressed in the 1924 Declaration of the Rights of the Child and reaffirmed in the 2000 Treaty of Nice as well as in more recent initiatives of the European Union – that children must be granted the right to be considered as persons and afforded the best possible living conditions, the book’s aim is to create a dialog among scholars with different backgrounds. For this reason, it draws on a range of different vocabularies, conceptual apparatuses and methodologies, as we are convinced that it is reductive to confine research and theory within specific disciplinary bounds. This is particularly true of a topic as complex as that of childhood today, especially in the light of the changes within the family that have taken place or are still in the making. Accordingly, the key terms in the text are agency and autonomy, participation and well-being. But what does each of them actually mean? How do they can be analysed and measured? What initiatives can be taken? The ontological overturning of the status of childhood that has emerged in recent years, whereby children are now considered as social actors and subjects in their own right, urges us to keep the focus on the contexts in the light of the unexpected consequences of applying the fundamental principles of the new sociology of childhood. The book is addressed not only to a small audience of specialists, but also to students, practitioners and those who are curious about the topic, providing them with fresh insights and information.