Current Theoretical, Methodological, and Thematic Approaches in Childhood and Youth Studies in Qualitative Perspective

Abstract

The last decades witnessed the beginnings of interdisciplinary studies on children and childhood and new children and childhood sociology. They were started out of a belief that the until-then definitions of “child” and “childhood” in scientific disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, history, geography, law, economy, and others, were too narrow. New children and childhood studies opened new geographical, cultural, and thematic areas of research. New studies on children and childhood are based on presumptions that childhood is a social construct and that children are important social actors. Interpretative sociology and symbolic interactionism are important theoretical frames for new children and childhood studies. Development of new sociology of children and childhood is reflected in research networks and committees being set up in sociological associations.