WIKINDX Resources
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James Allison & James Adrian (2008). Key Concepts in Childhood Studies. London : SAGE Publications Ltd, 160 p.
Added by: Marie Musset (20 Jun 2011 11:58:29 Europe/Paris) |
| Resource type: Book ID no. (ISBN etc.): 9781412908795 BibTeX citation key: James2008  |
Categories: General Keywords: enfant et enfance Creators: James, James Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd (London) |
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| Abstract |
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'This is a superb introduction to the fascinating field of childhood studies. A series of well chosen entries provide concise summaries of key ideas, and accessible introductions to some highly complex issues. The authors brilliantly weave together their different themes with their use of cross-referencing, so that the whole is even richer than the individual parts. I would recommend it to any beginning student of Childhoods Studies, as well as more advanced ones' - Nigel Thomas, Professor of Childhood & Youth Research, University of Central Lancashire A systematic, clear introduction to the expanding field of Childhood Studies. Valuable entries including Agency, Play and Welfare introduce key ideas and explore interwoven multi-disciplinary themes. Definitions, summaries and key words are developed and cross-referenced by the book's intelligent organisation and flow to explain in-depth issues as respected pioneers Alison James and Adrian James offer students and specialists: - Lucid accounts of the key concepts - Authoritative and reliable data - Accessible text format Added by: Marie Musset |
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p.2
Another of our starting points has been the acknowledgement that childhood is a complex phenomenon, which therefore requires complex understandings that cannot be arrived at by looking through a single disciplinary lens. This, too, has been a challenge for us. Given our own disciplinary backgrounds, it is inevitable that we have tended to favour the perspectives of sociology and social anthropology in exploring the various concepts we have included in this volume. We are clear, however, that even though it might be argued with some justification that childhood studies owes most in terms of its theoretical development to sociology, childhood studies must be conceived of as an area of interdisciplinary scholarship. Our choice of key concepts recognises that history, geography, psychology, economics, medicine, social policy, law, pedagogy, art and literature have all also made important contributions to the study and understanding of children and childhood. Taken together, these provide a multi- and interdisciplinary framework within which the different parameters of childhood and the lives of children can be studied. This does not mean that the concepts explored here are exhaustive, for there are other players in the childhood field that receive less attention in this volume. For example, there has been a long-standing research interest in the field of early childhood studies. Primarily, this work is concerned to study young children during the early stage of the life-course to enable adults in general, and teachers in particular, to be more effective and efficient in terms of child-rearing and social pedagogy. In this sense, this work can often have a very particular and instrumental framing. Childhood studies, as represented by the concepts included in this book, is conceived of in much broader terms; it is concerned with the social study of all childhoods and all children of all ages, in their own right and not just as a means to an end. Added by: Marie Musset |