Future of Childhood

Alan Prout is Professor of Sociology and Director of the ESRC Children 5-16 Programme, University of Stirling.

'A short book of formidable intelligence.' - Nicholas Tucker, Times Educational Supplement'The Future of Childhood [is] an interesting mediation on what exactly the 'child' is that lies at the heart of research on children and childhood, and its attempt to break down the culture-nature binary by actually engaging with science certainly offers something new to contemporary debates on this much larger question.' - Children's Geographies'This book studies in great detail the role and place of children and childhood in contemporary and future society. Due to profound social, demographic and economic changes, the social context and circumstances in which children grow up today have become very diverse. The new complexity of (modern) life has had great impact on the life of children. Prout takes this as the basis from which to rethink the methods of and theoretical approaches to childhood studies.'- Journal of Contemporary European Studies, Vol. 14, No. 2, 273–313, August 2006'This theoretically sophisticated book provides excellent resources and arguments for the debate on childhood and childhood studies today and in the future.' - Nicole Klinkhammer, Youth Welfare Service, Munich, Germany

• 1. Changing Childhood in a Globalizing World 2. Childhood Studies and the Modern Mentality 3. The Dualities of the Social 4. Childhood Nature and Culture 5. The Future of Childhood