Global Changes in Children's Lives

This Element compares the nature of childhood in four representative societies differing in their subsistence activities: bands of Australian hunter-gatherers, Tibetan nomadic pastoralists, peasants and farmers residing in Maya villages and towns, and South Korean students growing up in a digital information society. In addition, the Element traces a variety of intertwined global changes that have led to sharply reduced child mortality rates, shrinking family sizes, contested gender roles, increased marriage ages, long-term enrollment of children (especially girls in educational institutions), and the formation of 'glocal' identities.