Key Concepts in Childhood Studies

Once again, James and James have produced a book which will define Childhood Studies in the coming years. This is an essential book for everyone interested in this rapidly expanding field and offers a series of short, in-depth, introductory essays which provide invaluable starting points for further exploration. Indispensible to anyone interested in studying childhood.

Heather Montgomery
Reader in the Anthropology of Childhood at The Open University

Scholars and students will welcome this updated edition of a definitive introductory text by two of the world's leading authorities in Childhood Studies. Key Concepts provides insightful and challenging discussions of some of the major themes and issues in this burgeoning field.
David Buckingham
Loughborough University

Allison and Adrian James have been amongst the pioneers who established Childhood Studies as a cross-disciplinary field relevant to all who carry out research or work with children and young people.

They are in a unique position to introduce the diverse, and in some cases overlapping and ambiguous concepts that are an inevitable, and also a healthy consequence of crossing disciplinary boundaries...

Arranged alphabetically, core ideas about "Agency" and "Development" through to "Socialisation" and "Youth" are explained in straightforward language, with a concise introduction to key theoretical debates, as well as up to date references...

This second edition is a welcome addition to the bookshelf, offering an even more comprehensive and up to date guide, which will be an essential resource for established researchers and novice students alike.

Martin Woodhead
The Open University

Allison James is Professor of Sociology at the University of Sheffield where she is also co-director of the Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth.  Professor Adrian James is Emeritus Professor of Applied Social Sciences at the University of Sheffield. 

Preface to the Second Edition Introduction Age and Maturity Agency Best Interests Child Child-Focused Research /Research with Children Child-Friendly Childhood Child Soldiers Childhood Studies Children as Consumers Children as Researchers Children's Voices Citizenship Competence Cultural Politics of Childhood Cultural Relativism Delinquency Developmentalism Developmental Psychology Disappearance or Loss of Childhood Diversity Ethnicity Family Familialisation Friendship Futurity Gender Generation Global Childhood Health Innocence Internet and New Social Media Interpretive Reproduction Minority Group Status Nature vs. Nurture Needs Neglect Parenting Participation Peer Group Play Poverty Protection Representation Resilience Responsibility Rights Schooling and Schools Sexualisation Sexual Abuse Social Actor Social Construction Social World Socialisation Spaces for Children and Children's Places Standpoint Street-Children Structure United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) Vulnerability Welfare Work and Working Children Youth