Crisis, Childhood and Children’s Rights: A Modern Sociological Approach

Abstract

Discussions around the current economic crisis have primarily focused on how it affects children’s well-being, ignoring its consequences on the conception of childhood. Following the modern sociological approach to childhood, which argues that it is not just a biological fact of life but a product of the social context and that children have to be seen as social agents, it is examined how the current socio-economic situation affects the construction of childhood and whether this hinders children from being active subjects of social structures and processes. Similarly, taking into account the close relation between conceptions of childhood and perceptions on children’s rights, this paper also examines the consequences of the economic crisis on the contemporary theoretical evolution of children’s rights, which is mainly specified by the ascription of autonomy rights to children. The conclusion common to both the sociology of childhood and children’s rights is that modern social reality fails to meet the expectations that have been raised by recent developments in the above fields, as crucial concepts, such as dependency, agency and capacity, are undergoing complex transformations.

Necessity of Implementing Advertising Literacy Programs in Preschool Curricula in Debt-Ridden Greecechool Curricula in Debt-Ridden Greece

“…However, this trend is now entering into a new phase that is characterized by the restriction or inability of consumption and the exclusion from specific consumer products and standards, forming a tension between consumer potential and socially constructed consumer desires. In return, this leads to two forms of childhood; on the one hand, the childhood of "haves" and, on the other hand, the childhood of "have-nots" (Daskalakis, 2015). In Greece, the lowest income groups of the population are likely to be in a very awful situation because they experience not only extreme poverty but also social exclusion.…”

Ελληνική Οικογένεια Σε Κρίση

“…Η έναρξη της οικονομικής κρίσης και οι κοινωνικές ανισότητες που συνεχώς οξύνονται φαίνεται να ακολουθούνται από την αύξηση της βίας και της επιθετικότητας, με τα ποσοστά ανθρωποκτονιών και κλοπών να διπλασιάζονται (Simou & Koutsogeorgou, 2014). Η αύξηση της παραβατικότητας και της φτώχιας, σε συνδυασμό με τον περιορισμό ή ακόμη και την καταπάτηση των κοινωνικών δικαιωμάτων των πολιτών και των οικογενειών τους, συμπεριλαμβανομένων των παιδιών, υπογραμμίζουν το κοινωνικό κόστος της κρίσης (Daskalakis, 2015• Ntais & Tzoufi, 2018.…”