Sociology of Childhood

Dear Members,

This newsletter informs you about the program of RC 53 in Barcelona. As the general theme of the ISA Forum is “Sociological Research and Public Debate” we concentrated our sessions thematically on childhood in scientific and public debates and we think that the final program shows this thematic coherence as well as quite some variation. We will have almost 40 papers in the various sessions and joint sessions. We are looking forward to welcoming as many of you as possible in our sessions as well as many guests from other RC’s. We also hope that we will be able to realize some attractive publications out of this in the end. So, please help us to incite the interest for our sessions among the participants of the ISA Forum.

For all other news we recommend you to visit frequently our blog:
http://childhood.nfshost.com/

Looking forward to meet you in Barcelona

Doris and Ali

Program ISA Forum of Sociology in Barcelona, Spain 2008, RC 53 (Sociology of Childhood) – RC Sessions, Joint Sessions, Common Session

1. Scientific and public images of children – Friday, September 5, 15:30-17:30

1. Bühler-Niederberger, Doris (University of Wuppertal, Germany) : “The public images of children – between political and expert claims” (buehler@uni-wuppertal.de)
2. Moran-Ellis, Jo (University of Surrey, UK) : “Questions of experts, expertise and childhood in the regulation of social research: has the sociology of childhood failed children?” (j.moran-ellis@surrey.ac.uk)
3. Sirota, Régine (Université Paris V, René Descartes, France): “Representations of childhood in contemporary public debates taking place in the French media” (regine.sirota@paris5.sorbonne.fr)
4. Tilleczek, Kate (Laurentian University, Canada): “Being a becoming as educational and childhood discourse” (ktilleczek@laurentian.ca)

Chair: Bass, Loretta (Indiana University, USA: lbass@ou.edu)

2. Defining social problems – Saturday, September 6, 9-11

1. Baraldi, Claudio (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy): “The social representation of children as victims: may children’s actions be considered a form of agency?” (cbaraldi@unimore.it)
2. Yildiz, Ozkan (University of Gaziantep, Turkey): “A representation of street children in Turkish media” (ozkan62us@yahoo.com)
3. Mogensen, Lise (University of Western Sydney, Australia): “Childhood in scientific and public debates – Exploring the relationship between actorship and social problems” (l.mogensen@uws.edu.au)

Chair: Cocks, Alison (University of Reading, UK: a.j.cocks@reading.ac.uk)

3. Policing children – Saturday, September 6, 11:30-13:30

1. Falloon, Janet (University of Western Sydney): “The role of child abuse policy in constructing normative child-adult relations” (j.falloon@uws.edu.au)
2. Satka, Mirja (University of Jyväskylä, Finland) & Harrikari, Timo (University of Helsinki, Finland): “The present Finish formation of child welfare and history” (satka@cc.jyu.fi)
3. Jones, Nicola; Vargas, Rosana & Villar, Eliana (Young Lives, Peru, Oversea Developement Institute of London, UK): “Conditional cash transfers in Peru: Tackling the multi-dimensionality of childhood poverty and vulnerability” (n.jones@odi.org.uk)
4. Nascimento, Maria Letícia (University of São Paulo, Brazil): “Early childhood: the gap between the conception of childhood and social practices” (letician@usp.br)
5. Chandra Vinod (PGC, Lucknow, India): “The role of state in policing children – an evaluation of child welfare policy in Uttar Pradesh, India” (ccyrci@rediffmail.com)

Chair: Bühler-Niederberger, Doris (University of Wuppertal, Germany:
buehler@uni-wuppertal.de)

4. Familiarization and de-familiarization of children– Saturday, September 6, 15:30-17:30

1. Sun Hsiao-Li, Shirley (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore): “Understandig childbearing decisions in a pragmatic policy framework: the case of Singapore” (hlsun@ntu.edu.sg)
2. Alberth, Lars & Staab, Anna (University of Wuppertal, Germany): “The “science” of sleep” – The children’s sleep as family making” (alberth@uni-wuppertal.de)
3. Cortesi, Gabriella (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy): “Between transmission and production of culture. Construction and negotiation of the filial role” (gabriellacortesi@alice.it)

Chair: Sirota, Régine (University Paris Descartes, France: regine.sirota@paris5.sorbonne.fr)

5. Defining childhood by law – Sunday, September 7, 9-11

1. Schutter, Sabina (University of Wuppertal, Germany): ”Own children”, “real fathers” and “real mothers” – The child as genetic product in German filiation law” (ich@sabinaschutter.de)
2. Frota, Maria Guiomar da Cunha & Quintao, Paula Gomes (University of Minas Gerais, Brazil): “Latin American countries and implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child; human rights and social responsibility” (frotaguiomar@yahoo.com.br)
3. De Paula, Liana (University of São Paulo, Brazil): “Juvenile policies and family policies: reflections on the relationship between the Brazilian state and families from the perspective of social control policies on poor juveniles” (lianadepaula@uol.com.br)
4. Firth, Alan; Jenks, Christopher & Trinder, Liz (Newcastle University, UK): „Contesting the child: The discursive and rhetorical framing of children in family court mediations” (liz.trinder@newcastle.ac.uk)

Chair: Satka, Mirja (University of Jyväskylä, Finland, ” (satka@cc.jyu.fi)

6. Children in economic spheres – Sunday, September 7, 11:30-13:30

1. König, Alexandra (University of Dortmund, Germany): “Consumption-Kids” (akoenig@uni-wuppertal.de)
2. Pantea, Maria-Carmen (“Babes Bolyai” University, Romania): “Children’s work and labour in between actorship and social problems” (pantea@policy.hu)
3. Adriaensses, Stef (European University College Brussles, Belgium): “Trafficked, doped, and desperate? Begging mothers and children between public debate and real life experiences” (stef.adriaenssens@ehsal.be)
4. D’Amato, Marina (University Roma Tre, Italy): “Myths and values of children’s fantastic universe” (m.damato.uniroma3.it)

Chair: Moran-Ellis, Jo (University of Surrey, Guildfort, UK: j.moran-ellis@surrey.ac.uk)

7. Joint Session with RC 10 – Children’s participation – Sunday, September 7, 15:30-17:30

1. Rabello, de Castro Lucia (University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil): “’To be is not to act’: adults’ representations and children’s participation at school” (lrcastro@infolink.com.br)
2. Cocks, Alison (University of Reading, UK): “A qualitative study exploring the views of choice and participation held by teenagers with learning disabilities” (a.j.cocks@reading.ac.uk)
3. Pinkney, Sharon M. (Open University in Yorkshire, UK): “Children’s participation: voice, agency and representation” (s.m.pinkney@open.ac.uk)

Chair: Baraldi, Claudio (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy: cbaraldi@unimore.it)
———————————–

8. Joint Session with RC 11 “Sociology of Aging” - New forms of interaction between children and older adults in ageing societies – 1) new perspectives on intergenerational relations – Saturday, September 7, 18-20

1 Robin Shura Patterson (Case Western Reserve University, USA): “Fashioning New Conceptualizations of Family and Interhgenerational Responsibility in an Aging Society”
2 Laura Dunn & Rym Akhonzad (Queens University, Belfast, UK): “Looking Forward: A systematic review of children and young people’s perceptions of old age”
3 Jeehun Kim (University of Oxford, UK): “Changing Integenerational Relations, from ‘Solidarity’ to ‘Ambivalence’ and Displaying Family”
4 Benedita Edina da Silva Lima Cabral (Universidade Federal de Campina Grande Paraiba, Brazil): “Elderly and Family – Contemporary Multigenerational Brazilian Family Sustainability”
Chairs: Doris Bühler-Niederberger (University of Wuppertal; buehler@uni-wuppertal.de) and Andreas Hoff (University of Oxford; andreas.hoff@ageing.ox.ac.uk)

8. Joint Session with RC 11 “Sociology of Aging” - New forms of interaction between children and older adults in ageing societies – 2) New perspectives on the grandparent-grandchild relationship – Saturday, September 7, 15.30-17.30

1 Merril Silverstein & Sarah Ruiz (University of Southern California, U.S.A.): “The Role of Grandparents in Prmotin the Succesful Development of Grandchildren: A Contingent Resource?”
2 Robin Mann, George Leeson & Hafiz Kahn (Institute of Ageing, Oxford University, UK): „ Grandchildren and their Grandfathers: Perceptions, Influences and Relationships”
3 Katharina Mahne (German Centre of Gerontology, Berlin, Germany): “Caring for Grandchildren and Receipt of Instrumental Support in a Longitudinal Perspective”
4 Ignace Olazabal (CREGÈS-CSSS Cavendish, Canada): “Social Participation among Baqby-Boomer Grandparents in the Province of Quebec”
5 Mpiana Kalula (Cape Penninsula University of Technology, South Africa): “How an Old Age Person can be Affected by an Infected HIV Child in South Africa”

Chairs: Doris Bühler-Niederberger (University of Wuppertal; buehler@uni-wuppertal.de) and Andreas Hoff (University of Oxford; andreas.hoff@ageing.ox.ac.uk)

10. Joint Session with RC 13 “Sociology of Leisure”, RC 34 “Sociology of Youth” - New forms of interaction between children and older adults in ageing societies – 2) New perspectives on the grandparent-grandchild relationship – Monday, September 8, 11.30h-13.30h

Chairs: Ngan-Pun Ngai (the Chinese University of Hong Kong; RC34, NPNGAI@swkgpa.msmail.cuhk.edu.hk), Doris Bühler-Niederberger (University of Wuppertal, Germany) and Ken Roberts (University of Liverpool, UK, RC 13, kenneth.roberts18@btopenworld.com)

11. RC 53 in Common Sessions’ Program
Common Session 5 - Saturday, September 6, 18.00-20.00 – Interdisciplinary public debates and the sociological perspective

Chair: tba

1 Esther Ngan-ling Chow, RC 32 Women in Society, American University, USA, echow@american.edu, “Public Debates and Feminist Scholarship:
“Interrogating Women’s and Gender Studies in Contemporary China”
2 Reinhold Kilian, RC29 Sociology of Mental Health and Illness University of Ulm, Germany, reinhold.kilian@bkh-guenzburg.de, “Beyond stigmatization , stress, and social class. What can sociology contribute in the era of biological psychiatry?”
3 Doris Buehler-Niederberger, RC53 Sociology of Childhood, University of Wuppertal, Germany, buehler@uni-wuppertal.de, “The public images of children – between political and expert claims”

Here you can find the new issue of the journal Childhood. The contributed papers reflect the sessions of RC53 at the XVI ISA World Congress of Sociology at Durban, South Africa in July 2006, and they were edited by Doris Bühler-Niederberger and Robert van Krieken.

Dear RC53 Members,

Recently Doris and I have been contacted by academics and journalists wishing to contact academics/researchers working within specific fields related to the welfare and experiences of the children across the globe.  Also, in writing a commentary about the activity of RC 53 members, I have had great difficulty contacting members, finding out about your resaerch interests and published work (especially when I only understand the English language!).

It seemed a good idea therefore to develop a section within this blog for ‘Members Profiles’ where you can post information about yourselves which would be relevent to RC 53,  for example, you can state what work you are currently engaged in , what work you may be planning and whether you would be interested in collaborative work.  To this end, Robert has very kindly set up a section titled ‘members profiles’.

We think this would be a healthy development within RC 53 and encourage further collaboration among the membership.  So, please when you have time, do visit the members profile section and add your details!!

best wishes

Alison

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to let you know that ISA Executive Committee has approved a
launching of  Sociopedia.ISA an online database with entries that are
‘state-of-the-art’ reviews areas in the social sciences. This new and
important project of our Association needs RC-WG-TG support and
collaboration.

Entries will be included upon an editorial decision based on peer
reviews. A typical Sociopedia-article is of approx. 7.000 words and it
will include: 1. a description of what the article is about; 2.
theoretical approaches;  3. review of empirical evidence accumulated, so
far; 4. assessment of  where we stand and where we are heading; 5.
future direction theorizing and research should/might take; 6. annotated
references and suggested reading; 7. references; 8. approx. ten
key-words. Please see the attached document for more details.

Sociopedia.ISA is a new concept of knowledge dissemination. It combines
the best of two worlds: the opportunities the Internet offers and the
scientific quality guaranteed by solid and imaginative editing. While
experienced editors make sure that the highest possible quality is
offered, the Internet makes it possible to always provide the most
recent state of the art.
Sociopedia.ISA reflects and offers ‘a living social science.’

Sociopedia.ISA is a joint venture of the International Sociological
Association and Sage Publications.

I would like to invite you to propose names of scholars to serve on the
Editorial Board whose task is to solicit papers and decide on their
acceptation.

Please submit your proposal before April 30, 2008 to isa@isa-sociology.org

Best regards,
Michel Wieviorka
ISA President

Dear Members of RC53,

The program of RC 53 at the Barcelona Forum has now been accepted and is
posted on the homepage of ISA Forum. Don’t forget to register before May 31
at the latest - otherwise you will not be listed in the program. This is also the deadline
for submitting abstracts to the organizers of the Forum. The detail below
gives you all the information about the addresses which you have to use.
Thank you a lot for your cooperation and I look forward to seeing you in Barcelona!

Best regards

Doris

The ISA Forum website address is:

http://www.isa-sociology.org/barcelona_2008/

It is important to note that only authors registered before May 31, 2008 will be listed in the Programme of the Forum.

Registration on-line is already opened at

http://www.isa-sociology.org/barcelona_2008/forum_registration_fees.htm

May 31, 2008 is also the deadline for submitting abstracts by registered presenters for inclusion in the CSA Sociological

Abstracts http://md1.csa.com/socioabs/submit.php

This one-day seminar event will focus on advancing our use of visual methods in research projects that focus on children’s cultural worlds. A number of researchers have begun to use visual methods in research of this nature, but questions surrounding issues of anonymity, representation, age and participation still remain. This event will aim to explore these issues in an in-depth manner through a range of presentations that directly draw on research projects that have used visual methods. The event will not be a hands-on practical session; neither will it be an introduction to the use of visual methods. Attendees will be asked to draw upon their own experiences of using visual methods in recent research practice, to share their knowledge of these methods, to raise issues and concerns and to contribute to debate in this field. The seminar is aimed at academics and researchers who have already used visual methods in their research and who wish to further develop their expertise. It will be of particular interest to those researching children’s cultural worlds through visual methods.

Date and time of Event: Wednesday 16^th April 2008, 10.00am- 4.30pm Venue: Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Glamorgan Building
Cost: £30 (including course materials, refreshments and buffet lunch)

For further information and booking please see the Qualiti website

Programme: Continue Reading »

Bonds and Communities - Young people and their social ties
The 10th Nordic Youth Research Information Symposium NYRIS Lillehammer, Norway, 13th - 15th June 2008

The biannual NYRIS-conference offers the opportunity for all with an interest in youth research to give and receive inspiring presentations and to participate in stimulating discussions. The 10th Nordic Youth Research Information Symposium wants to highlight young people´s social ties - from the closest of dyads to the most distanced of the global, from the nourishing to the destructive. Plenaries include Les Back, Goldsmith College, University of London, UK, James Côté, University of Western Ontario, Canada and Janet Holland, South Bank University, UK.

NYRIS10 welcomes papers and presentations that can contribute to new insights, empirical evidence and critical thinking on bonds and communities of young people, as well as other topics, from a wide range of perspectives, fields and disciplines.

Abstract submission

NYRIS10 welcomes papers and presentations that can contribute to new insights, empirical evidence and critical thinking on bonds and communities of young people, as well as other topics.

Please submit your abstract no later than February 4th (250 words).
NB! Remember that your abstract should not be longer than 250 words. If the accepted text exceeds this, only the first 250 words of the abstract will be printed in the abstract book.

Please submit your abstract electronically here

Abstract requests: nyris10@nova.no

Registration will be possible as soon as we have established all accomodation details.

Welcome to Lillehammer! We hope to see many of you there in June.
On behalf of the Organizing Committee
Kristinn Hegna, Anders Bakken, Elin Borg
NYRIS10 - NOVA

7th International Conference on Social Sciences Methodology (RC 33 of the ISA), Naples, Italy: 1-5 September 2008
Papers are sought for a session on children as respondents in surveys.

Please contact Marek Fuchs directly for further information.

Deadline for abstracts: February 17, 2008

Session title: Children as Respondents in Surveys
Organizer: Marek Fuchs

In recent years, many surveys have addressed samples of children and adolescents. Today, their behaviors, attitudes and beliefs are predominantly collected directly from them. By contrast, proxy-reporting from parents or other caretakers is no longer seen as a sufficient  technique of data collection. Children and adolescents are assumed to be competent respondents who can speak for themselves and who are often more knowledgeable about their own activities. Collecting data directly from them will likely improve data quality. However, the literature has shown that children and adolescents respond to standardized questionnaires based on limited cognitive capacities. Assuming a negative effect of the limited cognitive skills on the question answer process, the quality of data obtained from children and adolescents has been questioned. This session aims to provide a forum for researchers interested in methodological aspects of surveys among children and juveniles. Papers on a variety of methodological topics are invited. Among others-but not exclusively, the following topics would be suitable for the session: sampling issues, non-response, measurement error, parental consent, incentives, survey modes for samples of children and juveniles.

As part of an effort by the Journal of Children and Media to encourage dialogue within the international community of scholars in its field, the editors are seeking excellent non-English manuscripts that have been already published in academic journals around the world. Non-English articles of high quality on a variety of topics and from all methodological approaches will be reviewed and considered for re-printing in English. Authors will be responsible for adapting the article to an international audience, translating the article into English, and pending acceptance - securing copyright permission from their local publisher.

If you have authored such an article and are interested, please send a letter of interest including full publication information of the article
as well as an English abstract of about 300 words to Dafna Lemish, editor.

This conference will explore the ways in which childhood and youth are represented as life course categories and how in changing cultural and historical contexts these categories are beginning to be questioned and often re-presented. This process of reflection and review can be seen taking place in a variety of different ways, which are addressed by the conference strands. Continue Reading »