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RETHINKING THE SOCIOLOGY OF CHILDHOOD 191

quality and quantity, and takes place under most of the world’s kids actually live; towards the
widely differing circumstances, but it is part historical changes that are transforming children’s
economic relations in rich and poor countries alike.
of the reality of children’s lives certainly
in the developing world, but also in an This is now one of the most important areas
ever-increasing number of parts of the of research in the sociology of childhood
advanced industrial world (Nieuwenhuys, (Nieuwenhuys, 2005), examining the nature,
1994; Zeiher, 2000). structure, and dynamics of children’s eco-
Zelizer (2002: 377) pleads, accordingly, nomic activity in developed as well as devel-
for an accompanying consideration of ‘chil- oping countries (Lavalette, 1994, 1996), the
dren as active economic agents, and adults relationship between child labour and the
as simply one category of persons with concept of children’s rights (Myers, 1999)
whom children carry on economic activities’. and broader labour relations standards
Arguing against analyzing modern children (Blagbrough and Glynn, 1999), the role
merely as consumers, she is in favour of of organizations such as trades unions
seeing them as also playing pivotal roles in (Myrstad, 1999) and working children them-
production and distribution across three types selves (Liebel, 2003).
of social relations: with (1) other members of
their households, (2) organizations outside
their own families, and (3) other children. She Inequality, poverty, and
finds that children’s activities in the spheres globalization
of production, distribution, and consumption
show significant autonomy from those of In addition to the general concern to identify
adults, although they generally experience what binds individual children together into a
their relationship with adults as one of the particular construction of the social category
unequal exercise of power (2002: 379). ‘childhood’, there also remains a continuing
Children’s contribution to domestic labour, interest in the enormous differences between
for example, is now extensively ‘moneta- childhood experiences across class, gender,
rized’ in the form of allowances which gener- race, ethnicity, and time, and in differing
ate complex household economies. national settings. The varying impacts of
The question of children’s work becomes processes of globalization and the government
still more significant when we look beyond policies developed in response to them have
Western societies. Once the central critique also been of interest, particularly in relation to
of the ‘priceless child’ thesis was that most the distribution of poverty, life-chances, and
families across the globe do not have the well-being. Like many areas of sociology, the
luxury of excluding their children from eco- research in the field is heavily weighted
nomically productive activities. The analysis towards studies of childhood in the advanced
was said to account only for developments in industrial countries, but an engagement with
economically highly developed countries, these issues produces greater attention to child-
and that increasing levels of poverty and hood experiences in the developing world.
inequality endanger the argument even in the Attention to the structure and dynamics of
advanced industrial parts of the world. childhood in Latin America, Africa, the Indian
Zelizer (2002: 393) suggests that social sci- subcontinent, and Asia, as well as the specific
entific research into children’s economic nature of childhood in indigenous communi-
activity needs to be developed in the follow- ties, is gradually increasing. We cannot do jus-
ing three directions: tice here to the enormous body of research
done in this area, but it will be useful to high-
... towards the variable and unequal experiences
of children within high-income capitalist light a selection: See Bühler-Niederberger and
countries; towards the enormous variety of children’s van Krieken, 2008, and the other papers in that
circumstances in the lower-income regions where special issue of Childhood.