210017 PS D3/G10/Englisch: Childhood and generational order (2005W)

Childhood may be considered either individually as transitional developmental stage of human beings or as a structural divide, which generates (and singles out for special treatment) the population group referred to as children (as distinct from adults). Generational relations may be considered either at the level if the family as relationships between relatives (e.g. children, parents or grandparents) or at the level of society as relations between population groups of different age (e.g. children, adults and/ or old age).
In this seminar, both childhood and generational relations will be approached at the level of society. This means children are considered as a population group of its own, childhood as a social category, and generational relations as generational (or age) order of society, adding thereby a further dimension to traditional, Marxist and feminist approaches focusing on social class or gender respectively, namely generation or age.
The range of topics dealt with in the seminar is to some extent open and flexible; it will depend also on priorities and interests of students attending. However, the generational division of labour (child labour and children's work), the generational distribution of resources (child poverty), the generational order of welfare states (child-centred public financial transfer systems and social services), as well as the generational distribution of power (children's political participation) will be the main areas to be investigated more in detail.