You Can Help your Country: English children's work during the Second World War

First published in 2011, You Can Help Your Country: English children’s work during the Second World War reveals the remarkable, hidden history of children as social agents who actively participated in a national effort during a period of crisis. In praise of the book, Hugh Cunningham, celebrated author of The Invention of Childhood, wrote: ‘Think of children and the Second World War, and evacuation comes immediately to mind. Berry Mayall and Virginia Morrow have a different story to tell, one in which all the children of the nation were encouraged to contribute to the war effort. Many responded enthusiastically. Evidence from school magazines and oral testimony shows children digging for victory, working on farms, knitting comforts for the troops, collecting waste for recycling, running households. What lessons, the authors ask, does this wartime participation by children have for our own time? The answers are challenging.’ You Can Help Your Country is a stimulating, entertaining and scholarly contribution to the history of childhood, prompting thought about childhood today and on children’s rights, as citizens, to participate in social and political life. This revised edition includes a new preface and illustrations, and offers an up-to-date reflection on the relevance of thinking historically about children’s work for global campaigns to end child labour. It is essential reading for academics, researchers and students in childhood studies, the sociology of childhood and children’s rights. Its engaging style will also appeal to anyone interested in social history and the history of the Second World War

The (im)possibilities of dialogue across feminism and childhood scholarship and activism

The relations between those positioned as women and as children, and the political and intellectual consequences of how we conceptualise these connections, has received only scant attention. In this article we describe a symposium and on-going project which aim to bring together community-based and academic scholars to debate the intersections and perceived antagonisms between various forms of feminism and the politics of childhood. We trace how these intersections have been debated in the literature and outline the potential benefits and pitfalls of encouraging further connections between these fields. Drawing on our symposium experience, we also outline the challenges involved in bringing together academic and community-based scholars and activists, and consider the implications for similar future endeavours

Challenging empowerment: AIDS-affected southern African children and the need for a multi-level relational approach

Critics of empowerment have highlighted the concept's mutability, focus on individual transformation, one-dimensionality and challenges of operationalisation. Relating these critiques to children's empowerment raises new challenges. Drawing on scholarship on children's subjecthood and exercise of power, alongside empirical research with children affected by AIDS, I argue that empowerment envisaged as individual self-transformation and increased capacity to act independently offers little basis for progressive change. Rather it is essential to adopt a relational approach that recognises the need to transform power relationships at multiple levels. This analysis has implications for our wider understanding of empowerment in the 21st century. © The Author(s) 2013.This research was funded by DFID

Children, family and the state : revisiting public and private realms

The state is often viewed as part of the impersonal public sphere in opposition to the private family as a locus of warmth and intimacy. In recent years this modernist dichotomy has been challenged by theoretical and institutional trends which have altered the relationship between state and family. This paper explores changes to both elements of the dichotomy that challenge this relationship: a more fragmented family structure and more individualised and networked support for children. It will also examine two new elements that further disrupt any clear mapping between state/family and public/private dichotomies: the third party role of the child in family/state affairs and children's application of virtual technology that locates the private within new cultural and social spaces. The paper concludes by examining the rise of the 'individual child' hitherto hidden within the family/state dichotomy and the implications this has for intergenerational relations at personal and institutional levels

HOW TO ASK FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT

Summary Good government matters, and should be asked for. But it is mistaken to suppose that it necessarily consists pursuing a particular policy to realize a particular outcome in conditions of competitive democracy. Good government is not best thought of in terms of the outcomes of policy or as satisfying one kind of constitutional or institutional condition rather than another. It is that government which is best suited in the circumstances to maximizing the benefits of social cooperation. States, it is argued here, have a contract to provide it, and this is the contract to which donors should hold them. The article defends this view and sketches some if its implications. Résumé Le bon gouvernement est une chose de la plus grande importance; aussi faut?il savoir le réclamer. Or l'on aurait tort de supposer que le bon gouvernement ait pour seul objet de poursuivre telle ou telle politique dans l'optique d'arriver à tel ou tel résultat dans le cadre d'une démocratie compétitive. Le bon gouvernement ne s'exprime ni en termes des résultats de telle ou telle politique, ni en termes de la satisfaction d'une condition constitutionnelle ou institutionnelle à la place d'une autre. La bon gouvernement consiste à obtenir la meilleure adaptation possible aux circonstances en vigueur, dans le contexte de la maximalisation des avantages de la coopération sociale. Selon l'article, les états s'engagent contractuellement à fournir le bon gouvernement; et c'est à ce contrat que les donateurs devraient les tenir. L'article défend ce point de vue et esquisse certaines des implications qui en découlent. Resumen El buen gobierno importa, y debe ser exigido. Pero es un error suponer que éste consiste necesariamente en seguir una política determinada para alcanzar un resultado determinado en condiciones de democracia competitiva. No se debe pensar en el buen gobierno en función de las consecuencias de los programas políticos o de satisfacer una u otra condición constitucional o institucional. Este tipo de gobierno es el más apropiado en las presentes circunstancias para potenciar los beneficios de la cooperación social. Se argumenta que los países tienen un contrato para proveerla, y que los donantes deben exigir que se atengan a él. El artículo defiende esta posición y bosqueja algunas de sus implicaciones

Beings in their own right? Exploring Children and young people's sibling and twin relationships in the Minority World

This paper examines the contributions that the sociological study of sibship and twinship in the Minority World can make to childhood studies. It argues that, in providing one forum within which to explore children and young people's social relationships, we can add to our understanding of children and young people's interdependence and develop a more nuanced understanding of agency. As emergent subjects, children, young people and adults are in a process of ‘becoming’. However, this does not mean that they can ‘become’ anything they choose to. The notion of negotiated interdependence (Punch 2002) is useful in helping us to grasp the contingent nature of children and young people's agency

"Driven to distraction?" Children's experiences of car travel

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in volume, 4, issue 1, pages 59-76 in Mobilities 2009. Copyright @ 2009 Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17450100802657962.Cars have become increasingly significant features in the lives of many children and adults in the UK and elsewhere. Whilst there is a growing body of research considering how adults experience automobility, that is the increasingly central role of cars within societies, there has been little equivalent research exploring children's perspectives. Drawing upon a variety of methods including personal diaries, photographs, in‐depth interviews and surveys amongst schools within Buckinghamshire and North London, the paper contributes to filling this gap in existing research through exploring how cars are not only journey spaces for children, but are also sites for play, relaxation, homework, companionship, technology and the consumption of commodities. Using a Foucauldian analysis of power, insights into wider familial processes relating to mobility are provided by exploring how cars are sites of conflicting power relations between parents and children. The paper also explores how children's everyday experiences of cars were framed by wider sets of power relations, including car corporations which design and manufacture these spaces, and the role of capital which commodifies everyday activities in cars. In doing so, the paper challenges existing research on automobility for only focusing upon adults' experiences of cars and begins to theorise a more inclusive account of automobility which incorporates children and young people

Love, rights and solidarity: studying children's participation using Honneth's theory of recognition

Recent attempts to theorize children’s participation have drawn on a wide range of ideas, concepts and models from political and social theory. The aim of this article is to explore the specific usefulness of Honneth’s theory of a ‘struggle for recognition’ in thinking about this area of practice. The article identifies what is distinctive about Honneth’s theory of recognition, and how it differs from other theories of recognition. It then considers the relevance of Honneth’s conceptual framework to the social position of children, including those who may be involved in a variety of ‘participatory’ activities. It looks at how useful Honneth’s ideas are in direct engagement with young people’s praxis, drawing on ethnographic research with members of a children and young people’s forum. The article concludes by reflecting on the implications of this theoretical approach and the further questions which it opens up for theories of participation and of adult–child relations more generally

Who I Am: The Meaning of Early Adolescents’ Most Valued Activities and Relationships, and Implications for Self-Concept Research

Self-concept research in early adolescence typically measures young people’s self-perceptions of competence in specific, adult-defined domains. However, studies have rarely explored young people’s own views of valued self-concept factors and their meanings. For two major self domains, the active and the social self, this mixed-methods study identified factors valued most by 526 young people from socioeconomically diverse backgrounds in Ireland (10-12 years), and explored the meanings associated with these in a stratified subsample (n = 99). Findings indicate that self-concept scales for early adolescence omit active and social self factors and meanings valued by young people, raising questions about content validity of scales in these domains. Findings also suggest scales may under-represent girls’ active and social selves; focus too much on some school-based competencies; and, in omitting intrinsically salient self domains and meanings, may focus more on contingent (extrinsic) rather than true (intrinsic) self-esteem