Presentation

At the Department of Sociology several research projects are conducted in Sociology of childhood and Youth. In Sociology of Childhood and Youth the notions child, youth and childhood are social and cultural constructs rather than natural phenomena. Childhood and Youth were historically produced as separate life phases within the life course due to social and cultural change. The phases Childhood, Youth and the social positions Child and Youth are constituted by age based regulation and norms, defining normality and deviance, opportunities and hindrances. Child, Youth and Childhood are relational concepts to be understood in interaction with other age categories and life phases. Within the age order of society children and youth are social categories. The age based regulation of childhood and youth is partly produced in material social institutions by means of time- and space organization, aims, methods etcetera. Sociology of childhood and Youth stresses agency of children and youth, and the importance of research on their experiences, lives and conditions during childhood and youth. Sociology of Childhood and Youth has a critical perspective and repudiates evaluation of children, childhood and youth on the basis of adulthood as norm.

The research group participates in international networks such as Children’s Identity and Citizenship in Europe (CiCe) and in a multidisciplinary network at Uppsala University Network of Childhood and Youth Studies (NECYS) encompassing researchers in Law, Ethnography, Education and Language.

Contact: Maria Eriksson