Changing Experience of Childhood
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Family life in modern societies is being transformed by high rates of divorce. Such changes have given rise to concerns that the quality of family life for children has deteriorated and that children are damaged by the choices their parents are making. It is possible, however, that children and families are more resilient than this. Rather than witnessing the end of the family and the end of contented childhood, we could be seeing the emergence of post-divorce families and new experiences of childhood based on these new arrangements.
This path-breaking book explores children's own accounts of family life after divorce and allows us to see these changes from their point of view. It provides a sociological perspective on how childhood may be changing and how the 'democratic' status of children in the family may be in the process of transformation. The implications for family and legal policy of listening to children's views are also set out.
The Changing Experience of Childhood will be of interest to all those in academic and public life concerned about the future of the family.
Carol Smart is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Leeds and Director of the Centre for Research on Family, Kinship and Childhood. Bren Neale and Amanda Wade are Senior Research Fellows, University of Leeds.