Governing childhood - Anne McGillivray

Childhood, as Nikolas Rose observed, is the most intensively governed sector of human existence. The legal regulation of childhood, the study of childhood norms and the normalization of childhood ? the intimate governance which constitutes the tutorial relationship mediating child and state ? define the conditions of childhood and construct its meaning. As recurrent moral panics about rights, delinquency and abuse suggest, childhood serves as a lighting rod for wider societal concerns. The governance of childhood reveals as much about society as it does about the lives of children. The study of childhood has invited the attention of a variety of disciplines. Contributors to this collection represent law, sociology, history, education and political studies.