Victim, Perpetrator, or What Else?: Generational and Gender Perspectives on Children, Youth, and Violence(25 Sociological Studies of Children and Youth)

Children, while being the most victimised group in society, rarely become a topic of sociological research, neither as victims nor as perpetrators. The sociological discussion on power and violence happens beyond generation as an important dimension of social structure, and in many respects also beyond gender aspects that are inseparably linked to generational violence. This is a severe omission when the extent of violence in a society needs to be understood, as well as the structures and processes perpetuating violence or opposing its abolition. It is also a serious obstacle when understanding the position of children and exploring the social meaning of childhood.  This volume addresses this blind spot in sociology. It does so by mapping the ways that children and young people are considered victims or perpetrators by their societies and consequently the ways that their societies react. The chapters analyse a variety of phenomena in different countries of the Global North and South. All of these phenomena may be considered to include acts of violence toward children and adolescents, or those committed by them. Thus, violence is addressed as one of the major building blocks of the scope and qualities of children’s agency, limiting the social recognition of their rights as members of their respective societies. With a global reach and cutting-edge research, this book will prove an invaluable text for researchers and leaders in the fields of comparative childhood research and sociology of violence alike.

Table of Contents:
Part I: Perceptions and Definitions Chapter 1. The Rhetorical Idiom of Unreason: On Labeling in Child Protection; Lars Alberth   Chapter 2. The Perpetration of Fatal Child Maltreatment: It's the Men Who Are Bad, Right? Emily M. Douglas and Kerry A. Lee Chapter 3. The Definitions Are Legion: Academic Views and Practice Perspectives On Violence Against Children; Andreas Jud and Peter Voll   Chapter 4. Putting Definitions to Work: Reflection From The Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative With Vulnerable Populations; Jordan Fairbairn, Danielle Sutton, Myrna Dawson and Peter Jaffe   PART II: Institutional Reactions  Chapter 5. Naughty Or Bad: Children And Crime; Robert van Krieken  Chapter 6. Perceptions Of Violence Within Child Protection Systems In Russia: Views Of Children, Parents, And Social Workers; Veronika Odinokova, Maia Rusakova and Vladlena Avdeeva   PART III: Conditions of Change: Global, National and Local  Chapter 7. Exploring the Role of Gender Norms In Shaping Adolescents' Experiences Of Violence In Pastoralist Afar; Ethiopia; Nicola Jones, Yitagesu Gebeyeh, and Joan Hamory Hicks   Chapter 8. Governing Childhood in India: The Up-Hill Battle to Abolish Child Marriage; Elvira Graner   Chapter 9. Child Marriage in Kyrgyzstan: Exploring Institutional Ambivalences in Constructing The "Victim"; Elena Kim  Chapter 10. Child Marriage and Sexual Violence in The United States; Jamie O'Quinn

About the Author :
Doris Bühler-Niederberger is Professor of Sociology at the University of Wuppertal, Germany. Her recent research projects and publications have concerned childhood as a domain of professional, moral and political interest and images of childhood and children in public and professional debates.Lars Alberth is Research Associate at the Institute for Sociology, Leibniz University, Germany. His research comprises studies on symbolic fabrication of social categories through the lens of organizations and professions, especially gender and generation in child protection as well as social inequalities.

Review :
This volume contains 10 essays on the generational and gender aspects of children and youth as victims and perpetrators of violence. Sociology and other specialists from Europe and North America consider the perception and definition of violence against children, including relevant gender aspects; how societies react towards violence; and the social conditions for these responses. They discuss the perceptions of child welfare workers in child protection services in Germany and the US, conditions influencing the identification of parental behavior as harming a child, and the definition of a domestic homicide; the reactions of social institutions like the criminal justice system in England and Australia and child protection systems in Russia; and conditions for responses towards violence against children, in the context of the role of evolving gender norms in Ethiopia, the battle against child marriage in India and Kyrgyzstan, and child marriage and sexual violence in the US. Distributed in North America by Turpin Distribution.