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Comité de recherche 31, Sociologie de l’enfance 14th Sociology of Childhood Days
International Conference ‘Investigating childhood inequalities’
20–21 November 2019
Durkheim Amphitheatre, Sorbonne, Paris
https://inegalenfance.sciencesconf.org/
The issue of inequality has emerged at the forefront of both policy and academic discussions (Galland and Lemel, 2018, Savidan, 2018; Dubet, 2019). Although alarming figures can be produced regarding childhood inequalities (UNICEF, 2016; Delahaye, 2015, Zaouche Gaudron, 2017) — numbers which are based on variable indicators and often copied on
‘adult’ models — the inequalities that are distinctly linked to this stage of life are rarely the subject of theoretical examination.
The recognition of the child as a full person marked the first step in the process of understanding the inequalities which govern how the different stages of life are represented, a situation established by historians such as Ariès (1960) Becchi and Julia (1998) and Jablonka (2010). This recognition was likewise enshrined in the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, set to celebrate its 30-year anniversary in 2019. It also translated into the development of childhood studies (James and Prout, 1990; Corsaro, 1997; Qvortrup, 2001) and the gradual restructuring of childhood sociology and anthropology at both the national and international levels (Sirota, 1998, 2006; Almeida, 2009; Octobre, Détrez, Mercklé, Berthomier, 2010; Buelher-Niderberger and Sirota, 2010; De Suremain and Bonnet, 2014; de Coninck-Smith, 2018).
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At the same time, investigations into the inequalities that emerge during childhood have given rise to a multitude of studies and surveys that have regularly observed the existence of economic, cultural, educational, geographic, academic and health-related disparities, subsequently highlighting the social conditions that help to produce, reproduce, accentuate and/or reduce such inequalities.
Approaches to research on childhood inequalities vary widely, switching between different disciplines, national traditions and hybrid forms of variable geometry. For example, studies on childhood inequality often overlap with the disability studies (Safford and Safford, 1996;
Schneider, 2009), gender studies (Belotti, 1973; Court 2010; Détrez 2015; Smith, Alexander and Campbell, 2017; Bartholomaeus and Riggs, 2017), migration studies (Bass, 2014;
Hunner-Kreisel and Bohne, 2016), studies on ethno-racial discrimination (Safi and Simon, 2013) and institutional studies (Neyrand and Fraïoli, 2008; Martin 2014; Geay, 2014;
Bonnéry 2015).
This proliferation of approaches has reinvigorated debate from all angles, be they ethical (Hamelin Brabant, 2006), theoretical/methodological (Delalande, Danic, Rayou, 2006;
Qvortrup, Corsaro and Honig, 2009; Diasio 2010; Garnier and Rayna, 2017; Amselle-Mainguy and Vuattoux, 2018), or empirical (ELFE), with a view to understanding how childhood studies can offer a new perspective on long-standing issues — or, on the contrary, how these issues can shed new light on our comprehension of childhood. This discussion must also address the linkages and oppositions between diversity and inequality that exist from the outset. Does every form of difference necessarily create an inequality? What kind of implicit hierarchy justifies inequality-focused analyses?
An intersectional analysis is therefore necessary. To what extent do factors of inequality overlap or combine to create new forms of inequality?
Finally, this discussion also requires examining the impact of the recent shift towards studies on discrimination that distinguish between objective and subjective forms of discrimination, including how to measure these from a very young age.
We shall use the definition of childhood established by the Convention on the Rights of the Child (0 to 18 years of age). We shall therefore examine how inequalities are developed from infancy to late youth, including childhood and adolescence, but without strictly adhering to the age limits imposed for each of these life stages (these being themselves a subject of some controversy).
This conference seeks papers addressing the following issues, among others:
• To what extent does the issue of childhood inequalities lead to the revision of earlier concepts, methods and theories? How does a child-focused approach transform our understanding of inequalities introduced during the socialization process, and which also exist within families, schools, peer groups, cultures and the media? How does taking into account the voice of children impact our perception of these inequalities?
In fact, can the problematic of childhood inequalities be successfully analysed using traditional methodologies and adopting lines of questioning?
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• To what extent are conceptions of childhood inequalities dependent on national and local contexts? And to what extent are local variations in the conceptions of childhood and inequality more broadly affected by globalization (economic, cultural, legal, etc.)?
• How does the observation of precarious and irregular childhood situations allow us to transform the normative standards associated with childhood?
• How can we best link the social stratification of parents and childhood indicators to adopt a granular approach to childhood inequalities? How do such inequalities lead us to reconsider social stratification? How do these approaches connect to issues in terms of disability, gender and discrimination?
• How do we reconcile the differences between how age categories are defined by public policies (early childhood to late youth) and their variable geometries when considering inequalities?
• How should we approach socialization if we seek to avoid both the theoretical aporia of the self-determination of children and the deterministic intergenerational reproduction of inequalities? How do we reconcile the agency of children with the existence of social determinants?
• To what extent does adopting a long-term perspective allow us to modulate our understanding of the mechanisms that produce inequalities? Do in-depth ethnography, intergenerational comparisons, longitudinal cohort studies and historical analysis shed new light on inequalities?
• To what extent does investigating generational practices — especially cultural ones
— help us to rethink the idea of inequality?
All social science disciplines are welcome.
Publications are envisioned.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Please send proposals via the Submission tab of the website:
https://inegalenfance.sciencesconf.org/
Proposals shall be reviewed by a double-blind scientific committee and will follow the guidelines below:
• First name, last name of the author(s)
• Affiliated institution(s)
• Email address
• Title of proposed paper
• Keywords (5 maximum)
• Abstract of the paper (2,000 characters including spaces) presenting the issue being examined, the data on which the analysis is based, the methodological and disciplinary approaches used and the main conclusions reached. The bibliography should contain no more than 5 references.
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• Deadline for submitting proposals: 15 June 2019
• Feedback provided to authors by the scientific committee: by 15 July
• Dates of the conference: 20–21 November 2019
LANGUAGES ACCEPTED: French and English LOCATION: Durkheim Amphitheatre, Sorbonne, Paris
CONFERENCE IS FREE WITH PRIOR REGISTRATION WEBSITE: https://inegalenfance.sciencesconf.org/
