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The status of childhood and children’s social exclusion
Jan Mason
University of Western Sydney
Contact Email: jan.mason
uws.edu.au
Children as a social group are particularly vulnerable to oppression. This vulnerability is a consequence of their status as children, which serves to exclude them from participation in civil society. Children, constructed as non-adults, as 'becomings' rather than 'beings', are invisible in many social forums. In this paper I will explore how children are excluded from participating in society, through adult policies and practices, based on assumptions connected with the concepts of adultism, familisation and scholarisation. I will discuss the ways in which the mechanisms of protectionism and problematisation reinforce children’s exclusion and limit any challenges by them to their marginalised position. Finally the implications of the application of structural analysis to adult child relations are considered in terms of strategies to promote changes in the status of children.
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