Childhood today and Childhood Studies

Abstract

This article aims to build a theoretical framework for childhood studies. In three steps, it opens up potential perspectives of childhood, outlines recognized characteristics of childhood and finally provides a heuristics of childhood as a (social) construct. Going further, the changing complexities of childhood are highlighted within three central contexts: family, education and digitisation. The third and final part synthesises the theoretical insights on childhood into structural patters, as well as the observed changes of being a child, to propose a methodological space for researching childhood.