Children: Rights and Childhood is widely regarded as the first book to offer a detailed philosophical examination of children’s rights. David Archard provides a clear and accessible introduction to a topic that has assumed increasing relevance since the book’s first publication. Divided clearly into three parts, it covers key topics such as:
- John Locke’s writings on children
- Philippe Ariès’s Centuries of Childhood
- children’s moral and legal rights
- a child’s right to vote and to sexual choice
- parental rights to privacy and autonomy
- defining and understanding child abuse.
The third edition has been fully revised and updated throughout with a new chapter providing an in-depth analysis of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and Part 2 has been restructured to move the reader from general theoretical considerations of children’s rights through to practical issues. This volume is ideal reading for advanced studies across Philosophy, Social Work, Law, Childhood Studies, Politics, and Social Policy.
1. John Locke’s children Part 1: Childhood 2. The concept of childhood 3. The modern conception of childhood Part 2: Children’s rights 4. Children’s moral rights 5. Liberation or caretaking? 6. Arbitrariness and incompetence 7. The wrongs of children’s rights 8. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 9. Children under the law 10. Children’s rights to vote and sexual choice Part 3: Children, parents, family and state 11. Bearing and rearing 12. Family and state 13. Parental rights to privacy and autonomy 14. Collectivism 15. The problem of child abuse 16. Conclusion: a modest collectivist proposal. Index
Biography
David Archard is Professor of Philosophy at Queen’s University Belfast, UK. He is author of Sexual Consent and The Family: A Liberal Defence; and co-editor of The Moral and Political Status of Children and Procreation and Parenthood: The Ethics of Bearing and Rearing Children.
Praise for previous editions:
'An exhaustive and meticulously comprehensive examination of children's rights from both a moral and a legal perspective…a fine basic text, and a worthwhile introduction to the complex issue of children's rights.' Metapsychology
'This is an intellectually stimulating and sometimes controversial philosophical analysis of children and their rights of both general and professional interest.' - Journal of the Institute of Health Education
'The argument is clear, it is well reasoned and balanced … this is a thought-provoking text and as such a highly recommendable read. Its audience could range from policy-makers to sixth-formers.' - Children & Society
