Madeleine Leonard: The Sociology of Children, Childhood and Generation

Madeleine Leonard’s book, The Sociology of Children, Childhood and Generation, effectively adds to the literature on children and childhood by starting from the premise that children are worthy of studying in their own right, which she discusses in more depth later. In her first chapter, “Introduction,” Leonard identifies the purpose of the book, which is to acknowledge and demonstrate sociology’s contribution to debates on children and childhood. Leonard discusses the role of dualisms. Specifically, she uses the dualism of structure and agency as an example. She argues that dualisms are valid and useful tools for comparing and contrasting structural and theoretical concepts. This was an effective introduction because the reader is immediately aware of the perspective that Leonard begins with. The discussion of dualisms also effectively sets the stage for the rest of the book where Leonard examines various dualisms including childhood and adulthood, structure and agency, and “becomings” and “beings.” …