Children's Citizenships. Limitations and Possibilities of Childhood Sociology in Italy.

During the 1970s and 1980s, sociological studies in Italy were exclusivelyconcerned with ‘adolescence’ as distinct from the general category of ‘childhood’.In the 1990s, local administrations and national government promoted newopportunities for children’s participation in society, and sociologists began toanalyse the various aspects of this participation. Since the 1990s, sociologicalresearch has included the legal and political bases of children’s citizenship andrights, forms of interaction promoting children’s participation, ways of includingchildren in mainstream cultural tendencies, children’s observations of their socialcontext, intercultural situations involving children, deviance and the labelling ofchildren. The expansion of childhood sociology, however, has been slow, and thepolitical impulse which supported children’s participation has partially evaporated.Childhood sociology in Italy remains marginal in scientific research anduniversity teaching. Its future depends partly on renewed political commitmentto promoting children’s participation; however, its main obstacle is the lukewarminterest within the sociological community.