Children as Agents in Their Worlds: A Psychological-Relational Perspective

Are children the passive recipients of influence from their parents and from society? Is their development determined by their genes and their neurons, or do they have the capacity to think about and influence their own lives and the world around them? Are they agents, and what do we mean by agency? Children as Agents in Their Worlds aims to answer these questions through a critical psychological approach, while referencing and critiquing a wide range of perspectives from sociology, anthropology and education.

Greene and Nixon review the pioneering work of scholars of childhood studies and offer developmental perspectives on the emergence of the sense of and exercise of agency in children. They discuss key themes including parent-child relationships and motivational, cognitive and behavioural aspects of agency in families, agency within the school context and with peers, and children as agents in the wider public sphere. Crucially, they explore agency and diversity, examining sex, age, and genetic inheritance and contextual sources of difference, such as social class and geographical location.

Offering a stronger theoretical base for research and policy, Children as Agents in Their Worlds will be essential reading for students and professionals in developmental psychology, sociology and anthropology, as well as education, childhood studies, children's rights and related fields.