Conclusion

Abstract

The arguments advanced in this book have suggested a rethinking of children’s citizenship. This reconsideration has been primarily stimulated by the recent developments in the sociology of childhood that have called for a re-evaluation of children’s agency, competence and contributions to society (James and James, 2004). Sociological studies of childhood have challenged the trivialisation of children’s actions that has served to render them invisible in academia. Until very recently children were considered ‘non-citizens’ and had not appeared in discussion about citizenship theory other than in the context of ‘citizenship education’. Yet children do participate in some aspects of citizenship, and this increases according to their ‘evolving capabilities’. Children have responsibilities to themselves, their friends and families, and it is only the way children are represented that depicts these responsibilities as invisible. The responsibilities of child citizens are graphically illustrated in the UK, as they are more and more drawn into having responsibility for crimes they have committed, and there is also reduction of welfare by punitive justice principles by the state (Goldson, 2002b).