1. CHILDREN'S VIEWS ON CHILDREN'S RIGHTS. A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SPAIN AND ITALY.
- Author
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Saporiti, Angelo, Casas, Ferran, Grignoli, Daniela, Mancini, Antonio, Ferrucci, Fabio, Rago, Marina, Alsinet, Carles, Figuer, Cristina, González, Mònica, Gusó, Mireia, Rostan, Carles, and Sadurní, Marta
- Subjects
CHILDREN'S rights ,COLLECTIVE representation ,SOCIAL sciences ,LEGAL judgments - Abstract
The article examines children's perspectives on various aspects of children's rights. Until the beginning of the 1980s, a social representation of children as not-yet persons was still paramount among social sciences. Children were not considered full-fledged individuals as the adults were. Up to the coming-of-age, the child was deemed an immature being, incompetent, unable to make proper judgments about his/her own interests, incapable of taking care of him/herself, of expressing his/her wills and wishes, and so forth. Children and childhood were under an utter guardianship by the adults' world, both from a conceptual point of view and in societal practices. This article first provides a review of studies focused on children's views of their rights. It tests whether cultural and structural factors, namely age, gender, culture, as well as social context and living condition, influence children's awareness and thinking about their rights. Using data collected in Catalonia, Spain and Molise, Italy, it reports minor dissimilarity between children from Molise and Catalonia, between boys and girls, and across children of different ages.
- Published
- 2005
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