Risks in early childhood: Reconstructing notions of risk in political reports on children and childhood in Germany

Social scientists and policymakers increasingly are placing attention on the concept of risk in conjunction with early childhood. The term 'risk' is used widely, although it is ambiguous and linked to different groups of children, circumstances and outcomes depending on the purpose of poli...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Child indicators research 2014-12, Vol.7 (4), p.769-786
Main Author:	Betz, Tanja
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Ambiguity At risk youth Begriffsanalyse Berichterstattung Bildungspolitik Bundesland Bundespolitik Child and School Psychology Childhood Children Deutschland Discourse Analysis Discourses Diskursanalyse Early Childhood Education Frühe Kindheit Föderalismus Gefährdung Kind Kindheit Kindheitsforschung Migrant Children Migrationshintergrund Policy making Political discourse Politische Meinungsäußerung Prävention Quality of Life Research Risiko Social Sciences Social Work Sozialwissenschaften Young Children
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Summary:	Social scientists and policymakers increasingly are placing attention on the concept of risk in conjunction with early childhood. The term 'risk' is used widely, although it is ambiguous and linked to different groups of children, circumstances and outcomes depending on the purpose of policy debates or studies. From a childhood studies point of view, the exploration and reconstruction of the prevalent political discourses on risk in early childhood and on the concept of 'children at risk' are significant especially in the policy area because notions of risk are negotiated and reproduced and assumptions about children at risk structure the legitimate ways of living as a child. For [the] paper a discourse analysis approach was chosen to evaluate the construction of risk in 16 current federal-level political reports on children and childhood in Germany. The findings reveal that there are different, but no arbitrary or contingent constructions of risks and that the family is seen as the most important venue of risk for young children. As well, the discourse on risk suggests a probabilistic future in the sense of a vicious circle especially where migrant children are concerned. Differing notions of risk and their likely connections to different political interventions are discussed. (Orig.).
ISSN:	1874-8988 1874-897X 1874-8988