This book provides new insights on the lives of children in street situations by providing analyses from a qualitative perspective on the sociology of childhood. It proposes some insightful perspectives on the current discussion about the rights of children in street situations. It includes a unique selection of texts, which were initially published in French, written by the authors of this volume, on the lives of children in street situations in Latin America and China, that are now available to an English readership. It challenges obstacles, linked to macrosocial issues such as inequalities, images of the child, the separation of public/private spheres, urban dynamics and structural adjustments, as well as to microsocial dimensions such as identity, motivation, and activities that are constitutive of street situations. The book discusses the situations experienced by children, highlighting children’s reflexivity and strategies as social factors, and shedding new light on the debate “agency within structure”.                                               

Riccardo Lucchini is Professor Emeritus in Sociology at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) where he has been Vice-Rector (1971-1975), Head of the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences (FSES) (1984-1985), President of the Commission on Teaching Evaluation (1999-2003) and Chair of the Department of Social Sciences in FSES (2001-2003). He has carried out extensive research in Germany, Italy, Portugal, Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, Costa Rica and Honduras on topics ranging from the sociology of facism, drug dependency, children living on the streets and domestic violence, on which topics he has published widely.
Daniel Stoecklin is Associate Professor in Sociology at the Centre for Children’s Rights Studies of the University of Geneva (Switzerland). His areas of research and teaching are the sociology of childhood, children’s rights, children in street situations, child participation and the capability approach. Following his PhD on children in street situations in China, he has been involved with several international NGO projects in the field of children in difficult situations. He has also worked as an independent expert for the Council of Europe regarding child participation.