THE PORTUGUESE SOCIOLOGY OF CHILDHOOD AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO THE INTERNATIONAL FIELD OF SOCIAL STUDIES OF CHILDHOOD

The Sociology of Childhood in Portugal is developed, twenty years ago, by the autonomization of research from sociology of education, sociology of media and sociology the family. It is constituted by the adoption of an object of its own: children, as social beings, and childhood, as a social category of generational type. From its begin, it sought to establish a dialogue with English-speaking and Francophone-speaking childhood sociologies and established strong links with multidisciplinary childhood research in Portuguese-speaking countries, especially in Brazil. The strong connection with the realities of Portuguese childhood has contributed to the Portuguese sociology of childhood research the processes of pluralization of childhood normativity, to criticism of the processes of oppression of children and to the consequences of social inequalities in childhood. The Portuguese sociology of childhood is embedded on social intervention and political transformation of the living conditions of children.