Entanglements between Agency and Vulnerability in the Phenomenon of Birth: Reflections on Children's Expressions about 'Being Born'

Abstract: Analogously to the works in the field of new social studies of childhood, this contribution deals with the concept of childhood as a social construction, in which children are considered as social actors in their own living environment, engaged in interpretive reproduction of the social. In this perspective the concept of agency is strongly stressed, and the vulnerability of children is not sufficiently taken into account. But in combining vulnerability and agency lies the possibility to consider the perspective of the subjects in the context of their social, political and cultural embeddedness. In this paper we show that what children say, what is important to them in general and for their well-being, is shaped by the care experiences within the family and by their social contexts. The argumentation for the intertwining of vulnerability and agency is exemplified by the expressions of an interviewed girl about her birth and by reference to philosophical concepts about birth and nat

Object Details

• Alternative title: Verschränkungen zwischen Agency und Verwundbarkeit im Phänomen der Geburt: Reflexionen über Expressionen von Kindern über das 'Geborenwerden'
• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Veröffentlichungsversion ; begutachtet (peer reviewed) ; In: Diskurs Kindheits- und Jugendforschung / Discourse. Journal of Childhood and Adolescence Research ; 15 (2020) 2 ; 135-146

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Mannheim
• (who): SSOAR, GESIS – Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften e.V.
• (when): 2020
• Creator: Heite, Catrin ; Magyar-Haas, Veronika

Further information

• DOI: 10.3224/diskurs.v15i2.02
• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-68470-6
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 14.08.2025, 10:56 AM CEST