Keynote Speech Abstract

Doris Bühler-Niederberger

Professor emerita at University of Wuppertal
President of RC 53 "Sociology of Childhood",
International Sociological Association, 2006-2010

Stories told by children will be examined in greater depth – stories which, like miniatures, depict childhoods on the edge of justice, and are told rather in passing with no more than two or three sentences. These stories reveal the intersection between children's generational position and societal injustices such as marginalisation, the structural indifference of social institutions, violence and war. This convergence creates a unique experience of hardship and threat for the children. I have heard such stories in my private life – as a child from adults and as an adult from children ; it seems to me that they are particularly often used across generations to communicate painful and humiliating childhood experiences. I have been told such stories also as a researcher. In all phases of life and in my various roles, I have found it difficult to respond to them, both emotionally and conceptually.

Drawing on various fields of research, I will highlight these stories and the attempt to process them. These fields include policing families, residential care, school failure, families affected by violence, and childhood in war and conflict. Twofold attention is called for : Firstly, such narratives require methodological attention, despite often being told casually and briefly, and initially appearing banal. Secondly, while our concepts address social processes or institutional logics – remaining within the emotionally safe realm of social mechanisms – we require concepts that can capture situations arising at the intersection of generational position and social injustice. In this sense, the lecture is a plea for research that is closer to children's lived experience.

Bio-sketch: Doris Bühler-Niederberger, Dr. phil., is a sociologist and Professor emerita at University of Wuppertal. She researches childhood, youth and transition to adulthood in different countries. She is particularly interested in age as a social structural dimension, the definition of age categories, and intergenerational relations in public and private contexts. Among her recent publications: Emerald Handbook of Childhood and Youth in Asian Societies, 2023 (ed. with X. Gu, Jessica Schwittek, Elena Kim); Vulnerable agents: what we can learn from a child-centred perspective on transnational families. Families, Relationships and Societies, 2025 (22); Being Nice: the modus vivendi in primary school classrooms. Symbolic Interaction, 2025 (to appear); When the family occupies the future – Self-processes and well-being of Kyrgyz children and young people. Child Indicators Research, 2022, 15(4), 1179-1208 (with Jessica Schwittek); Victim, perpetrator, or what else – generational and gender perspectives on children, youth, and violence. Sociological Studies of Children and Youth (SSCY), Volume 25, 2020 (edited with Lars Albert); Struggling for open awareness – trajectories of violence against children. Children and Youth Services Review, 2022 (with Lars Albert).