Abstract
The reification of “street children” through a stigmatizing label legitimizes interventions for the sake of public order and children’s protection. The conformist institutional discourse of the “child-victim”, based on a rhetoric of dramatization aimed at generating pity, is prevalent in public opinion, administration and the political world. On the other hand, the interactional discourse of the “run-away child” held by professionals working with “street children” is heavily influenced by a psychological perspective focusing on the child and his/her personality, often perceived as irrational and deviant. Academic approaches have evolved from a structuro-functionalist perspective on “street children”, as victims of the socio-economic inequalities and life circumstances, to a view of the child as a social actor negotiationg identities and survival strategies. A vivid example from China illustrate how CSS do this within the constraints of the social representations of childhood that mediate the subjective relationships between them and their environment and tend to reproduce current domination.
This chapter is a translation of parts from Lucchini, R. (2008). L’enfant en situation de rue n’est pas un fait social. Entre détermination et indétermination. In: Jean Zermatten (Ed.). Enfants en situations de rue. Prévention, intervention, respect des droits. Sion: IUKB / IDE, pp. 31–41, with courtesy of IUKB/IDE, and a translation of parts from Stoecklin, D. (2000). Enfants des rues en Chine. Paris: Karthala, with courtesy of Karthala.
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Notes
- 1.
For a more thorough analysis of the discourses discussed here, refer to: Antonella Invernizzi and Riccardo Lucchini, ‘L’enfant, l’institution et les intervenants sociaux’ in: Ricardo Lucchini (1996). Sociologie de la survie. L’enfant dans la rue. Paris: PUF; Abric, J.-C. and Campos, P. Les éducateurs et leur représentation sociale de l’enfant de la rue au Brésil, in: Jean-Claude Abric (Ed.), Exclusion sociale, insertion et prévention, érès, Saint-Agne 1996.
- 2.
All examples taken hereafter come from Stoecklin’s dissertation: Stoecklin, D. (2000). Enfants des rues en Chine. Paris: Karthala.
- 3.
This interview with Wei was done 2 months before the scandal caused by the BBC broadcast of the documentary ‘The Dying Rooms’, following the revelations of the paediatrician, Dr. Zhang: ‘Death by default. A policy of fatal neglect in China’s State orphanages’, London: Human Rights Watch/Asia, 1995.
- 4.
‘I don’t have a choice’ (wo meiyou banfa).
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Lucchini, R., Stoecklin, D. (2020). The Street Child as an Object. In: Children in Street Situations. Children’s Well-Being: Indicators and Research, vol 21. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19040-8_2
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