This substantially updated new edition sets out the contexts of children's and young people's lives and encourages students to explore their complexities and contexts. Each chapter challenges students' assumptions and examines crucial issues in the field, such as participation, race, and transnational childhoods.

Heather Montgomery is a Reader in the Anthropology of Childhood at the Open University. She has written on children and sexuality, children's rights and on the role of children in anthropology.
Martin Robb is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Health, Wellbeing and Social Care at the Open University. He has published articles and book chapters on a wide range of topics, with a recent focus on young masculinities and young fatherhood.

Introduction ~ Heather Montgomery and Martin Robb;
Reconciling Childhood and Youth Studies and developmental psychology ~ Heather Montgomery and Mimi Tatlow-Golden;
Children and young people's cultures ~ Mary Jane Kehily and Heather Montgomery;
Disability, childhood and young people ~ Katherine Runswick-Cole and Dan Goodley;
Children's rights and cultural relativism ~ Heather Montgomery;
Inequalities and the social and cultural capital of childhood and youth ~ Heather Montgomery;
Children, young people and race ~ Anoop Nayak;
Children, young people and sexuality ~ Mary Jane Kehily;
Transnational childhoods ~ Roy Huijsmans;
Young men and gender identity ~ Martin Robb and Sandy Ruxton;
Children, young people and politics in the UK ~ Nigel Thomas;
Children and violence ~ Kirrily Pells;
Children's voice: bridging theory and practice with unaccompanied children seeking asylum in the UK ~ John I'Anson and Ruth Weston;
Children's spirituality ~ Rebecca Nye;
Food in children and young people's lives: ambiguous agency and contested moralities ~ Mimi Tatlow-Golden;
Children's mental health: controversy, complexity and contestation ~ China Mills;
Children and their families ~ Virginia Morrow;
The myth of digital childhoods ~ Natalia Kucirkova.