This article discusses how adulthood is naturalized and how adulthood norms set limits on the possibilities of including children in democratic processes and understanding them as political subjects. The article examines the kind of resistance children and youth can meet when participating in democratic processes, with examples of speech acts from the Gothenburg Youth Council. It also discusses the theoretic concept of childism (Wall, 2008(Wall, , 2010 and how childism can be a way to escape the dominance of adulthood norms. The concept of childism means addressing children's experiences by transforming understandings and practices for all humans, not only for non-adults. How is it possible to create a political space for children and involve children in defining what should count as politically important?
In gender studies, children are rarely formulated as the Other. Age in general, and the age category of children in particular, are not included in central discussions within gender studies. In this article meanings of age are examined though an analysis of how the principle of the best interests of the child is used in family law reports concerning disputes about custody, contact and residence where there is information about violence by the father. The hindrance of children to gain a voice consists of norms and ideas about what children are and what children need. Children are constructed as representing their chronological age and/or a specific age group while adults present themselves as representing the general "human being". In addition, children's age can function as something that both make them particularly credible - and as something that disqualify them
A central question within contemporary gender studies is how vulnerability can be understood in more positive and politically progressive terms, rather than being posed as the opposite of resistance. The attempt to redefine vulnerability is especially present in the work of contemporary vulnerability scholars, in their pursuit to analyze and resist neo-liberal ideals and neo-liberal politics. This approach has, however, been criticized by scholars who find the tools provided by vulnerability scholars too closely tied to the neo-liberal ideals that they have set out to oppose. With the help of two empirical studies, focused on children and old people’s political agency within a Swedish context, this article elaborates on how vulnerability studies supplies/does not supply sufficient tools to study inequalities within a neo-liberal framework. The article further argues that the political significance of vulnerability, and the political efficacy of using vulnerability as a political starting point, is highly context bound and suggests that there are other, potentially more politically radical, points of departure.
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