The Position of Children in the German Welfare State and New Strategies of Fighting Child Poverty

Abstract

[The author analyses] the position that children have in the German welfare state. … With this analysis it is intended to gain information for a social policy which can be useful to improve the justice of resources between the generations. … Due to the fact that the ongoing adultism in welfare state research causes a neglect of child-oriented questions in this research area and because childhood research only rarely deals with welfare state issues [he tries] to illustrate how analyses of children's position in a welfare state can be arranged. … First [he] introduces the basis of [his] analysis. Herein [he] explains how [he] uses the new sociology of childhood as theoretical approach and the UN-Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as normative background. In the second part [he] develops the analytic frame by introducing the concept of mixed welfare production and the theory of citizenship. As third [he] gives a short insight into the object of analysis: the position of children in the German welfare state, as it is represented in the current state of research in this field. Afterwards [he] presents the findings of this analysis and gives a short conclusion. (DIPF/Orig.)