CHILDREN, PARENTS AND RISK

Most research on children and risk is heavily influenced by developmen tal theory. This paper is based on a study which uses a different appr oach, drawing on recent work within the sociology of childhood. 'Child ren, Parents and Risk' explores the ways in which risks to children ar e understood and managed by children and parents, focusing on children 's daily lives in and around the home at the ages of 3, 9 and 12 years . Data were gathered from interviews with children and their parents a t home and from children at school and in a youth club. The paper draw s on the findings from the study in order to discuss and compare paren ts' and children's ideas about children and childhood as risk-related; it also aims to examine the findings in the context of Ulrich Beck's recent work on the risk society and individualization. Both parents an d children tended to 'externalize' risk away from the home and into th e outside world. In response to perceived risks to childhood many pare nts appeared to see their role as that of striking a balance between p rotection and compensatory provision, and their accounts included deta ils of increasingly 'indivdualized' measures to reduce such risks. The children conceptualized their experiences of adult control as welcomi ng when preventing the child's exposure to risk but as constraining wh en it restricted their autonomy. The paper concludes that the findings accord with Beck's description of the 'risk society' and that they le nd some limited support to Beck's individualization thesis.