CHILDREN AND CITIZENSHIP: THE HISTORICAL CONSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN’S RIGHTS, CHILDREN’S AGENCY, AND THE CHALLENGES OF SOCIAL PARTICIPATION

Abstract

This study analyzes childhood as a social category through four strands of the theoretical framework. The first discusses the historical construction of childhood, demonstrating the transition from social invisibility and the welfare-based model to the conception of the child as a rights-bearing subject. The second strand examines the relationship among education, the State, and citizenship, investigating how public policies and schools contribute to the formation of children as social subjects and to the promotion of a democratic education oriented toward autonomy. The discussion then addresses children’s agency and contemporary citizenship, highlighting the importance of active listening and the structural challenges involved in overcoming adult-centric frameworks in order to ensure minors’ effective social participation. Finally, the fourth strand addresses the legal protection of children in Brazil by analyzing the Child and Adolescent Statute under the principle of comprehensive protection and tracing the path from the Child and Adolescent Statute to citizenship. The study concludes that this legislation reconfigures the relationship between the State and childhood. The theoretical discussion shows that children’s social emancipation depends on overcoming cultural barriers and strengthening community spaces that validate their voices. Children’s agency thereby ceases to be a theoretical concession and becomes a means of consolidating the rights established in the Child and Adolescent Statute.