Perception of children and childhood in the 21st century of Turkey: Changing meaning and importance

This paper investigated the changing meaning and significance of how the concepts of "child" and "childhood" are perceived in Turkey in the twenty-first century. Perceptions and attitudes towards those concepts have changed dramatically throughout history. Before the sixteenth century, people were indifferent to the existence of children because they regarded them as the source of evil. Social events after the Renaissance paved the way for the idea of childhood as a separate stage of life. The Renaissance, Industrialization, and Enlightenment led to different perspectives on children and childhood, and parents began to raise their children according to a new perception of childhood. This paper focused on the new meanings attached to children and childhood and theoretically examined the concept and institution of "family," where children are born and brought up and first welcomed into a social group. Since the end of the nineteenth century, economic and sociodemographic transformations have affected the entire social structure, including family. Transformations, which have also been facilitated by digitalization, have had inevitable impacts on children and childhood in the context of family. There is a growing body of child-focused sociological research in Turkey. This study was carried out to contribute to that literature within the scope of Turkey.