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Dickens, Charles
There are few happy children in the works of the renowned British novelist Charles Dickens (1812–1870). From the orphaned Pip in Great Expectations (1860), to lame Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol (1843), from starving and exploited Oliver in Oliver Twist (1839), to doomed Little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop (1840–1841), Dickensian children form a roll call of social deprivation, parental abandonment, and grinding poverty. This entry examines Dickens’s key works and some of the signature features of his writing about children and childhood.
A Bleak Childhood
Few novels explore the impact of 19th-century urban society on its children to the degree of Dickens’ Bleak House (1852–1853); indeed, far from the problem often seen in criticism of children in fiction—that of the search for the ‘real ...
- Age Identities/Age Positions
- Adolescence
- Adolescence, History of
- Age
- Age Compression
- Age of Consent
- Ageism
- Baby, Social Construction of
- Birth Order
- Boyhood
- Child Prodigy
- Children as Citizens
- Children as Consumers
- Children as Legal Subjects
- Children as Philosophers
- Children as Photographers
- Children as Witnesses
- Children’s Mobility
- Emerging Adulthood
- Feral Children
- Generation Gap
- Generational Conflict
- Girl Power
- Girlhood
- Girling
- Girls
- Growth
- Infancy
- Infantilization
- Innocence
- Minority Group, Children as
- Native American Children, Religion and Spirituality
- Orphans
- Peer Culture
- Peer Group
- Puberty
- Queer Childhoods
- Roma Children
- Teenage Fathers, United Kingdom
- Teenagers
- Transgender Children
- Transitions
- Tween
- Women and Children
- Young-Girl, Theory of
- Youth
- Areas of Study/Fields of Interest
- Biopolitics of Childhood
- Boyhood Studies
- Childhood in Western Philosophy
- Childhood Studies
- Childhood, Anthropology of
- Children’s Bodies
- Children’s Culture Industry
- Children’s Cultures
- Children’s Geographies
- Clinical Psychology and Clinical Child Psychology
- Critical Children’s Literature Studies
- Critical Legal Studies
- Critical Pedagogy
- Critical Race Theory
- Critical Realism
- Cultural Politics of Childhood
- Developmental Psychology
- Disabilities
- Disability Studies
- Ecology and Environmental Education
- Enlightenment and the Child
- Ethnicity
- Evolutionary Developmental Psychology
- Feminism
- Food Studies and Children
- Gender
- Girlhood Studies
- Global Politics of Childhood
- Global Politics of Orphanhood
- Medicalization of Childhood
- Mental Health, Child
- Parenting Studies
- Pediatrics
- Philosophy for Children
- Philosophy, the Child in
- Political Geographies of Youth
- Postcolonial Childhoods
- Posthumanism and Childhood
- Postmodern Childhoods
- Psy Disciplines
- Psychosocial Studies
- Queer Studies
- Social Work
- Sociology of Childhood
- Virtual Materiality
- Wholeness Approach
- Youth Studies
- Youth Studies, Birmingham School
- Children’s Rights
- Age Assessment, in Migration
- Asylum, Children as Seekers of
- Babies’ Rights
- Best Interests Principle
- Child Domestic Work
- Child Labor
- Child Labor in Europe, History of
- Child Mortality
- Child Trafficking
- Child Welfare
- Childhood Poverty
- Children and Youth in Prison
- Children’s Ombudspersons/Commissioners for Children’s Rights
- Children’s Rights
- Children’s Rights, Critiques of
- Children’s Rights, Historical Perspective on
- Citizenship
- Disabilities, Children With—Global South
- Domestic Workers, Children as
- Ethics
- Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child 1924
- Globalization of Childhood
- Immigrant Children
- Immigration
- Participation Rights, UNCRC
- Participation, Protection, and Provision Rights (Three Ps), UNCRC
- Political Rights of Children
- Protection Rights, UNCRC
- Provision Rights, UNCRC
- Transnational Childhoods
- Undocumented Children
- United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child (UNCRC)
- Well-Being, Children’s
- Education
- After-School Centers
- Boarding Schools
- Classroom Discipline
- Disability Studies in Education
- Early Childhood Education
- Education
- Education and Nationalism in Late Imperial China
- Education for All (EFA)
- Education Versus Care
- Education, Child-Centered
- Education, Co-operative
- Education, Inclusive
- Enabling Education Network (EENET)
- Homeschooling
- Intergenerational Learning
- Kindergarten
- Language Learning/Acquisition
- Literacy/Literacies
- Mid-day Meal
- Montessori Schools
- Mulberry Bush School
- Numeracy Learning in Early Childhood
- Out-of-School Children
- Pedagogy
- Playrooms
- Private Schools
- School Dress Codes
- School Readiness
- School Uniforms
- Schooling
- Schooling, Gender, and Race
- Sexualities Education
- Special Education
- Supplementary Schools
- Vocational Education
- Waldorf Schools
- Environments and Geographies
- Child-Friendly Cities
- Childhood and Architecture
- Childhood and Nature
- Children and Borders—Cyprus
- Children and Borders—Palestine
- Children and International Development
- Children’s Hospitals
- Children’s Libraries in the United States
- Children’s Museums
- Home Learning Environment
- Playground Movement, U.S. History
- Playgrounds
- Family and Childrearing
- Adoption, History of
- Adoption, Transnational
- Adoption, Transracial
- Babysitting, U.S. History of
- Caregivers, Children as
- Childcare
- Child-Headed Households
- Diaspora Childhoods
- Family
- Fatherhood
- Fathers/Fathering
- Foster Parenting
- Gay and Lesbian Parenting
- In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)
- Intergenerational Relations
- Mothers/Motherhood
- Parenthood
- Parenting
- Parenting Styles, History of
- Parents of Children with Disabilities
- Parents with Disabilities
- Restavek
- Same-Sex Parenting
- Sibling Rivalry
- Stepparents
- Transnational Families
- Histories
- Institutions and Organizations
- Care, Institutional
- Care-Work
- Children and Social Policy
- Children and the Law, United States
- Children’s Bureau, United States
- Children’s Music Industry, U.S.
- Day Care
- Disney
- Federal Indian Boarding Schools, U.S. Architecture of
- Foster Care, U.S.
- Health Care
- Homes, Institutional
- International Child Welfare Organizations
- International Children’s Aid Organizations
- International Nongovernmental Organizations (INGOs)
- Juvenile Courts
- Juvenile Justice, International
- La Leche League
- League of Nations
- Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
- Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs)
- One-Child Policy, China
- Orphans and Orphanages as Childcare in the United States
- Scouting, Boys
- Scouting, Girls
- Sea Hospitals
- Social Welfare Regimes
- Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
- Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
- Sunday School
- Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
- Welfare State
- Youth Clubs
- Key Thinkers and Cultural Figures
- Addams, Jane
- Andersen, Hans Christian
- Ariès, Philippe
- Benjamin, Walter
- Bernstein, Basil
- Bettelheim, Bruno
- Binet, Alfred
- Bourdieu, Pierre
- Bowlby, John
- Bronfenbrenner, Urie
- Carroll, Lewis
- Darwin, Charles
- Deleuze, Gilles
- Dewey, John
- Dickens, Charles
- Dockar-Drysdale, Barbara
- Dolto, Françoise
- Ennew, Judith
- Erikson, Erik
- Frank, Anne
- Freire, Paulo
- Freud, Anna
- Freud, Sigmund
- Froebel, Friedrich
- Gesell, Arnold
- Grimm Brothers (The Brothers Grimm)
- Hall, Granville Stanley
- Hine, Lewis
- Hug-Hellmuth, Hermine
- Isaacs, Susan
- Key, Ellen
- Klein, Melanie
- Korczak, Janusz
- Lacan, Jacques
- Lindgren, Astrid
- Locke, John
- Mannheim, Karl
- Milner, Marion
- Montessori, Maria
- Opie, Iona and Peter
- Pestalozzi, Johann Heinrich
- Piaget, Jean
- Postman, Neil
- Reich, Wilhelm
- Rousseau, Jean-Jacques
- Spencer, Herbert
- Spielrein, Sabina
- Spinoza, Baruch
- Spock, Benjamin
- Steiner, Rudolf
- Sully, James
- Sutton-Smith, Brian
- Temple, Shirley
- Vygotsky, Lev
- Watson, John B.
- Winnicott, Donald W.
- Wordsworth, William
- Yousafzai, Malala
- Measurements
- Media
- Brownies’ Book
- ABC Books
- Apps (Mobile Applications)
- Binge-Watching
- Children and Technology
- Children’s Radio
- Children’s Television, U.S. History
- Digital Childhoods
- Digital Literacy
- Digital Media
- Digital Mobile Technologies
- iPad
- Media, Children and
- Moveable Books
- Picture Books
- Riot Grrrls
- Sesame Street
- Teen Magazines
- Teenager Television Series
- Theme Parks
- Toys, Digital
- YouTube
- Medical Discourses and Practices
- Abortion
- AIDS Orphans
- Anorexia Nervosa
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Autism and Neurodiversity
- Autism, Child Development, and Theory
- Birth
- Birth Control
- Child Neglect
- Child Pregnancy
- Child Sexual Abuse and Pedophilia
- Child Suicide
- Childhood Insanity
- Depression
- Eugenics
- Fetal Personhood
- Health
- Neurocognitive Development
- Neuroscience
- Pregnancy
- Reproductive Choice
- Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
- Movements
- Objects and Material Culture
- Practices
- Apprenticeship
- Bilingualism and Multilingualism
- Breastfeeding
- Child Actors in Theater
- Children and Art
- Children’s Time Use
- Children’s Work
- Counseling Children
- Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP)
- Domestic Chores
- Inclusion in Schools
- Language, Social, and Cultural Aspects
- Orphan Care
- Parenting Children
- Pocket Money
- Residential Child Care
- Socialization
- Sport
- Toilet Training
- Youth Work
- Religions
- Representations
- Child Actors in Film and Television
- Childhood as Figuration
- Childhood Representations in Media and Advertising
- Children and U.S. Adoption Literature
- Children in Postcolonial Literature
- Children in Romantic Literature and Thought
- Children’s Literature
- Death, Children’s Conceptions of
- Fairy Tales in the Western Tradition
- Family Photography
- Film, the Child in
- Folklore, Children’s
- Hidden Adult, in Literature
- Literature, Golden Age
- National identity
- Parental Advice Literature
- Peter Pan
- Popularity and Gender
- Popularity, Social Media and
- Queer Children, Representations of
- Reality Television
- Representations of Childhood in Early China
- School Story, The
- Young Adult (YA) Literature
- Youth and Representation in Popular Media, U.S.
- Research Methodologies
- Assent, Children’s, in Research
- Child as Method
- Child Attachment Interviews
- Child-Centered Design
- Child-Centered/Child-Led Research
- Children’s Drawings and Psychological Development
- Consent, Children’s, in Research
- Ethnography
- Historical Methods
- Interviews
- Least-Adult Role in Research
- Life Mode Interview
- Narrative Research Method
- Narratives, Children’s
- Participatory Action Research
- Participatory Research Methods
- Photovoice, Research Method of
- Piaget’s Interview Methods: From Clinical to Critical
- Power Relations in Research
- Professional Conversations with Children
- Quantitative Methods
- Reflexivity
- Visual Methods
- Social Issues and Controversies
- Artificial Insemination
- Baby Farms
- Better Baby Contests
- Bullying
- Bullying and Parents
- Bullying and Teachers
- Bullying in Schools
- Child and Youth Activism
- Child Beauty Pageants
- Child Marriage
- Child Pornography
- Child Prostitution, Sex Work
- Child Soldiers
- Children and Nationalism
- Children as Victims
- Children as Workers
- Children Who Murder
- Columbine (High School) Massacre, U.S.
- Corporal Punishment
- Cyberbullying
- Discipline and Childhood
- Domestic Violence, Children’s Experiences of
- Early Marriage
- Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting
- Gender Independent Children
- Gifted Children
- Homeless Children and Youth
- Juvenile Delinquency
- Militarization
- Obesity
- Race and Childhood in U.S. Context
- Racism
- Refugees
- School Violence
- Sexual Citizenship
- Sexual Exploitation of Children
- Social Inclusion
- Street Children
- Surrogacy
- Transnational Migration
- Unaccompanied Minors, Migration
- Violence
- War and War-Affected Children
- Working Children
- Young Offenders
- Youth Gangs
- Youth Justice
- Theories and Concepts
- Adultism
- Agency
- Anticipatory Socialization
- Attachment Theory
- Autonomy
- Beings and Becomings, Children as
- Borders, National
- Bullying, Genealogy of the Concept
- Capitalism and Childhood
- Care, Feminist Ethic of
- Child
- Child as Other/Stranger
- Child Consumption: A Vygotskian Perspective
- Child Depravity
- Child-Friendly, Concept of
- Childhood
- Childhood Identity Constructions
- Childhood Nostalgia
- Childhood Publics
- Childhoods and Time, Philosophical Perspectives
- Childing
- Childism
- Children as Competent Social Actors
- Children as Political Subjects
- Children at Risk
- Children’s Perspectives
- Children’s Social Participation, Models of
- Children’s Voices
- Colonialism and Childhood
- Community of Learners
- Concerted Cultivation, Parenting Style
- Conduct of Everyday Life
- Consent, Sexual
- Consumer Socialization
- Critical Theory, the Child in
- Cultural Capital
- Development
- Developmentality
- Different Childhoods
- Distributed Violence
- Emotion Regulation (Children)
- Emotional Intelligence
- Gender Identity
- Generational Approach
- Generationing
- Global North Childhoods
- Global South Childhoods
- Global Womb
- Governmentality
- Habitus
- History of Childhood
- Hope
- Human Capital, Child as
- Identity
- Imaginary Companions
- Indigenous Childhoods
- Institutionalization of Childhood
- Interiority
- Interpretive Reproduction
- Intersectionality
- Juvenocracy/Juvenocratic Spaces
- Miniature Adulthood
- Moral Development, Cultural-Developmental Perspective
- Natural Growth, Parenting Style
- Nature Versus Culture
- Nature Versus Nurture
- Play Therapy and Autism
- Play, Theories of
- Popularity
- Priceless Child
- Psychoanalysis, the Child in
- Racial Formation
- Racial Innocence, Child and (U.S. History)
- Recapitulation Theory
- Relational Violence
- Resilience
- Rites of Passage
- Self-Esteem
- Sex Education, Psychoanalysis in
- Sexual Orientation
- Sexuality and Childhood
- Social and Emotional Learning
- Social Exclusion and Bullying
- Socialization Paradigm
- Stage Theories of Development
- Standpoint Theory
- Structural Violence
- Subjective Well-Being
- Tabula Rasa
- Time and Childhood
- Time, Concept of, in Children
- Trauma-Informed Care
- Universalism
- Universalization of Childhood
- Vulnerability of Children
- Youth Culture
- Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky, Lev)
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