It is now widely recognised that the concept of childhood is a social construction rather than a universal absolute, the development of which can be traced historically and which varies across time and space (Archard, 1993; Cunningham, 1995; Hendrick, 1997). This chapter argues that child labour legislation (along with education, discussed in Chapter Four) was critical in establishing a relatively bounded childhood and a privileged status for children – even poor children – which was to make state support and intervention in other areas of child welfare increasingly hard to resist. The legislation was probably based less on the ‘fact’ of child employment than on campaigners’ mobilisation of sentiment around children combined with arguments that operated within the prevailing discourse of liberal individualism and laissezfaire. Nevertheless, the introduction of legislation and the creation of a distinct child population both rendered the ultimate introduction of state educational provision almost inevitable and created a particular constituency for wider poverty research.

Childhood, like the family, or marriage, or adolescence or old age, is lived in a cultural and economic context; its character and ideology cannot be assumed…. In any culture or society … childhood is ultimately defined in relation to adulthood. Adults approach or reach adult status by leaving childhood; and frequently their adult authority is confirmed through their control or support of children (or both)…. The duration of that period of dependence and subordination, however, is not fixed (not even by the biological benchmarks of puberty or mature growth), and nor is its content….