• Introduces many of the fundamentals of sociology: how sociology is defined; the sociological perspective; and the core concepts and dominant perspectives in sociology
• Explains sociology of ECE concepts such as understanding learning, pedagogy and care and how these are embedded within, and reflective of, a society’s culture, values and policies
• Examines how we understand children’s learning, its function and how more traditional ideas are being challenged in the transition to more ‘child as an agent in their own learning’ understandings
• Introduces concepts such as culture, the family and health with reference to ECE as well as inequality and social issues in society and their implications for ECE
• Defines the perspectives of social constructionism, social structuralism, ethnography and the child standpoint approach
• Discusses the issue of ‘agency’ against the backdrop of the UNCRC and a ‘rights vs needs’ approach

Written for any student embarking on a course on sociology and social policy in early childhood education. Professional practitioners and educators in early childhood learning and care. 

Emma Zara O’Brien, MLitt, HDipEd, HDipPsych has lectured in ECE in DIT and MIE and currently teaches in Inchicore College of Further Education. She has worked as a researcher in the Centre for Disability Studies, UCD, and in the National Children’s Office (now DCEDIY), and most recently as a researcher for the NCCA/ NPC on parental involvement in children’s learning. She has had seven books published including Psychology for Social Care (Palgrave Macmillan) and Human Growth and Development Across the Lifespan, 3rd edn (Boru Press).