A field of research: management techniques and legal-bureaucratic devices intended for the management of the childhood of the poor in Argentina

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to reflect upon the constitution of a particular field of research: that of the modalities of State management over the childhood of the poor. In order to achieve this, first we present a description of certain contextual elements that contributed to the expansion of this field in Argentina during past decades, and which prove to be central to the understanding of the debate surrounding the modalities of legal-State interventions over a sector of children and their families. Secondly, we reflect upon the need to place these modalities in their historical and political context, thus questioning the normative paradigms often used to understand them. Finally, we suggest that, even though these devices are aimed at children, they cannot be dissociated from regulation of family relationships and discourses on family morality.