Abstract
2 - 4 December 2010 Thessaloniki, Greece The past twenty years have witnessed an increased academic interest in issues related to children and young people. As a result, Childhood and Youth Studies has emerged as a new field of interdisciplinary research in social sciences. Whereas childhood and adolescence have been extremely popular topics in psychological research in the past, today these topics attract researchers from a wide range of scientific fields, including sociologists, anthropologists, historians, political scientists, lawyers and legal theorists, who present a variety of theoretical approaches and research findings. The focus of this new field of studies is on the re-conceptualization of childhood and youth, as well as on the deeper understanding of the life experiences of children and young people in contemporary societies that are characterized by significant economic, political, social and cultural changes. Therefore, in an era of social change and globalization it is imperative for scientists to examine how the lives of young people are both developed and transformed.
